The day the planets aligned: Ritchie Blackmore reunites with Deep Purple after 33 years

There was a total solar eclipse. Six planets aligned across the morning sky. And, just when the universe had exhausted its supply of unlikely events, Ritchie Blackmore walked onto a stage with Deep Purple.

Yes, It really happened…

On August 12, Blackmore joined Deep Purple at the Northwell at Jones Beach Theater in Wantagh, New York, to perform “Smoke on the Water”. It was his first appearance with the band since leaving in 1993 — 33 years ago.

Carrying his yellow Fender Stratocaster, he joined current guitarist Simon McBride for the encore. Then came that riff. Perhaps the first millions of guitarists ever learned, but one that still sounds different when it comes from the hands of the man who created it.

Yet the most moving part was not the music. It was the smiles, the laughter and the unmistakable complicity between Blackmore and Ian Gillan.

Their relationship produced some of rock’s greatest music, but also decades of conflict. Creative differences and personality clashes culminated in Blackmore’s departure during The Battle Rages On… tour. In the years that followed, neither man was particularly diplomatic when discussing the other.

Time, however, appears to have done what managers, promoters and generations of fans could not.

“I only live round the corner”

Remarkably, the reunion was Blackmore’s idea. Deep Purple were playing close to his Long Island home, so the 81-year-old guitarist contacted Gillan and asked if he could join them for one song.

“I don’t want to intrude,” he told him. “No pressure — just for old times’ sake.”

https://youtu.be/41kYeTSNcGE?is=VAFSeKnb-UDh8zgg

Gillan loved the idea and the band gave its approval.

Returning to a rock stage was no small matter for Blackmore. He has suffered several health problems in recent years and no longer travels extensively. He had his Stratocaster restrung for the first time in several years and received an injection in his lower back so that he could stand comfortably during the performance.

After the song, Gillan described him as Deep Purple’s founding member, “the great legend” and “the immortal Ritchie Blackmore”, before adding: “I’ll see you at the bar.”

They joked about their height, laughed together and made several decades of hostility disappear in a few seconds.

This was not Blackmore permanently returning to Deep Purple. It did not need to be.

For a few minutes, he stood beside Gillan, Roger Glover and Ian Paice again. There was no tension and no attempt to rewrite the past — just old bandmates sharing the most famous riff they ever created.

The Sun disappeared, the planets aligned and Ritchie Blackmore reunited with Deep Purple. After everything that had passed between them, seeing Blackmore and Gillan smiling together was enough to put a lump in the throat of even the most hardened old rocker.

Sometimes the stars really do have to align.

Jose Crespo