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Self-described as underrated
Greek blog Rock Overdose publishes an interview with Joe Lynn Turner done on the occasion of him apparently playing some dates in the country (his own website is conspicuously mum about it).
Rock Overdose: Speaking of Ritchie Blackmore, you know him better than most people. What do you think would have to happen for Ritchie to become excited about playing hard rock again?
Joe Lynn Turner: I don’t think so, man. He’s around 80 years old now. That doesn’t necessarily stop someone — look at Mick Jagger, or even me — but I don’t think that’s the point.
I know he has some physical issues that concern him and that he’s taking care of. Maybe if he gets himself into better shape in that sense, he might consider it.
But other than that, I really think he has nothing to prove.
And I think he feels that way.
I also think his decision to see Ian and the boys in Purple was a great decision. It showed maturity, forgiveness, love and understanding.
It kind of put the cherry on top of the cake. It was like saying, “Let’s bury the hatchet. Let bygones be bygones. Let the past be the past.”
Maybe that was an exercise for him to say, “I’m done with it.”
He’ll probably continue making the Renaissance-style music with Candice because he’s still capable of doing that. I don’t doubt it.
But as far as going on tour, that might be difficult.
And let’s be fair to Ritchie.
He owes nobody anything.
He really doesn’t. He’s done it.
Read more in Rock Overdose.
Thanks to BraveWords for the heads-up.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
Nice words from Joe. It is pleasant to read positive things from someone, instead of negative.
September 25th, 2026 at 00:32Smile.
He did mention in that other (podcast) interview we featured here revently that he was going to Greece for a few gigs and also for a two- or three-week-vacation with his family.
He gives a good description of how Ritchie and Yngwie differ in their respective outlooks. Ritchie is always looking for a foil, be it IG, DC, RJD, JLT, Doogie or Candice; Yngwie, it has to be said, is a lonely megalomaniac. Maybe that was his adolescent rejection reaction to being raised in the consent-oriented and communitarian Folkhemmet of Sweden, but man he could have grown out of it by now.
September 25th, 2026 at 01:57JLT is right. Gillan sounds willing to jam with Ritchie on stage again, if Purple makes it back out to the Big Apple area. I could see RB recording a little something remotely for potential inclusion on a DP album, even if it’s a short acoustical thing. But even if that doesn’t happen, it would be grand to hear them sharing some of the old-day stories that people don’t know about. Getting together for Christmas or via a video remote could yield some great stuff – and more fodder for the history books.
September 25th, 2026 at 01:57I thought it was pretty obvious that RB saw his recent guest spot as a closure to his rock days when he handed IG his guitar after the performance. “There you go, I’m done.”
September 25th, 2026 at 06:00@2
> He did mention in that other (podcast) interview we featured here revently that he was going to Greece for a few gigs and also for a two- or three-week-vacation with his family.
Yes he is posting for some time now in his Facebook short vids of eating fish in some nice beach in Greece. All look great (apart from one where he is with a guy that wears a Led Zeppelin t-shirt – bah…)
I got my ticket for Sunday. It will be a great appetizer for the DP concert in Athens in a few weeks!
September 25th, 2026 at 07:07#5 Manic:
It’s truly incredible how, for some obscure reason, Zep always pop up, like parsley in every dish, in Deep Purple news;
September 25th, 2026 at 12:09they even made an appearance in Jolene’s Greek holidays!
Parsley or couch grass? 😀
To every upstanding Purple fan, Led Zep is this eternal, dark, otherworldly nemesis which haunts us … You tell me! 😂
I’d really like to see Joe live again, it’s been ages (Hughes Turner Project), but while he tours Europe regularly, Germany is always skipped while Scandinavia, the Balkans and Eastern Europe are on the itinerary. What have we done to him?
I wince about his stage raps and his lyrics are mostly naff too, but I like to hear his voice. He seems to be happy with his life, his cottage industry career and his young family though which is good. Joe is DP family.
September 25th, 2026 at 12:35@7
In Dante’s world, DP would belong to paradise, BS to purgatory and LZ to well…
September 25th, 2026 at 13:48I have seen him with Rainbow in Copenhagen in the 70′.
September 25th, 2026 at 17:50Also saw him with DP.
I still don’t like him. I cringe whenever I hear his voice.
That’s enough.
Start 80′ that should have been.
September 25th, 2026 at 20:51#8 Georgivs:
It is exactly the same for the supreme poet!
September 26th, 2026 at 15:49@6 Fla76
exactly, with the exception that parsley is a nice thing…
So I did get to see our good old friend JLT yesterday in Athens, the experience was better than I expected. I had only seen him several years ago with the Hughes Turner Project. I had not checked before playlists etc (I avoid doing so to keep the surprise, with DP it is more difficult as I like to follow the news so I do get spoilers) and I had no idea about what to expect.
In short:
– He played only Rainbow, Deep Purple and one song from his Malmsteen years. In his own words: “I want to play this stuff, because no one else does”.
– The stuff from his Rainbow years plus Slaves and Masters (King of Dreams and Cut Runs Deep) I enjoyed very much. He played also Perfect Strangers, Highway Star and Long Live R&R. These were weaker points to my ears
– The band (Dynazty from Sweden, I have not heard their material) was quite metallic. Nonetheless solid and the sound was nice – it is always good when you can listen to the keyboards in a heavy metal band playing live.
– Joe’s voice was in good shape and you could feel he was enjoying himself and feeling comfortable. His lady was on the side of the stage, in a Candice like approach modulo the singing. Well, DP is a family, we like that.
All in all a fully enjoyable night, well deserving the ticket of 30 euros. The support band was also good and had a good sound.
Here is a video some fellow got from Street of Dreams:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BzIaULhRus
September 28th, 2026 at 07:59I like the way his voice is now – with the mature fuller timbre it has won over the decades – better than when that song was new. And he sings that stuff with authority and presence.
Joe is never gonna be my favorite Rainbow or Purple singer, but he does what he does well.
September 28th, 2026 at 14:49Thanks for the review, M.M.
September 28th, 2026 at 15:49#12 Manic:
Manic, I envy you deeply!
I hope Joe comes to Italy for a vacation and plays a concert here too, damn it!
Thanks for the video; Joe still has extraordinary vocal integrity for his age!
September 28th, 2026 at 23:06Hasn’t he done even a single song from his solo career?
@15 Fla76
> Hasn’t he done even a single song from his solo career?
After I posted my previous short-review message, I remembered that he did play “Power” from Rescue You. It was the second track, after “Death Alley Driver” that opened the show, and I had forgotten. So it was only this.
Hope you get your wish to see him in Italy soon 🙂
September 29th, 2026 at 09:52Many years ago he was supposed to show up in de Boerderij in Zoetermeer but it was cancelled.
No info on why.
Its just life, maybe.
I missed on more DP related people, JLT, HTP, Dio solo, Lord with his Hoochie coochie men.
September 29th, 2026 at 12:56Last year he did some gigs, maybe only in Scandinavia or even Sweden, where he played Rescue You in it’s entirety.
September 30th, 2026 at 06:22An album that is an AOR jewel.
September 30th, 2026 at 13:25Svante
I assume you were there?
Lucky bastard.
I m not aware of encountering a filmed or taped show om YT.
September 30th, 2026 at 14:59That stuff is hard to sing, he really streteched himself on that album.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikw6sqFJmYM
September 30th, 2026 at 18:04@20: No, it was too far away from me.
September 30th, 2026 at 21:13Svante
Whats too far?
Its a favourite, this album.
I think Joe needs a good sparringpartner for the writing.
He had ex FOREIGNER Al Greenwood with him.
I think thay makes the album a stand out.
I must say like many others I always throw Scandinavian countries on 1 pile, thinking they re more or less the same and probably I underestimate distances.
I used to go abroad a long time ago for concerts.
It all dwindled down.
Still regret not to have taken the Ferry from Hoek van Holland to England for shows.
Overhere I missed out on OLD Gillan, Whitesnake AND Dio led Rainbow
Due to age, ignorance (age, not having access to proper media or people that knew what was going on)
Rotterdam is a terrible city for rocklovers)AHOY used to be the place for a lot of heavyrockshows but Amsterdam nicked that role by investing in several venues.
Yesterday I got an update from De Doelen(Semi modern building for classical music)and it shows JETHRO TULL is coming this month.
https://www.dedoelen.nl/nl/agenda/jethro-tull-n5wy
Not so sure how they re today. De Doelen aint big, is that a bad signal?
They also serve The Elements by DProject which made me imagine Rogers ELEMENTS cd to get performed, but it is a new composition.
Damn, I almost fell out of my chair.
https://www.dedoelen.nl/nl/agenda/the-elements-dproject-orchestra-yj7v
In the early 70 s many great rockbands played there.
In my memory that stopped somewhere and when the last place, NIGHTTOWN/WATT had been converted into a supermarket for Chinese groceries I got more depressed about living here.
Another place or 2 rose but not delivering for rockers.
De Doelen is something I can walk/bike to 🙂
October 1st, 2026 at 14:01RV, the distances in Scandinavia, especially Sweden, Norway and Finland (not Scandinavia in a strict sense, but let’s be inaccurate for sake of argument) are HUGE, those countries really stretch out.
Not everything is the size of a scaled down model train diorama like some of these cute Benelux Countries … where we always faced issues with our machinery in the rather confined environments there … ☝️🧐
https://www.lonesentry.com/images/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/houffalize-belgium.jpg
That said, those darn fjords in Norway were tricky too. 😂
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fb/Battlehip_Tirpitz_capsized_at_Tromso_c1944.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=index&utm_content=original
October 1st, 2026 at 16:04@13 Uwe
> I like the way his voice is now – with the mature fuller timbre it has won over the decades
I agree. I remember several years ago reading an interview of him where he narrated that in his first audition with Rainbow he had a cold, but fortunately his vocal teacher had taught him how to sing under such conditions. Back then I wondered if having a cold helped him pass the audition, giving him a more ‘mature’ sounding voice which I imagined (more or less) like the one he has now.
October 3rd, 2026 at 14:59