article styled like a classic rock magazine anecdote, capturing Don Airey’s recollection of the moment:
**“That was my cue to do a ten-minute keyboard solo”: Deep Purple’s Don Airey Recalls the Time Ritchie Blackmore Fell Over Onstage While Soloing**
For most musicians, improvisation is an art. For Deep Purple’s Don Airey, it once became a matter of necessity—when legendary guitarist Ritchie Blackmore unexpectedly hit the deck mid-solo.
In an interview filled with wild road stories and unfiltered honesty, Airey recounted a particularly surreal moment during a Deep Purple show in the early 2000s. The band was deep into a fiery rendition of “Highway Star,” the crowd roaring, the energy electric—until things suddenly went sideways, quite literally.
We were somewhere in Eastern Europe, I think. Massive outdoor gig, packed crowd, great weather, everything seemed perfect,” Airey begins. “Ritchie was doing one of his epic solos, absolutely shredding, really going for it.”
But then came the moment no one saw coming.
Suddenly, he just… disappeared,” Airey laughs. “He was in full flight, had his foot up on a monitor, doing that classic Ritchie pose—and then he just toppled over backwards like a felled tree.”
According to Airey, the rest of the band didn’t quite know what to do at first. “There was this weird half-second where we were all still playing, but also looking around like, ‘Did Ritchie just vanish?’ It was surreal.”
Without missing a beat—and with the crowd now murmuring in confusion—Airey did what any seasoned rock veteran would do: he launched into an impromptu solo.
I just thought, ‘Right, this is it. Time for a ten-minute keyboard solo.’ And I went for it—everything from Bach to blues to bits of jazz. I was channeling everyone from Jon Lord to Keith Emerson in that moment.”
Blackmore, it turned out, was fine—he’d simply lost his balance while pivoting too hard mid-lick. “He popped back up a minute later like nothing had happened. Just brushed himself off and kept playing, like, ‘What fall?’”
It’s a moment that captures the unpredictable, high-wire energy of Deep Purple’s live performances—a band known for musical brilliance as much as rock ‘n’ roll mayhem. Airey, who joined Deep Purple in 2002 after Jon Lord’s retirement, has seen plenty of wild nights on stage, but this one stuck with him.
“I’ve played with some of the greatest—Rainbow, Ozzy, Gary Moore—but that night with Ritchie was something else,” he reflects. “It’s not every day your guitarist vanishes mid-solo and you’ve got to turn into Rick Wakeman to save the set.”
As for whether Blackmore ever mentioned the fall? Airey chuckles. “Never brought it up. That’s Ritchie for you. He just acts like it never happened. Meanwhile, the rest of us are trying not to burst out laughing.”
Even after decades on the road, moments like these remind Airey why he still loves playing live. “You never know what’s going to happen. That’s the beauty of rock ’n’ roll.”
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