“He would have to be forced to go back on stage!”: Deep Purple’s Glenn Hughes reveals why Ritchie Blackmore would refuse to do encores
During his time in Deep Purple, guitarist Ritchie Blackmore lived by his own rules – even if it meant denying fans an encore.
Speaking in the latest issue of Classic Rock, Glenn Hughes reflects on his experience working with Blackmore. According to the ex-vocalist and bassist, his former bandmate was sometimes a tough nut to crack. “When we were going down really well at shows, he would refuse to do an encore,” Hughes recalls. “He would have to be forced to go back on stage!”
READ MORE: “That was my cue to do a ten-minute keyboard solo”: Deep Purple’s Don Airey recalls the time Ritchie Blackmore fell over onstage while soloing
Even if Blackmore was coerced out for an encore, he would do so rather unwillingly. “He’d play behind his equipment,” Hughes explains. “It was so ridiculous. You couldn’t make him do anything.”
This stubborn behaviour wasn’t strictly limited to encores, either. Hughes recalls the guitarist as an “isolator” and lone wolf. “He had his own dressing room, his own car,” he says. “It wasn’t a band, it was us and it was Ritchie. That’s been his thing for ever. It was uncomfortable for me. I missed the family aspect of all of us together. It was a strange situation.”
This isn’t the first time Hughes has spoken out about how “strange” it was working with Blackmore. Last June, Hughes described his relationship with Blackmore as “difficult” in an interview with Guitar Interactive Magazine.
“When I joined the band, he flew me to Hamburg for a ‘boy’s night’ weekend,” he recalled. “We didn’t sleep… drinking coffee and alcohol. We were great together. [I had a] great time with him – alone. As soon as he was around other men, he wasn’t personal. It was difficult.”
“[He was] difficult, but very intelligent,” he concluded. “Smart, but a difficult person to know and play with.”
Following the release of Nature’s Light back in 2021 under his Blackmore’s Night project, the guitarist has unfortunately been facing a number of health issues. Over the past few months, Blackmore’s wife, Candice Night, has revealed that he is suffering with a slew of problems, ranging from a heart attack to gout.
Her most recent update came last week. “There are three main issues with him that are going on,” Night tells the Iron City Rocks podcast [via Rayo]. “He has a heart issue – he had a heart attack a couple of years ago, so we stay on top of that.
“He’s got gout, so that’s difficult,” she adds. “It’s affecting his feet really badly. And it’s starting in his forefinger, so it’s hurting the mobility in that. He just had an injection for that. And his back, of course, which has always been an issue.”
Despite his health issues, Blackmore seems to be keen on performing some shows down the line. Fans will be glad to know that the classic Blackmore stubbornness persists. “With Ritchie, if you try to pressure him to do something, he instantly says no,” she says. “He’s like a teenager… So I wait for him to come to the realisation, or I drop little seeds, wait for him to be ready to talk about it. But he did just say, ‘What about doing some Blackmore’s Night dates in the fall?’”
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Source: www.guitar-bass.net
