by Rainer Duda, Ritchie Blackmore's German Fanclub

www.ritchieblackmore.de

As soon as the Dates of the Blackmore's Night Italian Tour were confirmed we got realy excited-there were so many nice memories of the German Castle Tour, the best Blackmore's Night Tour in our country so far.There'll be more information on this in our forthcoming Magazin.

The Journey to Italy was the first enjoyable part. We had to give Albert of Des Geyers schwarzer Haufen a lift, he was supposed to play in the Band- Time realy flew by. It is realy great not being restricted to listening to tapes while driving. Albert kept plying amazing songs on his different Instrumentsthat we arrived in Trento without having been bored for a second. Our Hearts started beating faster as soon as we entered the Hotel. We recived a very warm welcome by Carole Stevens. She was extremly busy, as usual. She never seems to get tired-I belive she works 24 Hoursa day.As seems to be a case on every Tour there were minor and major problems to be dealt with, but Carole managed to do so exellently. I think lots of Bands would be too glad to have a manager of such abilities, but this seems to be the privilege of Blackmore's Night.We were lucky enough to get to know Carole in a more intimate way so that we can know really appreciate her suprem work and estimate the difficulties that managing such a tour presents.

Whilst waiting at the Hotel we meet all members of the Band. We were realy glad to see Mick Cervino again who apparently felt the same. We also managed to catch a fleeting glimpse of Ritchie and Candice. They were very busy that day, giving interviews and doing all the Promotional stuff. But nevertheless-thesefew seconds made us feel realy happy.

The next day we went to the venue were we meet a lot of Italian Friends like Matteo and Manni , who were a great help for us. In my opinion the Blackmore's Night fans are something specials-like a big family.They are all willing to help each other and there is a great atmosphere everywhere they meet. Every Band in the worl would be proud if they had such fans, but only Blackmore's Night have got this unique support.

Just before the Doors opened it was time for Carole to do some work again. She made sure all fans dressed in medieval garb got seats in the front row. This was not to easy to organise,as there were numbered seats that night, but Carole solved this problem magnificently.

Now the proceedings commenccd. Marci introduced some realy beautiful songs from her CD to get us into the right mood for the long awaited evening. The atmosphere was great even when an unexpected second support act named LAZAG hit the stage to play a few of their songs- very nice medieval stuff. 

Now came that special moment. The lights went out and the crowed broke out into a tremendous cheering. Roaring thunder in the theatre was accompanied by flashes of lightning on stage, the tension was immense. Here it was again- that breathtaking intro we remembered so well last year's castle tour. Only this time it was played with even more feeling.

In this mix of thunder and lightning and this seemingly endless intro Candice slowly walked- well she seemed to float- to her Microphon.I was absolutly electrified and immediately went goosebumbs. And as soon as Candice's enchanting voice rang through the air I simply had to start crying. It was like being transfered into a world of dreams where you could forget all troubles and pains for the moment.And I was not the only one to feel like this.

I noticed an expression of joy, of happiness and fascination on the faces around me.

Nobody dared looking away from the Stage, everybody listened carefully to Candice voice as she took us into Shadow of the Moon. Then the Band joined in,the crowd got realy exited, started clapping and cheering. Happy Faces everywhere-it seemed the People had restrained all their joy for years, only to let it out at this very Moment. It was smashing. I could not hear myself speak after Shadow of the Moon, such was the intensity of the applause.

This inspired the band gave a supreme performance, making this evening an unforgettable one.The perfection and brilliance of Ritchie's solos was incomparable. Not only could you hear them, you could even feel the Guitar's soft whispers, its quiet moans and its loud crics.

Although being an eye-witness of this it was impossible to really understand what was going on. And Ritchie kept trying to increase the quality of the songs by filling in more and more short but exellent even while Candice was singing. This makes you experience the songs differently every time. It is unbelievable . If Blackmore's Night chose to record an album with 15 takes of one song it would never get boring because there would be something new all of the time. Thats typical of Ritchie, nobodx can do this now or will be able to do so in the future. Its good to live in our time.

Albert of Des Geyers schwarzer Haufen received a thundering welcome when he appeared on stage. He added nice melodies to songs like Renaissance fair, the clock ticks on and March des Heros home with his different pipes and the Krummhorn. All this great atmosphere made Candice surpass herself, the devotional way she sang the songs in , this soft and clear voice-it was fabulous.

You could feel every syllable coming straight from her Heart, accompanied by that ever so charming smile. She easily managed to cast a spell on the audience. Everybody felt really enchanted by her that night.The energy and joy of playing never seemed to cease that night.

Blackmore's Night played two long sets of encores, I should say at least 40 Minutes. I can only say that we'll never forget this Concert.

We meet Ritchie and Candice after the show and thanked them for the smashing performance they had givev. After that we went back to the Hotel to fall asleep as two very happy people.

What a fabulous day it had been.

On the way to Pontoglio where the tour continued , we ask ourself if it was possible to top the last night. And it seemed that it was. The atmosphere was even greater than the night before , the band once again gave her best, and this night, the stage was very near by the fans, maybe this is the reason for more greater atmosphere.

We fans danced to Renaissance fair , waving with sparklers- it was fantastic. You could see Candice's happy face, she was really happy. As the concert reached its climax there were a few fans who apparently went to the wrong concert and started to disturb the great atmosphere with some unsuitable comments and shouts.

Ritchie went up to the Microphone and asked them if they knew wich concert they had come to that night. I can fully understand Ritchie being annoyed by this. But luckily, this was only a small minority of fans who tried to disturb the concert. As a result, this concert was much shorter-but not worse. This evening something special was yet to come. We were invited to a party back at the hotel along with many other fans, all our friends were there. It was a tremendous night, but too our last night in Italy, we had to go back home. Ritchie made me happy by sign my strat but gradually the sadness made itself felt, as we had to say goodbye. Do you know this feeling? But altogether happiness dominated. And we took back home such a lot of unforgettable memories. Before concluding this tour report I've got something to tell all of the Fans .

You all admire Ritchie because of his incomparably skilful way of playing the Guitar. Nobody can compete

with him. He has given us such an amazing number of phantastic Rock and Roll songs throughout the last 30 years, you know them all . I don't have to mention any here. But now have a look what Ritchie is doing now! This phantastic music is much more difficult to play than Rock and Roll. He hereby presents a new dimension of playing the Guitar. He has stopped playing Rock & Roll but he has not stopped playing music, wich is the most importend thing, isn't it ? I am very happy that Ritchie meet Candice and started this magnificent band with her. A band wich surprised us with such a lot of beautiful music. Its not only the music, there's a lot more to it- I have learned to live differently, to understand things . This music is love, tenderness, yearning, understanding as well as woes and sadness. It tells stories. We have meet so many friends. It is impossible to describe, it is a sort of magic. This music brings peoples together and makes them happy. I want to thank Blackmore's Night for it. Let us go to the next Renaissance fair

Rainer and Susanne

Ritchie Blackmore's German Fanclub