Rock Icon, 80, May Return to the Stage but Only on His Terms originally appeared on Parade.
Former Deep Purple guitarist Ritchie Blackmore’s health issues have thrown a wrench into his touring plans over the last couple years, but his wife and Blackmore’s Night bandmate, Candice Night, revealed that he’s considering putting some fall tour dates on his schedule.
“With Ritchie, if you try to pressure him to do something, he instantly says no. He’s like a teenager…So I wait for him to come to the realization, or I drop little seeds here and there and try to wait for him to be ready to talk about it,” Night said during the “Iron City Rocks” podcast on Monday, August 4. “And he did just say, ‘What about doing some Blackmore’s Night dates in the fall?’ So, of course, I got greatly excited about that.”
However, fans in the U.K. shouldn’t get their hopes up. Due to Blackmore’s physical limitations, Night said that he’d rather perform at “places that he can drive to.”
“We don’t have a tour bus and we don’t have private planes. If we go someplace, I’m driving,” Night added. “So it’s like a mini road trip…You get to the venue, you go back, you get a good night’s sleep that night. It’s a very slowed-down way of doing it. But honestly, I’d much rather take something than nothing at all.”
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Blackmore suffered a heart attack in 2023 that led to six stents being placed in his heart and his doctors put the kibosh on traveling anywhere by plane due to the “stress that jet lag puts on the heart.”
“He had a heart attack a couple of years ago, so we stay on top of that,” Night explained. “He’s got gout, so that’s difficult. It’s affecting his feet really badly. And it’s starting in his forefinger, so it’s hurting the mobility in that, so he just had an injection for that. And his back, of course, which has always been an issue. It really does take a toll on a human — on a healthy human, so forget about someone who’s 80 years old and going through these issues.”
While no official dates have been set, fans may still get the chance to see Blackmore take the stage, but it will definitely be on his own terms.
Rock Icon, 80, May Return to the Stage but Only on His Terms first appeared on Parade on Aug 7, 2025
This story was originally reported by Parade on Aug 7, 2025, where it first appeared.
