LIVE IN JAPAN

The same line-up as Bent out of Shape, the last album before Ritchie Blackmore broke up the band, and one of the last concerts before the triumphant reunion of Deep Purple. The song Spotlight Kid demonstrates excellent drive, then Miss Mistreated keeps the rhythm, the baton is picked up by I Surrender, one of the undisputed hits of the last period of Rainbow's work. Joe Lynn Turner's vocals are almost as flawless here as in the studio version. The same can be said about his singing throughout the concert, where his vocals become lyrically tender, then driving and harsh. Still, Joe Lynn Turner managed to organically fit into the band and please the picky Blackmore (it was no coincidence that it was the man in black who lobbied for his appearance in Deep Purple a few years later). Catch the Rainbow is again sung perfectly, a wonderful song from the Dio era, very close to the original, but it is not an imitation. At the same time, the guitar part sounds different than in the classic version. An excellent medley with excerpts from the classics precedes the good song Street of Dreams. Once again the musicians will remember the classics during the performance of Difficult to Cure, which, supported by the symphony orchestra, again sounds large-scale and majestic. A very good introduction, a little reminiscent of the famous Stargazer, which we will not hear here, unfortunately, then a little improvisation and here it is, the monumental Beethoven's Ninth, where Blackmore's guitar competes with the orchestra, sometimes coming to the fore, sometimes hiding behind the main melody, then bursting into the main melody again. This is simply musical ecstasy and the apotheosis of the entire concert, when all the musicians in turn show everything they are capable of. The symphony orchestra does not lag behind. I like this version even more than the studio version from the Difficult to Cure album. But still not as much as at the concert Come Hell or High Water, which took place 10 years later and captured Ritchie Blackmore's last performance with Deep Purple. Then there are two wonderful solos on guitar and drums and a wonderful instrumental blues, which is called Blues. These improvisations give Joe Lynn Turner a chance to rest a little, who begins to exploit the microphone with renewed vigor with the song Stranded, whose first chords are consonant with the Deep Purple song Enya. Along the way, he does not forget to rock the audience with his lines and at the same time briefly recalls the old school song, Hey Joe, which was popular in the 60s and got a second wind in the performance of Jimi Hendrix. Very good.

Unfortunately, the overall drive in the first part of the concert is somewhat slowed down by long pauses between songs, when the vocalist communicates with the audience. Of course, interaction with the audience is important, but everything is good in moderation. It is also disappointing that they mainly perform songs from the Joe Lynn Turner era, and such indisputable Deep Purple masterpieces as Women from Tokyo and Lazy are played in fragments. It is good that they played Smoke on the Water in full at the end of the concert.

Conclusion: this concert recording is a good document of the final era of Rainbow's short but bright history (not taking into account the band's short reincarnation in 1995). The selection of songs convincingly demonstrates that Ritchie Blackmore is not very interested in the period of Rainbow's creativity before Joe Lynn Turner's arrival. Therefore, you should not form your impression of Rainbow based on this concert. At the same time, it is a wonderful illustration of the musical evolution of one of the trendsetters of the genre from complex, sophisticated music to simpler musical forms, while maintaining his style and image.