![[hand]](/hs-pics/portraits/hands/morse3.jpg)
![[face]](/hs-pics/portraits/faces/gillan.jpg)
Back to the future
April 2021 issue of Burrn! magazine features Bladckmore’s Night as a cover story, with an interview inside. Akemi Ono graciously offered reverse translation of the interview for the rest of us who don’t speak Japanese.
Blackmore’s Night will release their 11th album Nature’s Light, on March 11 worldwide. Ritchie and Candice agreed to talk to us about the new album as well as the influence of the coronavirus and their future activities:
Burrn: How are you and your family doing? How is your area affected?
Ritchie: Covid started in China, but no one seems to know how it started. It is a strange situation.
B: How was your tour affected?
R: The last show we did was in Nuremberg, July 2019 (Long Island, November 2019 according to Burrn’s records). That was the last show of the last tour. It was a very good show. Usually the last show is not good, but this tour was different.
Candice: We were supposed to do more shows in the US, but they were canceled due to Covid. But it was a good timing to go back into the studio. We had many recordings, including Christmas songs. It has been a strange time for Ritchie, since he was always touring since the age of 16. He probably never had the experience of resting at home for a full year. He does not enjoy traveling so much anymore, but he must miss the energy of the audience, and playing in front of them.
R: I certainly don’t miss spending time in a hotel without enough sleep. You should bring a mask so that you don’t get infected by Covid. Do you wear a mask?
B: Of course!
R: Good.
B: I saw your internet video, Vacuum and Dust with new lyrics to Joan Baez’ Diamonds and Rust. You said you were inspired by David Coverdale?
C: Yes, we exchange emails a lot. We were discussing the pandemic, and he said all he wants to do is vacuuming and dusting since he cannot leave the house. We both thought this was like a title of a song. I asked if I could use it, and David said he was OK.
B: Have you always been touch with David?
C: David contacted us after Jon Lord passed away. I think we all realized that our lives will end some day, and we should restore what we can. David told us he is thankful to Ritchie for welcoming him to Deep Purple which also opened the door to Whitesnake.
R: It was actually Ian Paice who introduced David. Ian brought a cassette with David’s recording and asked what we thought. That was the start. Ian discovered David.
B: You released a Christmas Carols EP last year. Can you tell us about the songs?
R: I always thought Silent Night was boring, but I heard Candice singing it in the shower. Her singing was the best I heard for the song, so we decided to include it. Her voice matches the song perfectly. Regarding O Little Town of Bethlehem, the American people sing it with a jazz-like tune, but we used the original tune from the 1400’s, 1500’s, so I think it sounds different. Of all Blackmore’s Night albums, I like the Christmas Carols album the best. I am very attracted to Christmas carols, most of which were written in the 1500’s to 1600’s. I hate modernized Christmas songs like Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree or Santa’s Comin’ Down the Chimney.
C: Our daughter, Autumn sings in Silent Night. She can sing 3 octaves and can also play the guitar and cello.
B: Please tell us about the new album.
C: We were supposed to release it in 2019, but it was delayed due to Covid. We started recording in 2018. 2018 was a difficult year as Ritchie lost his brother, and I lost my father. We also lost our cat which we had for 16 years. It was difficult to be creative, but we found out that it was cathartic to reminisce positively about the people who left us and be use the energy to be creative.
R: Is there a word for cathartic in Japanese?
B: Yes, we use the word “catharsis”. You included Wish You Were Here” from your debut album Shadow of the Moon.
R: Our debut album sold well only in Germany, but it is one of my favorite albums. I think people will like the song Wish You Were Here if they listened to it properly, and it could lead to a hit. I have confidence in that song. I think it is effective in many situations, like when you lost someone or cannot meet someone….
B: How is it different from the original?
R: The vocals are different. Candice’s singing is more mature. We also added guitar parts.
B: Please comment on the other songs:
C: Once Upon a December was inspired by Owain Phyfe, whom we met at Arizona Renaissance Festival. He is a minstrel whom we invited to play at our wedding as well as tour with us. He sounds like Ian Anderson. He played a humorous Italian song Fuggi, Fuggi, Fuggi. We took the melody line from this song.
R: Feather in the Wind was composed using a mandola. There is a riff I used to play frequently, and Autumn would sing to it. I gave this riff to Candice, and she sprinkled fairy dust on it.
R: Darker Shades of Black (instrumental) is like my version of Procol Harum’s A Whiter Shade of Pale. A typical downward chord progression which Bach might play.
C: The Twisted Oak is about finding your inner peace while walking amongst the trees. You can cleanse yourself from dust and everyday pressure by listening to and understanding the message with your heart and spirit.
R: Nature’s Light is one of my favorite songs, especially the riff of the orchestra’s brass section.
R: Der Lettzte Masketier is The Three Musketeers in German. I was in a three-piece band called The Three Musketeers in Germany in 1964. The other two members passed away, so I am paying my respects. They were very good friends. I could say I liked this band the most among the bands I have played in. It was not a huge success, there was not that much pressure, we just enjoyed the music and playing.
C: Both our children Autumn and Rory sing in Going to the Fair.
R: The melody from this song is from Tielman Susato’s composition from the 1500’s.
C: The Second Element is a song by Sarah Brightman. Ritchie’s electric guitar is magnificent in this song!
R: I like the guitar in Darker Shades of Black better. It’s all personal.
B: Which Blackmore’s Night album do you like best?
R: The Christmas Carols one.
C: That’s difficult. I do like Secret Voyage. I would say that and Nature’s Light.
B: Do you have anything planned for 2021?
R: It depends on what the government allows. I think there are fake stories around Covid. I hope the truth comes out and that all bands can play again.
B: Will you do any on-line work again?
C: We are exploring what we can do. I think Ritchie prefers to do something with other band members as well, not just acoustic with myself.
B: Would you have done Blackmore’s Rainbow again if it were not for Covid?
R: I was very satisfied with what I had done so far. I would have gone to Japan, if it were closer. Before I play for Rainbow, I need to have shots on my back because I have back and lower back problems. I cannot carry the heavy Stratocaster without the shots.
B: Will you play Rainbow with Ronnie Romero again after Covid?
R: I would like to keep it as a surprise. Just go day by day. I don’t want to plan ahead too much, although I know people around me want to.
B: Will you release new music as Rainbow?
R: No, that idea is not exciting. It feels like I am going backwards. I want to progress to the future with 1500’s music.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
fin d’une époque…fin d’une carriére! dommage
March 8th, 2021 at 08:25This is kind of like reading a Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan interview! A guilty pleasure.
And Ritchie’s penchant for misspelling German is a running gag … It would be “Der letzte Musketier”, not “Der Lettzte Masketier”. Vielleicht das nachster Zeit you’ll get it right, Harold. ; – )
March 8th, 2021 at 13:16>> Ritchie: Covid started in China……I think there are fake stories around Covid<<<
Sounds like someone doesn't fully believe in the pandemic. I was out with BN before. now…I'm really out.
March 8th, 2021 at 13:20Gillan invented Covid 19, nuff said. One day the truth will come out.
March 8th, 2021 at 16:01Rick says: “Sounds like someone doesn’t fully believe in the pandemic. I was out with BN before. now…I’m really out”
Considering the litany of fake news from the previous incumbent of world power and not once did RB say he didn’t believe in the pandemic so you’re reading bbetween the lines to fuel your own hate. Very sad
March 8th, 2021 at 20:44@5 Haha, I knew that was coming. I stand by my ‘reading between the lines”. Thank you.
March 8th, 2021 at 22:56WTF kind of answer was that to the 1st question.
Burrn: How are you and your family doing? How is your area affected?
Ritchie: Covid started in China, but no one seems to know how it started. It is a strange situation
March 9th, 2021 at 00:41Living in a old castle, no tv, pc..
March 9th, 2021 at 09:09@6
What about- “R: I certainly don’t miss spending time in a hotel without enough sleep. You should bring a mask so that you don’t get infected by Covid. Do you wear a mask?
B: Of course!
R: Good.”?
March 9th, 2021 at 20:53@9
Ah the ‘rubber haddock’ strikes again!!!
I’ve read/heard enough RB interviews to know sarcasm when I see/hear it from him. I still stand by my ‘reading between the lines”. Thank you.
March 9th, 2021 at 23:56OK Uwe et al, this is an old BN interview that I’ve dug up on youtube. This is for all those amongst you that yearn for RB to play his stratocaster the way he used to…
This is RB’s truth now, so if you listen carefully, then you’ll hear the serious stuff about losing the 13 to 30 “metalheads”, & following his muse, namely the inspirational late David Munrow (R.I.P).
You can skip ahead to about 2:20 for RB’s tell all.
https://youtu.be/y7argNMNvmM
This is the late David Munrow in full flight!:
https://youtu.be/DKxdCSbAtOE
What’s not to like?!. 🤗🤘🥳
And RB may well own a copy of this:
March 10th, 2021 at 01:12https://youtu.be/a40OF5D7erM
Enjoy at your leisure. 🎼🎵🎶
No Squire Malcolm of Lumley, no Blackmore’s Night.
March 10th, 2021 at 01:54But Lord Richmore, I don’t give a rat’s ass if Ritchie never picks up a Strat again, what tools he uses is largely irrelevant to me. Nor do I want him to return to Rainbow, a band which I never liked that much in the first place and which forever will be a (much) lesser Deep Purple to me. I don’t even want him to return to Purple, he’d be up to no good as he always has.
All I want Ritchie to do is play meaningful music. That is perfectly possible even within the constraints of Renaissance music, but ditching drum machines and cheapo keyboard sounds as well as landfill pop compositions and productions would be a start if he wants to do that seriously. If he had the guts to, say, play some of the more ambitious BN compositions with a full orchestra, I’d be the first to applaud.
Ritchie in a heavy metal environment today is for me a worrying proposition, not that either DP or Rainbow were ever heavy metal in my book. Those days are gone. But his talent within BN is too often wasted, it’s a bit as if Miles Davis had joined the horn section of Kool & the Gang. Mind you, I love Kool & the Gang, but perhaps Miles and Ritchie were cut out for other things after all.
March 10th, 2021 at 14:25I wonder if RB has ever been introduced to a Lirone?. Quite interesting:
March 10th, 2021 at 22:48https://youtu.be/ybig-0BBihA
So its clear from that interview in my eyes, we have finally come to the end of the Rainbow. So glad I did all four dates on that last tour and was there to pay my respects and carry the adventure with me for the rest of my days. I wish him all the best with his love and passion for the music he makes with Candy, I hope he feels he has nothing more to prove and can play what he likes from now on.
I am grateful for the 13 x times I was lucky to see the different incarnations of Rainbow live over the last 25 years and for the last 40 years of listening to the albums and how that connected me from my first listen to Since you Been Gone to all of the Rainbow albums and of course that took me to Black Night by Deep Purple and subsequently all the Deep Purple albums and live shows over the years.
I have loved experiencing it all and on in my journey to Whitesnake, Black Sabbath and Gary Moore etc. Its a wonderfully connected universe of a family across bands, that simply does not happen these days.
It occurred to me that all the snobs and purists that only like one line up of a couple of albums or it can only be Dio and Stargazer or Giillan and Made In Japan, that I love and found the sublime, priceless, fantastic songs, moments in time from Machine Head and Rising et al, but its through my love of first hearing Since You Been Gone that I discovered the rest and I suspect more people have the same Journey to find Gate of Babylon and Child In Time, maybe even over the amount of people who came in that way through the initial releases of the revered works.
Down To Earth led to Rising, Best of Deep Purple led to Made in Japan and so on, making a huge case of deserved respect for the so called sell out pop singles of 1979 and 1981. My sister bought I Surrender and Stone Cold was the most played Rainbow song on American Radio. She like millions of others would not have come in through Light in the Black not being played on Radio or Mandrake Root also not being a single, but did through videos and MTV.
So I say to all you purists and Nay Sayers, who regularly grind their axes on here and moan and groan and slag off what is not old testament so to say and bitch on the JLT era and who only do Dio or Gillan, lets have some respect for what and why more people may well have found the music of the man in black and give a nod to the fact that Dio era was losing money hand over fist, and All Night Long was important as a journey back in time to the past collective works and for maiking it possible to get to the 1984 Mk2 reunion, through which millions more got to experience the live band they had missed for years or never seen back in the original days. As in also seeing that Slaves and Masters kept enough of the band together to continue past that point in time and The Battle Rages on and RB leaving to have had what is soon to be another 30 years of the mighty Purple making new music and touring brilliant shows.
Its fitting to be able to compare why commercial works and investments are key here, just like the Shawshank Redemption was a flop at the Box office and become a sensation on home video through commercial driven promotion in magazines and displays in video shops. Art, true art if its good will find its way an everyone deserves to be able to appreciate it, no matter what their taste and starting point is, so Long Live Rock and Roll does indeed represent the cross over brought with it the Kill The King and Eyes of the World together into a hungry fanbase, that cherishes it all 🙂
March 11th, 2021 at 08:10I think Ritchie just has a very musical ear, he’s quick in picking up things and recognizing the essence of music he hears for the first time. That is also why he can basically solo over everything you throw at him (the whole Stormbringer album benefitted from that).
How many other hard rock guitarists do you know that patterned their signature riffs after Gershwin, Brazilian jazz composers or a Bulgarian radio jingle rather than ripping off – guten Tag, Herr Page – another Delta Blues riff?
March 11th, 2021 at 12:40I posted this on “There is a problem, and it’s called the guitar” and was hoping for feedback. Thought I’d repeat here albeit off subject. But there is the guitar connection anyway….
Can anyone tell me who the guy standing on Don’s Kurzweil seen in Hellfest’s Birds of Prey is? I cannot for the life of me determine.
Peace,
March 11th, 2021 at 16:33Ted
@15: My absolute, eclectic agreement, Bob! Purple et al is a musical universe, not just eight studio albums by ever the same four people like Led Zep.
The breadth of the Purple family work has always been of special appeal to me.
And for the record (no pun intended):
Since You’ve Been Gone was a cracker of a single belted out by Graham Bonnet at his laddish best. I have never heard any other vocalist even come close to his immaculate performance, singing this song live separates the men from the boys.
March 11th, 2021 at 20:19@17 Ted, since no one else has given you any kind of answer to your conundrum… then allow me!.
March 12th, 2021 at 07:42Your mystery is solved. The guy standing on Don’s Kurzweil is a figurine of none other than the Prince of Darkness himself….
Ozzy Osbourne!.
As we all know, Don was in Ozzy’s band in the early 1980’s.
Cheers mate! 🍻
OMG, when he’s not dancing merrily in medieval garb to BN tunes or jousting, the Dark Lord of Richmore performs satanic rituals with the bat eater! The mind, it doth boggle …
Ozzy is underrated as a singer (not: performer). Glenn Hughes once said something akin to how everyone pokes fun at Ozzy’s singing style “but emulating it, those monotone melodies with the same emphasis on each and every note, halftime and dragging behind the beat, it’s the hardest thing to do”.
OTOH, Ozzy has real issues singing something rhythmically, just listen here at the few places where he has to do something other than follow Lennon’s mostly straight quarter notes.
https://youtu.be/0Nltmw4uhDI
March 12th, 2021 at 13:57Hey Uwe, that problematic old bat brought everything it got upon itself…
Now if the bat had kept up with the payments the way it was supposed to, then things might have been different for it. Afterall, a contract is a contract…
& the Prince of Darkness, was JUST DOING HIS JOB!.
🦇☠️🦹 😉
BTW, have you seen The Dark Knight & 1960s Robin vs Bane skit?. It’s a hoot!.
March 13th, 2021 at 12:05https://vimeo.com/71850258
Uwe @ 20,
How to Butcher a Song in One Easy Lesson!! I’ll give Ozzy a pass for the first 6 Sabbath albums – he was at his two octave-range crooning best back then. And he was able to lay some of his patented monochromatic vocal stylings efficiently over Bob Daisley’s lyrics in the first 2 Ozzy albums. Somehow though, his iconic legend has endured based on those 8 in total albums. Thank clever marketing by the Ozzy Machine (read: Sharon et al).
He has done nothing remarkable since the 1980s – he has put out some very mediocre albums since then whose only saving graces are the contributions made by some excellent players around him.
Somehow though, within the rock music industry/press and in a certain segment of the Black Sabbath & assorted metalhead fan base, he retains his iconic stature. You only have to check out the music magazine rack on any given month to see how certain rock journos are so enamored of Ozzy and Ozzy-version Sabbath. they are simply unable to contain their fixation on all things Ozzy, ergo, the latest list written up in Classic Rock (Louder) magazine…..and wherein, our Deep Purple heroes, far superior singers, are obviously not the anointed ones in that journo’s, nor in countless others’ eyes, despite excellent vocal ranges, phrasing, percussive abilities, etc:
https://www.loudersound.com/features/black-sabbath-albums-ranked-from-worst-to-best
Good for Ozzy, but seriously, he is a very limited singer….he is at best, a clever vocal stylist. But within his limitations, he has made his shtick work well for him all these years.
March 13th, 2021 at 13:05DeeperPurps @ 22 – ‘he was at his two octave-range crooning best back then’. Interesting comment. Moving on, you are well aware of the tabloid media & fanboys & their sensationalism of anything to do with shock value. Hence the fascination with Ozzy over the decades. Anyone who is controversial will attract sales etc. That is all it is, it has nothing to do with music ability what so ever. There are plenty of other examples over the history of musicians & actors etc! Tabloid tripe, media rubbish, crass sensationalism etc, etc! Dumbing it down could be a crass way of saying it. It is everywhere these days unfortunately. It all fits in with general society & it’s behaviour & acceptance. The norm has become, well what is that modern saying in this pc world, ‘shame is fame’. Cheers.
March 13th, 2021 at 21:40Herr Richmore, that clip was hilarious! But I was never a DC Comics guy, I’m a Marvelette: Spider-Man, X-Men, Fantastic Four (Avengers were always too many characters for me). I only liked the first two Batman films in the late 80ies because they were Tim Burton films, no other reason.
DeeperPurps: I think “clever vocal stylist” sums Ozzy up. He’s a one trick pony, but the trick is all his!
Anyone putting Born Again at the lower end of Sabbath’s albums must be deaf. I remember when I heard it the first time in my favourite vinyl shop (long gone), unaware that Gillan (the man) had dissolved Gillan (the band) and that he was AWOL with the Brummies. So I’m fingering through the newest releases and the shop owner (a Gillan and Purple addict like me) drops the needle on Disturbing the Priest. At first I mused, unaware what I was hearing, “sounds like a horror film soundtrack, actually quite cool”. Then I heard a singer do the verses in a baritone voice which sounded very familiar … by the time Gillan went up the octave I knew it was him, but the music didn’t sound like Gillan (the band) at all, not nearly nervous enough (the band Gillan always sounded nervous and a bit erratic to me, though that was also part of their charm). I asked the shop owner “It’s something new from Gillan, but what band?” I was smitten with that album from the first listen and – unlike most people – AS A BASSIST I WELCOMED THE MIX !!! It was “Geezer Butler featuring Ian Gillan”, who needs the audible participation of further musicians? : – )
Seventh Star otoh, to quote former Mutt Lange squeeze Shania T, “don’t impress me much”. Born Again was high art, Seventh Star a half-decent record.
March 14th, 2021 at 00:18Seventh Star is not a Black Sabbath album, never has been & never will be. It was written & recorded as a solo album. There are only 2 Sabbath sounding tracks on it, the title track & In For the Kill, from my memory. It is Iomm’is best solo or collaboration record though. Then as we know the infinite wisdom of a record company intervenes, again. Incidentally only this morning Classic Rock Louder has a Sabbath article rating their albums. I know it is someone else’s opinion & we all have our own, Born Again gets second last, Forbidden rightfully last. BA hasn’t stood the test of time well. I was pumped for it’s release back then as I had read about Gillan joining The Sabs. Being younger & in party mode at that time it sounded great. A woeful mix doesn’t help it either. As time passes, not so good for me. There are a few decent tracks, but over all Gillan’s vocal does not suit Iommi’s riffs in many ways. At least they tried, even if a heavy drinking session was the precursor to something Ian Gillan regrets it seems. Not to worry & as Keef says, it’s all Rock ‘n Roll, I think Lemmy also said that often. Cheers.
March 14th, 2021 at 02:18MacGregor @ 23, yes sensationalism, excessive hype about certain outrageous rock star behaviour, and outright pandering, etc. – the modus operandi of the rock music/ industry media. The music itself and the quality with which it is performed, seems to be a secondary consideration. And, it is all now so much more “corporate” than before – with tried to true formulas warmed back up and trotted out in the guise of wunderkinds by such poseurs as Greta Van Fleet. Seriously, are we talking real originality or quality here? Not likely! Not even close. But one would never know that going by the fawning attention lavished upon them by the likes of Rolling Stone magazine, Louder, etc.
Uwe @ 24, Born Again is the most under-rated Sabbath album of all. It is in my top 3. Let’s talk about singing range, dynamics, the voice as a percussive instrument, vocal power, phrasing, and stellar showmanship….perfectly summed up in that track “Disturbing the Priest”. Gillan takes us on an absolute roller coaster ride with that one….not even the venerable Dio could take us on such a wild journey. And go back and take a listen to Gillan’s No Laughing in Heaven….there are not many vocalists who manage to tell a story is such a dynamic, dramatic, humorous and versatile fashion with all the vocal peaks and valleys he climbs and descends throughout that 5 minute long song. I have not heard any other singer come close to doing a performance like that one. Gillan in his prime – almost untouchable.
March 14th, 2021 at 04:27DeeperPurps @ 26 – Yes indeed, MTV started it all & then to today’s ‘entertainment’ scenario! Ozzy has been lucky indeed being surrounded by good musicians & songwriters, Sabbath & those first 2 albums that you mentioned with Rhoads, Daisley & Kerslake. Without those musicians Ozzy may very well have gone straight into the abyss me thinks. Back in the day I purchased the 3rd album, Bark at the Moon but gave up on him then. Randy Rhoads was special indeed, Jake E Lee was ok, but the songs fell away in quality. I never could see what the fuss was about Ozzy after that. As we know the marketing & the show biz side of it, we know where that all comes from. The Sabbath song Disturbing the Priest is a classic, great song to annoy the neighbours with, or anyone else for that matter. I went to a Gillan concert 1982 & he was going off like that vocally, No Laughing in Heaven was performed from my memory of that show. He is a one of a kind, even if those sort of performances altered his vocals somewhat for the 90’s & after that. Intense he was at times, however I am not sure his melody & phrasing etc works with those big riffs of Iommi’s. Gillan has often said he felt out of place, singing live especially & didn’t enjoy it very much, for different reasons, something along those lines anyway. That album is all guitar & vocal in that appalling mix, too lop sided & unfortunately Iommi cannot locate the masters, wherever & whoever has them. A shame that is! Cheers.
March 14th, 2021 at 09:10MacGregor @27. I would have loved to have seen Gillan back in his full voice prime. Somewhere between the Sabbath adventure of 1983 and the Mark II reunion of 1984, his voice changed. I recall something about nodes on his vocal cords or tonsils having required surgery. After that he never sounded quite the same. I did get to see him solo in Montreal during his Gillan’s Inn tour of 2006 and he was in fine form in his more mature voice. He couldn’t quite hit the high notes of yore, but he nevertheless did a fine job on the material. He did Laughing in Heaven, and despite not hitting the really high notes, could still do those roller coaster ascents and descents, with full dynamics. He is one of a kind.
March 15th, 2021 at 04:32DeeperPurps @ 28 – Yes I remember reading back then he had surgery on nodes & I am sure it was between Gillan & Sabbath. It may have been before the tour of the Magic album & he was testing it out when I saw him, as he certainly did test it. It could have been between Sabbath & Purple but I am sure it was the former & the reason I remember it was because of seeing Gillan live in Sydney. I thought then he is potentially damaging his voice because of how much he was pushing it, really over doing it in many ways. When Born Again came out he went ballistic on Disturbing the Priest & other songs & the first thing I thought was, hmmmm there doesn’t seem to be anything wrong with his voice there, obviously the operation was a success. I was a little concerned when the MK2 reunion was announced, wondering how he pulled up after that Sabbath tour. However I was quietly confident for 2 reasons, as the world tour was starting in New Zealand & Australia. We get them fresh off the boat, Gillan’s vocal & both he & Blackmore getting on fine. Turns out it wasn’t Gillan’s vocal that was a problem that week as Jethro Tull were playing 2 nights before Purple. A potentially awesome week of 2 of my favourite bands live in concert. Ian Anderson’s voice was trashed from the Tull 1984 world tour & the gig was pulled after 20 minutes. We had Tull at the end of their world tour. How is that for irony. At least Purple made up for it in some way & I went twice to try to forget the Tull disaster. We rock music fans go through a lot of stress at times, no one listens though. Good to chat to you. Cheers.
March 15th, 2021 at 21:37Hi MacGregor, I saw Purple on that same Mark II reunion world tour, just a few months after you, in March 1985 in Montreal. I was tickled pink (well maybe Purple) to finally see my all time heroes performing right before my eyes. I was up front centre for the last 30 minutes of the concert. Gillan was in fine voice then and to my ears, was fully able to hit the notes on Child in Time back then. Yes nice chatting with you here….I get back on here more often lately. I do miss our exchanges on that old Classic Rock Mag comments section though – pity that they pulled that forum.
March 16th, 2021 at 16:44