Ritchie Blackmore To Play Another Deep Purple/Rainbow Show

LONDON (VIP NEWS) — Ritchie Blackmore has confirmed the second in a series of Best of Rainbow and Deep Purple shows planned for 2016 where the legendary guitarist will return to his rock roots to perform songs from the famed bands.

Blackmore will perform at the Monsters Of Rock festival in Loreley, Germany on June 17 ahead of his previously-announced appearance at the same event in Bietigheim-Bissingen, Germany on June 18.

Blackmore departed Deep Purple for the second time in 1993 and has been focusing his energies since 1997 on Blackmore`s Night, a medieval folk band he formed with then-girlfriend and now-wife Candice Night.

"I`m now 70, so I just felt like playing some rock `n` roll for a few days," the guitarist tells Billboard. "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."