This will be a maybe for me.

Ritchie's playing was very tentative due to his arthritis, but Romero sounded amazing on vocals.

David Keith wasn't too hot on drums though-Rainbow always had dynamic, powerful drummers (aside from Gary Driscoll) and this guy was not that.

Still, I'll be getting this day 1.

This is officially a Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow release.

Ritchie Blackmore‘s Rainbow will release a live set culled from the handful of shows they played earlier this year. Memories in Rock – Live in Germany will be released on Nov. 18 in various video and audio configurations.

The set — which includes more than a dozen songs from guitarist Blackmore’s stints in Deep Purple and Rainbow — will be available as DVD/two-CD and Blu-ray/two-CD sets, as well as in digital formats. A deluxe version — including the DVD, Blu-ray and two CDs, along with a 48-page hardback book — and a triple-LP version will arrive as imports on Dec. 2.

In June, Blackmore performed three shows in Europe: two in Germany and one in England, his first rock concerts in nearly 20 years. The two German shows, at Loreley and Bietigheim, make up the Memories in Rock set. Songs include Deep Purple’s “Highway Star” and “Smoke on the Water,” and Rainbow’s “Since You Been Gone” and “Man on the Silver Mountain.” You can see the full track listing below.

Blackmore has spent the past couple of decades making Renaissance-style music with Blackmore’s Night. These three shows were supposed to be a one-time thing, but he’s since hinted that there may be more performances somewhere down the line.

“I noticed when they clapped, they weren’t clapping so hard for Deep Purple,” he said during an interview in July. “They said, ‘We hear that every year,’ because Purple goes around. So the next time, if we go out and we do anything, I would do probably 95 percent Rainbow songs. That’s what they seem to want to hear. And it didn’t occur to me. I just naturally assumed they wanted to hear everything.”

The band featured during these concerts didn’t include any of the big names Blackmore has played with over the years. Instead, the group featured singer Ronnie Romero, bassist Bob Nouveau, drummer David Keith and keyboardist Jens Johanssen, as well as a pair of backing vocalists.

‘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”

http://ultimateclassicrock.com/ritchie- ... rock-live/

Bump: Added the Deluxe Edition pre-order link to the first post. The big set will be available exclusively as an import through Amazon USA.

(I've also removed a couple of early posts which had incorrect information, to avoid any confusion. Pete's post right above this one had the correct details.)

This is better then I expected. As I posted in the What Are You Listening to thread, my only real complaint is brickwalled mastering (Eagle's trademark).

The singer really reminds me of the Scorpions' Klaus Meine. I do consider this more "The Ritchie Blackmore Band", then "Rainbow"; but I do like it.

I got this but haven't played it yet, hopefully tonight. I love Rainbow! And I hear Ritchie has agreed to more concerts in Europe, how about good old Long Island NY?!!

Playing this right now.

There aren't too many bigger Rainbow fans than me and I am mixed about it.

Ronnie Romero is tremendous vocally and the rhythm section of Noveau and Keith are quite good.

I was disappointed from the playing and sound choices of Johansen who is a world-class keyboardist. I expected more from him.

As for Ritchie, the sound and tone and feel are all still there.

However, his playing is at times, tentative, sloppy and choppy.

Was it nerves? Rust? Lack of rehearsal? Lack of care?

Not sure.

At times, the magic is there, at others, it's just not happening.

I expect that these 2017 shows will be much better.

Kinda tough to record and film from the first 2 shows in 20 years and to expect awesome results.

Still, this is a very good release and I've listened to it (and watched it) several times so far.

Also, I was not thrilled with the lack of 80's Rainbow songs, though there were two choices at least.

And, what's with listing "Woman From Tokyo?" It was 5 seconds!!!!!!

I'm listening to the audio of this set on Spotify right now and I'm a little more enthusiastic than Pete. I'm not an obsessive Blackmore fan but I do own (and love) most Purple and Rainbow albums. The band here does a solid, workmanlike job, which allows Blackmore to shine. Considering how long it's been since he rocked out, I'm impressed with how readily identifiable his sound is.

Pete, I believe you also saw Anderson Rabin Wakeman recently. I'm a huge Rabin fan and was thrilled to see him again, but it was clear that he wasn't in "game shape" yet after a long time away from the stage. I expected something similar from Blackmore and I'm pleasantly surprised.

As for Rabin, I bet he kicks into another gear as the tour continues.

I agree with Rich, I don't hear a lot of sloppy playing. Highway Star is not very Blackmore like; but he seems back to normal on the rest of the set.

I think it's because I'm a Blackmore obsessive and if you listen to songs like "Spotlight Kid" and "Stargazer" you hear him just playing a few notes and far less scales without his usual fluency.

Also, at times he settles for choppy, muted strumming as opposed to playing the chords and instead lets the keyboards handle those parts.

It's still pretty good, but it's sloppy at times and I hear it.

I'm far from the only one as reviews will attest, but he hasn't played this material in decades and does have arthritis.

I do play this often though and I'm beyond happy Rainbow are back and there will be more shows.

Romero's accent comes through at times, but he is really an excellent singer in command of his voice and it's especially on the Dio-era material where he shines the most.

I really hope some US shows happen, but I did at least see Rainbow in their glory days once.

Is Romero German as I'm guessing?

Wow, as I mentioned above, he sounds alot like Klaus Meine to me.

No, he's Chilean and his accent is clear throughout the show, but damn, is he dynamite.

I've listened a few more times, and Ritchie is definitely holding back, in pain, or just old.

There are still moments of brilliance, but opting to play choppy, muted chords over the full chords rhythmically and sometimes letting notes hang rather than playing the 4 or 5 other notes of a solo is very noticeable to me.

I don't really mind though-it's Ritchie, it's Rainbow and his sound, tone and feel are instantly identifiable still.