BLACKMORE’S NIGHT — the renaissance-themed rock project led by Ritchie Blackmore and his wife, Candice Night — has postponed two dates on its six-show East Coast run. The performances scheduled for November 15 at the Newton Theater in Newton, New Jersey, and November 20 at The Queen in Wilmington, Delaware, have been canceled “due to medical reasons,” with no additional information provided at this time.
During an appearance on the Iron City Rocks podcast this past August, Candice shared an update on the health of her husband and long-time musical collaborator, Ritchie. Night — who has been married to the iconic DEEP PURPLE and RAINBOW guitarist for 17 years and has been with him for over 30 years — discussed the topic while promoting her latest solo release, Sea Glass.
When asked about the possibility of BLACKMORE’S NIGHT returning to the stage soon, Night explained that her husband is very mindful of his own well-being — though she admits she often steps in to make sure he stays on track.
She said at the time: “One of the things that’s so great about Ritchie is he can recognize — he’s very in tune with his own body, and he stays on top of everything. Thank goodness. And when he doesn’t, I nag him to stay on top of it, which he hates, but at least somebody’s doing it — you know, like eating well and things like that.”
Night went on to share that Blackmore is currently managing three major health issues.
“There’s the three main issues with him that are going on,” she revealed. “He has a heart issue. He had a heart attack a couple of years ago, so we stay on top of that. He’s got gout, so that’s difficult. It’s affecting his feet really badly. And it’s starting in his forefinger, so it’s hurting the mobility in that, so he just had an injection for that. And his back, of course, which has always been an issue. He hasn’t taken any back injections since he had the heart issue. So everything kind of is working together. So, it’s hard — it is hard for him. But he’s at the point now where — he’s very smart when it comes to things like that.”
Touring, she explained, presents its own set of challenges for an 80-year-old musician with these conditions.
“It’s not so much the travel on a plane. Honestly, it’s the aggravation before you even get into the plane and after you get into the plane and it’s all the sitting of traveling. So that’ll affect his back and all the rest of it. And the jet lag that stresses your heart. All of these things. Waiting on those lines when you have to get to JFK and you have to go transatlantic, and then coming off and going back through the security lines and the customs lines… it really does take a toll on a human — on a healthy human, so forget about someone who’s 80 years old and going through these issues.”
Night shared that she avoids pressuring Blackmore into commitments, instead planting small suggestions and waiting for him to warm to the idea. Recently, she got some encouraging news.
“He did just say to me yesterday… ‘What about doing some BLACKMORE’S NIGHT dates in the fall?’ So, of course, I got greatly excited about that. So now I’ve gotta contact the agent. But he would rather do places that he can drive to. He takes the night off the next day. Gone are the days where you do five shows in a row, including travel. That’s just way too much.”
“If we go someplace, I’m driving,” Candice added. “So it’s like a mini road trip… but not really because we have to just get to the place, rest that night. Hopefully it’s close enough to the venue. You get to the venue, you go back, you get a good night’s sleep that night… and then you move on to the next place and have a day of travel. So it’s a very slowed down way of doing it. But honestly, I’d much rather take something than nothing at all.”
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