Rainbow reunion shows set for home release

Ritchie Blackmore
Ritchie Blackmore (Image credit: Getty)

Rainbow’s two summer shows in Germany this year are to be given a home release.

Ritchie Blackmore reactivated Rainbow with Lords Of Black singer Ronnie Romero, Stratovarius keyboardist Jens Johansson, Blackmore’s Night drummer David Keith and bassist Bob Nouveau earlier this year.

They played one night in Birmingham, UK, in June and two dates at Germany’s Monsters Of Rock festival the same month. The two festival dates were recorded and filmed and will be released as Memories In Rock: Live in Germany on November 18 via Eagle Rock Entertainment.

It’ll be issued on DVD/2CD and Blu-ray/2CD, along with a deluxe edition featuring the DVD, Blu-ray, 2CD and 48-page hardback photobook. A 3LP version will launch on December 2.

In July, Blackmore said further shows could be possible in the future, despite appearing to pour cold water on live plans previously.

He said: “We might do a few more shows again. I enjoyed it, especially the last one in England. The first two were a little bit intense because we hadn’t played together – we hadn’t done a lot of rehearsing, so the first two were a bit hectic and chaotic.

“But the last one in Birmingham seemed to work to me. It was so weird, I think it was 20,000 people – it sold out in 15 minutes and I kind of wondered who they thought was playing.

“When I got to the auditorium, it was so vast that I thought, ‘Maybe someone else is playing this show tonight.’”

Memories in Rock: Live in Germany tracklist

CD1

  1. Highway Star
  2. Spotlight Kid
  3. Mistreated
  4. 16th Century Greensleeves
  5. Since You Been Gone
  6. Man on the Silver Mountain
  7. Catch the Rainbow
  8. Difficult to Cure (Beethoven’s Ninth)
  9. Perfect Strangers
  10. Stargazer

CD2

  1. Long Live Rock ‘N’ Roll
  2. Child in Time / Woman from Tokyo
  3. Black Night
  4. Smoke on the Water

Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow - live review

Glenn Hughes: Blackmore asked me to play Rainbow shows

Scott Munro
Louder e-commerce editor

Scott has spent 35 years in newspapers, magazines and online as an editor, production editor, sub-editor, designer, writer and reviewer. Scott joined our news desk in the summer of 2014 before moving to the e-commerce team in 2020. Scott keeps Louder’s buyer’s guides up to date, writes about the best deals for music fans, keeps on top of the latest tech releases and reviews headphones, speakers, earplugs and more. Over the last 10 years, Scott has written more than 11,000 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog. He's previously written for publications including IGN, the Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald newspapers, covering everything from daily news and weekly features, to tech reviews, video games, travel and whisky. Scott's favourite bands are Fields Of The Nephilim, The Cure, New Model Army, All About Eve, The Mission, Cocteau Twins, Drab Majesty, Marillion and Rush.