Aerosmith's Tom Hamilton describes Ritchie Blackmore Rainbow shows as 'flat'

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By ( Classic Rock ) published

Hamilton played with Thin Lizzy when they opened for Rainbow in June and says guitarist Ritchie Blackmore wasn't looking or sounding his best

Ritchie Blackmore
Ritchie Blackmore (Image credit: Getty)

Aerosmith’s Tom Hamilton says Ritchie Blackmore has been looking “pudgy” and was “a little flat” when performing with Rainbow last month.

The bassist has been playing with the reunited Thin Lizzy on their tour to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the death of their frontman Phil Lynott and to celebrate 40 years since the release of their iconic Jailbreak album. The tour included two shows opening for Rainbow in Germany.

Hamilton claims that the former Deep Purple guitarist cordoned off the stage while Rainbow were performing.

He tells his Aerosmith bandmate Joey Kramer on WZLX: “Right before they went on, they booted everyone off the stage. They had to watch from the side. And then they put up this tape across the walkway, like ‘do not cross’ red-and-white striped tape.”

Hamilton adds: “Everybody’s just kind of standing there staring at them, like , ‘Oh my God, who’s ever seen a band do that?’ But he really did not want anybody on the stage while he was playing.”

When asked how Blackmore looked, Hamilton says, “a little pudgy,” adding: “He was playing lead – it sort of sounded, just like, right off the record, and not in a real passionate way. A little flat.”

Thin Lizzy will perform at the TeamRock-sponsored Ramblin’ Man Fair on July 23.

Thin Lizzy anniversary shows 2016

Jul 23: Maidstone Ramblin’ Man Fair, UK
Aug 06: Rejmeyre Skogsrojet Festival, Sweden – with Ian Haugland
Jan 19-23: Fort Lauderdale Rock Legends V Cruise, FL

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Christina O'Neill

Former TeamRock news desk member Christina joined our team in late 2015, and although her time working on online rock news was fairly brief, she made a huge impact by contributing close to 1500 stories. Christina also interviewed artists including Deftones frontman Chino Moreno and worked at the Download festival. In late 2016, Christina left rock journalism to pursue a career in current affairs. In 2021, she was named Local Weekly Feature Writer of the Year at the Scottish Press Awards.