RAINBOW: 1977-1978

   

Ritchie Blackmore/Guitar
Ronnie James Dio/Vocals
Jimmy Bain; Mark Clarke; Bob Daisley/Bass
Tony Carey; David Stone; Don Airey/Keyboards
Cozy Powell/Drums
INTRODUCTION

This is the second part of a chronology of the band Rainbow, covering the period 1977 to 1978.

Click on either of these years below to jump to the start of that particular year:
1977 1978

  • The gig entries are set out in the following format: Date [dd.mm.yy]; location [city, suburb]; venue; state [USA and Australia], province [Canada] or island [Japan]; country.

  • Cancelled and/or unconfirmed shows are listed in red, whilst live jams and other performances are shown in grey [and are aligned to the right].

  • Performances which are known to have been recorded [officially or unofficially] are marked recorded.

  • The links to third-parties' sites are intended to provide additional information about the concert venues concerned including, where possible, internal and/or external photographs. If anyone is aware of other similar sites relating to Rainbow's concerts which might be of interest, please get in touch.

  • Lyrics are linked from the album covers.

  • Where memorabilia relating to a specific concert is in the online archive, this is linked to and indicated by memorabilia.

A handful of unresolved shows are included where the venue, or even the date, remains unconfirmed. Any help with these or other errors and omissions would be appreciated and credited where appropriate.

Further set lists and reviews, together with memorabilia, will continue to be added on an ongoing basis. Anyone who can help with any of these aspects, please contact Nigel Young.
1977

Rainbow Mk3

Ritchie Blackmore/Guitar
Ronnie James Dio/Vocals
Mark Clarke/Bass
Tony Carey/Keyboards
Cozy Powell/Drums

In late-February, it was announced that Bain and Carey would be leaving the group - they'd both been given their notice shortly after the Japanese tour. Bain spoke about it later in Circus:

"I got fired. I came home on January 3rd and got a phone call from the manager in New York saying, 'your services are no longer required'. There were no reasons given which was the surprising thing. It was a bit of a shock after being in the band for a year and a half." [Jimmy Bain]

Bain was replaced by Mark Clarke [ex-Uriah Heep, Tempest, Colosseum, Natural Gas]. Without a replacement on keyboards - they had tried out an unnamed Italian - Carey was called back to start work on the album.

Ritchie and Cozy jammed with some local bands in Paris whilst over there finding a suitable place to record the next album, settling on Le Chateau [near Paris] in France. Mark Clarke later recalled that he played live with Rainbow in Los Angeles, in a club in Paris and on one other occasion. With nothing more than these vague details and given that these would seem to have been less than full shows, these have not been listed.

Rainbow Mk4

Ritchie Blackmore/Guitar and bass
Ronnie James Dio/Vocals
Bob Daisley/Bass
David Stone/Keyboards
Cozy Powell/Drums

"Long Live Rock 'n' Roll"
Long Live Rock 'n' Roll/Lady Of The Lake/L.A. Connection/Gates Of Babylon/Kill The King/The Shed [Subtle]/Sensitive To Light/Rainbow Eyes.

Recorded Herouville Saint Clair, near Paris, France, March-August and November-December 1977.

 Long Live Rock 'n' Roll lyrics

Tony Carey eventually walked out after one too many practical jokes by Ritchie.

At the start of August, the band were rehearsing in Los Angeles. After it had been decided that Clarke was not suitable, Jimmy Bain was asked back but he declined. In the end, the bulk of the bass guitar work on the album was played by Ritchie.

The new recruits were Bob Daisley on bass [ex-Mungo Jerry, Chicken Shack and Widowmaker], an Australian, and David Stone [ex-Symphonic Slam] on keyboards, a Canadian. Stone later said he got the job ahead of Eddie Jobson [auditioned for a second time?], Matthew Fisher and Mark Stein [ex-Vanilla Fudge, Tommy Bolin Band].

On Stage 1977-78 ON STAGE TOUR
UK dates for July had to be scrapped as the album wasn't finished.

US dates starting at the end of July through to September were referred to in interviews but had also been scrapped. These would have included:

13.08.77 Buffalo Rich Stadium New York, USA - cancelled.

09.09.77 Los Angeles Shrine Auditorium California, USA - cancelled.
SEPTEMBER 1977

Tour rehearsals were held in September at Shepperton Studios in the UK, during the week prior to the Scandinavian dates. Support for the European tour were Kingfish.

18.09.77 London Finsbury Park Rainbow Theatre, UK - rescheduled for November.

19.09.77 London Finsbury Park Rainbow Theatre, UK - rescheduled for November.

20.09.77 London Finsbury Park Rainbow Theatre, UK - rescheduled for November.

21.09.77 London Finsbury Park Rainbow Theatre, UK - rescheduled for November.
23.09.77 Helsinki Finlandia Hall, Finland - cancelled after the gear was held up at Customs.

25.09.77 [ ] recorded Stockholm Konserthuset, Sweden - start delayed by an hour, no guitar demolition.

Kill The King/Mistreated/Sixteenth Century Greensleeves/Catch The Rainbow/Long Live Rock 'n' Roll/Lazy-Man On The Silver Mountain/Still I'm Sad/Do You Close Your Eyes.
Bootlegged on CD as Long Live Triumvirate.

26.09.77 [ ] recorded Gothenburg Scandinavium, Sweden

Kill The King/Mistreated/Sixteenth Century Greensleeves/Catch The Rainbow/Long Live Rock 'n' Roll/Man On The Silver Mountain/Still I'm Sad/Do You Close Your Eyes.
Bootlegged on CD-R as Scandinavian Scamps.

27.09.77 [ ] recorded Oslo Chateau Neuf, Norway

Kill The King/Mistreated/Sixteenth Century Greensleeves/Catch The Rainbow/Long Live Rock 'n' Roll/Lazy-Man On The Silver Mountain/Still I'm Sad.
Bootlegged on LP as Catch The Rainbow and on CD-R as Catch The Rainbow Original Master Recording.

28.09.77 [ ] Trondheim Nidarøhallen, Norway - the show started half an hour late and was done without the rainbow which hadn't arrived from Oslo.

30.09.77 [ ] Vejle Idraettens Hus, Denmark
OCTOBER 1977
01.10.77 [ ] Copenhagen Falkoner Teatret, Denmark

02.10.77 [ ] Aarhus Vejlby-Risskov Hallen, Denmark

04.10.77 [ ] recorded memorabilia Den Haag Congresgebouw, Holland

Kill The King/Mistreated/Sixteenth Century Greensleeves/Catch The Rainbow/Long Live Rock 'n' Roll/Man On The Silver Mountain/Still I'm Sad.
Bootlegged on LP and CD as Kill The King.

05.10.77 Münster Münsterlandhalle, Germany - cancelled.

06.10.77 [ ] memorabilia Essen Gruga-Halle, Germany - not on original itinerary.

During the demolition, one guitar goes into the audience intact!

07.10.77 Berlin Eissporthalle, Germany - cancelled.

08.10.77 [ ] recorded Cologne Sporthalle, Germany - encore with guitar demolition.

09.10.77 Dortmund Westfalenhalle, Germany - cancelled.

10.10.77 [ ] Bremen Stadthalle, Germany

11.10.77 [ ] recorded Ludwigshafen Friedrich-Ebert-Halle, Germany

12.10.77 It is thought that a gig was played in Friedrichshafen. This appears very doubtful and seems most likely to simply be a misinterpretation of the previous night's entry.

13.10.77 [ ] Stuttgart Sporthalle, Germany

14.10.77 [ ] Hanover Sporthalle, Germany - band not on stage in time for the "over the rainbow" intro tape ending. No encore. [Originally scheduled for 15th October.]

15.10.77 [ ] recorded Berlin Deutschlandhalle, Germany [Replaced Berlin Eissporthalle, originally scheduled for 7th October.]

16.10.77 [ ] Hamburg Congresszentrum, Germany

17.10.77 Wiesbaden Rhein-Main-Hallen, Germany - rescheduled.

18.10.77 [ ] recorded Vienna Stadthalle, Austria - Ritchie arrested after the show and jailed after an alleged scuffle resulted in a security man getting a broken jaw. He was later fined over £5,000.

Kill The King/Mistreated/Sixteenth Century Greensleeves/Catch The Rainbow/Long Live Rock 'n' Roll/Man On The Silver Mountain/Still I'm Sad.
Bootlegged on CD as Kicks.

19.10.77 Munich Olympiahalle, Germany - postponed, rescheduled for 20th October.

20.10.77 [ ] recorded Munich Olympiahalle, Germany - Originally scheduled for 19th October but, with bail refused in Vienna, the Munich show had to be rearranged. Ritchie was late arriving from Austria and the start was considerably delayed. After Kingfish's set, refunds were offered and it wasn't until midnight that Rainbow finally took to the stage. Filmed.

Kill The King/Mistreated/Sixteenth Century Greensleeves/Catch The Rainbow/Long Live Rock 'n' Roll/Man On The Silver Mountain/Still I'm Sad/Do You Close Your Eyes.
Bootlegged on CD on Catch The Rainbow and [incomplete] as Rising Again [Düsseldorf 1995]. Excerpts bootlegged on LP on Sort Of F..king Boring Old Fart.

21.10.77 [Location/venue unknown], Yugoslavia - cancelled.

21.10.77 [ ] Nuremberg Messehalle, Germany - originally scheduled for 18th October but rescheduled to fit in the Vienna gig.

22.10.77 Dornbirn Stadthalle, Austria - cancelled, replaced by the earlier Vienna gig.

22.10.77 [ ] Wiesbaden Rhein-Main-Hallen, Germany - originally scheduled for 17th October.

24.10.77 [ ] Colmar Salle D'Exposition, France - also seen listed as Marseille Salle Vallier.

25.10.77 [ ] Lyon Palais Du Sport, France

27.10.77 [ ] recorded Paris Porte De Pantin Pavillon, France - originally scheduled for 26th October.

Kill The King/Mistreated/Sixteenth Century Greensleeves/Catch The Rainbow/Long Live Rock 'n' Roll/Man On The Silver Mountain/Still I'm Sad/Do You Close Your Eyes.
Bootlegged on CD as Parisian Night.
31.10.77 [ ] recorded memorabilia Newcastle City Hall, UK - Support for the UK tour were Kingfish.
NOVEMBER 1977
01.11.77 [ ] recorded Newcastle City Hall, UK
Kill The King/Mistreated/Sixteenth Century Greensleeves/Catch The Rainbow/Long Live Rock 'n' Roll/Lazy-Man On The Silver Mountain/Still I'm Sad.
Bootlegged on CD as Night People.

03.11.77 [ ] Preston Guildhall Lockley Grand Hall, UK - no encore.

04.11.77 [ ] recorded Liverpool Empire Theatre, UK

Kill The King/Mistreated/Sixteenth Century Greensleeves/Catch The Rainbow/Long Live Rock 'n' Roll/Lazy-Man On The Silver Mountain/Still I'm Sad.
Bootlegged on LP and CD as Mark II.

05.11.77 [ ] recorded Liverpool Empire Theatre, UK - during the encore, Ritchie appeared in one of the boxes, level with the balcony, playing guitar whilst his legs dangled over the edge, before demolishing the guitar over the edge. Unimpressed, the venue banned Rainbow after assessing the damage done.

Kill The King/Mistreated/Sixteenth Century Greensleeves/Catch The Rainbow/Long Live Rock 'n' Roll/Man On The Silver Mountain/Still I'm Sad/Do You Close Your Eyes.
Bootlegged on CD-R as The Night People.

07.11.77 [ ] Aberdeen Capitol Theatre Scotland, UK

09.11.77 [ ] Glasgow Apollo Theatre Scotland, UK

11.11.77 [ ] London Finsbury Park Rainbow Theatre, UK

12.11.77 [ ] London Finsbury Park Rainbow Theatre, UK

13.11.77 [ ] London Finsbury Park Rainbow Theatre, UK

14.11.77 [ ] recorded London Finsbury Park Rainbow Theatre, UK

16.11.77 [ ] Oxford New Theatre, UK

17.11.77 [ ] memorabilia Leicester Granby Halls, UK

A guitar went intact completely over the rainbow during the encore!

Kill The King/Mistreated/Sixteenth Century Greensleeves/Catch The Rainbow/Long Live Rock 'n' Roll/Man On The Silver Mountain/Still I'm Sad/Do You Close Your Eyes.

18.11.77 [ ] recorded Stafford New Bingley Hall, UK - encore with guitar demolition.

Kill The King/Mistreated/Sixteenth Century Greensleeves/Catch The Rainbow/Long Live Rock 'n' Roll/Man On The Silver Mountain/Still I'm Sad/Do You Close Your Eyes.
Bootlegged on CD-R as Stafford 77.

"The night before that concert, I very shyly knocked on Glenn Hughes' door [he lived in our street] and asked him to sign a Purple album for me. He said he was going to see Rainbow as well. I cheekily asked him for a lift in his Rolls Royce - unfortunately he just smiled back at me, avoiding an answer. When I got home I realised that the LP I had taken round was 24 Carat Purple, an album he was not on. Anyway, the next night I went to see Rainbow in my brother's Vauxall Viva. It remains one of the best gigs I've ever seen; even wrestled to get a piece of Ritchie's broken Strat' until it got a bit scary." [Chris Round]

20.11.77 [ ] Manchester Apollo Theatre, UK - no encore.

21.11.77 [ ] recorded Manchester Apollo Theatre, UK - encore with guitar demolition.

22.11.77 [ ] recorded Cardiff Capitol Theatre Wales, UK

The album was then finished off at Le Chateau, including Gates Of Babylon - not mentioned on track lists prior to the tour - in place of a number called Night People.

1978
JANUARY 1978
11.01.78 [ ] recorded Nagoya Shi Kokaido Honshu, Japan
Kill The King/Mistreated/Sixteenth Century Greensleeves/Catch The Rainbow/Long Live Rock 'n' Roll/Lazy-Man On The Silver Mountain/Still I'm Sad/Do You Close Your Eyes.
Bootlegged on CD as Full Moon and Brain Slowly Dies.

12.01.78 [ ] recorded Hiroshima Kenritsu Taiikukan Honshu, Japan

Kill The King/Mistreated/Sixteenth Century Greensleeves/Catch The Rainbow/Long Live Rock 'n' Roll/Lazy-Man On The Silver Mountain/Still I'm Sad/Do You Close Your Eyes.
Bootlegged on CD as Ship From Hiroshima.

13.01.78 [ ] Kumamoto Kenritsu Taiikukan Kyushu, Japan

14.01.78 [ ] recorded Fukuoka Kyuden-Kinen Taiikukan Kyushu, Japan

Kill The King/Mistreated/Sixteenth Century Greensleeves/Catch The Rainbow/Long Live Rock 'n' Roll/Lazy-Man On The Silver Mountain/Still I'm Sad/Do You Close Your Eyes.
Bootlegged on CD as Sadistic Rainbow. Encore also included on the bootleg CD The Last Day [from Tokyo].

16.01.78 [ ] recorded Osaka Koseinenkin Kaikan Honshu, Japan

Kill The King/Mistreated/Sixteenth Century Greensleeves/Catch The Rainbow/Long Live Rock 'n' Roll/Lazy-Man On The Silver Mountain/Still I'm Sad.
Bootlegged on CD as I See A Glow and four tracks on LP and CD as Satisfaction.

17.01.78 [ ] recorded Osaka Koseinenkin Kaikan Honshu, Japan

Kill The King/Mistreated/Sixteenth Century Greensleeves/Catch The Rainbow/Long Live Rock 'n' Roll/Lazy-Man On The Silver Mountain/Still I'm Sad/Do You Close Your Eyes.
Bootlegged on CD as On Tour 1978 - Starstruck and Succubus 78.

18.01.78 [ ] recorded Kyoto Kaikan Daiichi Hall Honshu, Japan

Kill The King/Mistreated/Sixteenth Century Greensleeves/Catch The Rainbow/Long Live Rock 'n' Roll/Lazy-Man On The Silver Mountain/Still I'm Sad/Do You Close Your Eyes.
Bootlegged on CD as Dark And Light [though credited to Osaka].

20.01.78 [ ] recorded Osaka Koseinenkin Kaikan Honshu, Japan

Kill The King/Mistreated/Sixteenth Century Greensleeves/Catch The Rainbow/Long Live Rock 'n' Roll/Lazy-Man On The Silver Mountain/Still I'm Sad.
Bootlegged on CD as Walk On The Rainbow and Long Live Rainbow. Ronnie's "Captain Cornflakes" [in Man On The Silver Mountain] bootlegged on LP on Deep Purple And Split Groups.

21.01.78 [ ] recorded Tokyo Budokan Honshu, Japan

22.01.78 [ ] recorded Tokyo Budokan Honshu, Japan

24.01.78 [ ] recorded Koriyama Shimin Kaikan Honshu, Japan

27.01.78 [ ] recorded Sapporo Nakajima Sports Center Hokkaido, Japan - a young female college student was killed and several others injured as the crowd rushed the stage.

Kill The King/Mistreated/Sixteenth Century Greensleeves/Long Live Rock 'n' Roll/Lazy-Man On The Silver Mountain/Catch The Rainbow/Still I'm Sad/Do You Close Your Eyes.
Bootlegged on CD as An Act Of God and Misconduct.

28.01.78 [ ] recorded Tokyo Budokan Honshu, Japan - extra show, not on original itinerary.

29.01.78 [ ] Akita Kenmin Kaikan Honshu, Japan

31.01.78 [ ] recorded Niigata Kenmin Kaikan Honshu, Japan
FEBRUARY 1978
01.02.78 Kanazawa Koseinenkin Kaikan Honshu, Japan - cancelled after the Sapporo accident.

03.02.78 [ ] recorded Tokyo Budokan Honshu, Japan

Kill The King/Mistreated/Sixteenth Century Greensleeves/Catch The Rainbow/Long Live Rock 'n' Roll/Man On The Silver Mountain/Still I'm Sad.
Bootlegged on CD as The Last Day and [incomplete] on LP as Kerr-aaannnngg!!!

Earlier plans for the 1977/78 World Tour had included Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia and Malaysia though no shows in these territories seem to have been played - or even booked and cancelled. After the release of the "Long Live Rock 'n' Roll" album, the continued effort to break America seemed all-important.

Long Live Rock 'n' Roll 1978 LONG LIVE ROCK 'N' ROLL TOUR
MAY 1978

May 1978 Don Kirshner's 'Rock Concert'


Bootlegged on CD as bonus tracks on On Stage In Down
Under 1976 [Sydney] and Night People [Newcastle, 1977].


The band record this mimed promotional film [using the backing tracks from the original studio versions but with alternate vocals] including Long Live Rock 'n' Roll, Gates Of Babylon and L.A. Connection. Thought to have been recorded before the North American leg of the "Long Live Rock 'n' Roll" tour began.

09.05.78 [ ] Memphis Mid-South Coliseum Tennessee, USA

11.05.78 [ ] St. Louis Arena ['The Checkerdome'] Missouri, USA - supporting REO Speedwagon.

12.05.78 [ ] Kansas City Kemper Arena Missouri, USA - REO Speedwagon/Rainbow/No Dice.

"I knew REO was coming for a month or two in advance but couldn't care less. They were only scheduled to play one show, on a Saturday night. I heard the show had sold out. I was helping my sister clean out her garage and, while moving a stack of newspapers, I saw an ad for the show which stated, "Special guests Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow". I almost had a stroke! I tried for two days to get tickets but to no avail, REO was really popular in the Midwest in those days."

"Then, about two weeks prior to the gig, they added a Friday night show. I called in sick, drove down and got tickets. Blackmore tore the place up on Friday, including smashing the guitar. I understand from friends who saw the Saturday gig he was good, but no guitar smash and he seemed more restrained the second night. So all in all a great and lucky turn of events." [Jim Collins]

13.05.78 [ ] Kansas City Kemper Arena Missouri, USA - REO Speedwagon/Rainbow/No Dice.

15.05.78 Parsons Marvel Park Stadium Kansas, USA - cancelled.

A surprisingly small community to host a concert. After the Municipal Auditorium was closed in 1974, a teacher at the local high school had started to promote concerts including Styx in 1976. An agreement was made with Rainbow's booking agent and posters were printed but eventually the cost to put on the concert made it prohibitive and it was cancelled.

18.05.78 [ ] Los Angeles Shrine Auditorium California, USA - REO Speedwagon/Rainbow/No Dice. The set has been said to have included Gates Of Babylon.

19.05.78 [ ] San Bernardino Swing Auditorium California, USA

20.05.78 [ ] San Francisco Winterland Ballroom California, USA

21.05.78 [ ] Fresno Warnors Theatre California, USA

"No background and no rainbow over the stage. They were the only act on the bill." [Roy Dressel]

22.05.78 [ ] San Diego Sports Arena California, USA - REO Speedwagon/Rainbow/No Dice.

Kill The King/Mistreated/L.A. Connection/Long Live Rock 'N' Roll/Man On The Silver Mountain/Still I'm Sad.

May 1978 [ ] Cleveland Richfield Coliseum Ohio, USA - Black Oak Arkansas supporting. Short set, crowd throwing missiles.

"The only time I saw His Shortness get "short" with the audience was in Cleveland Ohio, when some weenies started tossing beach balls around and frisbees. Shorty gave the crowd a warning at least two times to stop throwing because if anyone in the band gets hit, the show is over."

"Frisbee shot off towards the moon and then returned down to earth and struck Ritchie straight between the eyes! RJD was right. End of show. Bad part was we had to suffer through Black Oak Arkansaw prior to RB! Then have the set cut short! Bummer!" [Mike Fred]

26.05.78 [ ] Toledo Sports Arena Ohio, USA

27.05.78 [ ] Louisville Gardens Kentucky, USA - supported by Henry Gross and No Dice. A radio station promotion [WLRS 102] with admission pegged at $1.02.

28.05.78 [ ] recorded Allentown Fairgrounds Pennsylvania, USA - supporting Foghat. In case of cancellation, 30th May had been set aside as a 'rain date'.

"I vaguely remember there being another act before Rainbow came on in Allentown ["The Hounds"? - they were terrible]. I stayed for the Rainbow set [they played for about an hour] and then I split before the headliner came on." [John Bella]

29.05.78 [ ] Springfield Civic Arena Massachusetts, USA - co-headliners with Foghat.

31.05.78 [ ] Dayton Hara Arena Ohio, USA
JUNE 1978
01.06.78 Erie County Coliseum Pennsylvania, USA - cancelled due to illness.

02.06.78 [ ] memorabilia Passaic Capitol Theater New Jersey, USA - supported by Uriah Heep and No Dice. [It has been said - by some - that the set, no more than sixty minutes long, included L.A. Connection and Gates Of Babylon and that the show was played without the rainbow.]

Kill The King/Mistreated/L.A. Connection/Long Live Rock 'n' Roll/Lazy-Man On The Silver Mountain/Still I'm Sad.

"I remember being disappointed at the short set they played at the Capitol - although they did play a snatch of "Lazy"." [John Bella]

03.06.78 [ ] Albany Palace Theater New York, USA

04.06.78 [ ] Lynn Manning Bowl Massachusetts, USA

05 or 06.06.78 [ ] Boston Garden Massachusetts, USA

07.06.78 [ ] Poughkeepsie Mid-Hudson Civic Center Arena New York, USA

09.06.78 [ ] Rochester War Memorial Auditorium New York, USA - supporting REO Speedwagon.

Kill The King/Mistreated/Long Live Rock 'n' Roll/Man On The Silver Mountain/Sixteenth Century Greensleeves/Still I'm Sad.

"The Rochester War Memorial Auditorium was sold out. Rainbow played to the largest crowd ever there, something like over 12,000 general admission tickets were sold [about a 1,000 over capacity!] The place was electric in anticipation of the two bands. I had gotten there about two hours before and was about ten feet from the stage - and when the famous clip from Wizard Of Oz was piped through the sound system, and Blackmore sauntered on stage and started bashing at the opening chords to Kill The King, all hell broke loose; sheer pandemonium."

"After standing awestruck for five minutes, I finally came back to earth and started taking pictures. Right from the start he seemed to be having problems with his guitar - feedback, going out of tune etc. - but he was in fine form, his stage presence was incredible. I caught his eye once but rarely did he acknowledge the audience. He also seemed to be in a somewhat sardonic/pissed off mood. Daisley was having a good time up there and fitted in better than Bain I think, but Stone didn't do anything, he looked sort of distant - oblivious most of the time."

"Cozy was incredibly tight and played flawlessly. Dio was his usual amiable self, sung his freaking lungs out, and, aside from some inane patter between songs, he was excellent. Dio was about to announce one number when Blackmore strode over and whispered something in his ear. Dio smiled and said "this is going out to all the fucking DJs in the audience" and he went on really slagging them about how they wouldn't play their music. So they went into Mistreated - more feedback problems, but he pulled off an incredibly good solo. More "let's pick on DJs" stuff then into Long Live Rock 'n' Roll which sounded very muddled and distorted."

"Man On The Silver Mountain was superb. The band actually sounded like a band, with some blues in there too. Blackmore then subtly opened up C16 with some very nice classical doodling, before pounce on the bass pedals and headbanging time again. The feedback messed up what could have been a classic solo, Blackmore is pissed off. During their last number, Still I'm Sad, the feedback is blitzing everyone out, and he starts throwing the guitar around and leaves while Cozy takes his solo [no hydraulic lift - in fact no rainbow either this time around; not even a backdrop - how boring!]"

"After the explosion they return to finish the number off, Blackmore giving everyone frustrated looks. The song's over, but Ritchie is not done yet. He whips off his guitar, looks at it, and just tosses it into the crowd not more than fifteen feet away from me. I lunged over there and actually touched it! I had like a religious experience right there. Well, ahem, that was it. Curtain came down. All in all a very weird show. I think Ritchie only did about 60% of what he was capable of. Also it is so idiotic to have them open for anybody! REO would only allow them an hour, no encore." [Steve Wunrow/Stargazer]

10.06.78 [ ] Commack Suffolk Forum Long Island New York, USA [Better known as the Long Island Arena, the venue was known as the Suffolk Forum for a while.] - supporting REO Speedwagon.

"They didn't play that long at the Commack show, since they weren't headlining. The place pretty much emptied out after the Rainbow set though." [John Bella]

11.06.78 [ ] Largo Capitol Center Maryland, USA

16.06.78 [ ] Jacksonville [Civic Auditorium or Veterans' Memorial Coliseum] Florida, USA

17.06.78 [ ] Lakeland Civic Center Florida, USA - with Cheap Trick and Max Webster.

19.06.78 [ ] Miami Jai Alai Fronton Florida, USA [Listed as 18th June in Circus.]

23.06.78 Greensboro Coliseum North Carolina, USA - supporting REO Speedwagon - cancelled.

23.06.78 [ ] Johnson City Freedom Hall Tennessee, USA - supporting REO Speedwagon.

24.06.78 [ ] recorded Atlanta Omni Georgia, USA - supporting REO Speedwagon. [This seems to have replaced a gig at the Fox Theatre originally scheduled for 8th June.] Recorded for a BBC 'Rock Hour' radio show, though broadcast in the States rather than the UK. Two tracks included on "Finyl Vinyl".

Kill The King/Mistreated/Long Live Rock 'n' Roll/Man On The Silver Mountain/Still I'm Sad.
Bootlegged on CD as I'm Losing Control, Hit The Rainbow and The Third Eye and on CD-R as Kill The King. One track included on Mixed Emotions [San Antonio, 1982].

"I punched Andy Green [REO's stage manager] because he put the house lights on ten seconds after we came off the stage. We like to keep the lights off until the 'Over The Rainbow' theme is finished playing. The lights went up and it was like, 'Now that shit is finished, we're on next.' REO is a great band and we get on with them very well, but there has been one certain person we don't get on with and he's the one that turned on the lights." [Ritchie Blackmore/Circus]

25.06.78 [ ] Charlotte Coliseum North Carolina, USA

27.06.78 [ ] Knoxville Civic Auditorium Coliseum Tennessee, USA

28.06.78 [ ] Nashville Municipal Auditorium Arena Tennessee, USA

30.06.78 [ ] Little Rock Barton Coliseum Arkansas, USA
JULY 1978
01.07.78 [ ] Springfield Armory Illinois, USA - Cheap Trick/Rainbow/Max Webster. [Listed as Jackson Missouri in Circus.]

02.07.78 [ ] recorded Chicago International Amphitheatre Illinois, USA - Cheap Trick/Rainbow/Max Webster.

Kill The King/Mistreated/Long Live Rock 'n' Roll/Man On The Silver Mountain/Still I'm Sad.
Bootlegged on CD as Short Time Gig.

"So there I was, gasping for air in the midst of the press of bodies, all trying to get in the one door they opened at the Chicago Amphitheatre. Several times I was lifted off my feet, glided down again, up, down, around - holy cats, I'm looking the other way now! - when some poor, under-four-foot person appears in front of me, gasping much more desperately."

"For two more minutes I was worried sick she was going to die right there, then a big surge to the left got us within a fairly good range of the door, I gave her as much of a shove as I could manage and she squirmed her way through somehow. Nearly five minutes later I got through the door myself. These were the days of "festival" - non-reserved - seating, my friends. But our parents made it through the Depression, so we survived lazy seating schemes."

"We were on the main floor but pretty far back, even though we'd got there at six in the morning and were originally only about twenty feet back in line - the one-open-door gravity well handily erased that advantage. Then, while we were trying to figure out if this Max Webster band was any good or not, it started raining firecrackers from the cloud of ignorant savages on the upper balconies."

"If I remember correctly, this kept happening for a while, even into Rainbow's set. We'd be standing on our seats getting pummeled by the cannonshot of wriggling air molecules from the amps but somehow a lit fuse flitting past the ear cuts through the din with very little problem."

"It was one of the big ones and it went off right under the seat in front of me. That cut through even better. From that point on the sound - never good in the Amphitheater in the first place - was almost complete mud. When Rainbow came on, it was all I could do to figure out which songs were being played by the rhythms and key changes. I couldn't make out any guitar lines or solos, which was the whole reason to be there! Long Live Rock 'n' Roll, the song, was easy enough 'cuz of the singalong part, but everything else was a guess."

"And, believe it or not, Cheap Trick was the headliner that night. Everyone remained standing but it was an endurance test for me; I couldn't stand Cheap Trick. I sat down and waited it out. My hearing was back to normal about three days later."

"Out in the parking lot we were all trapped - there was one car parked in just such a way that nobody in that small lot could get out and the owner never showed up. A bunch of us gathered together, picked it up and moved it out of the way. Thankfully we were the first ones out of there. On top of all this, the Long Live Rock 'n' Roll album cover image on the cheapo t-shirt cracked and was unrecognizable after the first washing." [John Hopkins]

04.07.78 [ ] Cleves Edgewater Speedway Ohio, USA - The Outlaws/Rick Derringer/Rainbow/Rare Earth/Dixie Dregs. Rainbow played for about an hour and Ritchie smashed a guitar.

13.07.78 [ ] Houston Sam Houston Coliseum Texas, USA - supporting REO Speedwagon.

Kill The King/Mistreated/Long Live Rock 'N' Roll/Man On The Silver Mountain/Still I'm Sad.

July 1978 [ ] San Antonio Municipal Auditorium Texas, USA

21.07.78 [ ] Baton Rouge Louisiana State University Assembly Center Louisiana, USA

22.07.78 [ ] Beaumont Fair Park Coliseum Texas, USA

23.07.78 [ ] Austin [University of Texas?] Texas, USA

July 1978 [ ] Corpus Christi Memorial Coliseum Texas, USA - REO Speedwagon/Rainbow/Max Webster.

July 1978 [ ] Oklahoma City Myriad Oklahoma, USA - supporting REO Speedwagon.

July 1978 Bridgeport Kennedy Stadium Connecticut, USA - a festival including Blue Öyster Cult and the J. Geils Band. Rainbow cancelled.
AUGUST 1978
01.08.78 Philadelphia Spectrum Pennsylvania, USA - cancelled. Possibly a planned co-headlining date with Cheap Trick. A tape exists purporting to be from this show but is from 2nd August.

02.08.78 [ ] recorded Philadelphia Upper Darby Tower Theater Pennsylvania, USA - either with Cheap Trick or with REO Speedwagon and Nantucket.

August 1978 [ ] Royal Oak Music Hall Michigan, USA - support The Cars. An unusual three-night stint, together with an odd choice for support band.

August 1978 [ ] Royal Oak Music Hall Michigan, USA - support The Cars.

August 1978 [ ] Royal Oak Music Hall Michigan, USA - support The Cars.

17.08.78 [ ] Pittsburgh Stanley Theater Pennsylvania, USA - with Eddie Money. Near riot after Rainbow only played for 45 minutes.

18.08.78 [ ] memorabilia Hempstead Calderone Concert Hall Long Island New York, USA - with AC/DC supporting.

19.08.78 [ ] Wilkes-Barre Paramount Theater Pennsylvania, USA - with AC/DC supporting.

20.08.78 memorabilia Johnstown War Memorial Pennsylvania, USA - with AC/DC supporting. Cancelled.

August 1978 [ ] Boston Orpheum Theater Massachusetts, USA

24.08.78 [ ] memorabilia New York Palladium New York, USA - with AC/DC supporting.

This performance was abandoned after three numbers due to interference problems between the rainbow and the PA. After a further ninety minutes of efforts that left the problem unresolved, Ronnie announced to the audience that ticket money would be refunded.

26.08.78 Asbury Park Convention Hall New Jersey, USA - with the interference problems still persisting during the soundcheck, this show was cancelled and ticket money refunded. Instead David Johansen [ex-New York Dolls] played a free show.

"I was one of the thousands who were waiting around for them to play at Convention Hall when it was announced that the show was cancelled. I remember somebody saying that they had problems at the Palladium a few days before but we all assumed Blackmore was just pulling a "moody" when the show was cancelled. We were all so disgusted we didn't even bother to stay around for David Johansen's free show. That was it for me. Musically I thought they had gone way downhill after "Rising" so I just lost interest." [John Bella]

And so this era of the band came to what seems an undignified end. The sound problems that had arisen with the rainbow from the outset had returned; the rainbow would go into storage [or, depending on which story you believe, into an ocean!], never to be seen again and it would be more than a year before the band played live again.

After the August dates in America, Stone was fired and an unnamed German brought in - though this did not work out. Daisley was also fired and Ritchie wanted John Glasgock [Jethro Tull] to replace him.

Roger Glover had been brought in to help with the writing and to produce the next album. [The idea to work with Roger on the writing had first been mentioned back in 1976.] With the relationship between Ritchie and Ronnie now strained [they were hardly on speaking terms], Roger was forced into the position of go-between. Perhaps most dramatically, a while later, Dio - the only other founder member - was also fired leaving Rainbow down to a two-piece!

DECEMBER 1978

By Christmas, Don Airey [ex-Cozy Powell's Hammer and Colosseum II] had joined on keyboards. Clive Chaman [ex-Hammer and Jeff Beck], who had got Don the audition with Hammer, was briefly brought in on bass.

27.12.78 [ ] recorded London Soho The Marquee Club, UK
Ritchie jams with Gillan.


Bootlegged on CD on Life After Purple and Blackmore - By Request and
on LP on Who The Fuck Are You and Deep Purple And Split Groups.


Ritchie, in the UK for Christmas and the new year and looking for a new vocalist, visited Ian Gillan and asked him to join the band but he declined.

"He and I got really drunk one night over Christmas '78, at which time I needed a singer badly, and I asked him if he fancied the job. We were literally on the floor of his place at eight o'clock in the morning, drunk out of our heads, but in the morning he said that he didn't know whether he could ever work with me again." [Ritchie Blackmore]

To The DIO MESSAGE BOARD for Continuous Updates

DIO/Blackmore Rainbow Tour Information Part 2

  

RAINBOW: 1977-1978

   

Ritchie Blackmore/Guitar
Ronnie James Dio/Vocals
Jimmy Bain; Mark Clarke; Bob Daisley/Bass
Tony Carey; David Stone; Don Airey/Keyboards
Cozy Powell/Drums
INTRODUCTION

This is the second part of a chronology of the band Rainbow, covering the period 1977 to 1978.

Click on either of these years below to jump to the start of that particular year:
1977 1978

  • The gig entries are set out in the following format: Date [dd.mm.yy]; location [city, suburb]; venue; state [USA and Australia], province [Canada] or island [Japan]; country.

  • Cancelled and/or unconfirmed shows are listed in red, whilst live jams and other performances are shown in grey [and are aligned to the right].

  • Performances which are known to have been recorded [officially or unofficially] are marked recorded.

  • The links to third-parties' sites are intended to provide additional information about the concert venues concerned including, where possible, internal and/or external photographs. If anyone is aware of other similar sites relating to Rainbow's concerts which might be of interest, please get in touch.

  • Lyrics are linked from the album covers.

  • Where memorabilia relating to a specific concert is in the online archive, this is linked to and indicated by memorabilia.

A handful of unresolved shows are included where the venue, or even the date, remains unconfirmed. Any help with these or other errors and omissions would be appreciated and credited where appropriate.

Further set lists and reviews, together with memorabilia, will continue to be added on an ongoing basis. Anyone who can help with any of these aspects, please contact Nigel Young.
1977

Rainbow Mk3

Ritchie Blackmore/Guitar
Ronnie James Dio/Vocals
Mark Clarke/Bass
Tony Carey/Keyboards
Cozy Powell/Drums

In late-February, it was announced that Bain and Carey would be leaving the group - they'd both been given their notice shortly after the Japanese tour. Bain spoke about it later in Circus:

"I got fired. I came home on January 3rd and got a phone call from the manager in New York saying, 'your services are no longer required'. There were no reasons given which was the surprising thing. It was a bit of a shock after being in the band for a year and a half." [Jimmy Bain]

Bain was replaced by Mark Clarke [ex-Uriah Heep, Tempest, Colosseum, Natural Gas]. Without a replacement on keyboards - they had tried out an unnamed Italian - Carey was called back to start work on the album.

Ritchie and Cozy jammed with some local bands in Paris whilst over there finding a suitable place to record the next album, settling on Le Chateau [near Paris] in France. Mark Clarke later recalled that he played live with Rainbow in Los Angeles, in a club in Paris and on one other occasion. With nothing more than these vague details and given that these would seem to have been less than full shows, these have not been listed.

Rainbow Mk4

Ritchie Blackmore/Guitar and bass
Ronnie James Dio/Vocals
Bob Daisley/Bass
David Stone/Keyboards
Cozy Powell/Drums

"Long Live Rock 'n' Roll"
Long Live Rock 'n' Roll/Lady Of The Lake/L.A. Connection/Gates Of Babylon/Kill The King/The Shed [Subtle]/Sensitive To Light/Rainbow Eyes.

Recorded Herouville Saint Clair, near Paris, France, March-August and November-December 1977.

 Long Live Rock 'n' Roll lyrics

Tony Carey eventually walked out after one too many practical jokes by Ritchie.

At the start of August, the band were rehearsing in Los Angeles. After it had been decided that Clarke was not suitable, Jimmy Bain was asked back but he declined. In the end, the bulk of the bass guitar work on the album was played by Ritchie.

The new recruits were Bob Daisley on bass [ex-Mungo Jerry, Chicken Shack and Widowmaker], an Australian, and David Stone [ex-Symphonic Slam] on keyboards, a Canadian. Stone later said he got the job ahead of Eddie Jobson [auditioned for a second time?], Matthew Fisher and Mark Stein [ex-Vanilla Fudge, Tommy Bolin Band].

On Stage 1977-78 ON STAGE TOUR
UK dates for July had to be scrapped as the album wasn't finished.

US dates starting at the end of July through to September were referred to in interviews but had also been scrapped. These would have included:

13.08.77 Buffalo Rich Stadium New York, USA - cancelled.

09.09.77 Los Angeles Shrine Auditorium California, USA - cancelled.
SEPTEMBER 1977

Tour rehearsals were held in September at Shepperton Studios in the UK, during the week prior to the Scandinavian dates. Support for the European tour were Kingfish.

18.09.77 London Finsbury Park Rainbow Theatre, UK - rescheduled for November.

19.09.77 London Finsbury Park Rainbow Theatre, UK - rescheduled for November.

20.09.77 London Finsbury Park Rainbow Theatre, UK - rescheduled for November.

21.09.77 London Finsbury Park Rainbow Theatre, UK - rescheduled for November.
23.09.77 Helsinki Finlandia Hall, Finland - cancelled after the gear was held up at Customs.

25.09.77 [ ] recorded Stockholm Konserthuset, Sweden - start delayed by an hour, no guitar demolition.

Kill The King/Mistreated/Sixteenth Century Greensleeves/Catch The Rainbow/Long Live Rock 'n' Roll/Lazy-Man On The Silver Mountain/Still I'm Sad/Do You Close Your Eyes.
Bootlegged on CD as Long Live Triumvirate.

26.09.77 [ ] recorded Gothenburg Scandinavium, Sweden

Kill The King/Mistreated/Sixteenth Century Greensleeves/Catch The Rainbow/Long Live Rock 'n' Roll/Man On The Silver Mountain/Still I'm Sad/Do You Close Your Eyes.
Bootlegged on CD-R as Scandinavian Scamps.

27.09.77 [ ] recorded Oslo Chateau Neuf, Norway

Kill The King/Mistreated/Sixteenth Century Greensleeves/Catch The Rainbow/Long Live Rock 'n' Roll/Lazy-Man On The Silver Mountain/Still I'm Sad.
Bootlegged on LP as Catch The Rainbow and on CD-R as Catch The Rainbow Original Master Recording.

28.09.77 [ ] Trondheim Nidarøhallen, Norway - the show started half an hour late and was done without the rainbow which hadn't arrived from Oslo.

30.09.77 [ ] Vejle Idraettens Hus, Denmark
OCTOBER 1977
01.10.77 [ ] Copenhagen Falkoner Teatret, Denmark

02.10.77 [ ] Aarhus Vejlby-Risskov Hallen, Denmark

04.10.77 [ ] recorded memorabilia Den Haag Congresgebouw, Holland

Kill The King/Mistreated/Sixteenth Century Greensleeves/Catch The Rainbow/Long Live Rock 'n' Roll/Man On The Silver Mountain/Still I'm Sad.
Bootlegged on LP and CD as Kill The King.

05.10.77 Münster Münsterlandhalle, Germany - cancelled.

06.10.77 [ ] memorabilia Essen Gruga-Halle, Germany - not on original itinerary.

During the demolition, one guitar goes into the audience intact!

07.10.77 Berlin Eissporthalle, Germany - cancelled.

08.10.77 [ ] recorded Cologne Sporthalle, Germany - encore with guitar demolition.

09.10.77 Dortmund Westfalenhalle, Germany - cancelled.

10.10.77 [ ] Bremen Stadthalle, Germany

11.10.77 [ ] recorded Ludwigshafen Friedrich-Ebert-Halle, Germany

12.10.77 It is thought that a gig was played in Friedrichshafen. This appears very doubtful and seems most likely to simply be a misinterpretation of the previous night's entry.

13.10.77 [ ] Stuttgart Sporthalle, Germany

14.10.77 [ ] Hanover Sporthalle, Germany - band not on stage in time for the "over the rainbow" intro tape ending. No encore. [Originally scheduled for 15th October.]

15.10.77 [ ] recorded Berlin Deutschlandhalle, Germany [Replaced Berlin Eissporthalle, originally scheduled for 7th October.]

16.10.77 [ ] Hamburg Congresszentrum, Germany

17.10.77 Wiesbaden Rhein-Main-Hallen, Germany - rescheduled.

18.10.77 [ ] recorded Vienna Stadthalle, Austria - Ritchie arrested after the show and jailed after an alleged scuffle resulted in a security man getting a broken jaw. He was later fined over £5,000.

Kill The King/Mistreated/Sixteenth Century Greensleeves/Catch The Rainbow/Long Live Rock 'n' Roll/Man On The Silver Mountain/Still I'm Sad.
Bootlegged on CD as Kicks.

19.10.77 Munich Olympiahalle, Germany - postponed, rescheduled for 20th October.

20.10.77 [ ] recorded Munich Olympiahalle, Germany - Originally scheduled for 19th October but, with bail refused in Vienna, the Munich show had to be rearranged. Ritchie was late arriving from Austria and the start was considerably delayed. After Kingfish's set, refunds were offered and it wasn't until midnight that Rainbow finally took to the stage. Filmed.

Kill The King/Mistreated/Sixteenth Century Greensleeves/Catch The Rainbow/Long Live Rock 'n' Roll/Man On The Silver Mountain/Still I'm Sad/Do You Close Your Eyes.
Bootlegged on CD on Catch The Rainbow and [incomplete] as Rising Again [Düsseldorf 1995]. Excerpts bootlegged on LP on Sort Of F..king Boring Old Fart.

21.10.77 [Location/venue unknown], Yugoslavia - cancelled.

21.10.77 [ ] Nuremberg Messehalle, Germany - originally scheduled for 18th October but rescheduled to fit in the Vienna gig.

22.10.77 Dornbirn Stadthalle, Austria - cancelled, replaced by the earlier Vienna gig.

22.10.77 [ ] Wiesbaden Rhein-Main-Hallen, Germany - originally scheduled for 17th October.

24.10.77 [ ] Colmar Salle D'Exposition, France - also seen listed as Marseille Salle Vallier.

25.10.77 [ ] Lyon Palais Du Sport, France

27.10.77 [ ] recorded Paris Porte De Pantin Pavillon, France - originally scheduled for 26th October.

Kill The King/Mistreated/Sixteenth Century Greensleeves/Catch The Rainbow/Long Live Rock 'n' Roll/Man On The Silver Mountain/Still I'm Sad/Do You Close Your Eyes.
Bootlegged on CD as Parisian Night.
31.10.77 [ ] recorded memorabilia Newcastle City Hall, UK - Support for the UK tour were Kingfish.
NOVEMBER 1977
01.11.77 [ ] recorded Newcastle City Hall, UK
Kill The King/Mistreated/Sixteenth Century Greensleeves/Catch The Rainbow/Long Live Rock 'n' Roll/Lazy-Man On The Silver Mountain/Still I'm Sad.
Bootlegged on CD as Night People.

03.11.77 [ ] Preston Guildhall Lockley Grand Hall, UK - no encore.

04.11.77 [ ] recorded Liverpool Empire Theatre, UK

Kill The King/Mistreated/Sixteenth Century Greensleeves/Catch The Rainbow/Long Live Rock 'n' Roll/Lazy-Man On The Silver Mountain/Still I'm Sad.
Bootlegged on LP and CD as Mark II.

05.11.77 [ ] recorded Liverpool Empire Theatre, UK - during the encore, Ritchie appeared in one of the boxes, level with the balcony, playing guitar whilst his legs dangled over the edge, before demolishing the guitar over the edge. Unimpressed, the venue banned Rainbow after assessing the damage done.

Kill The King/Mistreated/Sixteenth Century Greensleeves/Catch The Rainbow/Long Live Rock 'n' Roll/Man On The Silver Mountain/Still I'm Sad/Do You Close Your Eyes.
Bootlegged on CD-R as The Night People.

07.11.77 [ ] Aberdeen Capitol Theatre Scotland, UK

09.11.77 [ ] Glasgow Apollo Theatre Scotland, UK

11.11.77 [ ] London Finsbury Park Rainbow Theatre, UK

12.11.77 [ ] London Finsbury Park Rainbow Theatre, UK

13.11.77 [ ] London Finsbury Park Rainbow Theatre, UK

14.11.77 [ ] recorded London Finsbury Park Rainbow Theatre, UK

16.11.77 [ ] Oxford New Theatre, UK

17.11.77 [ ] memorabilia Leicester Granby Halls, UK

A guitar went intact completely over the rainbow during the encore!

Kill The King/Mistreated/Sixteenth Century Greensleeves/Catch The Rainbow/Long Live Rock 'n' Roll/Man On The Silver Mountain/Still I'm Sad/Do You Close Your Eyes.

18.11.77 [ ] recorded Stafford New Bingley Hall, UK - encore with guitar demolition.

Kill The King/Mistreated/Sixteenth Century Greensleeves/Catch The Rainbow/Long Live Rock 'n' Roll/Man On The Silver Mountain/Still I'm Sad/Do You Close Your Eyes.
Bootlegged on CD-R as Stafford 77.

"The night before that concert, I very shyly knocked on Glenn Hughes' door [he lived in our street] and asked him to sign a Purple album for me. He said he was going to see Rainbow as well. I cheekily asked him for a lift in his Rolls Royce - unfortunately he just smiled back at me, avoiding an answer. When I got home I realised that the LP I had taken round was 24 Carat Purple, an album he was not on. Anyway, the next night I went to see Rainbow in my brother's Vauxall Viva. It remains one of the best gigs I've ever seen; even wrestled to get a piece of Ritchie's broken Strat' until it got a bit scary." [Chris Round]

20.11.77 [ ] Manchester Apollo Theatre, UK - no encore.

21.11.77 [ ] recorded Manchester Apollo Theatre, UK - encore with guitar demolition.

22.11.77 [ ] recorded Cardiff Capitol Theatre Wales, UK

The album was then finished off at Le Chateau, including Gates Of Babylon - not mentioned on track lists prior to the tour - in place of a number called Night People.

1978
JANUARY 1978
11.01.78 [ ] recorded Nagoya Shi Kokaido Honshu, Japan
Kill The King/Mistreated/Sixteenth Century Greensleeves/Catch The Rainbow/Long Live Rock 'n' Roll/Lazy-Man On The Silver Mountain/Still I'm Sad/Do You Close Your Eyes.
Bootlegged on CD as Full Moon and Brain Slowly Dies.

12.01.78 [ ] recorded Hiroshima Kenritsu Taiikukan Honshu, Japan

Kill The King/Mistreated/Sixteenth Century Greensleeves/Catch The Rainbow/Long Live Rock 'n' Roll/Lazy-Man On The Silver Mountain/Still I'm Sad/Do You Close Your Eyes.
Bootlegged on CD as Ship From Hiroshima.

13.01.78 [ ] Kumamoto Kenritsu Taiikukan Kyushu, Japan

14.01.78 [ ] recorded Fukuoka Kyuden-Kinen Taiikukan Kyushu, Japan

Kill The King/Mistreated/Sixteenth Century Greensleeves/Catch The Rainbow/Long Live Rock 'n' Roll/Lazy-Man On The Silver Mountain/Still I'm Sad/Do You Close Your Eyes.
Bootlegged on CD as Sadistic Rainbow. Encore also included on the bootleg CD The Last Day [from Tokyo].

16.01.78 [ ] recorded Osaka Koseinenkin Kaikan Honshu, Japan

Kill The King/Mistreated/Sixteenth Century Greensleeves/Catch The Rainbow/Long Live Rock 'n' Roll/Lazy-Man On The Silver Mountain/Still I'm Sad.
Bootlegged on CD as I See A Glow and four tracks on LP and CD as Satisfaction.

17.01.78 [ ] recorded Osaka Koseinenkin Kaikan Honshu, Japan

Kill The King/Mistreated/Sixteenth Century Greensleeves/Catch The Rainbow/Long Live Rock 'n' Roll/Lazy-Man On The Silver Mountain/Still I'm Sad/Do You Close Your Eyes.
Bootlegged on CD as On Tour 1978 - Starstruck and Succubus 78.

18.01.78 [ ] recorded Kyoto Kaikan Daiichi Hall Honshu, Japan

Kill The King/Mistreated/Sixteenth Century Greensleeves/Catch The Rainbow/Long Live Rock 'n' Roll/Lazy-Man On The Silver Mountain/Still I'm Sad/Do You Close Your Eyes.
Bootlegged on CD as Dark And Light [though credited to Osaka].

20.01.78 [ ] recorded Osaka Koseinenkin Kaikan Honshu, Japan

Kill The King/Mistreated/Sixteenth Century Greensleeves/Catch The Rainbow/Long Live Rock 'n' Roll/Lazy-Man On The Silver Mountain/Still I'm Sad.
Bootlegged on CD as Walk On The Rainbow and Long Live Rainbow. Ronnie's "Captain Cornflakes" [in Man On The Silver Mountain] bootlegged on LP on Deep Purple And Split Groups.

21.01.78 [ ] recorded Tokyo Budokan Honshu, Japan

22.01.78 [ ] recorded Tokyo Budokan Honshu, Japan

24.01.78 [ ] recorded Koriyama Shimin Kaikan Honshu, Japan

27.01.78 [ ] recorded Sapporo Nakajima Sports Center Hokkaido, Japan - a young female college student was killed and several others injured as the crowd rushed the stage.

Kill The King/Mistreated/Sixteenth Century Greensleeves/Long Live Rock 'n' Roll/Lazy-Man On The Silver Mountain/Catch The Rainbow/Still I'm Sad/Do You Close Your Eyes.
Bootlegged on CD as An Act Of God and Misconduct.

28.01.78 [ ] recorded Tokyo Budokan Honshu, Japan - extra show, not on original itinerary.

29.01.78 [ ] Akita Kenmin Kaikan Honshu, Japan

31.01.78 [ ] recorded Niigata Kenmin Kaikan Honshu, Japan
FEBRUARY 1978
01.02.78 Kanazawa Koseinenkin Kaikan Honshu, Japan - cancelled after the Sapporo accident.

03.02.78 [ ] recorded Tokyo Budokan Honshu, Japan

Kill The King/Mistreated/Sixteenth Century Greensleeves/Catch The Rainbow/Long Live Rock 'n' Roll/Man On The Silver Mountain/Still I'm Sad.
Bootlegged on CD as The Last Day and [incomplete] on LP as Kerr-aaannnngg!!!

Earlier plans for the 1977/78 World Tour had included Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia and Malaysia though no shows in these territories seem to have been played - or even booked and cancelled. After the release of the "Long Live Rock 'n' Roll" album, the continued effort to break America seemed all-important.

Long Live Rock 'n' Roll 1978 LONG LIVE ROCK 'N' ROLL TOUR
MAY 1978

May 1978 Don Kirshner's 'Rock Concert'


Bootlegged on CD as bonus tracks on On Stage In Down
Under 1976 [Sydney] and Night People [Newcastle, 1977].


The band record this mimed promotional film [using the backing tracks from the original studio versions but with alternate vocals] including Long Live Rock 'n' Roll, Gates Of Babylon and L.A. Connection. Thought to have been recorded before the North American leg of the "Long Live Rock 'n' Roll" tour began.

09.05.78 [ ] Memphis Mid-South Coliseum Tennessee, USA

11.05.78 [ ] St. Louis Arena ['The Checkerdome'] Missouri, USA - supporting REO Speedwagon.

12.05.78 [ ] Kansas City Kemper Arena Missouri, USA - REO Speedwagon/Rainbow/No Dice.

"I knew REO was coming for a month or two in advance but couldn't care less. They were only scheduled to play one show, on a Saturday night. I heard the show had sold out. I was helping my sister clean out her garage and, while moving a stack of newspapers, I saw an ad for the show which stated, "Special guests Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow". I almost had a stroke! I tried for two days to get tickets but to no avail, REO was really popular in the Midwest in those days."

"Then, about two weeks prior to the gig, they added a Friday night show. I called in sick, drove down and got tickets. Blackmore tore the place up on Friday, including smashing the guitar. I understand from friends who saw the Saturday gig he was good, but no guitar smash and he seemed more restrained the second night. So all in all a great and lucky turn of events." [Jim Collins]

13.05.78 [ ] Kansas City Kemper Arena Missouri, USA - REO Speedwagon/Rainbow/No Dice.

15.05.78 Parsons Marvel Park Stadium Kansas, USA - cancelled.

A surprisingly small community to host a concert. After the Municipal Auditorium was closed in 1974, a teacher at the local high school had started to promote concerts including Styx in 1976. An agreement was made with Rainbow's booking agent and posters were printed but eventually the cost to put on the concert made it prohibitive and it was cancelled.

18.05.78 [ ] Los Angeles Shrine Auditorium California, USA - REO Speedwagon/Rainbow/No Dice. The set has been said to have included Gates Of Babylon.

19.05.78 [ ] San Bernardino Swing Auditorium California, USA

20.05.78 [ ] San Francisco Winterland Ballroom California, USA

21.05.78 [ ] Fresno Warnors Theatre California, USA

"No background and no rainbow over the stage. They were the only act on the bill." [Roy Dressel]

22.05.78 [ ] San Diego Sports Arena California, USA - REO Speedwagon/Rainbow/No Dice.

Kill The King/Mistreated/L.A. Connection/Long Live Rock 'N' Roll/Man On The Silver Mountain/Still I'm Sad.

May 1978 [ ] Cleveland Richfield Coliseum Ohio, USA - Black Oak Arkansas supporting. Short set, crowd throwing missiles.

"The only time I saw His Shortness get "short" with the audience was in Cleveland Ohio, when some weenies started tossing beach balls around and frisbees. Shorty gave the crowd a warning at least two times to stop throwing because if anyone in the band gets hit, the show is over."

"Frisbee shot off towards the moon and then returned down to earth and struck Ritchie straight between the eyes! RJD was right. End of show. Bad part was we had to suffer through Black Oak Arkansaw prior to RB! Then have the set cut short! Bummer!" [Mike Fred]

26.05.78 [ ] Toledo Sports Arena Ohio, USA

27.05.78 [ ] Louisville Gardens Kentucky, USA - supported by Henry Gross and No Dice. A radio station promotion [WLRS 102] with admission pegged at $1.02.

28.05.78 [ ] recorded Allentown Fairgrounds Pennsylvania, USA - supporting Foghat. In case of cancellation, 30th May had been set aside as a 'rain date'.

"I vaguely remember there being another act before Rainbow came on in Allentown ["The Hounds"? - they were terrible]. I stayed for the Rainbow set [they played for about an hour] and then I split before the headliner came on." [John Bella]

29.05.78 [ ] Springfield Civic Arena Massachusetts, USA - co-headliners with Foghat.

31.05.78 [ ] Dayton Hara Arena Ohio, USA
JUNE 1978
01.06.78 Erie County Coliseum Pennsylvania, USA - cancelled due to illness.

02.06.78 [ ] memorabilia Passaic Capitol Theater New Jersey, USA - supported by Uriah Heep and No Dice. [It has been said - by some - that the set, no more than sixty minutes long, included L.A. Connection and Gates Of Babylon and that the show was played without the rainbow.]

Kill The King/Mistreated/L.A. Connection/Long Live Rock 'n' Roll/Lazy-Man On The Silver Mountain/Still I'm Sad.

"I remember being disappointed at the short set they played at the Capitol - although they did play a snatch of "Lazy"." [John Bella]

03.06.78 [ ] Albany Palace Theater New York, USA

04.06.78 [ ] Lynn Manning Bowl Massachusetts, USA

05 or 06.06.78 [ ] Boston Garden Massachusetts, USA

07.06.78 [ ] Poughkeepsie Mid-Hudson Civic Center Arena New York, USA

09.06.78 [ ] Rochester War Memorial Auditorium New York, USA - supporting REO Speedwagon.

Kill The King/Mistreated/Long Live Rock 'n' Roll/Man On The Silver Mountain/Sixteenth Century Greensleeves/Still I'm Sad.

"The Rochester War Memorial Auditorium was sold out. Rainbow played to the largest crowd ever there, something like over 12,000 general admission tickets were sold [about a 1,000 over capacity!] The place was electric in anticipation of the two bands. I had gotten there about two hours before and was about ten feet from the stage - and when the famous clip from Wizard Of Oz was piped through the sound system, and Blackmore sauntered on stage and started bashing at the opening chords to Kill The King, all hell broke loose; sheer pandemonium."

"After standing awestruck for five minutes, I finally came back to earth and started taking pictures. Right from the start he seemed to be having problems with his guitar - feedback, going out of tune etc. - but he was in fine form, his stage presence was incredible. I caught his eye once but rarely did he acknowledge the audience. He also seemed to be in a somewhat sardonic/pissed off mood. Daisley was having a good time up there and fitted in better than Bain I think, but Stone didn't do anything, he looked sort of distant - oblivious most of the time."

"Cozy was incredibly tight and played flawlessly. Dio was his usual amiable self, sung his freaking lungs out, and, aside from some inane patter between songs, he was excellent. Dio was about to announce one number when Blackmore strode over and whispered something in his ear. Dio smiled and said "this is going out to all the fucking DJs in the audience" and he went on really slagging them about how they wouldn't play their music. So they went into Mistreated - more feedback problems, but he pulled off an incredibly good solo. More "let's pick on DJs" stuff then into Long Live Rock 'n' Roll which sounded very muddled and distorted."

"Man On The Silver Mountain was superb. The band actually sounded like a band, with some blues in there too. Blackmore then subtly opened up C16 with some very nice classical doodling, before pounce on the bass pedals and headbanging time again. The feedback messed up what could have been a classic solo, Blackmore is pissed off. During their last number, Still I'm Sad, the feedback is blitzing everyone out, and he starts throwing the guitar around and leaves while Cozy takes his solo [no hydraulic lift - in fact no rainbow either this time around; not even a backdrop - how boring!]"

"After the explosion they return to finish the number off, Blackmore giving everyone frustrated looks. The song's over, but Ritchie is not done yet. He whips off his guitar, looks at it, and just tosses it into the crowd not more than fifteen feet away from me. I lunged over there and actually touched it! I had like a religious experience right there. Well, ahem, that was it. Curtain came down. All in all a very weird show. I think Ritchie only did about 60% of what he was capable of. Also it is so idiotic to have them open for anybody! REO would only allow them an hour, no encore." [Steve Wunrow/Stargazer]

10.06.78 [ ] Commack Suffolk Forum Long Island New York, USA [Better known as the Long Island Arena, the venue was known as the Suffolk Forum for a while.] - supporting REO Speedwagon.

"They didn't play that long at the Commack show, since they weren't headlining. The place pretty much emptied out after the Rainbow set though." [John Bella]

11.06.78 [ ] Largo Capitol Center Maryland, USA

16.06.78 [ ] Jacksonville [Civic Auditorium or Veterans' Memorial Coliseum] Florida, USA

17.06.78 [ ] Lakeland Civic Center Florida, USA - with Cheap Trick and Max Webster.

19.06.78 [ ] Miami Jai Alai Fronton Florida, USA [Listed as 18th June in Circus.]

23.06.78 Greensboro Coliseum North Carolina, USA - supporting REO Speedwagon - cancelled.

23.06.78 [ ] Johnson City Freedom Hall Tennessee, USA - supporting REO Speedwagon.

24.06.78 [ ] recorded Atlanta Omni Georgia, USA - supporting REO Speedwagon. [This seems to have replaced a gig at the Fox Theatre originally scheduled for 8th June.] Recorded for a BBC 'Rock Hour' radio show, though broadcast in the States rather than the UK. Two tracks included on "Finyl Vinyl".

Kill The King/Mistreated/Long Live Rock 'n' Roll/Man On The Silver Mountain/Still I'm Sad.
Bootlegged on CD as I'm Losing Control, Hit The Rainbow and The Third Eye and on CD-R as Kill The King. One track included on Mixed Emotions [San Antonio, 1982].

"I punched Andy Green [REO's stage manager] because he put the house lights on ten seconds after we came off the stage. We like to keep the lights off until the 'Over The Rainbow' theme is finished playing. The lights went up and it was like, 'Now that shit is finished, we're on next.' REO is a great band and we get on with them very well, but there has been one certain person we don't get on with and he's the one that turned on the lights." [Ritchie Blackmore/Circus]

25.06.78 [ ] Charlotte Coliseum North Carolina, USA

27.06.78 [ ] Knoxville Civic Auditorium Coliseum Tennessee, USA

28.06.78 [ ] Nashville Municipal Auditorium Arena Tennessee, USA

30.06.78 [ ] Little Rock Barton Coliseum Arkansas, USA
JULY 1978
01.07.78 [ ] Springfield Armory Illinois, USA - Cheap Trick/Rainbow/Max Webster. [Listed as Jackson Missouri in Circus.]

02.07.78 [ ] recorded Chicago International Amphitheatre Illinois, USA - Cheap Trick/Rainbow/Max Webster.

Kill The King/Mistreated/Long Live Rock 'n' Roll/Man On The Silver Mountain/Still I'm Sad.
Bootlegged on CD as Short Time Gig.

"So there I was, gasping for air in the midst of the press of bodies, all trying to get in the one door they opened at the Chicago Amphitheatre. Several times I was lifted off my feet, glided down again, up, down, around - holy cats, I'm looking the other way now! - when some poor, under-four-foot person appears in front of me, gasping much more desperately."

"For two more minutes I was worried sick she was going to die right there, then a big surge to the left got us within a fairly good range of the door, I gave her as much of a shove as I could manage and she squirmed her way through somehow. Nearly five minutes later I got through the door myself. These were the days of "festival" - non-reserved - seating, my friends. But our parents made it through the Depression, so we survived lazy seating schemes."

"We were on the main floor but pretty far back, even though we'd got there at six in the morning and were originally only about twenty feet back in line - the one-open-door gravity well handily erased that advantage. Then, while we were trying to figure out if this Max Webster band was any good or not, it started raining firecrackers from the cloud of ignorant savages on the upper balconies."

"If I remember correctly, this kept happening for a while, even into Rainbow's set. We'd be standing on our seats getting pummeled by the cannonshot of wriggling air molecules from the amps but somehow a lit fuse flitting past the ear cuts through the din with very little problem."

"It was one of the big ones and it went off right under the seat in front of me. That cut through even better. From that point on the sound - never good in the Amphitheater in the first place - was almost complete mud. When Rainbow came on, it was all I could do to figure out which songs were being played by the rhythms and key changes. I couldn't make out any guitar lines or solos, which was the whole reason to be there! Long Live Rock 'n' Roll, the song, was easy enough 'cuz of the singalong part, but everything else was a guess."

"And, believe it or not, Cheap Trick was the headliner that night. Everyone remained standing but it was an endurance test for me; I couldn't stand Cheap Trick. I sat down and waited it out. My hearing was back to normal about three days later."

"Out in the parking lot we were all trapped - there was one car parked in just such a way that nobody in that small lot could get out and the owner never showed up. A bunch of us gathered together, picked it up and moved it out of the way. Thankfully we were the first ones out of there. On top of all this, the Long Live Rock 'n' Roll album cover image on the cheapo t-shirt cracked and was unrecognizable after the first washing." [John Hopkins]

04.07.78 [ ] Cleves Edgewater Speedway Ohio, USA - The Outlaws/Rick Derringer/Rainbow/Rare Earth/Dixie Dregs. Rainbow played for about an hour and Ritchie smashed a guitar.

13.07.78 [ ] Houston Sam Houston Coliseum Texas, USA - supporting REO Speedwagon.

Kill The King/Mistreated/Long Live Rock 'N' Roll/Man On The Silver Mountain/Still I'm Sad.

July 1978 [ ] San Antonio Municipal Auditorium Texas, USA

21.07.78 [ ] Baton Rouge Louisiana State University Assembly Center Louisiana, USA

22.07.78 [ ] Beaumont Fair Park Coliseum Texas, USA

23.07.78 [ ] Austin [University of Texas?] Texas, USA

July 1978 [ ] Corpus Christi Memorial Coliseum Texas, USA - REO Speedwagon/Rainbow/Max Webster.

July 1978 [ ] Oklahoma City Myriad Oklahoma, USA - supporting REO Speedwagon.

July 1978 Bridgeport Kennedy Stadium Connecticut, USA - a festival including Blue Öyster Cult and the J. Geils Band. Rainbow cancelled.
AUGUST 1978
01.08.78 Philadelphia Spectrum Pennsylvania, USA - cancelled. Possibly a planned co-headlining date with Cheap Trick. A tape exists purporting to be from this show but is from 2nd August.

02.08.78 [ ] recorded Philadelphia Upper Darby Tower Theater Pennsylvania, USA - either with Cheap Trick or with REO Speedwagon and Nantucket.

August 1978 [ ] Royal Oak Music Hall Michigan, USA - support The Cars. An unusual three-night stint, together with an odd choice for support band.

August 1978 [ ] Royal Oak Music Hall Michigan, USA - support The Cars.

August 1978 [ ] Royal Oak Music Hall Michigan, USA - support The Cars.

17.08.78 [ ] Pittsburgh Stanley Theater Pennsylvania, USA - with Eddie Money. Near riot after Rainbow only played for 45 minutes.

18.08.78 [ ] memorabilia Hempstead Calderone Concert Hall Long Island New York, USA - with AC/DC supporting.

19.08.78 [ ] Wilkes-Barre Paramount Theater Pennsylvania, USA - with AC/DC supporting.

20.08.78 memorabilia Johnstown War Memorial Pennsylvania, USA - with AC/DC supporting. Cancelled.

August 1978 [ ] Boston Orpheum Theater Massachusetts, USA

24.08.78 [ ] memorabilia New York Palladium New York, USA - with AC/DC supporting.

This performance was abandoned after three numbers due to interference problems between the rainbow and the PA. After a further ninety minutes of efforts that left the problem unresolved, Ronnie announced to the audience that ticket money would be refunded.

26.08.78 Asbury Park Convention Hall New Jersey, USA - with the interference problems still persisting during the soundcheck, this show was cancelled and ticket money refunded. Instead David Johansen [ex-New York Dolls] played a free show.

"I was one of the thousands who were waiting around for them to play at Convention Hall when it was announced that the show was cancelled. I remember somebody saying that they had problems at the Palladium a few days before but we all assumed Blackmore was just pulling a "moody" when the show was cancelled. We were all so disgusted we didn't even bother to stay around for David Johansen's free show. That was it for me. Musically I thought they had gone way downhill after "Rising" so I just lost interest." [John Bella]

And so this era of the band came to what seems an undignified end. The sound problems that had arisen with the rainbow from the outset had returned; the rainbow would go into storage [or, depending on which story you believe, into an ocean!], never to be seen again and it would be more than a year before the band played live again.

After the August dates in America, Stone was fired and an unnamed German brought in - though this did not work out. Daisley was also fired and Ritchie wanted John Glasgock [Jethro Tull] to replace him.

Roger Glover had been brought in to help with the writing and to produce the next album. [The idea to work with Roger on the writing had first been mentioned back in 1976.] With the relationship between Ritchie and Ronnie now strained [they were hardly on speaking terms], Roger was forced into the position of go-between. Perhaps most dramatically, a while later, Dio - the only other founder member - was also fired leaving Rainbow down to a two-piece!

DECEMBER 1978

By Christmas, Don Airey [ex-Cozy Powell's Hammer and Colosseum II] had joined on keyboards. Clive Chaman [ex-Hammer and Jeff Beck], who had got Don the audition with Hammer, was briefly brought in on bass.

27.12.78 [ ] recorded London Soho The Marquee Club, UK
Ritchie jams with Gillan.


Bootlegged on CD on Life After Purple and Blackmore - By Request and
on LP on Who The Fuck Are You and Deep Purple And Split Groups.


Ritchie, in the UK for Christmas and the new year and looking for a new vocalist, visited Ian Gillan and asked him to join the band but he declined.

"He and I got really drunk one night over Christmas '78, at which time I needed a singer badly, and I asked him if he fancied the job. We were literally on the floor of his place at eight o'clock in the morning, drunk out of our heads, but in the morning he said that he didn't know whether he could ever work with me again." [Ritchie Blackmore]

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