Ritchie Blackmore Reunites With Deep Purple Onstage For First Time In 33 Years

Guitarist Ritchie Blackmore has reunited with Deep Purple for the first time in more than three decades, joining his former bandmates onstage at the Northwell at Jones Beach Theater in Wantagh, New York.

Blackmore, who co-founded Deep Purple in 1968, had not played with the group since departing under acrimonious circumstances following a show in Helsinki, Finland, in November 1993. His relationship with frontman Ian Gillan remained frosty in the decades since, but Blackmore revealed in an Instagram Live post earlier in the week that he had reached out to Gillan to ask about making a guest appearance.

Reaching Out After Three Decades

Describing his outreach, Blackmore said he sent an artificial intelligence pigeon to Gillan in Portugal to ask if he could step up for just an encore.

“I said, ‘How would you feel about if I got up just for an encore? Just one of the songs. I don’t want to intrude,'” Blackmore recalled. “And I said, ‘No pressure — just kind of [for] old times’ sake.’ I’m 81 now. So he seemed to love the idea, put it to the band, got a thumbs up, and it looks like we might be doing that.”

Smoke On The Water Encore

The 81-year-old guitarist joined the band at the climax of a 100-minute set to perform their signature anthem, ‘Smoke On The Water’. Following the performance, Gillan told the audience before introducing Blackmore to the crowd.

“It was an absolute pleasure to have back on stage the founder member, the great legend, the immortal… Ritchie Blackmore!” Gillan told the 15,000-capacity crowd. “It was a great pleasure. I’ll see you in the bar.”

Blackmore’s partner, Candice Night, shared a photo of the six musicians huddled together backstage, writing, “Well, this warms my heart.” Deep Purple’s tour continues with dates across North America before heading to Europe in late September.