Metal Shock Finland (World Assault )

As previously announced, guitar legend Ritchie Blackmore will be back to the magnificent stage of rock in 2016.Two shows in Germany have already been confirmed and announced, taking place at the Monsters Of Rock Festival 2016 on 18th June and Loreley, Freilichtbühneon on Friday 17th June. Indeed Ritchie Blackmore was and is a big influence and hero for German fans, as well as musicians. ACCEPT‘s Wolf Hoffmann, who is one of the most influential German guitarists and songwriters, spoke about Ritchie previously, “Me and a lot of other people in Germany growing up were heavily influenced and totally into Deep Purple and especially Ritchie Blackmore.“

The return of the king, was definitely very exciting news for many fans and those who have worshipped Ritchie and his work for decades. The news was shared on social media many times and this started discussions, guesses and rumours on Ritchie‘s next move. Especially after the announcement of the second show in Germany, a very particular rumour about Ritchie Blackmore performing at Download Festival as the UK show, started surfacing and was discussed at length by British fans. We at Metal Shock Finland also received tons of messages and questions about this matter, so we contacted Ritchie‘s management and shared your comments and questions with them.

Ritchie Blackmore‘s agent, Alec Leslie replied to us “Rainbow will only be playing three shows in 2016: two in Germany and one in the UK.” He also made it clear that “The UK performance will not be at Download Festival.” But he left a message for British fans, “the show will be announced on the 2nd November.” However we have bad news for the US and Swedish fans, as there are no shows scheduled for those countries at the moment.

Blackmore recently told Billboard.com about his plans to revisit RAINBOW and DEEP PURPLE classics: “I’m now 70, so I just felt like playing some rock ‘n’ roll for a few days. We’re going to do four or five dates” — most likely in England, Germany and Sweden — “of just playing the old rock stuff, PURPLE stuff and RAINBOW. I’m doing it for the fans, for nostalgia, and the singer I found is very exciting; he’s a cross between [Ronnie James] Dio meets Freddie Mercury. So this will mean exposing a new singer to the masses, and I’m sure he’ll become pretty famous because of his voice.”

Blackmore declined to reveal the other musicians that will participate in the shows because contracts are still being negotiated, but said that none will be known names from his previous groups. He plans to film and record the performances for future release.