Glenn Hughes says he snubbed the chance to play Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow gigs
This summer’s Rainbow gigs were a triumph with many praising Ritchie Blackmore’s bold decision to recruit the relatively unknown but rapturously received singer Ronnie Romero.
However, in a fresh interview with Hard Rock Heaven, the Voice of Rock himself Glenn Hughes says Ritchie asked him to guest perform but he turned down the opportunity.
Glenn explains: “(Ritchie) asked me to do it with him and I said no because he wanted to, funny enough, he wanted to use an unknown singer and I said, ‘It’s not me. It’s not me to do that.’
“I’ve done that with David (Coverdale) and it was good. I don’t want to do it again. It was something…I said, I very eloquently said, ‘No thank you. I really would like to see you, but I can’t do this at the point where I am right now.'”
Alongside Ritchie and Ronnie, the line-up also featured Stratovarius keyboardist Jens Johansson alongside Blackmore's Night drummer David Keith and bassist Bob Nouveau.
Just like the two initial Monsters of Rock shows in Germany, the band’s third gig at Birmingham Genting Arena was heavily weighted towards Deep Purple songs with eight making the setlist compared to Rainbow’s six.
Speaking to Dutch station Radio Veronica last month, Ritchie said if he commits to more shows they will feature “95%” Rainbow tracks.
Reflecting upon the setlist, Ritchie said: “Some of the fans said, 'Why did you do those Deep Purple songs?' And I would say, 'Why not?' And they said, 'Well, we thought it was just gonna be Rainbow. We would prefer to hear Rainbow songs.'
“Which I thought was kind of ironic again. I'm thinking, 'Wow! We just threw three songs in by Deep Purple when they wanted more Rainbow’. And I noticed when they clapped, they weren't clapping so hard for Deep Purple. They said, 'We hear that every year,' 'cause (the current line-up of) Purple goes around on tour.
“So the next time, if we go out and we do anything, I would do probably ninety-five percent Rainbow songs; that's what they seem to want to hear. And it didn't occur to me. I just naturally assumed they wanted to hear everything."
Glenn Hughes is hitting the road this November for a co-headline tour with Living Colour. You can get tickets from Planet Rock Tickets now.