It had been nearly 20 years since Richie Blackmore’s Rainbow performed as a band. In that time it is well known that Richie stepped away from rock music and developed a very successful career in Renaissance music. We all hoped that someday though Richie would strap on the antique white Fender Strat and step on the distortion pedal just one more time. In 2016 he revived the band with an all new line up and thankfully captured the band in stunning HD. Memories in Rock: Live in Germany was filmed at the Monsters of Rock Festival at the Loreley Freilichtbuhne. Richie surrounded himself with musicians that each played at a high level. We did have to question Mr Nouveau’s choice in pants but certainly not how he held down the low end. The set list is filled with all the Rainbow classics as well as a few Deep Purple gems. Many had hopped that Graham Bonnet or Joe Lynn Turner might be given the mic but Ronnie Romero proved to be a wise choice. Pardon the pun, but his voice was strong enough for all the colors in the Rainbow and a Deep Purple too. One enjoyable moment was watching Jens doing a wicked passage on the organ with Candice behind him just smiling at the fireworks.
Vocals: Ronnie Romero
Bass: Bob Nouveau
Drums: David Keith
Keyboards: Jens Johanssen
Candice Night (Mrs Richie Blackmore): Background Vocals
Lady Lynn: Background Vocals
Memories in Rock – Live in Germany Track Listing
“Highway Star”
“Spotlight Kid”
“Mistreated”
“16th Century Greensleeves”
“Since You Been Gone”
“Man on the Silver Mountain”
“Catch the Rainbow”
“Difficult to Cure (Beethoven’s Ninth)”
“Perfect Strangers”
“Stargazer”
“Long Live Rock ‘n’ Roll”
“Child in Time / Woman From Tokyo”
“Black Night”
“Smoke on the Water”