For one shimmering encore on Wednesday night, 33 years of silence simply dissolved. Ritchie Blackmore, the founding guitarist who defined Deep Purple’s golden era, walked out from the wings of the Jones Beach Theater in Wantagh, New York, yellow Fender Stratocaster in hand, and played “Smoke on the Water” with his old band for the first time since 17 November 1993.

The moment arrived near the end of the set, when frontman Ian Gillan turned to the crowd. “I’ve gotta say something,” he began. “A couple of days ago, I got a letter from this man saying, ‘I only live around the corner. Do you mind if I come and jam with you?’ And it was an absolute pleasure to have back onstage, the founder member, the great legend, the immortal, Ritchie Blackmore!”

Cellphones rose into the air, the band kicked into that unmistakable riff Blackmore co-wrote in 1972, and every member beamed. Gillan even sang part of the song with his arm draped around Blackmore’s shoulder. “Thanks, Ritchie,” he told the screaming audience afterwards. “I have to say, it was a great pleasure. I’ll see you in the bar.”

The reunion came together almost mischievously. Blackmore let the news slip the evening before during an Instagram Live with his wife, vocalist Candice Night. “I actually called up — I didn’t call him up, I sent my A.I. pigeon to Ian Gillan in Portugal, where he lives at the moment,” he said. “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.’ He seemed to love the idea, put it to the band, got a thumbs up.”

Ever the gentleman about his successor, he added: “I hope I can compete with the guitar player, Simon McBride. Because I can see that he has very big amplifiers behind him… He’s a very good guitar player — as was, and is, Steve Morse.” Fans weren’t certain it would happen until Candice Night posted a backstage photo of Blackmore among the band with the words, “Well, this warms my heart…”

That thumbs up was hard-won. Blackmore left Purple in November 1993 after long-simmering tensions erupted on a European tour — most infamously when he strolled on midway through “Highway Star” at Birmingham’s NEC and threw water at a cameraman. The band parted with him after a show in Helsinki, flew in Joe Satriani, then settled on Steve Morse, who stayed until 2022. Gillan long called a reunion “unconscionable,” and Blackmore skipped their 2016 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction when management refused to let him play.

What softened matters is unclear, though Blackmore’s recent health troubles — a heart attack that has kept him off his own stage since November 2025, plus vertigo, gout and four herniated discs — may have quietened old grievances. He even had a lumbar injection days before “so I can stand in one spot.” Frightening, he admitted, after 25 years playing acoustic music with Blackmore’s Night.

He was onstage for “Smoke on the Water” alone, with no hint of anything more. But it will stir hopes of a reunion tour — and, at the very least, hands any future Deep Purple documentary its perfect closing scene. Deep Purple, still touring with Simon McBride, roll on. For one night, the smoke cleared. Full circle.

Source: Hollywood Reporter