November 1974, St. Paul, Minnesota – In the fall of 1974, Creem magazine flew me out to the Twin Cities to interview Ritchie Blackmore. There had been a renewed interest in Deep Purple after they made a killer appearance at the Cal Jam concert seven months earlier. On that seventh day of April, the band stunned a crowd of 200,000 Ontario Motor Speedway fans when Ritchie shoved Marshall cabinets into the photographer’s pit and trashed his guitar Hendrix-style. He pushed the headstock of his Strat into a TV camera lens and shattered it, and then was nearly blown up when a flash pot ignited just inches from where he was standing.

It was rock and roll full throttle; it was Ritchie Blackmore without a leash. The show was bigger than life and crazier than hell, the elements that have been a part of every memorable concert from the Stones to Zeppelin. Purple was the greatest band in the world that evening, tearing up the night with a set list made up of songs from the just-released Burn album. It would be impossible to capture that kind of drama every night, however, and less than a year after that performance, Blackmore would call it quits to form Rainbow.

But there was nothing but a buzz of energy when I was finally ushered to the backstage area of the concert hall. The unique choreography of a rock and roll show was taking place. Amplifiers were given final tweaks and guitars underwent last-minute tune-ups. David Coverdale and Glenn Hughes, the newest members of Purple Mark III, were strolling about. Out front, you could hear the St. Paul auditorium filling up, the crowd happy to be out of the 47-degree cold and growing ever louder in anticipation. (more…)