"Lights went down, nothing happened, lights came back up. 10 minutes later the band started - not a good start. And we only got 75 minutes and no encore, so what was going on backstage, I don't know. I'm forced to say, the main description of Ritchie was anonymous. Despite it being his band, and him running the show, the guitar was low in the mix a lot of the time, and while he seemed to play lots, it wasn't particularly special - just part of the band. Some nice acoustic in Diamonds And Rust was about as good as it got. It was still enjoyable as a band event; the keyboard player was the star really, and covered a lot of the parts that violins etc have done in the past...." Matt Kean

 more Reading reviews... updated June 20th

"It was a celebration of 10 years of Blackmore's Night and that is very good going for the man in black. The set was extensive and two encores covering four songs was great - 2hr 10mins of seeing the best guitarist I have ever seen was well worth the entrance fee. The highlights were Soldier of Fortune, Ariel (what a solo in the middle!),and Fires at Midnight with an amazing new acoustic solo in the middle and Ghost of a Rose..." Philip Bradbury

 more Birminghamreviews...

"Blackmore's Night started rather quietly, then warmed up with some singalong songs, eg. Under A Violet Moon, and Drink Brothers Drink. Lots of people dressed up and sang and danced at front of the stage to the delight of Candice and Ritchie. He even brought out the strat for Difficult To Cure, Rainbow Blues, and All For One. Ritchie also performed a great acoustic solo piece, but on that occasion the crowd were not so appreciative.

All in all a pretty good concert, though I still can't fathom out why they played the 2,000 seat St David's Hall, when Blackmore's idea of concert venues for the band is church halls and castles." review: Mark Trussell

"Well...... the old bugger continues to surprise. The omens were not too good - 20 minutes after we were called to take our seats as the band were on in "five minutes" and BN had not appeared. Being an old Blackmore hand I told my wife and son this did not augur well, however..... Blackers bounced on stage smiling like a Cheshire cat, handing out drinks to all and sundry and keeping up a barrage of quips, most of which were audible. My favourite was just after an exquisite bit of acoustic noodling prior to Soldier of Fortune. To a huge cheer he said "it's got nothing to do with the song"!

The Stat emerged just once, during Ariel, and he let loose with some lovely runs. The highpoint was when he was left alone on stage and dazzled with a lengthy acoustic workout during Fires At Midnight. This was a long show, clocking in at around 2 hours 20 minutes and I enjoyed every moment. I don't play the CD's much, but will always trail out to see him because he is STILL magical on the right night. Some wag shouted out at one point "You are still the greatest guitarist in the world" - Ritchie strolled over to the mike stand and said "Thanks Dad"! I've never seen him do that before and it summed up a really enjoyable evening.

BN, as a band, are very tight with Ritchie controlling it all. The keyboard player is exceptionally good. Candice is an engaging character with a nice line in self-deprecatory wit. Her put-downs of Ritchie are, at times, genuinely hilarious. Her voice has improved markedly over the years although her mangling of vowels does grate at times - "Soldier of FortCHUN" being pretty horrid, although that pales into insignificance given what she does to the word "Superstition" in Fires At Midnight! However, that is to be churlish as this was a splendid evening all told. My son has now seen the "greatest guitarist on Earth" and said that he was "really good"! Now... can I get him to listen to Machine Head instead of the latest My Chemical Romance CD?"

review: Mark Bulldeath