![[hand]](/hs-pics/portraits/hands/morse9.jpg)
![[face]](/hs-pics/portraits/faces/paice.jpg)
Three of them
Candice Night was interviewed by the Iron City Rocks podcast, and among other things discussed, she spoke at length about Ritchie Blackmore’s health issues that affect his ability to tour these days.
Episode 559: Men Without Hats and Candice Night: 08/4/25, Candice’s segment starts at 25’30” into the show.
One of the things that’s so great about Ritchie is he can recognize — he’s very in tune with his own body, and he stays on top of everything. Thank goodness. And when he doesn’t, I nag him to stay on top of it, which he hates, but at least somebody’s doing it — you know, like eating well and things like that.
There’s the three main issues with him that are going on. He has a heart issue. He had a heart attack a couple of years ago, so we stay on top of that. He’s got gout, so that’s difficult. It’s affecting his feet really badly. And it’s starting in his forefinger, so it’s hurting the mobility in that, so he just had an injection for that. And his back, of course, which has always been an issue. He hasn’t taken any back injections since he had the heart issue. So everything kind of is working together. So, it’s hard — it is hard for him. But he’s at the point now where — he’s very smart when it comes to things like that.
It’s not so much the travel on a plane. Honestly, it’s the aggravation before you even get into the plane and after you get into the plane and it’s all the sitting of traveling. So that’ll affect his back and all the rest of it. And the jet lag that stresses your heart. All of these things. Waiting on those lines when you have to get to JFK [New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport] and you have to go transatlantic, and then coming off and going back through the security lines and the customs lines and all the rest of that stuff, and all of that stuff, it really does take a toll on a human — on a healthy human, so forget about someone who’s 80 years old and going through these issues. But he did just say to me yesterday, which I wait for his… With Ritchie, if you try to pressure him to do something, he instantly says no. He’s like a teenager. And so now I’ve got three of them. But learning how to deal with that a little bit better. So I wait for him to come to the realization, or I drop little seeds here and there and try to wait for him to be ready to talk about it. And he did just say, ‘What about doing some BLACKMORE’S NIGHT dates in the fall?’ So, of course, I got greatly excited about that. So now I’ve gotta contact the agent. But he would rather do places that he can drive to. He takes the night off the next day. Gone are the days where you do five shows in a row, including travel. That’s just way too much. For anybody, it’s difficult to do that. And we don’t have a tour bus and we don’t have private planes. If we go someplace, I’m driving. So it’s like a mini road trip, but not really because we have to just get to the place, rest that night. Hopefully it’s close enough to the venue. You get to the venue, you go back, you get a good night’s sleep that night. Hopefully they’re not doing construction or maintenance in the hotel or the maids don’t wake you up at seven o’clock in the morning. and then you move on to the next place and have a day of travel. So it’s a very slowed down way of doing it. But honestly, I’d much rather take something than nothing at all.
On a related note, Blackmore’s official channel have posted a couple of clips from one of the last Rainbow shows — the 2019 Sweden Rock Festival, that is said being produced for a future release:
Thanks to Blabbermouth for the info and quotes, and to Daniel Bengtsson for the heads-up on the Rainbow release.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
It pains me to hear Burn like that – with clumsy drums and a guitarist that can no longer keep up – the idea of Ritchie revisiting his rock past (without the aid of another guitarist handling the parts Ritchie can no longer credibly do) should be laid to rest for the future, please. The only good thing about Reunionbow was that (i) not too many people saw how a legend was tarnished, and (ii) it was luckily not financially successful enough to invite a third repeat. Or maybe the pandemic was good for something after all. 😂
As for Ritchie’s air travel habits: Can anybody please explain to me why a man his age, health and wealth doesn’t travel first class (or in a private plane?) and if need be with an accompanying doctor? No first class passenger has to wait in line for anything. You get picked up and dropped off. If Ritchie is too much a miser regarding his own circumstance/amenities, a word of advice to him: You can’t take it with you./Das letzte Hemd hat keine Taschen.
I once read that Mick Jagger always travels first class (when he doesn’t fly private) and that on transatlantic flights the first thing he does on board is change into – suitable expensive – pajamas (not any worse than tights, Ritchie!) so he can comfortably sleep most of the flight through. For chrissakes be an aging rock star and travel in comfort and don’t have your wife drive you to gigs! 🙄
The mind boggles. 🤯 You know there is cottage industry charm AND there is outright curmudgeonly silliness/stubbornness.
Ritchie’s past heart attack, the gout and his back problems all make me feel for him, but unlike many people he is in a position to accommodate for all that if he really still wants to tour (it’s equally fine if he says he simply doesn’t want to anymore!).
August 6th, 2025 at 03:30Heart troubles, gout and back pains, poor guy 🥺
Good for him he has a sweet woman who takes care of him 😊
“With Ritchie, if you try to pressure him to do something, he instantly says no. He’s like a teenager.”
– 😄😄
“But honestly, I’d much rather take something than nothing at all.”
August 6th, 2025 at 04:34– awww 🥰
Ok, maybe he acts like a teenager! But a guy that can do this riff
https://youtu.be/y5y7vCTBrtc?si=ZITKSDvQ7Z_nE0Og
He is forgiven for everything 😃
August 6th, 2025 at 04:38The Rainbow clips from Sweden Rock on par with DP 1980. Why did you do it, Ritchie?
August 6th, 2025 at 05:22Uwe’s amazing health and travel advice for someone he doesn’t even know and what the real issues are. And how old is Uwe? And we know how old Ritchie is. Add the sums up and what do we have. Someone talking utter bollocks. Cheers
August 6th, 2025 at 07:29the man is 80, and his health isn’t great it seems. he owes the world nothing. sit back, relax, and enjoy the time that’s let. he’s left an incredible legacy that will live forever
sweden rock; I look forward to the release. wish it was the final gig in Spain, but there you go
while the 2016-2019 Rainbow era pales compared to what came before does not equal that the shows shouldn’t have happened. imo, plenty of stuff that made it worthwhile.
yes, Blackmore should have rehearsed more. he definitely underestimated how playing largely acoustic for 19 years affects your ability to play electric.
and they should have played more shows – road legs and confidence is what you need.
regardless; I know a properly produced Sweden Rock film will give me lots of enjoyment. And while it’s probably a cheaper production than Germany 2016 (beautifully shot), it will be nice to have a document of the last run of dates which saw Ritchie playing rock.
August 6th, 2025 at 08:17Cause that won’t happen again. And as someone who was too young to catch Rainbow (pun intended) before 2016, I’m grateful that I got to see them a few times since 2016
In response to your comment, Uwe in #1, I have to say that I find it quite harsh and heartless how you think and write about Ritchie. This is still Ritchie’s private decision, and to accuse him of being stingy and incapable (in playing the guitar) is quite cheeky, presumptuous, and disrespectful. Writing something on the web is different than saying it to his face… I experienced it live in Biedigheim with the Rainbow reunion, and it was one of the most touching experiences singing Stargazer with my buddies while Blackmore stood in front of us on stage. And let’s finally stop bashing 75-80 year olds, who still bring us fans joy – there are still millions of fans who love to hear and see this, even Gillan is old, and no one criticizes him and his limited singing. If you don’t like something, don’t dwell on it; there is plenty of music you can listen to if you don’t like Blackmore actual. Had to be said , sorry.
August 6th, 2025 at 08:46to #4:
August 6th, 2025 at 08:49there was no Deep Purple any more in 1980…and in 1984 they did a very cool record called “Perfect Strangers” which was another style but good!
I am fairly sure Ritchie doesn’t fly economy, Uwe. He mostly plays gigs in the NY/NJ area these days. No reason to fly there.
August 6th, 2025 at 09:53@ 1…Uwe, Just be glad Ritchie is around still performing, fans still pay a lot more these days going to see Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson and their terrible. But they go because we just don’t know how much time we have left here on Earth.
August 6th, 2025 at 11:53@ 8 It was a Deep Purple in 1980.. Bogus Purple.. ;-D
August 6th, 2025 at 13:27#8. I am not sure I follow. Is it enough to have RB standing onstage regardless of the state of his playing?
August 6th, 2025 at 14:18Oh come all ye faithful and pour your just wrath on me! 😂
I was in Bietigheim too. And at Lorelei. Glasgow too. Plus Berlin. I had tickets for Munich as well, but gave them away for free to the IT guy in our firm who wanted to see Blackmore one more time (he was terminally ill) when it turned out I had a surprise conflicting appointment. I’ve thus been to four Reunionbow gigs and therefore believe to have some authority on the matter. Not at a single one of these performances could they handle Burn as a song. If something is crap I say it and don’t rinse it in sugar water first. When Whitesnake do better at Burn than Ritchie something is wrong.
If that is disrespectful to you, fine. Ritchie’s refusal to tour with a credible Rainbow line-up, properly rehearse and get into shape to play Rock’n’Roll again must have then been the opposite: a demonstration of undying love and respect for his fans, my bad for not realizing this earlier.
May I quote Candice for a sec:
It’s not so much the travel on a plane. Honestly, it’s the aggravation before you even get into the plane and after you get into the plane and it’s all the sitting of traveling. So that’ll affect his back and all the rest of it. And the jet lag that stresses your heart. All of these things. Waiting on those lines when you have to get to JFK [New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport] and you have to go transatlantic, and then coming off and going back through the security lines and the customs lines and all the rest of that stuff, and all of that stuff, it really does take a toll on a human — on a healthy human, so forget about someone who’s 80 years old and going through these issues.
Those issues Candice raises could 90% be avoided by first class airline travel, just sayin’. For those of you who interject that Ritchie maybe doesn’t want to spend that much money: If he raised ticket prices at his castle gigs in Europe by just one Euro per ticket, he would have plenty balanced even first class airline fares for himself, his wife and his children plus his mom-in-lawnand I don’t believe that BN fans would have issues paying one Euro more so Ritchie & family can travel in safety and comfort. I certainly wouldn’t. Hey, I’m Catholic, I pay church tax and therefore co-finance how the Pope lives, where should my qualms for such an arrangement come from? 😆
Finally, I never said I’m just a “fan” of DP – Taylor Swift has “fans” and I think they’re called Swifties, I’m not a Purpliftie! – and the people in its universe. I’m a chronicler and that entails pointing out the good, the bad and the ugly.
And I repeat: Should Ritchie come to the decision that the touring part of his life is over, then that is a perfectly respectable to me. He’s paid his dues. But asking Candice as a mother of two to chauffeur him around gig to gig is hilarious. As Little Ian once so aptly put it: ”I hear he’s doing folk songs on acoustic guitar with his girlfriend singing – and her mother being their manager … so I’m sure it’s all very professional.” 🤣
You may now resume pouncing on me. Who’s next? 😎
August 6th, 2025 at 16:14Herr MacGregor, since you asked:
I’m turning 65 in a few months, my health is neither terrible nor amazing, I never smoked or took drugs on a regular basis and only consume alcohol to dinner about three times a week (a glass or two of red wine) i.e. a lot less than Ritchie who is a functioning alcoholic (as many men are), I have bad leg circulation (a family affliction, my leg venous valves are pretty much shot as they were with my mom and dad when they were old), morning glory lamentably ain’t what it used to be either, I’m afraid my testosterone levels are likely low – a doctor once told me “within the age bracket“ which as we all know is doctor speak for “pretty darn low” 😂, my in California dwelling son keeps pestering me to do something about it via testosterone supplements (“Everybody does them!“), but I don’t believe in dietary supplements of whatever kind, my prostate is enlarged (but I don’t need to take a leak all the time) and one of my knee joints is “made of metal, its circuits gleam” as Rob Halford would put it. I consider all those slimming injections that now make the rounds health-hazardous as they mess with your natural metabolism and a catastrophe waiting to happen. Look what they did to Elon Musk, but then he was stark raving mad before already.
Any flight exceeding three hours, I will not fly economy/coach, I’m (or used to be) 1,90 meters tall and even as a young man found flying economy for extended periods of time difficult, so I simply stopped doing it and flew business. I don’t care about on-board amenities, free alcohol (I don’t drink on planes, alcohol tastes weird up high) or better food (airplane food is airplane food no matter what class you are in), but I need room to comfortably sleep which is how I spent most of my flights because I find flying incredibly boring. And when I’m bored I fall asleep immediately.
Any further questions? Are you now worried? 😎
August 6th, 2025 at 18:03Herr MacGregor, since you asked:
I’m turning 65 in a few months, my health is neither terrible nor amazing, I never smoked or took drugs on a regular basis and only consume alcohol to dinner about three times a week (a glass or two of red wine) i.e. a lot less than Ritchie who is a functioning alcoholic (as many men are), I have bad leg circulation (a family affliction, my leg venous valves are pretty much shot as they were with my mom and dad when they were old), morning glory lamentably ain’t what it used to be either, I’m afraid my testosterone levels are likely low – a doctor once told me “within the age bracket“ which as we all know is doctor speak for “pretty darn low” 😂, my in California dwelling son keeps pestering me to do something about it via testosterone supplements (“Everybody does them!“), but I don’t believe in dietary supplements of whatever kind, my prostate is enlarged (but I don’t need to take a leak all the time) and one of my knee joints is “made of metal, its circuits gleam” as Rob Halford would put it. I consider all those slimming injections that now make the rounds health-hazardous as they mess with your natural metabolism and a catastrophe waiting to happen. Look what they did to Elon Musk, but then he was stark raving mad before already.
Any flight exceeding three hours, I will not fly economy/coach, I’m (or used to be) 1,90 meters tall and even as a young man found flying economy for extended periods of time difficult, so I simply stopped doing it and flew business. I don’t care about on-board amenities, free alcohol (I don’t drink on planes, alcohol tastes weird up high) or better food (airplane food is airplane food no matter what class you are in), but I need room to comfortably sleep which is how I spent most of my flights because I find flying incredibly boring. And when I’m bored I fall asleep immediately.
Any further questions? Are you now worried? 😎
August 6th, 2025 at 18:03#12
“no not regardeless of his playing” because he played good enough and played fine solos in another way than in the 70ies, not aggressiv but good and although the hole band wasn´t really heavy it was a good band and a holy atmosphere. I know, that the original Rainbow in the 70ies were much better…but i liked the playing in Biedigheim and it was a good concert where we celebrated Rainbow, sometimes you must relax your mind to feel the important things in life…
August 6th, 2025 at 20:31Hi Uwe, who are you to judge Ritchie? A little humility would do you good. I don’t know if you’re a musician, but I don’t think so. Otherwise, you wouldn’t talk about Ritchie as if he were a supermarket product or a consumer item that you buy and then evaluate. That’s not how you treat artists. That’s consumer speak, sorry. You’re completely forgetting the historical context and significance of these Rainbow memory concerts, and believe me, Ritchie certainly won’t care what we think about him. He’s an artist who does what he thinks is right, and he’s always done it that way, and that’s why he’s so popular with his fans. If you’re not a fan, then you’re probably a music critic, and for those, there’s the famous quote by Frank Zappa, which you surely know: “Fuck all them writers with the pen in their hand.” (Zappa)
August 6th, 2025 at 20:43Only Ritchie could play the Burn riff properly; he had a unique way of powering it along. So if now even he can’t do it, then no one can.
I’m deeply saddened to learn of his ills, but touched by Candice’s evident love for him.
August 6th, 2025 at 21:11Uwe, your comments were of the ‘get over it’ mind set. Easy to criticise and no one is really interested in anyone’s health anyway are they? Health is a private matter. Cheers
August 6th, 2025 at 21:49#13 Uwe:
I think you can find all the flaws you want in Candice’s words to criticize the fact that Ritchie perhaps finds excuses to go back on tour, but the reality is very simple dear Uwe:
Ritchie is in poor health, and when that happens you’re justified in saying, “I don’t feel like doing what I used to do anymore.”
Call it tiredness, call it fear, even call it dread, because when you’re not well you’re also afraid to do “normal” things, I see it with all my elderly relatives, those who are still alive and those who are no longer with us.
At a certain age, you just want to be left alone for as long as possible, trying to see doctors as little as possible…
I have no doubt that if Ritchie were in better health we would still be seeing him on stage!
August 6th, 2025 at 22:44We should probably lay the “Ritchie flies in economy” discussion to rest (of course he doesn’t) but Uwe raises valid points regarding the unprofessionalism of Rainbow’s reunion gigs. David Keith’s flailing drumming, Ritchie being a shadow of his former self, the fact that they were rocked up BN gigs billed as Rainbow. Many fans still fell for it hook, line and sinker. A case of the emperor’s new clothes.
August 7th, 2025 at 05:34@19
“Health is a private matter”
– ohh I agree MacGregor!
August 7th, 2025 at 06:24But I do think Uwe just wanted to make a point of the fact that if you really wanna do something, anything, you can find a way😃
Lieber Gerd, I‘ve been incidentally playing bass in bands since 1977, which doesn‘t make me a musician I know, but close! 😆 Another recommendation from courtroom pleadings: Never use sentences with “I don’t think you are …” if you don’t want to end up looking like a begossener Pudel. Now dry your fur or you’ll catch a cold.
Ritchie is one of my earliest musical idols and I can even play his trademark gypsy scales on bass. I had seen Ritchie at least two dozen times (with vintage Rainbow 5x, with Purple 6x, again with Rainbow 2x, with Blackmore‘s Night more times than I can remember) before I saw and heard the debacle at Lorelei where I could have simply disappeared into the ground fremdschämenderweise.
No amount of nostalgia and “historical context” can excuse an underrehearsed band not qualified to play heavy rock with a bandleader that wasn’t just a little rusty, but rusty as hell (I’ve been to enough David Gilmour and Roger Waters gigs to know that even long pauses in making music and gigging need not necessarily diminish your live chops if you work at it). I go to too many gigs of people as old as Ritchie to not hear the difference between a band that did its homework and one that didn’t. Reunionbow were either underpaid (lack of motivation), inexperienced or underrehearsed, likely all three.
Bietigheim was better than Lorelei, I’ll give it that, but then Lorelei was the absolute nadir in Ritchie’s playing ever (and that includes all BN gigs I’ve seen where Ritchie was never as appalling as at Lorelei).
I don’t think Ritchie is or ever was a “supermarket product”. I did not expect great inspiration from him at the Reunionbow gigs, I’m not delusional, he’s regularly more inspired at BN gigs because that music is meanwhile closer to his heart (to the chagrin of the old Rainbow fans). But what I rightfully expected was – what’s that nice German word for quality again? – Wertarbeit delivered with panache by a bunch of alter Hasen, not this feeble Aufguss.
A young Blackmore would have been merciless in his judgement of what he would have seen with Reunionbow and you all know it.
August 7th, 2025 at 06:41I’m a great fan of the “get over it”-philosophy, Herr MacGregor, life is way too short to dwell on past grievances and things you cannot really change whatever the origins.
Ritchie can be in permanently good mood for the mere fact that he is still alive, has a great wife and two splendid kids. Or three, if you count in Jürgen whom he discarded long ago.
August 7th, 2025 at 14:52c’est sur que “Uwe Hornung” ne sais que critiquer et dires des conneries….Ah si il ne participais plus à ce genre de commentaires cela serait l’idéal….mais il connait tout…sait tout….et connais mieux ritchie que tout le monde !!!☝🏿
August 7th, 2025 at 15:04Not true, Maurane, I don’t criticize everything. I find Mélanie Laurent unequivocally hot.
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQ6bRzQSS8KurIzNBv5KC2Xdffz96i0zd0PxUPQ3-
https://static1.colliderimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/grand-illusion-4.jpg&usqp=CAU
August 7th, 2025 at 17:23Uwe gets off on putting the boot into certain people Karin. Pot, kettle, black is one saying isn’t it. He will never let certain things go, he loves to dwell in the repeated put down scenario. And in regard to ‘you can do anything’ if you put your mind to it, or words to that effect, no you cannot. Physical limitations play a rather big part of the physical biological organism. And then there is the mental side of things for us human beings, living in the now or in a delusional dream world. Reality does bite in this life for all of us, we all know that. Where is THAT emperor in his ‘new’ clothes that Daniel mentions? We know where he dwells. For Uwe to compare Pink Floyd alumni to DP or Rainbow, well enough said there, a slight variation in musical content. I have mentioned other well know artists who have gone out ‘under rehearsed’ here before. People still seem to enjoy the occasion, it is what it is. If anyone was deluded regarding the ‘Rainbow’ gigs, it was the people with certain ‘unreal’ expectations.
August 7th, 2025 at 22:04A good morning it is with nice coffee too here in no man’s land. Cheers
@ 23 – “Reunionbow were either underpaid (lack of motivation), inexperienced or underrehearsed, likely all three.” Money wouldn’t have had anything to do with it. Nervous as hell Uwe should be included. The weight of expectation would have been rather large we would think. Can you imagine trying to go along with that scenario? The whole thing looked underprepared & we were commenting before hand on the BN aspect to it all. The big one of course is that none of us were there at rehearsals and the like. Would you go along with the way it was Uwe or would you jump ship? Think about it now. They all went along for the ride, simple really. Jens would have been rapt wouldn’t he, a chance to play with Ritchie on those songs. The drummer would have gone along for the ride and he is trying to keep his day job too. The bass player had been there before with Ritchie, so he goes along for the ride too.
August 8th, 2025 at 07:35Of course the band members would have preferred to rehearse more, wouldn’t they. Everyone has to be there on the same page, all the time. Was Ritchie all that into it? It certainly looked like he was not loving it, possibly regretting the whole thing. Anyway, regarding Gilmour and Waters, they were never away from their respective music for that long. And they would be a lot keener to prove a point than Ritchie, don’t you think. Cheers.
@ 25 :
Uwe Hornung, c’est un fait, connait énormément de choses à propos de Deep Purple et des carrières solo de ses différents membres, et ses contributions sont toujours argumentées de façon riche, précise et solide. Sa participation à ce forum est très précieuse. Comme il n’oublie pas d’être intelligent, il a des avis, des opinions personnelles, et il les partage généreusement ici. Et il le fait toujours avec beaucoup d’humour, ce qui est très appréciable.
En ce qui me concerne, je consulte ce forum quotidiennement, et cette fidélité repose sur l’assurance de pouvoir y lire les messages de Herr Hornung (ainsi que d’autres précieux contributeurs de qualité, tels que Karin Verndal ou MacGregor, parmi d’autres…) dont je suis un lecteur fidèle. Bien entendu, il n’y a aucune obligation d’adhérer systématiquement à ses avis, qui demeurent toutefois respectables.
J’ajoute que, pour autant que je puisse en juger, il ne fait pas de fautes de grammaire, ce qui est très appréciable.
= = =
Uwe Hornung, it’s a fact, knows an incredible amount about Deep Purple and the solo careers of its various members, and his contributions are always well-argued, rich, precise, and solid. His participation in this forum is extremely valuable. Since he doesn’t forget to be clever, he has personal views and opinions, and he generously shares them here. And he always does so with a great sense of humor, which is much appreciated.
As far as I’m concerned, I visit this forum daily, and this loyalty rests on the assurance that I’ll be able to read posts from Herr Hornung (as well as other high-quality and valuable contributors, such as Karin Verndal or MacGregor, among others…), whose loyal reader I am. Of course, there’s no obligation to systematically agree with his opinions, which nonetheless remain respectable.
I would also add that, as far as I can tell, he doesn’t make any grammatical errors, which is very much appreciated.
August 8th, 2025 at 08:34@ 23- The other point in comparing to a similar situation has me now repeating myself. Trevor Rabin had not played live rock music with Yes or with any others for 20 years. Come the Anderson, Rabin, Wakeman bands first gig, well enough said there. He commented on his out of touch experience. No matter how much rehearsing the band did and how much he was really putting into practising all by himself, the first live gigs showed it all. And the next few also, rusty, anxious and nervous to boot. He said it took him about half a dozen concerts before he started to feel ‘right’ and somewhat at ease with his out of touch playing becoming much better by the day. It happens to some more than others, no matter how ‘professional’. Actors also go through this, sports people too. The other concerts that I previously mentioned in regard to this scenario are from the Robin Trower and Jack Bruce band from 2009. They only played a handful of concerts and that filmed concert in the Netherlands shows plenty of the rustiness and not that very well rehearsed at times. Bruce even comments on this after an extended jam where he cuts loose on the bass for a while. “Now we appear to be getting somewhere” he quips with a wry grin looking at Trower, who laughs, looking a little nervous perhaps. If we compare to other well oiled machines eh? Some commenters need to sit back and think about the different aspects as to how different situations are just that, different, for many reasons. Easy to judge from an audience view point. If you buy tickets to a live concert, does that guarantee a well oiled machine performance? Most of us hope for that and that is fine but is that an expectation that is ‘unrealistic’? Especially if the attendees are somewhat suspect of some of the band members in question and also to the rehearsals or lack of. Get up there and perform in a live setting in that situation and see how well it goes. Or don’t do it at all, resign before hand if you don’t feel professional enough about it all. Would anyone here play in a slapped together band situation like that with Ritchie? Be realistic now, no bullshit. Cheers.
August 8th, 2025 at 08:38@24
“I’m a great fan of the “get over it”-philosophy, Herr MacGregor, life is way too short to dwell on past grievances and things you cannot really change whatever the origins.”
– AMEN to that!
Uwe, I always get so happy and satisfied when you sometimes write a sensible sentence 😄
August 8th, 2025 at 09:41@25
Salut Maurane 😊
Excusez-moi, mais je dois défendre Uwe ! Il en sait vraiment beaucoup, c’est un homme gentil et drôle.
August 8th, 2025 at 09:43Il est parfois un peu espiègle, mais je ne pense vraiment pas qu’il y ait de mal en lui !
@26
“ I find Mélanie Laurent unequivocally hot.”
– now I had to google her! And yes, she is really something else 😃
This guy is her equivalent:
August 8th, 2025 at 09:52https://youtu.be/n4nPa35CZPI?si=zGdVVIBN492whPSY
At least regarding the hair colour 😊
@27
“He will never let certain things go, he loves to dwell in the repeated put down scenario”
– WHAT?!
UWE?
NOOOOO 🤣
“And in regard to ‘you can do anything’ if you put your mind to it, or words to that effect, no you cannot.”
– of course you’re right MacGregor, but otoh you can also stop yourself remarkably by telling yourself that there are many things you certainly can’t do!
If I may play the devil’s advocate for a bit: of course if a person doesn’t have any legs he can’t do a lot of things that a person with both legs can, BUT: he can developed other abilities to compensate for the loss of both legs 😊
And in my experience, dealing with people with all kinds of difficulties in life, physically and mentally , I can easily see those who will benefit almost at once with my treatment, and those who have all kinds of excuses.
I care for them all of course, but it truly is overwhelming how one’s inner voice can stop a person.
A positive outlook on life is an AMAZING tool 😊☺️
“And then there is the mental side of things for us human beings, living in the now or in a delusional dream world. Reality does bite in this life for all of us, we all know that.”
– MacGregor, I always ask of my patients to live in the real world but with a positive mindset.
And honestly, you cannot believe how much a difference it is.
Real life can be hard to swallow, I know personally, but when I’m down, biting the bullit, so to speak, I always imagine that my life – with all the problems and sorrows – anyhow is the dream of others.
Please don’t misunderstand me here, I don’t mean that it’s nice if people envy me, NOT AT ALL!, but I know that even though I now and then feel like the book of my life is written by a person I’m not so sure likes me at all, then I have so much to be grateful for ☺️
And that is the secret, as I see it: for every grievance you have, find 4 things you can be truly grateful for, and the outlook of life changes immediately.
And if it is difficult, then start writing a journal. Don’t make it difficult, just write down what you have had of positive experiences for that day, or what blessings you have 😊
Yesterday I wrote:
1) thankful for hot water in my shower (even though I always shower in chilly water 😄, but it sure is nice there is hot water)
2) thankful for warm milk in my coffee (why warm milk you ask? So my coffee isn’t getting cold to early)
3) had a genuine laugh at a very good joke (no, I won’t tell it in here, you know Uwe reads everything and it was a joke about lawyers 🤣)
“THAT emperor in his ‘new’ clothes”
– thank you for reminding me of our late and great author H.C.Anderson, he was born 150 years ago the other day, and I will indeed brush off my old books with his fairy tales. Ohh boy that man could provoke one’s mind 🤩
https://youtu.be/-6X0rOC32AA?si=YZK_EwX94vityAUb
August 8th, 2025 at 10:35Stone me, but I don’t enjoy underrehearsed bands at all and if it would be the friggin Beatles playing in my living room. I don’t have issues with people making a mistake or missing a cue (or even having a bad arm at Budokan), that’s life, but underrehearsed it to me like an actor not knowing his lines.
Ritchie can tour or not tour, that’s his choice. The chore of international airplane travel (and Candice was explicitly pointing to that) can however be largely overcome by how much you are willing to pay – Stephen Hawking flew all his life, sometimes even in zero-gravity.
https://media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com/image/upload/t_fit-1500w,f_auto,q_auto:best/msnbc/Components/Photos/070426/070426_StevenHawkinsZeroG_hmed_6p.jpg
And for the life of me I cannot understand why it should take less time and determination for David Gilmour and Roger Waters to not sound rusty than for Ritchie. The reality is that on the first Reunionbow tour he was a lazy bum not willing to invest the work and on the second tour he knew of his limitations yet went just as unprepared. But I understand, I’m being unreasonable if at four Reunionbow gigs I pay money for, the band make a mess of Burn every time. How presumptuous of me to expect anything better rather than worshipping the moment – Glenn would no doubt say the ‘ere and now – of Ritchie no longer being able to credibly play one of his signature tunes. The king might have no clothes anymore, but I am supposed to wallow in how magnificent they used to look on him? Could I then have paid my tickets with counterfeit money too and comment to Ritchie to just remember the times when he was still paid with real lucre?
And I always thought that being a DP fan had a little bit to do with appreciating how well people play and how tight they sound. Did I miss something, did we turn into a Led Zep forum overnight?
Oh sorry, now I’m seeing him as a supermarket product – rather I must free myself of any quality expectations. I geddit. 😂
August 8th, 2025 at 13:36Our esteemed Uwe is entitled to express his opinion as much as he pleases. And yet… If I… If I were Uwe, I’d use more moderation. Posting too much is like pulling an Yngwie and trying to play every available note at once and then some. It wouldn’t hurt to pull a Ritchie and play more sparsely, I mean, post more sparsely.
August 8th, 2025 at 14:35“Uwe, I always get so happy and satisfied when you sometimes write a sensible sentence 😄“
I didn’t know you were that easy to please, Frau Verndal, but it’s just statistical coincidence, ten chimps typing would do the same occasionally.
August 8th, 2025 at 15:18@27
Ohh and I forgot this, regarding to see the positive in a situation:
Let’s say, for arguments sake, that you by accident get hit by a falling tree! You are struck to the ground, can’t move.
First you feel strong pain, but when you are helped out, you discover that nothing is broken!
Later on at the emergency room, you are told you have a severe concussion, and are ordered by the nice doctor and nurse to take it very easy…
Now you have two choices: 1) be so angry and p.o of the idiot that didn’t think about anything when he took down the tree, or 2) you can be so grateful that, well ok you have a concussion and a headache that is awful, but at least your neck is still in one piece!
Which of the two choices make you happy?
I hope I always will be able to take the beautiful road filled with gratitude, because ohh boy it makes everything so much easier 🤩
And if music is a possibility, then I will certainly recommend this one:
https://youtu.be/x634gVUwtG0?si=eq-wb9khTTKb8d9x
And this one 😃
https://youtu.be/01-2-7_IRFA?si=YmooTBPaf1mj5ts7
No headache, how ever dramatic they can be, could stop me listening to these ‘Mona Lisas’ in the world of beautiful music 🥰
August 8th, 2025 at 19:03@34
‘Count your blessings’ my beloved aunt used to say. She was right. Wish I could tell her but then again I guess she knew I’d find out.
Hey, and you didn’t even mention music, dear Karin. But warm milk may do as well of course – for those who like it. I only drink cold milk – and the only reason I drink a little at all is that it helps so I don’t have to wait half an hour til I can drink my coffee …
August 8th, 2025 at 20:32#35 Uwe:
I think that playing Burn and other songs by Rainbow and Purple is objectively more difficult than playing less tight and slow songs like those by Gilmour and Waters, just as it is even more difficult to play songs by Metallica, for example.
Keeping your BPMs up as you age, get arthritis, wear out tendons and all that, is much more complicated, probably even impossible.
and Gilmour and Watars are probably in better shape than Ritchie.
August 9th, 2025 at 01:22@ 35- No one said that you have to ‘enjoy’ under rehearsed bands Uwe, not many would, would they. Well a lot of people probably don’t care to be honest, especially when it comes to ‘legends’ or even just for a night out. And again, comparing one individual to another regarding the ‘flying’ comments is utterly pointless. These people are all individual in their lives, they do what they do etc. Just because one person does something does NOT mean another should. The two ex Pink Floyd members getting ready to perform is totally different. What part of that can you not understand. It is a poor comparison, the time disconnected from the older music and playing live is much less, the attitude of the individuals very very different, pretty easy to see that one. That is the one and only reason I commented in regard to Trevor Rabin. The twenty year gap in the live performance of the music is a very similar time frame and with similar ‘obstacles’ to overcome. Although Trevor is nine years younger and didn’t apparently have any health issues. And he is totally different as everyone else is to Ritchie in attitude. I am not making excuses for Blackmore or the other musicians, just keeping things in perspective somewhat. The ‘Rainbow’ band didn’t perform more than a few concerts, so no chance of much improvement there in their tightness or gelling as a band etc. They walked a plank in other words, no way back. This has happened for different reasons, that is what it is. No one should ‘have’ to enjoy it, but many do go along with it, for whatever reason. As I said, when you purchase a ticket to an event????????? I seem to recall people talking about how these gigs might turn out, for the reasons that have been mentioned, attitude, selected band members etc. That was before the concerts wasn’t it? It is disappointing for many, I would be disappointed, but not surprised all things considered. Would I purchase a ticket, probably not. And it has nothing to do with so called ‘worshipping’ the individual for their past. That is history long gone and that was also discussed in the comments before the concerts from my memory. I have no doubt the Robin Trower and Jack Bruce concerts in 2009 would have had some of the audience raising their eyes, but most would enjoy it for what it is. Getting an opportunity to witness a few musicians from the glory days performing live in concert. Would they have high expectations? With Bruce’s health issues following his near death liver transplant experience a few years earlier, some people would be possibly aware of that, but not everyone. Were fans there worshipping at a false alter, to put it mildly. Expecting a legend or two to nail it. Who knows. It is what it is. A lot of bands start off their touring rusty, it takes more than a few gigs to get it together, we hear of this often. When an ensemble plays a one off or only a few concerts after an extensive hiatus, there is always a risk, isn’t there. Cue Led Zeppelin in 2007 and Emerson, Lake and Palmer in 2010. Rusty rusty rusty. The amount of rehearsing by both bands was palpable from what we have read. And they were still rusty and nowhere near what they use to be. It happens. What about Deep Purple live in 1976? How deplorable were many of those concerts? Continuing the tour even though the wheels were falling off. What about certain punk bands, live in concert and rough as guts. Cheers.
August 9th, 2025 at 01:51@39
“Hey, and you didn’t even mention music, dear Karin”
– I didn’t!!??
I will immediately take action 😃
Btw I’m not drinking warm milk as such! I heat up milk and pour it in my coffee 🤩
“and the only reason I drink a little at all is that it helps so I don’t have to wait half an hour til I can drink my coffee …”
– how do you make coffee? Or what brand is your coffeemaker? I wish I could have such warm coffee 😃😄
Well, I will now link to some lovely music:
https://youtu.be/NUjIg10axqQ?si=Oubbi8-5AiBdNC18
I know I’ve linked to him before, but ohh I love this tune!
https://youtu.be/nlEfyMoR49M?si=uY9hDbWVy9FR932H
Legend has it that when a journalist asked Jimi Hendrix how it felt to be called the best guitarist on the planet, he answered: ask Rory Gallagher!
https://youtu.be/BIQBVvZ62HE?si=pR5Q1QlcplEqWMVq
August 9th, 2025 at 04:30I hope this goes without saying 🤩
@37
“but it’s just statistical coincidence, ten chimps typing would do the same occasionally.”
– Ohhh so that is your secret! You keep 10 chimps to help you out 😄
What do you feed them? Don’t they make a mess?
“I didn’t know you were that easy to please, Frau Verndal”
– I developed that skill in here 😂
I had forgot all about this one:
https://youtu.be/JswvdnRHzIc?si=8L_ZNToX9XjLXHQL
August 9th, 2025 at 04:47@39
Isn’t this something else:
https://youtu.be/G4djEACK0dM?si=L-lPPtA0WMfi19aU
August 9th, 2025 at 07:12@42,43
“I developed that skill in here.” Brillant!
Huey Lewis was one of the rare highlights on the radio in the otherwise superdreadful 80s. Nice songs, good fun.
Rory Gallagher I had the pleasure to see in concert …a blue collar working.man, no b*llshit approach, he was huge in Germany at the time, everybody’s hero if you were in bluesrock.
Pictures of Home is great of course but the lyrics are so depressing, so I hardly ever put it on.
And to keep from depressing you I won’t tell how I make coffee.
August 9th, 2025 at 11:06“You keep ten chimps to help you out!”
Yeah, but I‘m the undisputed chimp-Führer!
https://64.media.tumblr.com/22e135d876880780b686959a8e3597cb/6012393752a54914-36/s640x960/90c28892a7de5a2cf7887b58390db2cd2a199929.gif
August 9th, 2025 at 15:35Or, more specifically, my job title reads: editor-in-chimp. The higher the monkey climbs …
https://youtu.be/Oq-84Y1EviE
August 9th, 2025 at 16:05Thanks for posting the link.
I now have a ticket for the Men Without Hats gig at the end of the month.
August 9th, 2025 at 17:06It’s a guilty pleasure, but I don’t care.
To keep it short- in my opinion it is Not easier to play slow songs like Waters or Gilmour do than uptempo gems like ‘Burn’….as a lifelong addict to good rock/blues/jazz and an amateur guitarist/Pianist myself i know the pitfalls of keeping a slow grove going…and yes : i can’t stand underrehearsed Bands too..
August 9th, 2025 at 17:19…
“Isn’t this something else?”
No, not really, sounds like C grade diluted Creedence Clearwater Revival/John Fogerty maple syrup, just 20 years too late. 😈
https://youtu.be/hVJEgkuIwVI
I actually preferred Karla‘s (she of Meatloaf fame) life-affirming version, sie schmettert so schön:
https://youtu.be/CbZQyG9qkLQ
Uwe Hornung (author of the self-help tutorial Chatting up non-mature Danish chicks and winning them over easy)
August 9th, 2025 at 17:28Dear all, reunionbow as some like to call them here, weren’t a great live band, but I have to say that the first time round at Birmingham was one of the best gigs I have ever been to. The playing wasn’t great, but the atmosphere was probably the best I’ve been in, grand dad’s with grandkids, sons and daughters, wives and lovers, expecting nothing but to see their hero play the soundtrack to their youths. It was truly amazing. To be fair I expected nothing, so just to hear some of those songs fir the first time was amazing. I was 14 when I saw Purple first, S&M tour, loved that (despite JLT), but Reunionbow at Brum topped the lot. I wouldn’t go again, avoided london a couple of years later, but that gig was fantastic, under rehearsed or not.
August 9th, 2025 at 22:10Vive le Dinamarca!
@45
“Pictures of Home is great of course but the lyrics are so depressing, so I hardly ever put it on.”
– depressing? Really?
Wait a minute…
Pictures of home:
Somebody’s shouting up at a mountain
Only my own words return
Nobody’s out there, it’s a deception
When will I ever learn?
I’m alone here
With emptiness, eagles and snow
Unfriendliness chilling my body
And whispering pictures of home
Wandering blindly, how can they find me?
Maybe they don’t even know
My body is shaking, anticipating
The call of the black footed crow
I’m alone here
With emptiness, eagles and snow
Unfriendliness chilling my body
And taunting with pictures of home
Here in this prison of my own making
Year after day I have grown
Into a hero, but there’s no worship
Where have they hidden my throne?
I’m alone here
With emptiness, eagles and snow
Unfriendliness chilling my body
And screaming out pictures of home
Ok, I have loved this song for years (- and years 😉) and have always seen it as an inner journey: ‘year after day I have grown’ and ‘Wandered blindly, how can they find me? Maybe they don’t even know’
You know when a young person grow into a mature person, some of the development has to happen in solitude to be real, and very often one can be afraid of that loneliness – hence the ‘emptiness, eagles and snow’, and have some serious fear that the butterfly that emerges from the little worm 🐛 may be too unrecognisable for the people in one’s life.
Also this: ‘…have grown into a hero, but there’s no worship, where have they hidden my throne?’
You know children do often – when they are small and helpless – take the position as the royalty in the family (and if course: mum and dad serve them no end ☺️) until they are ready to stand on their own little feet. But the transition can be scary: ‘where is my throne? Ohh noo – do I have to do everything myself now’ 😄
‘Taunting with pictures of home’ – what used to be was so friendly, so well known, but maturing means accepting a new role that in the beginning can feels like ‘unfriendliness chilling my body’.
Or maybe I’m all wrong here 😊
“And to keep from depressing you I won’t tell how I make coffee”
August 9th, 2025 at 23:15– oh please do! I really like to learn news ways of the wonderful life that is indeed coffee! 😃
@50
Well I like all of Dan Baird’s and Georgia Satellites’ songs!
“Uwe Hornung (author of the self-help tutorial Chatting up non-mature Danish chicks and winning them over easy)”
August 9th, 2025 at 23:20– I see a Nobel prize in the near future for you! They have made a new category: wildest fantasy books! 😄
@45
“how I make coffee”
– couldn’t sleep because I thought about this! And then it dawned on me:
Some people believe that instant coffee is depressing, but I don’t. Actually I have the whole enchilada with whole beans, coffee grinder, the ‘semi right’ coffee maker etc, but I only use those things when I make coffee to more people.
When it’s just me, I enjoy instant coffee 😊
Whether it’s good or bad depends on the freshness of the coffee, how much is used (ohh too weak coffee, you know that coffee that can’t defend itself in a dark street is an abomination 😱) but fresh instant coffee there is strong (but otoh not too strong ☺️) with a little splash of milk is pure magic 🤩😍
Did I get it right?
August 10th, 2025 at 05:14@51
“Vive le Dinamarca!”
– well, right back at ya 😃
August 10th, 2025 at 07:36@ 54 – “how I make coffee”– couldn’t sleep because I thought about this! And then it dawned on me:” I am now confused Karin. Even if you THINK of coffee, it keeps you awake????? Now that my friends is a caffeine Junkie! However then you stun me with the horror of horrors, you consume at your choice ‘instant’ coffee. Most coffee aficionados I know Do Not touch instant. I have always presumed you would be right into coffee, the ‘proper’ way to make it. At least if any of us drop around for a visit, you can at least make us a genuine ‘real’ coffee. Cheers.
August 10th, 2025 at 11:33@54 Hats off, Karin!
Where do they sell those crystal balls? In Randers? Next to the EP-museum?
Instant coffee has to do indeed as I want it all, I want it now (to quote an ex DP singer). No time for rituals in the morning. And the time I got goes into cutting those fruits to pieces…
I really appreciate your interpretation of Pictures of Home!
May change my look at it that I kept for some 45 years. Very interesting. Thank you!
Goes to show real art often offers lots of different possibilities to see it. Ian Gillan is a master in creating lyrics that leave space to read a lot between (or even in) the lines.
August 10th, 2025 at 12:23El Gibleto, I hear you, I get the nostalgic curiosity of those people who never saw Rainbow either 1975-84 or 1995-97. But I just did and if there is one thing you can say for Rainbow from those eras: energy was ample, playing topnotch and the band was always shit-tight.
The friends and family aspect you mentioned for the Birmingham gig applied to me as well, I went to Lorelei with my wife (a Pink Floyd/David Gilmour fan), her daughter (like her mom + Dream Theater), her daughter’s boyfriend (Tool, Metallica and Black Sabbath) and my wife‘s first husband (Johnny Winter, Rory Gallagher). I wanted to introduce them to Ritchie the Legend. All four were politely lukewarm about the gig – rightly so – and I was devastated and shamed.
10 seconds into the opener Highway Star I could hear that something was awfully wrong (I‘m good at detecting “underrehearsement”) and the band never recovered.
I always wonder how those people who defend Ritchie’s lackadaisical approach to the reunion shows can align that with his own standards he once set, e.g. in an interview in 1979:
But if someone’s not pulling their weight then I will not put up with someone who’s second rate. I’m not going to jump onstage and say ‘it’s alright ladies and gentlemen, I know they’re not very good but they are my friends’ like most bands do.
As for some of the statements here about Pink Floyd’s music taking less skill to write and play than DP’s or Rainbow’s, I refrain from commenting any further – some opinions leave the realm of coherence for a sensible reaction to them all by themselves.
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/10/49/f9/1049f95a60922e6aaf264dabe0ca3fec.gif
I really should have defended Reunionbow’s subpar performance with the argument that it is simply more difficult and tasking to play Since You’ve Been Gone than anything from Dream Theater or Tool, that would have been quite convincing I’m sure. 😑
August 10th, 2025 at 13:23#57
“Where do they sell those crystal balls? In Randers? Next to the EP-museum?”
– 🤣🤣🤣 well, I wouldn’t know that, would I? I avoid that establishment with all my might!
Now and then I do have to drive by it, but I always make sure to look the other way 😄 (almost religiously)
No, Max, I don’t need a crystal ball, because I am a woman! (Wanted to wrote some more in that sentence. But then it dawned on me – it’s enough to say I am a woman! ☺️)
“No time for rituals in the morning.”
– I get that! I always am busy squeezing a lemon, but that’s about it, besides chopping up an apple (apple is such a jolly word, isn’t it?)
“Thank you!”
– my pleasure!
I would really be sad if anyone avoids listening to the wonderful music of Purple, so where I can be of any assistance I do my bit.
And you are of course right, all interpretations lies in the eyes of the beholder (reader/listener) but I honestly never have thought of that song as depressing.
Not even ‘When a blind man cries’ or ‘Haunted’ strikes me as depressing songs, on the contrary actually. Because if you have your eyesight (or at least some of it) no matter what happens, you’re always in a better position than a person who hasn’t.
And ‘Haunted’ – well I can almost see Ian writing this with ‘tongue-in-cheek’ expression!
Of course when you read the lyrics at first, it does sound like the man is in a terrible state because of a woman, but between the lines there are winks no end.
Ex:
“And Friends
Who can’t recall our names”
– ok, this always makes me giggle!
However this chap a lot of you adores in here, David Coverdale, I am not complaining about his voice, but ohh man some of his songs are quite putting me down…
August 10th, 2025 at 15:35Sometimes he sounds like he is forever completely lost and lonely. But maybe he is just very good at acting it out!
@56
“I am now confused Karin. Even if you THINK of coffee, it keeps you awake?????”
– 😁🤣 yes Sir! Aren’t I intriguing 😅
“However then you stun me with the horror of horrors, you consume at your choice ‘instant’ coffee.”
– ohh but why not MacGregor?
There are several very fine brands in the instant coffee department!
Of course I make coffee after all royal regulations and directions, but when it’s just me, I truly enjoy instant coffee 😃
But aren’t you normally in the tea-drinking group?
“At least if any of us drop around for a visit, you can at least make us a genuine ‘real’ coffee.”
August 10th, 2025 at 16:01– yes OF COURSE! But you see, then there are more than me! 😄
And what a joy it would be to see all of you here north of Randers 🤩
Anton would be jumping up and down, and I will even serve you some very nice whiskey 😃 and chocolate 😍 but please let me know in advance so I haven’t eaten the chocolate 😄
I keep thinking about it … In my first band (Thunderbolt) we played (mostly horrible) covers of Deep Purple (SOTW, Lady Double Dealer + Space Truckin’), Ted Nugent (Cat Scratch Fever and Stranglehold), Ramones (Blitzkrieg Bop and I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend), Status Quo (Caroline and Don’t Think It Matters), KISS (Come On And Love Me), MC5 (Kick Out The Jams), Slade (This Is My Town), Wishbone Ash (Jailbait) etc … I guess we could just about play and sing them that you might have recognized them if you were a very compassionate person.
Little did I know that our approach was all wrong! We should have started with the easy stuff!! Songs from Dark Side Of The Moon, Wish You Were Here, Animals and The Wall. With that repertoire – easily learned and mastered in an aftermath or two – we would have been the most popular of all school bands, why didn’t anybody tell us how beginner-friendly Pink Floyd are?
(Happily humming That ain’t workin’, that’s the way you do it,
money for nothin’ and the chicks for free …)
PS: That was irony, not cynicism!!! 😎
August 10th, 2025 at 16:53#58 Uwe
“As for some of the statements here about Pink Floyd’s music taking less skill to write and play than DP’s or Rainbow’s, I refrain from commenting any further – some opinions leave the realm of coherence for a sensible reaction to them all by themselves.”
Writing is one thing, and playing it is another.
clearly – since you mentioned them – to write and play Dream Theater songs you have to be a real metal musician, who then maybe plays Pink Floyd songs badly because you have no feeling and taste, but you have the technique and training to play Dream Theater.
I don’t know why no one ever told you to do some Pink Floyd songs in your first band…in my first band we did Another Brick in the Wall and also Wish You Were Here and no one ever shot us in the legs.
They definitely sounded better in our sessions than Iron Man, Fear of the Dark, and Master of Puppets, even though the metal guitarist and drummer were bored playing Pink Floyd songs… but they were 18-year-old metal kids…
August 10th, 2025 at 22:37@ 58 – “I always wonder how those people who defend Ritchie’s lackadaisical approach to the reunion shows can align that with his own standards he once set, e.g. in an interview in 1979:” Who is defending Blackmore ????????? Listen, learn and read on Uwe. You went to the concert and then more of them by the sound of it. Did you talk the people who went with you into going to that concert? The mind boggles doesn’t it. Just who was putting Ritchie on that pedestal, hmmmmmmmmmm, plain to see. You should have known better ole son. Cheers.
August 10th, 2025 at 22:39#58. Ritchie must have forgotten he said that, even though it was probably in the 70s and he was a young man then. Whether they were underrehearsed or simply not up to the task, probably a combination of both. Michael Schenker’s current backing band would have been a better choice for Ritchie as they would have been able to prop him up. I have seen fans claim the BN/Rainbow version of the band was stronger than the SIUA version. Simply blind worshipping.
August 11th, 2025 at 06:28The same year (it could even have been the same night) Rainbow played Sweden Rock, the show which is about to be released, JLT played the festival. He also did a Rainbow set, with a band of young Swedish musicians. If you had simply put RB in that band, it would have been a great Rainbow lineup.
But in the world of RB worshipping, RB can do no wrong and JLT is evil. In the world of music lovers, JLT won that round on KO.
August 11th, 2025 at 09:06@ 60 – we would always give you some warning that we are on our way Karin. That gives you plenty of time to get out of there, he he he he. Especially when you look out the window and see myself, Max, Uwe, Fla 76 and Russ all standing there scratching our heads trying to work out which house it is. Anton will give it away though, seeing him through the window ever so excited, ‘visitors, visitors’ etc etc. Until he realises we are all Deep Purple fans. You have me with the tea. I only drink it at other peoples places and usually it is a tea bag in a cup or a couple of bags in a pot. Same as instant I suppose. A few of my gardening clients were elderly English ladies who made tea with tea leaves in a pot. It is nicer that traditional way. Sometimes I thought I was in a Sherlock Holmes or Miss Marple episode. Their Victorian or Edwardian furniture etc. There is a difference in both of those hot beverages when made the traditional way compared to the instant way. The instant way is handy at times, less messing about etc. Cheers
August 11th, 2025 at 09:40Cher Jean-Christophe @29 (I only saw this now): Will you one day write my obituary? 😍😘 Keep on flattering me like that and I will have the Marseillaise played!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HM-E2H1ChJM
Merci beaucoup!
August 11th, 2025 at 15:34“A few of my gardening clients were elderly*** English ladies …”
Another evocative picture forces itself into my mind … of Herr MacGregor toiling bare-chested in the heat in the ladies’ gardens (“Now would you care for something to cool you off, Mister MacGregor, I’m all in a sweat myself?“), his muscled torso steeled by decades of forced labor in the convict camp …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVcYX9DV4tE
This is truly material for an epic!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5aex-lGfZF4
***An innocent German proverb comes to mind: In alten Kapellen wird auch noch geläutet. The bell still rings in old chapels too.
August 11th, 2025 at 15:56Fearless Leader Svante @65: OUCH!!!
But oh so true …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzUUHWhDJhk&list=RDhzUUHWhDJhk&start_radio=1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoC5DW3VLlQ&list=RDOoC5DW3VLlQ&start_radio=1
We all poke fun at him, but pretty much like Glenn Hughes I’ve never seen JLT do a bad show. And that’s coming from me as someone who doesn’t really care much for the Turner era of Rainbow.
August 11th, 2025 at 16:12@66
Woah! I would roll out the red carpet and make a gigantic announcement in my little village: IMPORTANT PEOPLE TO ARRIVE HERE !!!
Anton would have a party, I’m more worried for you guys because he does never get tired 😄
A tea bag in a cup? Really? And you scolded me for drinking, and enjoying, instant coffee 😄😄
August 11th, 2025 at 17:07Without going deep into what’s already been discussed here, I just want to note that I LOVE the way Uwe writes and articulates his opinions, most of which I actually agree with.
August 11th, 2025 at 20:13In our ongoing series “Why is Uwe always so terribly negative and cynical about things?” I would like to state for the record that I find Candice’s opinions in the Iron City Rocks Podcast (now that I found time to hear them!) on loss, grief and motherhood very relatable and einnehmend. That won’t keep me from slamming the next Blackmore’s Night release if it’s crap, but I’ve already stated elsewhere that I find her recent solo album better than many BN releases, her non-medieval lyrics playing a large part in that.
Speaking of BN releases, towards the end of the podcast she explains why Under A Violet Moon (the album) has not been renovated yet – part of it was recorded analog and part digital and they had to bake the analog tapes first for a digital transfer – that has now been done and the remix is in the works.
August 12th, 2025 at 00:10#9, all too true about the NY/NJ locations. I’ve wanted to see BN play live since they first started, but I don’t think they’ve ever played in Southern California. Or if they did, it sure wasn’t promoted very well, as I never heard about it.
August 12th, 2025 at 03:58@ 68 – ha ha ha well done Uwe. And to think that tea allegedly has a cooling effect in hot conditions. Hugh Jackman indeed and poor ole Nicole didn’t get a look in there, judging by some of the comments, of which many were humorous. Six foot four and full of muscle eh? Not me, Hugh that is. Lady Chatterley’s lover. I didn’t ever do any gardening work for those kind of ladies, mores the pity. I do remember falling asleep sometimes on hot tiring days, alas I woke up and she wasn’t there at all. I can still dream though can’t I? Even though I am now retired. See what the ladies do to us, they haunt us until our last breath on this earth. Cheers.
August 12th, 2025 at 08:19@70 – yes Karin as I said, you have me there with the tea. I guess I was surprised as you have always placed an emphasis on coffee right from your very early comments here. I do remember thinking, this lady sounds like a serious coffee aficionado, who would never drink instant. So we are now one all then, what are we going to do for a decider, hot chocolate, he he he. Cheers
August 12th, 2025 at 08:36#65 Svante:
It always makes me happy to read about great performances by Joe and his touring band.
Joe never exaggerates and always has total control of his vocals, he knows how to maintain his voice well, and this is a great quality because it means that when you go to one of his concerts, you go home afterwards with your ears and heart 100% satisfied.
Unfortunately I haven’t seen him since the Hughes-Turner project tour.
As for Rainbow, I would separate Ritchie’s health problems from the weakness of the band he had around him, but I understand that the quality of that mini tour was the sum of both.
August 12th, 2025 at 10:01Here’s a capable band able to compensate for the main star, in this case David Lee Roth, not pulling his weight. Ritchie’s weaknesses could also have been masked so much better just by having any band of professional hard rock musicians instead of the BN jokers we were given: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lx876LTN3HA
August 12th, 2025 at 13:44Oh please, Gilmour: for an 80-year-old Blackmore, it would also be easy to play the lame arrangements and slow-motion solos without rehearsals, that has always been retirement home music compared to Deep Purple.
And those who lament that Blackmore should have practiced only prove that they never really understood Blackmore: he doesn’t practice anyway, he was a lazy sack even at his peak and relied on his talent, which is why he improvised the solos every evening, and that was certainly better. Those who practice stab the others in the back, and I find a Blackmore, who doesn’t care about what a nitpicker and the music police expect from him, very likable.
August 12th, 2025 at 14:10…did you actually know that bassists are often involuntarily prevented guitarists who envy the guitarists?
August 12th, 2025 at 14:14@75
“I do remember thinking, this lady sounds like a serious coffee aficionado”
August 12th, 2025 at 16:07– well, I am! But when I’m on my own I really enjoy good instant coffee 😃
Lieber Gerd, re #79: Sure, I am one! But you know how the saying goes: Guitars are toys for boys on a one night stand, playing bass is a lifelong responsible relationship. Jungs spielen mit Gitarren, Männer beherrschen den Bass.
I used to think that Pink Floyd was “retirement home music” too, but that was when I was 15, I have evolved a little since (not much, Edith assures me!). But sure, David Gilmour can’t play, I geddit, and when he does then only lamely:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CK_BcyKOAt4
And those who lament that Blackmore should have practiced only prove that they never really understood Blackmore: he doesn’t practice anyway, he was a lazy sack even at his peak and relied on his talent, which is why he improvised the solos every evening, and that was certainly better.
The thing is, Gerd, things that were effortless to us once, like the daily Morgenlatte (a type of coffee with milk, Karin, no need to look it up, I assure you!), do need a bit more preparation with a septuagenarian. Unless you have a fountain of youth sprinkling in your living room. To stay in the picture: At Lorelei, Bietigheim, Glasgow and Berlin the Morgenlatte was kinda flacid.
Frankly, I think loving Ritchie Blackmore and putting down David Gilmour at the same time is a bit schizoid. They are both from the same Brit school of playing, both have initially developed from Blues guitar, but retained that feel throughout their career, they have a similar choice of notes (though Gilmour is more pentatonic than Ritchie) and melody and their slide guitar/steel guitar is sometimes hard to tell apart.
I would also assume that Ritchie with his love of tone, elongated melodies, ambience plus feel would say nice things about Gilmour, he certainly did in the early 70s when he lauded Pink Floyd as “different” in interviews and put Gilmour over Page as the “more captivating” soloist.
But what do I know, I’m just a bassist admiring guitarists.
PS: Paul McCartney has played with David Gilmour, but we know how undiscerning Macca (a bassist!) as a musician is, don’t we? Probably couldn’t get someone better. I mean he even played with that hopeless drummer from Uriah Hype or some other 70s behemoth too, Liam Paice or what his name was (in the same line-up as with Gilmour), and he is another guy that can’t play shit, probably wanted to be a guitarist too.
August 12th, 2025 at 16:30The Memories in Rock shows were underrehearsed, yes. But I wouldn’t blame the band. David Keith is one fine drummer for example. Ritchie was rusty.
August 12th, 2025 at 18:28There’s a difference between being tight and loose (1980-1995) and just loose and sloppy (2016-2019). Arthritis had set in by then and his style had changed very much for the worse. He was still sharp on the SIUA tour. I think what happened is he basically forgot how to play the electric guitar. In the 20 years following SIUA he mostly played the acoustic. As a result, he picked up the electric guitar in 2016 and played it as if it was an acoustic, strumming as if it was a BN gig. No amount of rehearsals could fix that problem. Backed by a wobbly bass player and a Duracell drummer, the disaster was a fact. I suspect RB cares more about his bank account than his legacy, which could explain why he still went through with this kamikaze mission.
August 12th, 2025 at 20:02#81 Uwe:
Without mentioning Gilmour’s obvious track record, it seems clear to me that Purple and Rainbow songs are more challenging to play than Pink Floyd ones.
Any of us who have seen Gilmour or Pink Floyd live knows that we are listening to basically 1-2 hours of mid-tempo and ballad concerts.
#83 Daniel:
August 12th, 2025 at 21:41I agree with everything, except the bank account thing, Ritchie was in a period where he was starting to feel the weight of his years and nostalgia was taking over, he would have even reunited with Purple if BigIan and the others had allowed it, and I think the Rainbow reunion was almost a stopgap for him.
I thought David Gilmour was pretty well the same age as Ritchie???????? You may as well get an orange and tell it to be an apple, if you know what I mean. Absolutely pointless comparing guitarists, music etc etc. May as well say the moon is just the sun at night………………..Oh hang on, Ronnie has already said that, ha ha ha, but in a different context. Two of my favourite guitarists are Gilmour and Blackmore, superb melodies and not too bad a sound either. And two of my favourite bands who I was fortunate to witness in action back in the 1980’s. Surreal it was on both occasions. Cheers.
August 12th, 2025 at 21:48@81
“a type of coffee with milk, Karin, no need to look it up, I assure you”
August 12th, 2025 at 21:49– thanks, I won’t then ☕️🥛
@ 77 – thanks Daniel for the DL Roth clips, Jump…………..Roth always has me wearing a smile for some reason. It is hard for me to take him too seriously, he has always been a court jester, so to speak. Regarding the BN ‘rainbow’ band drummer joke, the ‘Duracell’ drummer, ha ha ha. Cheers.
August 12th, 2025 at 22:14@83 Well, Daniel, at BN shows Ritchie still very much took off on the electric guitar. But it was just for a couple of minutes…playing phantastic solos …but nothing like the hard riffing of former days. Highway Star and Spotlight Kid sounded leaden with the rebuild Rainbow – and I think it was mainly down to the man himself. He did better on the slower stuff though, like Mistreated.
August 13th, 2025 at 05:15That‘s a valid argument, Daniel, if you play only acoustic guitar (with thicker strings and the more immediate sound development) for a long time your hand strength (both playing and fretting hand) will develop in a way that it can hamper your electric guitar capabilities, at least if you aren’t Johnny Ramone or Rick Parfitt, people that played electric too with a lot of force. Even your micro timing will adjust to the more immediate tone development on acoustic making you in turn sound a little sluggish on electric.
But Ritchie is a delicate electric player, he doesn‘t use a lot of force but plays with a light touch, you actually have to with the scalloped necks he preferred or otherwise everything will sound out of tune with too much fretting pressure.
Of course you don‘t lose those electric chops forever, they return after you have played electric again for a few weeks. Ritchie however didn‘t invest sufficient time to complete the transition or his heart was no longer in it.
The clever thing would have been to do the tour with a second guitarist playing the stuff requiring more nimble hands and have Ritchie play fills and solos. I for one wouldn‘t have had issues with that. Eric Clapton, Uli Jon Roth, Mark Knopfler, Brian May and David Gilmour all tour with a second guitarists they don‘t need in the studio. There is no shame in that, especially not at Ritchie‘s age.
August 13th, 2025 at 05:38#89 Uwe:
You’re absolutely right, he needed a second guitarist behind him.
August 13th, 2025 at 08:11@89
“Mark Knopfler”
– now you’re mentioning Mark Knopfler, I have to link to this beautiful song:
https://youtu.be/JswvdnRHzIc?si=urW4iUDZRgochu07
Btw: the Danish word for ‘potatoes’ is the only word rhyming with ‘Knopfler’
August 13th, 2025 at 08:41(Spoiler alert: the danish word is ‘kartofler’ 😄8
#88 Hi Max, i agree with you.
Another case is John Mc Laughlin, i saw him on his 80 birthday and he was phantastic!
August 13th, 2025 at 08:41As Erik @ 49 said, it isn’t any easier to play slower songs than uptempo. Anyway, some here are saying Pink Floyd are mid tempo and ballads only. Well they are a totally different kettle of fish. Not sure if those people have been to a Floyd experience concert or even a Gilmour or Waters post Floyd event. Or is it simply that they don’t like them so they have to treat it like it is a simpleton game or something? They are theatrical and cinematic rock bands, for want of a better description. They are not a ‘rock ‘n roll’ band per se. Meaning shorter hard and ‘catchy’ melodic rock songs only. It is how it is all put together and a totally different approach to music and sound for a rock music band. You will not fall asleep at one of those sort of concerts, those pesky alarm clocks will hopefully wake you with a shock. Or if that doesn’t the crashing plane into the side of the stage certainly will. Many of the symphonic progressive bands are just that. They paint a much broader picture, if certain people have the patience and capability to understand and go with it. None of it is rocket science, from either of the bands Deep Purple or Pink Floyd. It is simply what they do. As for Gerd @ 78 – “Oh please, Gilmour: for an 80-year-old Blackmore, it would also be easy to play the lame arrangements and slow-motion solos without rehearsals, that has always been retirement home music compared to Deep Purple.” Can you play it Gerd and if you can how WELL can you play it. Think about it now. Dismissive rubbish like that is embarrassing to say the least. Let’s hear it all as the Floyd do it, and even if you attempt that you are copying someone else, not creating it yourself. Get the popcorn out. It is time for some entertainment. If people don’t like Pink Floyd fine. Retirement music? Drop some acid Gerd and take a trip with the Floyd and a few others, it may do you the world of good. Seriously though DON”T do that. If you cannot handle Pink Floyd, stay well away from it all. Cheers.
August 13th, 2025 at 09:50I agree, it was achingly obvious especially on the faster or more powerful songs. If Reunionbow had played a 90 minute version of Catch the Rainbow, Ritchie‘s deterioration as a hard rock axeman might not have been that glaring (it came with a development as a more rounded acoustic player I hasten to add!).
As for the rest of the band:
– I think the Swedish keyboard player, generally a very good musician, was either overawed by Ritchie’s presence or frustrated by the lack of rehearsals, Jens Johansson strikes me as the guy who wants to be well-prepared before going on stage, you have to be if you have backed a perfectionist like Malmsteen (and because Blackmore had hurt his finger, rehearsals started later and were less than initially intended). At all the gigs I saw I had the distinct impression that Jens felt uncomfortable on stage and very little he played actually flowed or exuded confidence. He was the guy I felt sorry for most, I know he’s otherwise a good musician.
– The Duracell drummer 😂, very apt. it’s not like he didn’t try or didn’t seem to be enjoying himself on stage, but the guy lacks any type of drumming gravitas you need to anchor a heavy band. With BN his job is mostly to stay out of the way of the acoustic instruments, that is not an approach that works for a band like Rainbow and Blackmore should and could have known it.
– I really like Bob Nouveau/Curiano, he’s a tasteful player, but very much in a Craig Gruber/John Gustafson tradition (one of which was fired for his bass playing by Blackers and the other not having been allowed admittance to the Rainbow ranks ever with his style), a strong RnB influence which worked perfectly with Willy DeVille, but not if you have to plonk 16th Century Greensleeves alongside Cozy Powell. Bob largely overplayed, idling through the songs in an introspective and pleasantly melodic way, but part of a heavy rock rhythm section he was not. I’d probably buy a solo album of his with more singer/songwriter-oriented stuff though. That on the second tour he played a short scale bass thinking that was the right instrument for a band like Rainbow says it all. 😂
And then there was Ronnie Romero, no doubt a talented vocalist as his career since then has shown, but back then still very much a greenhorn and a bit of a TV talent show singer. His extremely limited grasp of the English language (back then), hampered him greatly, he was basically doing phonetic mimicry (to be fair: his English has improved a lot since then). And while no era of Rainbow will win any literary awards with me for the lyrics written by Dio, Glover (Bonnet didn’t write any), Turner and
White/Night, Romero’s karaoke parroting of them did not help matters.
But all these guys were chosen by The Grand Maestro himself (ok, Candice did talk him into Ronnie Romero), a man who had discovered unquestionable talents like Gillan, Hughes, Coverdale, Dio, Powell, Carey, Daisley, Stone, Bonnet, Airey and Turner to serve his purposes in a previous life. Even those here among the still very vocal Ritchie is god and can do no wrong!-faction must admit that in doing so Ritchie had either lost his magic touch or – excuse my French – wasn’t giving a shit anymore, rather banking (in a literary sense!) on the fact that nostalgia alone would sell tickets, screw the quality, and if he chose Milli Vanilli to back him up.
PS: Had Glenn actually made it into the line-up of Reunionbow as was initially planned, be would have battered and bruised 😂 his co-musicians with his aggressive and pushy bass playing, not to think of what he would have done to Romero when joining him on chorus parts or singing the bridge to Burn! That would have been a Schlachtfest worth watching. Energywise it would have turned Reunionbow into the Glenn Hughes Band with so-so backing musicians and a subdued Ritchie guesting. 🤣
August 13th, 2025 at 15:32… thanks, I won’t then ☕️🥛
Such a good girl. You always act your best when you listen to me. 😎
August 13th, 2025 at 16:05@ 94 -No good having ego trippers at the Ritchie show Uwe. Hughes and JLT would have been just too big for their own boots. Ritchie wanted it as low key as possible, not a glamour show of sorts. Yes we talked about Jens and his situation here many years ago, that is why I mentioned ‘nervous as hell’ recently, again. The drummer, well he was from BN which is exactly where this initial idea and push comes to shove has emanated from, don’t we think? Ritchie wasn’t into it at all, me thinks, I reckon even his children would have been pushing him to do it. ‘Come on Dad, don’t be so Grumpy, do it, it will be fun’. Enough said there. The more it unfolded, the more Ritchie went back into his shell. Anyway, it is now a different topic here isn’t it. The BATTLE Of THE BANDS. PINK FLOYD versus DEEP PURPLE. Karin will be poised at her computer too no doubt. Those old simple chords and basic drum beats and the keyboard noodling creating music for pensioners in a retirement home. Wonderful stuff. Come on, this is a breath of fresh air in the BOTB stakes. It has always been DP v LZ hasn’t it. Pull out another iconic British rock band and dragged them over the coals. Forget about old Ritchie, he is almost in a retirement home. Let’s give him some appropriate music from Gerd and a few others here to accompany him. It is now about all the other old curmudgeon’s prodding their instruments from hell isn’t it. Cheers.
August 13th, 2025 at 21:47Lyrically, Roger Waters can dance circles around Robert Plant, at least in the Zeppelin era.
I could never say anything against Pink Floyd in public, Edith would divorce me! 😁
No one in Pink Floyd was ever a virtuoso or really even PROG standard as their individual chops went, BUT (!) all four of them were great at collaborating and creating a specific sound that moved people, I mean look at their legacy: Meddle, DSOTM, WYWH, Animals + The Wall (personally not a favorite, but one of the most iconic rock albums ever), those consecutive five albums alone constitute a huge part of the soundtrack of the 70s right there.
Sure, DP were the instrumentally flashier band, but that was their shtick, Purple has always been a bit of a muso’s band too – simply because they were so good at their instruments. And deep in our hearts we all know that Purple were not afraid to use their instrumental prowess to cover up/camouflage their not most inspired moments as songwriters if need be. We’re among ourselves here, my brethren, and all getting old, so I guess I’m allowed to mention that dirty little DP secret. Form over substance, sometimes, but what great form!
August 13th, 2025 at 23:32@95
“You always act your best when you listen to me”
🤣😆
Why haven’t you reacted at all to the links I placed in here with Dire Straits?
I had hoped for at least some ridicule…. But of course if you don’t know them, I will indeed link this to you:
https://youtu.be/Pdc8Ntv1pho?si=8qnu1lu_M-v1l7hB
Would Mark K had been a good choice for Purple?
August 14th, 2025 at 06:08Or is he way too much an individual to be dictated anything?
To me he sounds like a very good guitarist.
@96
“The BATTLE Of THE BANDS. PINK FLOYD versus DEEP PURPLE. Karin will be poised at her computer too no doubt.”
– ohhh but MacGregor, in my most humble conviction there is no battle at all!
I do know a lot of you appreciate PF, and well, I guess I have told “the Wall” incident too many times for it to be necessary to stir in those old nightmares again.
But even if the Wall never had happened when I was young, I still will say:
No one in the world is better than Purple! (With Ian as the vocalist that is)
Sorry I just can’t help myself 😃
There are a lot of other wonderful bands playing really good music, but there are no one like Purple! It is as simple as that.
August 14th, 2025 at 06:15@97
“I could never say anything against Pink Floyd in public, Edith would divorce me! 😁”
– of course she wouldn’t! Women are loyal to the bone! Or – she may be waiting for that enormous fish in your pond to do the dirty deed 😁
“The Wall (personally not a favorite, but one of the most iconic rock albums ever)”
– eww 😝
Do you know what that poor guy did to his nipples in the movie? 🫣😱
I cannot unsee that.
Of course some people will mention that the Wall indeed was a masterpiece, yeah and that may be right, but a masterpiece I easily can live without.
Whereas Purple 😍😍🥰
They have made the most beautiful and intriguing, interesting, soulful, amazing music ever! And the fabulous vocalist (Ian, if anyone is in doubt) has gone places with his voice that shouldn’t be possible for a human being!
I do regret one thing in my life: I wasn’t old enough to be present at their concerts in the early 70s. I do blame my parents for that though 😄 but woah it must have been something else.
This one:
https://youtu.be/OorZcOzNcgE?si=NY2nrAK5M937CjLM
I hope so much the audience knew what they were witnessing!
It was an emotional and wonderful experience.
Man, that voice! It could be used to cut diamonds!
Well, were was I?☺️
Oh yes:
“Purple has always been a bit of a muso’s band too”
– what is that? ‘A muso’s band’?
“Form over substance, sometimes, but what great form!“
– woah Uwe! You may just have saved your life there…!
Their lyrics are amazing too! But I guess if you don’t speak English very well…(🤣🤣 ok sorry, you’re better at English than any Englishman!)
Ian’s lyrics are thought provoking! He is a very intelligent person, and it shows in the lyrics. So don’t come here Mister with ‘form over substance’! 😄
I do admit that Rainbow was missing out in the lyrics, even though Roger was writing there as well, and Whitesnake is not so sophisticated as Purple, even thought DC once was the vocalist there, but don’t come telling me that:
“Purple were not afraid to use their instrumental prowess to cover up/camouflage their not most inspired moments as songwriters if need be.“
They were indeed, and still are, very skilled musicians, but they certainly don’t need to camouflage anything!
Well with that of my chest, I will go on drinking coffee, work a bit and joyfully humming the songs of Purple 🤩🥰
August 14th, 2025 at 06:38The creation of space and simplicity in music. How many very good compositions are just that, by many different artists when compared to the more dazzling artists. Combining the two styles can be the perfect combination. I like virtuosos in the right genre, don’t get me wrong about that. But how long does it go on for before we begin to crave the melody and emotion and feel of the more basic style of composition. It is also what is left out too, not over crowding the music. Each to their own, however the reason a lot of certain artists are really popular does appear to be the more simpler songs and music. As we know music is like most things in life, a mood factor. In a certain setting at a certain time. Cheers
August 14th, 2025 at 07:32I disagree about the drummer, Uwe.
David Keith doesn’t just play in BN. Good blues rock player too. And I have seen him at a Cozy Powell tribute show…true powerhouse drumming.
That form over function thing on the other hand…woddaya mean Lady Double Dealer is not a top notch composition, he?
August 14th, 2025 at 09:04I certainly don’t need to be stoned at a concert. Pink Floyd in 1988 and I was as straight as a dye. Deliberately so as I was determined to remember the gig, being too stoned destroys the memory for me. So I am just messing about with Uwe and anyone else here in regard to that matter. I know Uwe enjoys Hawkwind for the Bob Calvert vocal and lyrics, as I do. I am pretty sure we went to Purple in 1984 straight, from my memory. There were seven of us and I don’t recall sharing a doobie with anyone and going into that venue off my face at all. Of course Hawkwind in 2000 was the opposite, ha ha ha. They don’t let you in unless you are heavily stoned, do they? Anyway all good fun and Deep Purple NOT being a drug band, (yeah right), can we listen to them stoned? I certainly have and side four of MIJ is stellar. Some don’t like that extended Space Truckin’, boring as dishwater etc according to them. I have always found that (even as a rather young naive lad) to be a fine example of tension and release, light and dark, dramatic in detail and sublime in delivery. Then there is the bombastic chaos at the end, which leaves the audience stunned. Bravo I say. However I am a progressive rock follower, so the extended length of certain compositions or songs is at most times grand for me. Same with a lot of Floyd’s music from the late 60’s to the Animals album of 1977. Surreal it is, no matter what state of mind. How could you use that music in a retirement home? Actually that is not a bad idea, it gives me something to look forward to in my later years. I hope it is in surround sound though. Cheers.
August 14th, 2025 at 09:06For what it’s worth – my recollection of the first Reunionbow (thanks Uwe – hope you don’t mind me stealing) was fairly positive not withstanding RB moving around the stage like a pyramid. But listening to the live albums from the gigs emphasized pretty much what Uwe wrote above. The rhythm section was woefully lacking, Jens was competent but anonymous.
An opportunity was missed – since it was never really an active band (and therefore no one would be sacked after RB getting bored with them) players would have been queueing up to play with RB. If RB had taken BCC but without the banjo player they would have injected the necessary hard rock power which would have covered far better RB’s somewhat diminished capability.
It’s always been the case that the better the support RB has the better he performs. The last iteration of Rainbow in 83/84 was the most functional and anonymous and (IMO) was the cause of RB’s lack of fire & precision live – a decline which continued right through to late 87.
August 14th, 2025 at 11:09Yup, David, Turner era Rainbow was already pretty faceless – all the American members btw. Joe is a good singer, but not a Rainbow frontman, he could have just as well been with Foreigner, Survivor or Loverboy (but that is what Ritchie apparently wanted). Rosenthal was no Tony Carey and the least you can say about Cozy was that he was a character, all his successors were just drummers. Chuck Burgi, a technically astute drummer, was together with David Rosenthal as invisible with Rainbow as they are to this day with Billy Joel.
I also agree that Ritchie is best when he’s challenged and not quite comfortable, that is why DP were the best “backing band” he ever had.
August 16th, 2025 at 11:18Karin, a muso‘s band is a group that finds specific appeal among fellow musicians for how good they are at their instruments. IGB were an arch-example, but so was Mk II. I‘ve heard the accusation that Purple were underselling their instrumental skills with their songwriting so many times – and there is a grain of truth to it. Purple could make even a piece of rubbish sound at least grand and exquisitely rendered. It‘s not really a criticism, they played to their strengths.
Honestly, I would have preferred Mark Knopfler over Gary Moore in Purple, Knopfler has something in his introspective choice of notes that reminds me of Ritchie, I was never a Dire Straits fan, but I thought he was a good guitarist. And the riff of Money For Nothing follows the Ritchie recipe and wouldn‘t have sounded out of place on WDWTWA. Not entirely dissimilar to Painted Horse (which I thought a great riff).
Max, yup, Lady Double Dealer is a good example, that is basically a throwaway number, only elevated for a few seconds by the lovely Beatlesque bridge which comes off almost spoofy. Purple were so good at what they did, that they could sometimes take plain or lame musical ideas and elevate them with their playing. They knew they could rely on that. Rainbow had loads of mediocre songs like that too, but never had the magic touch for making them sound better than they were like Purple did.
August 16th, 2025 at 14:33@106
August 17th, 2025 at 06:34If it wasn’t for Ritchie’s little licks throughout the verses Lady Double Dealer would be just embarrassing. And yes, many a Rainbow song just was. Rick Fever anyone?
Money For Nothing …the riff is nicked frim Jumping Jack Flash (theway the Stones do it live for ages) and I thought that was very bold. But Knopfler got away with it.
But going out with bad drummers is not limited to Ritchie’s comebacks, just listen to this here:
https://youtu.be/Ys2qvHWEuJk
For a band with the stature of Oasis (and their financial means) that drumming is god-awful, uninspired, lame, robotic and lacking any kind of thoroughly needed Manchester kick-up-the-arse oomph. It drives me to tears how bad it is, what possessed the Gallaghers to let a Yank (Joey Waronker) who’s played with a non-rocker like Beck (not Jeff!) do the drumming?
And before Karin scrambles to the rescue: I’m not talking about the performance of the Gallaghers or the quality of the song(writing). The number is of course a classic, but the drumming (and only that) is bottomlessly bad and noncommittal. Goes to show that the Oasis fan world is strictly a phenomenon concentrating on the siblings where no one gives a damn about the quality of the drumming. Sobering. Even David Keith could have done better, he might lack gravitas, but is at least lively. (And Little Ian would have just needed a soundcheck rehearsal of a few minutes to play Don’t Look Back In Anger with more impact and conviction plus a few of his trademark flourishes.)
August 17th, 2025 at 14:11Mark Knopfler is a nice melodic guitarist, however in Deep Purple? No way would that work, he isn’t rock enough. Not ‘wild’ enough either. Purple’s guitarists have that ‘out there’ approach running through their playing. Knopfler is too tame isn’t he? Regarding Lady Double Dealer, yes indeed, Ritchie is all over that song and that is a good thing indeed. One of the stronger rock songs on Stormbringer. Cheers.
August 17th, 2025 at 22:33@109
Agreed… Mark Knopfler has too much of a Chet Atkins style to his playing. Much too clean to be of any use in a band Like Purple.
August 19th, 2025 at 07:25Sure, Knopfler would have needed distortion with Purple, but at least he wouldn’t have cluttered everything up like Gary Moore would have!
I wasn’t being entirely serious as I am sometimes wont to do. I do hear a Hank Marvin commonality in Blackmore and Knopfler though. And unlike most other hard rock and metal guitarists, Ritchie wouldn’t have been totally at a loss had you put him up on stage with Purple with just a clean sounding amp. Ritchie’s guitar playing has authority right out of his hands, he doesn’t need endless amounts of distortion and overdrive to lead a band like DP.
August 19th, 2025 at 13:44