Joe Lynn Turner gives Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow yet another tongue-lashing
Not one to sit on the fence, Joe Lynn Turner has slammed the current incarnation of Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow yet again.
Having voiced his disapproval of Ritchie and his assembled musicians not once but twice in 2016, Joe Lynn, who fronted Rainbow from 1980 to 1984, has now said the line-up isn’t “up to snuff.”
"I had worked with Ritchie's manager for over a year trying to put something together that was authentic,” Joe Lynn told Australia's Illawarra Mercury newspaper.
“When I say 'authentic,' I mean authentic line-up, regardless of who was still around, who wasn't. We were going to have people that actually were in Rainbow and they just pulled out at the last minute really and put this thing together."
Describing Ritchie’s apparent U-turn as “disappointing” and “shocking”, Joe Lynn continued: "Why would anyone of (Blackmore’s) iconic nature want to come out and not be as good as he can be? Because, obviously, the reviews haven't been that good. And that's not for me to say - that's what people are saying. It's obvious that it's just not living up to snuff.
"It's a shame that they didn't see the vision that they should have put an authentic Rainbow together, because all the fans feel disrespected in a way. They were hoping that they would get a chance to see at least some cast of Rainbow members, all in one place, all at one time. And that just didn't happen."
Last year, Joe Lynn labelled Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow as merely a “covers band” and said that fans deserve a Rainbow “extravaganza” featuring various surviving band members from over the decades including himself, Graham Bonnet and Bob Daisley.
You can read Planet Rock’s verdict on Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow’s performance at Stone Free Festival in Issue Two of Planet Rock Magazine, which you can buy right now.
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