WATCH: Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow perform ‘Since You’ve Been Gone’ with Russ Ballard

Having already performed the Russ Ballard penned anthem ‘I Surrender’ two songs into their set at The O2, after then playing Deep Purple’s ‘Mistreated’, singer Ronnie Romero introduced Russ to the stage.

Ronnie said: “Let me introduce tonight to all of you, a great musician, an amazing songwriter who wrote ‘I Surrender’ and the next song we’re going to play with you tonight ‘Since You Been Gone’. Mr Russ Ballard!”

The former Argent vocalist and legendary songwriter came on the stage to a rapturous response from the crowd and played guitar and sang backing vocals. You can watch footage of the performance here:

Alongside the two Russ Ballard covers, the setlist at Stone Free Festival consisted of six Deep Purple tracks, seven by Rainbow and a cover of The Yardbirds’ ‘Still I’m Sad’.

Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow play Glasgow SSE Hydro on Sunday 25th June and Birmingham Genting Arena on Wednesday 28th June.

Their planned show at Manchester Arena has been cancelled due to the venue still being closed following the terrorist attack on the venue on 22nd May

The setlist at Stone Free Festival was as follows:

1. Spotlight Kid
2. I Surrender
3. Mistreated
4. Since You Been Gone (with Russ Ballard)
5. Man on the Silver Mountain (incl. Woman From Tokyo snippet)
6. Soldier of Fortune
7. All Night Long
8. Difficult to Cure
9. Child in Time
10. Stargazer
11. Still I'm Sad & Drum Solo
12. Long Live Rock and Roll
13. Black Night

Encore:
14. Burn
15. Catch the Rainbow
16. Smoke on the Water