When a Concert Venue Is Co-star of The Show
(This article links to one clip of a full concert set. If you have been starving for live concerts, this is as close as you can get without actually being there. Best to watch it when you have an hour to set aside. It’s worth every minute.)
日本武道館 (Nippon Budokan) was originally built to house the martial arts contests in the 1964 Olympics. It had fantastic acoustics, and its “in the round” seating made it unusually intimate for a hall seating nearly 15,000 people. It quickly became a must-play destination for musical artists of all kinds. For artists playing amplified instruments, it has become the world’s most desired venue for making live concert recordings. For rock bands, playing Budokan means “You’ve made it” as much as playing Madison Square Garden or Wembley Arena.
The Beatles played a series of concerts there in 1966, during their final round of touring before they quit doing live performances later that year. Soon, bands began recording their concerts at Budokan for commercial release as albums. Here is a partial list of artists that released live albums recorded at Budokan in the 1970s (the numbers have increased most years since then, until the pandemic):
Led Zeppelin; September 23 and 24, 1971, and October 2 and 3, 1972.
Chicago; June 8, 1972.
Uriah Heep; 1973, (Live concert filmed on 16mm for television. DVD versions available[11])
Deep Purple; 1972; for the last of the three concerts making up their Made in Japan live album.
The Moody Blues; January 18, 1974
The Carpenters; June 7–9, 1974; Live in Japan
Focus; June 20, 1975
Queen; 1975, 1976, and 1979.
Rainbow; December 16, 1976; On Stage Rainbow performed here both afternoon and evening shows at 3:00 pm and 6:00 p.m.
Aerosmith; 1977 (Jan-Feb); see the Japanese bootleg CD Rocks Budokan (label Calm&Storm).
Fleetwood Mac; December 5, 1977 and February 3, 4th and 5, 1980
Bay City Rollers; 1977; released as Rollerworld: Live at the Budokan 1977 in 2001.
Pink Lady; 1977 (Bye Bye Carnival) and 1979 (Live in Budoukan).
Kiss; 1977 and 1978.
Cheap Trick; April 27, 28 and 30, 1978; Cheap Trick at Budokan (and the later-released 1998 album at Budokan: The Complete Concert).
Ian Gillan Band; 1977–1978; Live at the Budokan (Vols. 1–2).
Eric Clapton; December 1979; Just One Night.
Diana Ross; 1977; “An Evening with Diana Ross” concert was videotaped during her 1977 tour.
Julie Andrews; 1977 “An Evening with Julie Andrews” concert was part of a highly acclaimed sold-out national tour of Japan by Julie Andrews.
Eikichi Yazawa; 1977; Super Live Nippon Budokan, recorded his Budokan concerts of 1977.
Devo; 1979 “The Men Who Make the Music” Japanese TV broadcast. A clip of “Red Eye Express” from this show is included in The Men Who Make The Music home video.
Gregg Allman Band and Cher; June 29, 1977
Bob Dylan; 1979; Bob Dylan at Budokan, recorded during his 1978 world tour.
Electric Light Orchestra; 1978.
Earth, Wind & Fire; 1979.
Boston; 1979
You get the idea.
I posted on Glim Spanky recently, and people were taken with their sound, so I thought a live performance should be next. Here they are, headlining at Budokan on 12 May 2018. I love the whole set, but my personal favorite is “Midnight Circus” (07:22) if you want to skip around.
If you miss 60’s/70’s era psychedelic rock, or roots rock with dirty guitar riffs, or broken, bluesy Joplin-esque vocals, you will dig this.
Sources:
“The History of the Nippon Budokan: Rock and Roll’s Eastern Palace” https://ultimateclassicrock.com/budokan-venue/
Setlist.fm https://www.setlist.fm/venue/nippon-budokan-tokyo-japan-3d61d43.html?page=388
“Nippon Budokan”, Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nippon_Budokan
Glim Spanky official website http://www.glimspanky.com/about/
Great article, Charles, with an inspired title! It could be argued, as time has passed, anyway, that the Big B has even been the star of the show! Especially as/when the artist names their recorded album there "So-and-So Live at Budokan"! At that point, the building should then be receiving royalties!
Also, mad props for the rare Pink Lady shout-out! No bigger U.S. TV bomb has there been than the 1980 NBC-TV variety show, "Pink Lady & Jeff," with PL (who could speak no English at all!), and American "comedian," Jeff Altman! For 5 minutes, PL had an American recording contract with Elektra Records! Fun read, with bunches of artists I previously had no idea performed there, much less recorded there!