Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow have announced details of their much talked-about UK show. It will take place on Saturday June 25 2016 at the Genting Arena in Birmingham. The performance, which will celebrate the music of Rainbow and Deep Purple, will be Blackmore’s first UK rock show in over 20 years.
“I just felt like playing some rock ‘n’ roll for a few days,” says Blackmore, “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 and 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.” Details of the musicians joining Blackmore onstage will be announced on Wednesday, while tickets for the show will go on sale at 10am on Friday.
Blackmore has already announced two German shows at the Monsters Of Rock events in Loreley on June 17 and Stuttgart on June 18, under the banner Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow And Guests. Last week, the guitarist’s agent confirmed that Blackmore would play one UK show in 2016, and that it would not at be at the Download Festival.
A documentary focussing on Blackmore’s life will be released this Friday. The Ritchie Blackmore Story will be issued on via Eagle Rock Entertainment on Blu-ray and 2DVD/2CD and will feature new interviews with the guitarist and many other musicians, while a deluxe edition will feature Rainbow’s Live In TokyoDVD/CD, recorded at their show at the Budokan in 1984.
