Eagle Rock is releasing today a DVD+2CD package of ”Live in Munich 1977”, featuring RAINBOW’s “Long Live Rock ‘n’ Roll” line-up of guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, vocalist Ronnie James Dio, drummer Cozy Powell, bassist Bob Daisley and David Stone on keyboards.
Ritchie Blackmore had to be smuggled out of Austria after trouble with the police at a gig two nights earlier and was very late arriving in Munich, all of which seemed to inspire both the band and the audience to create a truly remarkable gig. The band hit the stage at close to midnight, with a massive 28 foot high, 40 foot wide electric rainbow which produced a multi-colored lighting effect from the 3000 light bulbs.
This show has been previously released as individual DVD and 2-CD packages in the past, and this is the first time they have been packaged together.
Truly, ”Live In Munich 1977” is a brilliant showcase of the primal electricity of Rainbow.
This particular performance was captured live in Munich, Germany, on October 20th, 1977, and saw Rainbow at their peak with a couple of new members namely Bob Daisley and Canadian Dave Stone on keyboards.
The concert almost never happened as Ritchie Blackmore had been arrested a few days prior in Austria when he got into a fight with a security guard who was roughing up fans in the front row of one of their shows. After spending a day in jail, bail was posted and he was literally driven straight to this concert and right up onstage.
Finally, at close to midnight, Rainbow finally took to the stage. Many bootleg versions of this legendary concert (both audio and video) have surfaced throughout the years – but this official release is the one to treasure
Although the track listing is similar, ‘Live In Munich’ is much superior to the ‘On Stage’ album in many ways. The band sounds tighter and Ritchie Blackmore focused, in control, as is reflected in his phenomenal and often improvised guitar playing.
For a complete concert performance, this only contains 8 songs with Kill The King being the fiery opening track. Deep Purple’s Mistreated is given the full treatment and Dio does a great job with the vocals.
Sixteenth Century Greensleeves from the debut album is given a little bit of an “extension” as does Catch The Rainbow which has to be one of the most stunning performances by Ritchie Blackmore ever. The track ebbs and flows into many different realms with the band being so in sync that they just follow what Ritchie is doing. His soloing just soars throughout this one and it’s a much better version than found on the On Stage live album.
The crowd gets into a sing along with Long Live Rock ‘N Roll; a new track that many had never heard before (this show is from the 1977 European tour, a few months prior to the release of the Long Live Rock ‘n’ Roll LP).
Man On The Silver Mountain begins with some cool “doodling” by Ritchie including a few riffs from the intro to Deep Purple’s Lazy before ploughing into the signature riff for the song. This one’s a real chameleon with many tangents and tempo changes including slow bluesy interludes, extended jams and improvisation. A few bars of Lady Starstruck make an appearance near the end of the track and we even hear Dio chanting about “Night People” during a dreamy passage near song’s end. Interestingly Night People is a track off of his Dream Evil album that would surface some 8 or 9 years later.
Still I’m Sad also gets the full jam / improvisational treatment with the song clocking in at over 25 minutes, full of twists. Keyboardist on that tour, David Stone, is given lots of room to solo. We have as well an awesome drum solo by the late Cozy Powell.
The set closer Do You Close Your Eyes is a real barn burner and with extended soloing and fireworks.
With ”Live In Munich”, we get to hear once again just how brilliant this band was in their prime.
HIGHLY Recommended
Disc One:
1. Introduction
2. Kill The King
3. Mistreated
4. Sixteenth Century Greensleeves
5. Catch The Rainbow
6. Long Live Rock ‘n’ Roll
Disc Two:
1. Man On The Silver Mountain
2. Still I’m Sad
3. Do You Close Your Eyes
Ronnie James Dio – lead vocals
Ritchie Blackmore – guitar
David Stone – keyboards
Bob Daisley – bass, backing vocals
Cozy Powell – drums, percussion