Steve Vai
Ariake Rainbow Stage
Tokyo, Japan
08/16/1997

Source: Sanken COS-11 PT's > D8 via Tom Reizes
Transfer: DAT > Fostex D-15 > Ardour @ 48k
Master: Wavelab 10 (tracking ) > FLAC 1648

Thanks to Tom Reizes for the DAT

01. There's A Fire In The House
02. The Animal
03. The Crying Machine
04. Deepness
05. Little Alligator
06. Blowfish
07. Angel Food
08. All About Eve
09. I Would Love To
10. drums
11. Bad Horsie
12. Aching Hunger
13. Answers
14. Conducting
15. San San Nana Byoushi
16. For The Love Of God
17. The Attitude Song

Steve Vai (guitar, vocals)
Mike Keneally (guitar & keyboards)
Philip Bynoe (bass)
Mike Mangini (drums)

Part of a triple bill with Motley Crue and Zakk Wylde called the "Rock Around The Bay Festival," this was performed before a relatively small audience at a place called Prism Square in Rainbow Town, Tokyo. Vai opened for Motley Crue, and Wylde probably opened for Vai.

There is confusion about the date of this performance. The DAT was labeled both August 16 and April 16, 1997. Etreedb.org listed this performance as August 17, with a performance in Osaka on the 16th, which is wrong (August 16 was definitely Tokyo; this has been fixed). Etreedb also notes Motley Crue and Zakk Wylde playing at this venue in Tokyo on the 17th as well.

Motley Crue tour date sites tends to have two shows as well, on the 16th and 17th (e.g, http://members.ozemail.com.au/~cruekiss/97.htm). Evidently, Motley Crue received some sort of plaque or award on stage because Generation of Swine went platinum in Japan. This may explain why portions of this show were filmed or at least put on a DVD by something called WOWWOW TV. The DVDs are clearly bootlegs, containing five Vai songs and the complete Motley Crue performance. These appear on Youtube, dated August 16, no doubt because that's how the DVDs are dated.

One example of the video is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpRxSlgRJpI This is unquestionably the same performance as this recording. It also shows how small the crowd was, which helps explain why this audience recording is so up front and clear.

At the end of the show, Vai says "See you tomorrow night" which would make sense if this were August 16 and there was a second show in Tokyo the following night. Therefore, August 16th seems most likely.

Enjoy!

--mhg :: 2021-04-22