It wasn't yet public knowledge but guitar legend Ritchie Blackmore had been working behind the scenes to reform the classic line-up of Deep Purple during this year. To the rest of us, his band Rainbow (at that time, also featuring former Purple bassist Roger Glover) were still very much a going concern; they released their seventh studio album 'Bent Out Of Shape' in August of 1983, their third with singer Joe Lynn Turner at the helm. The band had by this time moved away from the sword 'n' sorcery imagery of the Ronnie James Dio days, to a sound more suited to American radio, closer to the likes of Foreigner.
They had also appeared to have become a more stable outfit than had previously been the case, although Blackmore had once again made one change to the line-up with the recruitment of drummer Chuck Burgi in place of previous incumbent Bobby Rondinelli. 'Bent Out Of Shape' continued in this style, with singles 'Street Of Dreams' and 'Can't Let You Go' smoothly produced to get radio airplay, with Blackmore's guitar taking a less prominent role.
Rainbow had announced a UK tour for September of this year, which came as a surprise to your correspondent as they would start off with two shows at Liverpool's Royal Court theatre. Blackmore had been handed a life ban at the nearby Empire six years previously, when he ventured into the royal box during a Rainbow show there and proceeded to assault the ornate plasterwork with his guitar. He'd missed out the UK altogether during 1982's tour supporting previous album 'Straight Between The Eyes', with fans in this country having to settle for a live video release on VHS, taken from a US concert.
The support for this tour was Lita Ford, who was still making a name for herself following the demise of her old band the Runaways, and she gave a good account of herself performing tracks from her then-current release 'Out For Blood'. She later went in a more melodic rock direction herself and scored numerous hits towards the end of the 1980s but at this time, her style was more classic heavy metal. With the hall packed out, anticipation was high as the PA played the traditional 'Land Of Hope And Glory' prelude to the start of the concert. The clip from 'Wizard of Oz' as heard on Rainbow 'On Stage' heralded the group as they kicked things off with 'Spotlight Kid'. Five tracks from 'Bent Out Of Shape' were performed, with several fan favourites from across their back catalogue also played, including hits 'I Surrender' and 'All Night Long'.
The stage set, a huge pair of eyes with rotating lights inside, was retained for this tour despite it being based on the 'Straight Between The Eyes' album cover of the previous year, presumably they thought it might as well get a belated outing in the UK! Turner's smoother style of vocal suited older, more ballad-related material such as 'Catch The Rainbow' more easily than heavier tracks such as 'Long Live Rock 'n' Roll'.
The two dates went down well with the Liverpool audience, though an enduring memory for me was actually meeting Joe outside the venue shortly after their first night's performance. A confession from one of the gathered throng that the show had been taped prompted him to express some surprise - 'Really - you TAPED that s**t?' He'd felt that as it was the beginning of the tour the band had not yet got up to speed properly, but to a young rock fan like me, it was a great gig. What I hadn't realised was that (and the following night) would be the only times I'd see any incarnation of Rainbow live. I was too young to go to gigs when Dio was part of the band, and of course in the spring of 1984 Blackmore announced he was putting Rainbow 'on ice' - the reason for that became clear soon afterwards when news of the Deep Purple reunion was broken by Tommy Vance on his Friday Rock show on BBC Radio One.
Blackmore himself only returned to Merseyside twice after this; in autumn 1984 he, with Ian Gillan and Roger Glover, took part in a charity football game organised by Phil Easton of Radio City, held at Prescot (near Liverpool), and played a show in autumn 2001 at Liverpool Philharmonic Hall with Blackmore's Night. That was a vastly different experience to his Rainbow days, to put it mildly, and after he quit Deep Purple for the second and final time in 1993, he assembled a new band under the Rainbow name in 1995-96. That soon morphed into the Renaissance/folk influenced outfit Blackmore's Night, formed with his wife Candice Night, and they have since released numerous albums under that moniker.
From the 1983 album 'Bent Out of Shape' this is 'Street Of Dreams':
I remember these concerts I took two of my cousins on separate nights the were OK but I wished I had seen the difference era rainbow.
ReplyDeleteI feel the same way, but I was still a kid when the Dio-fronted Rainbow came to town, so I missed the infamous antics where Blackmore took a Strat to the Empire's Royal Box. He remains barred from there, to the best of my knowledge!
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