Deep Purple co-founding guitar hero Ritchie Blackmore performed with the band last night (August 12th) for the first time since 1993, having hit the stage to help scorch through classic rock anthem “Smoke on the Water”.
The performance took place at the Jones Beach Theater in Wantagh, New York, and Blackmore had teased the appearance earlier in the week while communicating with fans on Instagram Live.
“I don’t want anybody to know, but I’m probably [gonna] get up and do an encore with the band, Deep Purple,” he told his followers (as transcribed by Blabbermouth). “But you can’t tell anybody, and I know that this is gonna be kept a secret. And will it? I suppose so.”
Blackmore went on to explain in his talk that he reached out to old bandmate Ian Gillian about walking out for the encore. “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.”
As seen in fan-shot footage, Blackmore walked out near the end of the show to screams and rounds of applause before Deep Purple leaned into the smoke-spewin’ Machine Head anthem. Then Gillian wrapped his arm around his old bandmate and toasted their reunion.
“I’ve gotta say something. A couple of days ago, I got a message,” he said. “I got a letter from this man saying, ‘I only live around the corner. Do you mind if I come and jam with you?’ And it was an absolute pleasure to have back onstage, the founder member, the great legend, the immortal Ritchie Blackmore!”
Deep Purple are currently on tour supporting this year’s Splat! album. Their next show is tonight (August 13th) at the Xfinity Center in Mansfield, Massachusetts. You’ll find the rest of their tour dates here.