Ritchie Blackmore came back to the hot issue of his plans of playing Deep Purple and Rainbow songs

again in the summer of 2016 on an interview he gave to Billboard.com. “I’m now 70, so I just felt like playing some rock ‘n’ roll for a few days,” he said. “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.” Blackmore didn’t reveal who will be accompanying him on these shows, because their contracts are still being negotiated at the moment, but he made clear that it won’t be any member of his previous bands. He also added that these shows will be filmed for future release.