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Rising again

Darker Than Blue reports that Ritchie Blackmore has been booked to appear on UK radio station Planet Rock on Sunday, October 11, 2026, between 5 and 6pm. The show is called The Longer Player with Mark Jeeves, and his appearance will be on occasion of the 50th anniversary of Rainbow Rising. One can listen to […]

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Thunder in my brain

Several video clips have been posted over the last few days on the Ritchie Blackmore Official youtube channel, some of those known better than the others.

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Flight of the paradiddle

A Maiden t-shirt wearing drum teacher reacts to a deep cut from the Purple catalogue — Flight of the Rat.

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Nürnberg 1976 on vinyl

Rainbow Live in Nürnberg 1976, recorded at the Nürnberg Messezentrum Halle on September 28, 1976, will be released on vinyl on August 28, 2026. This is the first time this show will be available in analog format, and it completes the vinyl trifecta of Rainbow 1976 live releases: Köln/Cologne was released for the Record Store […]

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Vibrant Rainbow

Goldmine magazine promises an interview with Ritchie Blackmore done by Martin Popoff for their Summer 2026 issue (with Charley Crockett on the cover): Ritchie Blackmore explains how he combined his talent with vocalist Ronnie James Dio to produce a vibrant Rainbow. We have no further details at the moment. The issue can be purchased from […]

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Never comfortable or established

Another Classic Rock magazine rehash: circa 2011 interview with Don Airey reprinted by Louder Sound: You’ve appeared on more than 250 albums between 1976 and 2011. Which are the ones of which you are most proud? Funnily enough, Roger Glover and I were talking about what an incredible time it was making Down To Earth […]

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Nine years worth of breaking my back

Rainbow In Concert 1976 — Live in Düsseldorf is slated to be released on vinyl as a 3LP. The show was just re-released as part of The Temple of The King 1975 – 1976 box set, but apparently it has never been previously available on vinyl. HMV has an orange vinyl special, while other retailers […]

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Variety of rhythms and syncopations

Bass Player magazine has an online feature on the Elf/RBR bassist Craig Gruber. There are no quotes from the man himself (he passed in 2015), but some input from the last Rainbow bass player Bob Curiano (a.k.a. Bob Nouveau and Sir Robert of Normandie). And it turns pretty technical pretty quickly. [Snake Charmer] begins with […]

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Fighting it out with swords

After a couple of teasers, Ultimate Classic Rock has posted, apparently in full, the interview they’ve recently done with Ritchie Blackmore. Release of the Rainbow 75/76 box set was the occasion, so the bulk of the conversation was actually devoted to that time period.

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All my life it seems just a crazy dream

Wikimetal celebrates 50th anniversary of Rainbow Rising with a short compendium of 6 interesting facts about the album. Which are in no way a surprise to anybody who’s been paying attention. Rainbow Mk1 was short lived and gutted way before work started on the second album. The artwork for the album has become iconic. Munich […]

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