Rainbow - Live In Munich 1977
Performance
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Rainbow - Live In Munich 1977
Performance
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"Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore...We must be over the rainbow." After Dorothy utters those famous words from The Wizard Of Oz, Rainbow takes the stage, underneath a colossal, glowing, rainbow-colored arch that connects each side of the stage, and bandleader Ritchie Blackmore immediately rips off a scorching guitar solo to pump up the crowd. His notes soon melt perfectly into the show's ferocious opening number, "Kill The King", the "Burn"-like anthem that would appear on the band's forthcoming new album, Long Live Rock 'N' Roll, which would be released early the following year. Rainbow Live In Munich 1977 was filmed at the Olympiahalle, in Munich, Germany, on October 20th, 1977, and features the incredible Rainbow lineup of Ritchie Blackmore (guitar), Ronnie James Dio (vocals), Cozy Powell (drums), Bob Daisley (bass), and David Stone (keyboards). Rainbow fans will know that the band survived revolving lineups throughout their brief nine-year history, I guess Blackmore was a little difficult to please, but this one here is certainly one of the best. Blackmore formed Rainbow in 1975 after quitting Deep Purple at the height of their fame. After a string of hit albums, Blackmore broke up the band and reformed the famous "Mk II" Deep Purple lineup in 1983. I remember their Perfect Strangers reunion album like it was yesterday - that damn "Knocking At Your Back Door" intro still gives me chills. For the second song of the set, Blackmore dusts off Deep Purple's "Mistreated", which Rainbow covered on their live On Stage album, released the same year as this show. This Burn classic gets the 12-minute extended treatment which allows Blackmore, and especially Cozy Powell, to show off their incredible chops. Dio does a fantastic job capturing the passion and soul of this slow-burning, power-blues anthem, but if you want to see the definitive live version, run out and get yourself the Deep Purple Live In California 74 DVD, where David Coverdale gets christened as frontman of the new Mk III lineup in front of about 200,000 people. From there, they delve back to Rainbow's debut album, Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow, for a smoking version of the medieval fantasy-inspired "Sixteenth Century Greensleeves". Blackmore starts off picking some clean electric guitar, in honor of the original English folk tune, "Greensleeves", before the band eventually explodes into their own hard driving version. "Catch The Rainbow", from the same album, is transformed into an l8-minute long, spacey jam, which allows Blackmore to brilliantly traverse between gentle, clean, chorused leads and jaw dropping metallic solos. The highlight of the show comes from the title track of the forthcoming new album, Long Live Rock 'N' Roll. The performance kicks off with some bluesy Hammond organ and guitar interplay between Stone and Blackmore, before launching into the song's now legendary guitar riff. I had only seen this song performed live by Dio a few times, but this Rainbow performance is so much more bluesy and powerful than what I remember, with the imposing organ riffs and Blackmore's amazing guitar work laying the foundation. This scorching rock & roll anthem has remained a Dio concert staple ever since, and his commanding performance this night leaves no doubt why he is considered to be one of the greatest heavy metal frontmen of all time. I was wondering how a meager eight-song set could produce over 100 minutes worth of concert material, and the final three songs are the obvious reason why. "Man On The Silver Mountain" a mere four and one-half minutes long on the debut album, is transformed into an almost 16-minute behemoth, thanks to some fantastic improvisation from Blackmore. Before launching into the song's monster opening riff, Blackmore first teases the crowd with a few chords of "Lazy", noodles around with a little bit of chicken-picking, and then fires off some dazzling blues licks. The middle section of the song features another killer Blackmore guitar solo, where he even plays some Taurus bass pedals with those giant, white, platform shoes he was sporting, and then the song morphs into an extraordinary, slow-blues jam, before closing with the original theme. With more and more vintage concert performances from the likes of Deep Purple, Rainbow, Led Zeppelin, KISS, Jimi Hendrix, and other 60's and 70's rock icons, becoming available on DVD, it is becoming painfully obvious just how sloppy some of these guitar legends actually were in the live arena. With modern shredders such as John Petrucci, Steve Vai, and Joe Satriani able to spew forth hundreds of notes per minute with the precision of an accomplished brain surgeon, watching some of these early performances by legends like Jimmy Page and Ritchie Blackmore can be downright cringe inducing. But then again, many of us prefer an all-over-the-place, wildly improvised Blackmore solo over some boring, robotic guitar solo from one of these new generation shred gods. "Still I'm Sad" closes out the first set and takes an astonishing 28-minutes to do so. Kind of a stretch from the barely-four-minute-long album version I'd say. David Stone kicks off the song with an extended "Mr. Crowley"-esque keyboard intro - and is that some Mellotron I hear? This is one of those classic 70's extended live jams, where each band member gets to stretch out and really strut their stuff. Cozy Powell most certainly cemented his legend with his amazing drum performance on this song, and Blackmore gets to show off every technique, style, and trick in his repertoire. Until now, the band had ignored their excellent second album, Rising, whom many consider to be their finest, but they finally do it justice with a smoking version of "Do You Close Your Eyes", which served as the show's encore. This less than three minute album cut is transformed into a 16-minute meltdown of epic proportions, where Blackmore rains destruction down on his Stratocaster and smashes it to pieces during a violent tirade that brings the show to a smoldering climax. Blackmore fans wouldn't have settled for anything less. The production quality of this DVD was excellent considering the age of the source material. Both DTS and Dolby Digital 5.1 surround audio tracks are provided, and they breathed new life into this almost 30-year old recording with an astonishingly clear and powerful new mix. The surround speakers were utilized perfectly to create a wonderful live ambience that placed you right into the middle of the crowd. The video did not fare quite as well. The light show was very minimal, consisting mostly of the brilliant rainbow arch, and an assortment of spotlights, so the picture was quite dark overall. The colors were also fairly washed out, due to the age of the source material, but the picture was still satisfying overall. The camera work was outstanding, providing all of the right close-ups at all of the right times, and never jumping around too quickly. You could really get lost in some of these epic length jams. The highlight of the bonus features are three promo videos for the Long Live Rock 'N' Roll album - "Long Live Rock 'N' Roll", "Gates Of Babylon", and "L.A. Connection". The interviews with Bob Daisley and Rainbow tour manager Colin Hart were interesting enough, but it would have been nice to hear a few words from Blackmore or Dio. A photo gallery and audio slide show are also included. The DVD case contains two booklets, one being a wonderful miniature replica of Rainbow's 1977 tour book, and the other being a six-page color booklet of photos, DVD credits, and an excellent band essay written by Simon Robinson of the Deep Purple Appreciation Society (DPAS). Live In Munich 1977 captures one of the era's best heavy metal bands at the height of their power. Ritchie Blackmore appeared completely rejuvenated by his new band, and he gave one of his finest performances that you will ever see on film. The short setlist was a slight disappointment, but the overall show was remarkable. I would have preferred to see some of the longer performances shortened in favor of a few more songs, especially from the Rising album - you just can't omit "Stargazer". Rainbow fans, do not hesitate on this one. Reviewed by Paul M. Roy - December 2006 |
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Running Time: 103 Minutes |
DVD Release Date - August 2006 |