''On Stage'' is a

double A double is a look-alike or doppelgänger; one person or being that resembles another. Double, The Double or Dubble may also refer to: Film and television * Double (filmmaking), someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character * Th ...

live album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

originally released by the British

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...

band

Rainbow A rainbow is a meteorological phenomenon that is caused by reflection, refraction and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a spectrum of light appearing in the sky. It takes the form of a multicoloured circular arc. Rainbows c ...

in 1977. It was recorded live over several German and Japanese dates in late 1976 during the ''Rising'' world tour. The album was released first in the US on 7 July 1977, before being released a week later on 15 July in the UK.

Recording

The recording features the customary introduction to a Rainbow show – the classic quote from ''The Wizard of Oz'', "Toto: I have a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore. We must be over the rainbow!" with the last word repeated as an echo, then the actual band plays a musical phrase from the song " Over the Rainbow" before breaking into "Kill the King". Many of the tracks were spliced together from different dates by producer

Martin Birch Martin Birch (27 December 19489 August 2020) was a British music producer and sound engineer. He became renowned for engineering and producing albums recorded predominantly by British rock bands, including Deep Purple, Rainbow, Fleetwood Mac, W ...

, and the running order was changed to more easily fit four sides of vinyl. Recording Sources: Introduction/Kill The King
Nuremberg 28 September 1976 (first 1:03)
Munich 29 September 1976 (remainder of the song) Man On The Silver Mountain
Tokyo 16 December 1976 (Afternoon Show) Blues
Tokyo 16 December 1976 (Evening Show) Starstruck
Tokyo 16 December 1976 (Evening Show) Man On The Silver Mountain (Reprise)
Tokyo 16 December 1976 (Afternoon Show) Catch The Rainbow
Osaka 9 December 1976 Mistreated
Cologne 25 September 1976 Sixteenth Century Greensleeves
Tokyo 16 December 1976 (Evening Show) Still I'm Sad
Nuremberg 28 September 1976

Release and reception

Geoff Ginsberg of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

writes: "''On Stage'' is full of great songs and playing, but somehow it lacks some of the excitement that existed at those early Ritchie Blackmore concerts. The production is just kind of flat. That doesn't change the fact that there is some great stuff to be found here and nowhere else, such as the side-long version of "Mistreated," from Deep Purple's ''

Burn A burn is an injury to skin, or other tissues, caused by heat, cold, electricity, chemicals, friction, or ultraviolet radiation (like sunburn). Most burns are due to heat from hot liquids (called scalding), solids, or fire. Burns occur mainl ...

''." The song "Kill the King" appeared on this album before it was recorded for a studio album. A studio version appears on the follow-up release, 1978's ''

Long Live Rock 'n' Roll ''Long Live Rock 'n' Roll'' is the third studio album by the British hard rock band Rainbow, released in 1978 and the last to feature original lead vocalist Ronnie James Dio. Background Recording of the album commenced in April 1977 at a stu ...

''. The single "Kill the King/Man on the Silver Mountain/Mistreated" was released in the UK in September 1977. This was Rainbow's debut in the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

, peaking at No. 44. After the commercial success of "

Since You Been Gone "Since You Been Gone" is a song written by former Argent guitarist Russ Ballard and first released on his 1976 album ''Winning''. It was covered by Rainbow in 1979 and released as a single from their album '' Down to Earth''. Rainbow version ...

", " All Night Long" and " I Surrender", "Kill the King" was re-released in 1981 this time climbing to No. 41. Songwriter and lead singer

Ronnie James Dio Ronald James Padavona (July 10, 1942 – May 16, 2010), known professionally as Ronnie James Dio, was an American heavy metal singer. He fronted and founded numerous bands throughout his career, including Elf, Rainbow, Black Sabbath, Dio and H ...

claimed that the violent imagery in the song is actually about a chess game. A more representative example of a Rainbow concert of the time was the 1991 release ''

Live in Germany 1976 ''Live in Germany 1976'' is a live album released by Rainbow in 1990. The tracks are cherry-picked from a series of German dates during their world tour in September 1976 (Cologne on the 25th, Düsseldorf on the 27th, Nuremberg on the 28th, and ...

'', which featured unedited concert performances and includes both tour staple "

Stargazer Stargazer may refer to: * an observational astronomer, particularly an amateur Aerospace * Stargazer (aircraft), a Lockheed L-1011 airliner used to launch the Pegasus rocket * Orbiting Astronomical Observatory 2, nicknamed Stargazer, the first s ...

" and the usual encore "Do You Close Your Eyes". The deluxe edition was released on 13 November 2012 in Europe. The second disc was originally planned to contain tracks from the concert hall at the "''

Orix Theater The (formerly Osaka Kōsei Nenkin Kaikan) is a 2,400-seat concert hall in Nishi-ku, Osaka, Japan. Artists that performed in the main hall include Black Sabbath, Kiss, Pink Floyd, Deep Purple, Whitesnake, Robin Trower, Rainbow, Queen, Santana ...

''" (formerly Osaka Kōsei Nenkin Kaikan) in Osaka, Japan (9 December 1976). Instead the second disc contains tracks from the final Rainbow gig in Tokyo, Japan at the "''

Nippon Budokan Hall The , often shortened to simply Budokan, is an indoor arena located in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. It was originally built for the inaugural Olympic judo competition in the 1964 Summer Olympics. While its primary purpose is to host martial arts con ...

''" on 16 December 1976.

Track listing

Personnel

;Rainbow *

Ritchie Blackmore Richard Hugh Blackmore (born 14 April 1945) is an English guitarist and songwriter. He was a founding member of Deep Purple in 1968, playing jam-style hard rock music that mixed guitar riffs and organ sounds. He is prolific in creating guitar ...

–

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

–

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

Tony Carey Anthony Lawrence Carey (born October 16, 1953, Watsonville, California) is an American-born, European-based musician, composer, producer, and singer/songwriter. One of his earliest musical experiences was as a keyboardist for Rainbow. After his d ...

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keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

Orchestron The Vako Orchestron is a keyboard instrument made in the 1970s, that produces its sound through electronic amplification of sounds pre-recorded on an optical disc. It is the professional version of the Mattel Optigan, an earlier and lower-priced ...

Jimmy Bain James Stewart Bain (19 December 1947 – 23 January 2016) was a Scottish musician, best known for playing bass guitar in the bands Rainbow and Dio. He also worked with Kate Bush and Thin Lizzy frontman Phil Lynott, co-writing on his solo alb ...

–

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

Cozy Powell Cozy Powell (born Colin Trevor Flooks; 29 December 1947 – 5 April 1998) was an English rock drummer who made his name with major rock bands and artists such as The Jeff Beck Group, Rainbow, Michael Schenker Group, Gary Moore, Robert Plant, ...

–

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

Charts

;Album ;Singles

Certifications

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:On Stage (Rainbow Album) Rainbow (rock band) live albums 1977 live albums Polydor Records live albums Albums produced by Martin Birch Albums recorded at the Nippon Budokan