Rainbow - Memories in Rock: Live In Germany (Japan) [2016, Hard Rock, Classic Rock, Blu-ray, 1080i]

The true power of music is impossible to define and yet we can all feel it when the sonic planets align. The magical impact of the finest rock'n'roll - that hazy but overwhelming blend of inspiration and perspiration - sustains us through dark times and fills our hearts with joy and strength. Music unites us, nourishes us and provides us with an emotional clarity that the rest of our turbulent lives singularly fails to offer. For those reasons and many more, we must proudly acknowledge and salute the true architects of the musical world that we call home. Above all else, Ritchie Blackmore is one of rock's greatest architects; a six-string seer that laid robust foundations upon which four decades of thunderous, perpetual evolution have taken place. Call him a genius, a legend, a hero if you will, but the principal reason the great man has remained such a revered and celebrated figure for over 50 years of creative endeavor is that for Ritchie Blackmore, the music has always taken centre stage. And now, after 20 years of purposeful absence from the hard rock realm, this grand guardian's resplendent Rainbow has risen again.
When the news broke that a new incarnation of Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow would be performing three exclusive concerts in the summer of 2016, there was an instantaneous and undeniable eruption of euphoria among the global heavy rock community. For those who have long loved his music, the reaction was entirely understandable, not least because many believed that Ritchie had permanently abandoned his affiliation to the hard rock world when he formed Blackmore's Night with vocalist Candice Night in 1997. After over 30 years of active service under his belt, first as a session guitarist for all manner of notable acts during the '60s and then as a creative driving force behind the indomitable Deep Purple and, later, numerous incarnations of his own band Rainbow, Blackmore must have felt that he had said all there was to say with a cranked-up Fender Stratocaster. In truth, he could hardly have had a more profound effect on the birth, development and sustained dominance of heavy rock, defining and redefining its potential many times over along the way. Virtually anyone that has ever felt the urge to pick up a guitar and blast out some riffs will have tinkered with immortal rock benchmark 'Smoke On The Water', Deep Purple's ageless anthem from 1972's hallowed 'Machine Head' album. Similarly, anyone that has ever thrilled and thralled to the towering, classically-hued bombast of heavy metal owes a huge debt to the first three Rainbow albums, wherein Blackmore's exquisite compositional gifts collided with the monumental vocal skills of the late, great Ronnie James Dio. Throw in the magnificently slick and incisive AOR oomph of Rainbow's '80s material and the boldly idiosyncratic catalogue that Blackmore's Night have amassed over the last 20 years, and the guitarist's contribution to music both heavy and refined must surely be hailed as fundamental to the heart and soul of our cherished cultural landscape. As a result, the return of Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow - on June 17 and 18, 2016, at the Monsters Of Rock festival in Germany, and on June 25 at Birmingham's Genting Arena in the UK - represented far more than just an exciting chance to revel in nostalgia. Instead, this was a celebration of a unique and enduring talent and the incredible, life-affirming and subtly revolutionary songs that have become such an essential part of our musical lives. Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow: Memories In Rock simply amounts to the ultimate souvenir of this breathtaking resurrection.
Ritchie Blackmore learned his trade as a session musician for legendary producer Joe Meek's music production stable, while also performing as a member of instrumental rock group The Outlaws. By the time he founded Deep Purple in 1968, the guitarist was more than ready to make history, with a burning passion for freewheeling creativity and the limitless possibilities thrown up by a meeting of virtuoso musical minds. Albums are seldom as forward-thinking and influential as 1970's 'Deep Purple In Rock': an imperious showcase for the collective brilliance of one of that golden era's most distinctive bands. The combination of Blackmore's mercurial abilities with the rambunctious keyboard dexterity of Jon Lord ensured that Deep Purple were laying down a formidable template, changing the course of rock'n'roll and ensuring that heavy music would forever be at its most effective when the primal and the cerebral were explored via guitars, drums and voice. Two years later, the Purps released 'Machine Head', a tougher and more focused effort than its predecessors, bookended by the mighty 'Highway Star' and the god-like 'Smoke On The Water'. Blackmore was already an established guitar hero at this point, but he was increasingly recognized as a maverick visionary too. Deep Purple's subsequent evolution confirmed it: through the wildly imaginative sonic strata of albums like 1974's 'Burn' and its flawed but fiery follow-up 'Stormbringer', released later that same year, hard rock was being coaxed and cajoled toward a higher state of artistic desire. Remarkably, given the unprecedented nature of what was transpiring, the world agreed and the Purple legend was duly etched in stone.
What happened next was all the more extraordinary in light of the startling success Blackmore had already enjoyed with Deep Purple: quitting the band in 1974 to embark on a solo project, he shrewdly enlisted the astonishing talents of young New Yorker Ronnie James Dio and formed Rainbow, releasing the now platinum-plated classic 'Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow' in 1975. Markedly different from the music he had made with the DP crew, Blackmore's new direction enabled him to forge more idiosyncratic trademarks and to introduce a strong sense of Baroque intricacy into what were still, in essence, bombastic hard rock songs. With Dio providing the perfect vocal foil, the likes of 'Man On The Silver Mountain' and 'Catch The Rainbow' further enhanced Blackmore's reputation as a truly epoch-shattering master of the six-string, exuding vitality and audacious ingenuity at a time when hard rock was beginning to run out of steam. When Rainbow released their second album, 'Rising', in May 1976, the mainstream world was immersed in the relatively transient disco and punk scenes, but fans of real rock'n'roll immediately embraced this insanely ambitious statement, with its hypnotic imagery and almost impossibly grandiloquent sonic dimensions. From the dark thunder of the opening Tarot Woman' to the devastating one-two climax of 'Stargazer' and 'A Light In The Black', 'Rising' was much more than just a strong album from a revered rock star: this was a wholesale reinvention of the heavy rock ethos, of its imagery, its aesthetic, its ambition and its potential. Now routinely regarded as one of the greatest rock albums ever made, 'Rising' still sounds mind-blowing 40 years on. After Dio's departure in 1978, following the release of third album 'Long Live Rock'n'Roll', Ritchie Blackmore and his band marched purposefully on, continually evolving and mutating and becoming ever more succinct in the process. There were colossal hit singles like the Russ Ballard-penned 'Since You Been Gone' and 'I Surrender', but also plenty of evidence that Blackmore's quest for musical magic was ongoing: he reimagined Beethoven's 9th symphony on the title track of 1981 's 'Difficult To Cure', mastered the glossy bluster of the burgeoning AOR movement on the subsequent 'Straight Between The Eyes' in 1982 and its 1983 follow-up 'Bent Out Of Shape', and placed a meticulous, substantial full stop at the end of the first age of Rainbow with 1995's 'Stranger In Us AH’. Regardless of the personnel involved in each recording and tour, Blackmore's unique personality shone through in every one of his band's musical statements and while his vast fan base undoubtedly mourned his decision to abandon hard rock in favour of the blissful, medieval folk rock of Blackmore's Night, it has always been hard to deny that his contribution to rock music had already surpassed anything achieved by the vast majority of his supposed peers.
As is in the nature of true artists, the moment eventually arrived when intuition dictated that it was time to pursue a different course, resulting in the building of a new, distinct legacy that has resonated with music fans around the world ever since. Now on the verge of their 20th anniversary as a band, Ritchie Blackmore and Candice Night have been prolific throughout their story, producing ten widely acclaimed studio albums and consistently offering a meaningful antidote to the empty bombast of much modern rock music. Nonetheless, the devotion of the great man's original fan base has never faltered and hopes have always remained high that, at some point, Blackmore would return to the stage to reignite his inner rock'n'roll flame. Fast forward to 2016 and the dream has become a delicious reality.
Flow fortunate we are that this historic moment in rock history was captured for all time: a sacred memento for those in attendance at the time and a sumptuous consolation prize for those who missed the opportunity. The feverish anticipation in the moments before this latest incarnation of Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow hit the stage in Germany is palpable and invigorating. As the inspirational strains of 'Pomp and Circumstance March in D Major, Op. 39, No.V boom over the Monsters Of Rock PA, you can hear the thousands of faithful devotees, urging and willing this moment to be as special as it deserved to be. Blackmore's latest band of brothers and sisters take to the stage: bassist Bob Nouveau, keyboard maestro Jens Johansson, drummer David Keith and newfound vocal powerhouse Ronnie Romero. The tension continues to build through a brief, salutary snatch of 'Over The Rainbow' and then, seemingly harnessing every last ounce of energy in the arena, Blackmore leads his new charges into the ageless rampage of Deep Purple's 'Highway Star'. Enshrouded in multi-coloured splendor and plainly buzzing on their collective chemistry, they sound phenomenal: Ronnie Romero's peerless, soulful rasp breathing fresh life into every blessed word as the unmistakable sound of Blackmore's Stratocaster resonated around the arena, sending the crowd into a state of rapture.
It's a triumphant performance from the very start; a sublime collision of veteran class and rediscovered momentum, buoyed by the adoration of the assembled throng and propelled breathlessly forward by the nebulous wonder of a gloriously confident and accomplished ensemble display. Lest we forget, this is also a moment that could easily have never happened and that may never occur again and so as you witness this exemplary tribe of musicians revive and honour the effervescent likes of 'Mistreated', 'Man On The Silver Mountain', 'Catch The Rainbow' and a particularly extravagant canter through 'Difficult To Cure' -Blackmore's premonitory, early '80s plunge into the classical realm - the effect is simply mesmerizing. By the time Rainbow arrive at the towering triple-whammy of set closers 'Stargazer', 'Black Night' and 'Smoke On The Water', you may well find yourself wondering how we ever survived the last 20 years without hearing these songs performed live. Perhaps most importantly, it's more than evident that Ritchie Blackmore himself found it both enriching and emboldening to return to his seminal roots. Delving into the past is not always a natural process for intuitive artists like this one, but as energy passes between audience and band, the magic that exists within this extraordinary music is there to be heard and felt.
As the final strains of 'Smoke On The Water' die away and the latest (and perhaps final) Rainbow lineup take their bows and disappear into the night, the ecstatic roar of the crowd continues, as voices from all over the world combine to give their thanks and praise for this brief but golden expedition to the Rainbow's end. We have learned that class is eternal, that rock'n'roll will live long and conquer all and that Ritchie Blackmore, despite the distinct creative path he walks today, still understands how important this music is to so many thousands, maybe millions of people. That so much can be achieved with the elegant might of an electric guitar remains one of the great mysteries of mankind's recent history, but the power of music and the power of Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow remain beyond question. We waited for 20 years and he delivered the goods. Play it loud, savour the magic and keep that joy in your heart. Long live rock'n'roll!
Dom Lawson, 2016