First night in Tokyo
The set list of the first night in Tokyo, ie, the first of the two nights with New Japan Select Orchestra:
1. "Pictured Within" (with Ian Gillan singing, plus a locally
recruited three-piece of female backing singers)
2-5. with Ronnie James Dio:
"Sitting In A Dream"
"Love Is All"
"Fever Dreams"
"Rainbow In The Dark"
6. "Watching The Sky"
7. "Sometimes I Feel Like Screaming"
8. "The Well-Dressed Guitar"
(Let's see what it's going to be called tomorrow.
It was a big disappointment that Ian didn't come up
with an entirely new title for this for Japan...)
9. "Wring That Neck"
(Again with a locally recruited five-piece horn section.)
10. "Fools"
(End of Part 1, which lasted for 60 mins.)
(Part 2, after a 15-min break):
11. "Concerto Movements 1-3"
12. "Perfect Strangers"
13. "When A Blind Man Cries"
14. "Pictures Of Home"
(End of Part 2 = 1 hour and 20 min.)
Encore:
15. "Smoke on the Water" - with very short bits of Steve's usual quotes (inc. Bach) then straight into the piece. (They're very strict about finishing by certain times in Japan, so I guess they had to hurry.)
The audience reaction to "Concerto" was not as enthusiastic as in certain parts of Europe. The rest was very well received, at least near the front where I was...
I spoke to Jon Lord the night before (after two days rehearsals) and he seemed very, very happy with the Japanese orchestra. And they were good, I just couldn't see much of them from where I was sitting but I will at the second show tomorrow (well, today now.)
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