No, not "Back To The Future" is the slogan tonight, it's rather - "Forward To The Past". And it already starts by entering the holy door of the posh Herkules Saal here in the Munich Residence. You really start to ask yourself, whether we have landed in the 15th century or earlier. All those huge golden painted  statues standing around in the lobby seem somehow surprised as well. They are more the barock style rather than the renaissance one, which is the slogan for tonight. And for everybody, who ain't aknowledged concerning this art period, let me tell you briefly: The word ‘renaissance’ was taken from the italien word rinascimento and adopted by the french around 1820/30. And then again it was borrowed by the german from the french around 1840 to give the art-history era-  combining the middle century age with the new age - a name. By the way, one of the most famous composers of the renaissance was a gentleman named Orlando Di Lasso. - Got me?! So far so good for the generell knowledge....

But we are here in 2005, modern, fashionable, always interested in new things and on the search of… - okidok - we are landing back in the 15th century. Yes there they are, those fans of Blackmore's Night, dressed in silk and velvet with these fancy sleeves and feather hats. And I feel like an alien from the future inbetween all these beautiful people with wearing only simple jeans and t-shirt. First of all we get to know this gentleman from America, who I, and probably all the other 1.500 fans in the audiance have never heard of. And don't beat me up when I'm confessing, I did’nt catch his name. But he seems to be a very close friend to Mr. & Mrs.  Blackmore. Because our Renaissance Elvis does mention this fact several times during his performance. However he knows how to entertain, that's for sure, thanx to his somehow peculiar effort to sing in german and his announcement: “the next song was written by an english man in Austria in the french language to be performed by an american (me) here in Germany”."
                                                      
                                                                               Deadringer 'Brunhilde'  is also part of the show...

The renaissance Comedy  soon comes to an end, only to be continued 15 minutes later in the truest sense of the word and not even Ritchie Blackmore's always very serious face expression doesn't make a change. Candice has got the advantage on her side. My god, this woman has got asense of humor. And this is it, what lets  the 450 old rocker- Deep Purple fans almost forget, what or better whom they actually came for. And they give their full attention to the pretty and very talented Candice Night, who knocks us down with her charming output and her incredible voice. The answer is standing ovations. Jes... this woman is incredible. And not only I am very positively surprised.

Lots of applause and whistling is the result for this superb performance which is underlined by Ritchie's excellent guitar work. There are only two idiots in here, (one of them is me) who are swearing the hell out because of the terrible light conditions, exspecially on Mr. Blackmore's face  for taking some pictures. They could have taken candles as well. It would not have made a big difference. My poor camera has to fight a constant battle to get at least some decent shots outta this. And thanks to the kneeling positions because of a seated audiance my poor knees take vengance on me  during the rest of the concert which goes on for another two hours from that point. A seat ? - No, it's sold out. So I have to stand. Musically the programm moves between classical pieces from the - mentioned before - renaissance era, but with a certain modern touch. Even Henry VIII contributes one of his written tracks.
Sometime inbetween Ritchie Blackmore's old roots are coming on the surface, and he exchanges his acoustic guitar for an electric one. One piece he had originally written together with David Coverdale  is on the setlist as well as a smooth version of "Child In Time" of Deep Purple and last but not least Beethoven's 9th Symphony - The Ode of Joy. And even this wonderful piece of music he used to tune in at Purple concerts in the past.
The live set is officially finished by a beautiful song named: "Ghost Of A Rose" including a nice flute performance by Candice. 

Yep, it has succeeded even on the oldest Die Hard Deep Purple Fans. And compared to all those gigs I've seen Ritchie Blackmore playing with Deep Purple or Rainbow, I can easely make out the difference and watch his enjoyment of performing nowadays compared with the old times. Although he still has to force himself to the  slightest hint of a smile on his face. The announcements he leaves up to his girl, which is okay, because she probably does it better anyway. And Candice gets all the attention once again and again. Only a proper compliment from a male fan gets Ritchie out of his usual way of acting showing the guy - "hey this maiden belongs to me only". It's so funny, I'm having a good laugh, indeed.
The result are 3 hourse of wonderful entertainment with an ancient aura and atmosphere, mixed with a bit of Rock'n'Roll, and believe it or not, - a whole lot of humour - and my two legs, who are torturing me for the rest of the night. Long live the middle age, but please now and here and presently. Thank you, cheers and amen.