Ritchie Blackmore Rejoins Deep Purple Onstage for 'Smoke on the Water' After 33 Years

Ritchie Blackmore stepped onto a Deep Purple stage for the first time in 33 years on August 12, joining his old band for the closing song of their set at Jones Beach Theater in Wantagh, New York. Blackmore played guitar on Smoke on the Water alongside singer Ian Gillan, bassist Roger Glover, drummer Ian Paice, keyboardist Don Airey and current guitarist Simon McBride � the first time he'd shared a stage with any of them since leaving the band in 1993.

Blackmore co-founded Deep Purple in 1968 and wrote the central riff to Smoke on the Water himself, which makes even a single guest verse close to as personal a return as one song can be. Members of the band have feuded publicly and privately in the decades since his departure, part of what made a single number together at a fan-facing show genuinely notable rather than routine.

No new tour or recording plans came out of the appearance � by all accounts it was a one-off. But for a band whose past lineup disputes have been unusually public, a shared verse and chorus carries more weight than the length of the moment suggests.