by As much as you might love playing shows, there are going to be times when you’re physically unable to drag yourself through a performance, and no matter how integral you are to your band’s sound, there’s no way you’re going to be able to perform to the best of your ability, so why bother?
In the case of Deep Purple during the early 1970s, they were playing too many shows for Ritchie Blackmore to handle, and there came a point where he had to give in to preserve his health.
When Deep Purple visited the US in support of their 1970 record, In Rock, the band were on course to solidify their position as one of the UK’s finest exports in hard rock, and the band had lined up a number of shows that there was a palpable excitement over. However, the group were instructed to get flu shots in advance of playing overseas, and unfortunately, this led to Blackmore suddenly falling ill in reaction to receiving his injections.
Playing the opening show of the tour without their talismanic guitarist would have been something of a disappointment for all of the fans expecting to see him, but at the same time, the band weren’t in a position to pull out of a show altogether, and it would have been even more of a disappointment for those with tickets for them not to honour the booking. Blackmore definitely wasn’t well enough to go on with the rest of the group, so a plan had to be devised.
The band’s promoter, Joe Miller, stepped in with a bright idea to get a young musician from the San Antonio, Texas area, who he knew to be a big fan of Blackmore’s, and wouldn’t need much time with the band to get to grips with the setlist before performing at the Jam Factory on the opening night of the tour. So, as a consequence, rather than pull out of the show entirely, they trusted the recommendation of Miller and let this young musician stand in, who happened to be none other than Christopher Cross.
Cross, who would go on to establish himself as a solo artist later in the decade, having hits with the yacht rock classics ‘Sailing’ and ‘Arthur’s Theme’, but his first major exposure came at the age of 19 when he was suddenly ushered in to fill the shoes of his idol. “I had a Flying V and long hair,” Cross recalled of the situation, “and I’m this big Ritchie fan. We played the songs that I knew, and then we jammed some blues. They told the crowd Ritchie wouldn’t be there. It was a great moment for me.”
Despite Ian Gillan giving his approval, the rest of the band weren’t as sure about having Cross on board, but Miller had already called the shots and said that he would be doing the show instead of Blackmore. The show may not have been as smooth as it would have been with their usual lineup, but Cross managed to make it through without a hitch. However, the most damning part of the entire experience was the fact that organ player Jon Lord denies that this ever happened.
“This is something that Jon Lord wanted to forget and I wanted to remember,” Cross later revealed to SongFacts. “It was a nightmare for them. It was just horrible. Their very first show, and then their star, Ritchie, wasn’t part of it. But it’s a very cool thing.”
While the rest of his career no doubt provided many highlights, none from that early on will have been quite as impressive to him as having the one-off chance to play with his favourite band, regardless of whether they remember it or not.
