Ritchie Blackmore posted photos with Deep Purple a day after playing “Smoke On The Water” with them for the first time since 1993.
The guitarist has posted a set of photographs to Instagram taken backstage and on stage at Northwell at Jones Beach Theater, showing him with Ian Gillan, Roger Glover, Ian Paice, Don Airey and Simon McBride. His caption was brief.
“Good night had by all, I hope. I know I had a great time. Thanks a lot lads. Carry on and have a good tour.”
The comments filled with fans calling it an amazing moment.
Blackmore joined Deep Purple on Wednesday night in Wantagh, New York, walking out near the end of a main set of roughly 100 minutes for “Smoke On The Water“, the first time he had played with the band since November 17, 1993 at the Helsinki Ice Hall in Finland. He had announced the plan himself the previous evening during an Instagram Live with his wife Candice Night, having spent the first part of the broadcast insisting it was a secret.
Even then, nobody was certain until Night posted a backstage photograph of him with the band shortly before showtime.
Gillan explained how it had come about once the song was over. “I’ve gotta say something. A couple of days ago, I got a message. 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!” He added: “Thanks, Ritchie. I have to say, it was a great pleasure. I’ll see you in the bar.”
Gillan sang part of the song with an arm around him. Afterwards Blackmore handed his Stratocaster to the singer, walked to the front of the stage to wave at the crowd, embraced Glover, and left stage right.
That is a considerable distance travelled. Blackmore did not attend Deep Purple‘s Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction in 2016, saying at the time that the band’s lineup did not want him there. The approach for Wednesday came from him, he contacted Gillan, who now lives in Portugal, and asked for one encore, telling him: “No pressure — just kind of [for] old times’ sake.”
It was not a simple thing to arrange physically either. Blackmore is 81, has four herniated discs, and had a steroid injection in his lumbar area two days before the show to let him stand in one place with a Strat. He had a stool waiting at the side of the stage in case he needed it. He also changed the strings on the guitar for the first time in more than 25 years.
Nobody involved has suggested it will happen again. Deep Purple‘s 2026 tour runs to 86 shows across 28 countries behind their new album SPLAT!, released in July.
