Ritchie Blackmore is set to step onstage with Deep Purple for the first time in more than three decades.
The guitarist has confirmed he’ll make a surprise appearance during the band’s headlining show at the Northwell at Jones Beach Theater in Wantagh, New York, on Wednesday night (12.08.26).
The 81-year-old rock legend joked that the cameo was meant to be “a secret” before admitting he planned to join the group for an encore. Blackmore last performed with Deep Purple in 1993.
He said he reached out to frontman Ian Gillan – via what he jokingly called his “AI pigeon” – to ask whether he could jump in for a single song “for old times’ sake”. Gillan and the rest of the band gave him the thumbs up.
During an Instagram Live with his wife Candice Night the day before, Ritchie said: ?”There is something we wanted to mention about tomorrow night… Well, it is a secret and I don’t want anybody to know, but I’m probably get up and do an encore with the band, Deep Purple. But you can’t tell anybody, and I know that this is gonna be kept a secret. And will it? I suppose so.”
Regarding how the idea for his guest appearance came about, Ritchie said: “I actually called up… I didn’t call him up, I sent my AI pigeon to [Deep Purple singer] Ian Gillan in Portugal, where he lives at the moment. And I said, ‘How would you feel about if I got up just for an encore? Just one of the songs. I don’t want to intrude.’ And I said, ‘No pressure – just kind of [for] old times’ sake.’ I’m 81 now. So he seemed to love the idea, put it to the band, got a thumbs up, and it looks like we might be doing that.”
The guitarist revealed he already has a small but loud amp set up for the gig and even changed the strings on his Stratocaster for the first time in 25 years.
One song that is ruled out is Highway Star, as the band is opening the show with it.
Ritchie also spoke candidly about his health, referencing a severe vertigo attack in late 2025 that forced him to cancel shows, along with ongoing issues including gout, arthritis in his fingers and feet, and past heart problems. Despite the challenges, he said he’s eager to see his former bandmates again.
He said: “I have not played rock music in 25 years… it’ll be good to see the old guys again.”
The musician added that he wanted fans to know ahead of time because “a lot of people would like to see that,” stressing that the reunion will be brief: “It’s just the one song, I think.”
Ritchie originally left Deep Purple in 1975, before dramatically quitting a second time midway through their 1993 tour.
In an interview with Ultimate Classic Rock, he explained why he’d had enough: “When I left Deep Purple, I just felt that the band wasn’t pulling [its weight] as a musical venture. It became a committee. It was like if there were some answers to be had, there were five different answers. And I got a little bit tired of the committee meetings. But like what John Cleese said about Monty Python, I basically thought I’m going to get four other musicians where I don’t. need to have a committee meeting and just get on with playing the music.”
