Rainbow in autumn 1976. First Rainbow gig on German ground after Blackers had gone AWOL from ze Pürps. Dio/Powell/Bain/Carey line up, half of which are no longer with us. My dad took me and a friend, waiting patiently in the car park of the hall while the concert took place. A few years later he would at least grudgingly admit while forcibly co-listening to a Rainbow keyboard solo with classical influences I was treating myself with over our living room stereo "that this is not quite as bad as the noise you usually hear, it's actually listenable!"
Blackmore was at his peak back then as regards both his enigmatic Man in Black image and his jaw-dropping guitar playing ranging from the introspective to the dramatic. I had never seen Purple before (we were in Africa for most of the early seventies), so hearing Rainbow tear into Mistreated as the second song in the set, after Kill the King, was a revelation. Plus, they had this one of a kind rainbow shape lighting rig which was awesome
when it worked (as it did that night).
They had an opening act. Some unknown Aussie band. Lead guitarist played in a schoolboy uniform and presented his naked pimply butt to the audience. How talent- and hopeless can you get me thought back then. Those guys and their screechy singer will never make it.
In hindsight, perhaps, I wasn't entirely correct in that last assessment!
