1972

June 30 / July 1 1972 – Rainbow Theatre, Finsbury Park, London

Two important shows which marked the re-opening of this popular rock venue (a large converted cinema) which had been shut for  a few months to enable the orchestra pit to be covered over.  Deep Purple were measured by decibel meters and confirmed as the loudest band in the world the following year by The Guinness Book Of records.  The press reported the accolade (see cutting below). The sleeve photos for Made In Japan were taken at these shows.

August 15, 16 1972 – Osaka Festival Hall, Japan

Not great quality, but this is the poster for the first two shows in Osaka.  The promoters only had imagery for Fireball when preparing the artwork. Perhaps they just reused this even though Machine Head sleeves should have been available when the shows were rescheduled.

August 17 1972 – Tokyo Budokan Hall, Japan

Arguably the most famous concerts of the original era, these shows were booked for May 11, 12 and 16 but cancelled following Blackmore’s illness while on tour in America the month before. All three of the shows (the band did not do matinee performances on this occasion) were recorded on 8-track by Warner Pioneer for a Japan only live album which was subsequently released worldwide (check the discography at the DTB archives). A double budget price album, in later years all three shows were gathered up for a triple CD collectors set. In May 2014 a series of remixes and remasters from the recordings were released across several formats by Universal Records. Details on DTB here.

Straight after these shows, the group returned to America for their fifth tour of the year.

September 30 1972 – Brixton Sundown, London

This was Deep Purple final UK concert of 1972. The Sundown venues were a new venture, with three associated venues in London rebranded, with Deep Purple reopening the Brixton hall, formerly The Astoria.  The venture didn’t last long. The venue is better known today as the Brixton Academy, and Deep Purple played there again on Blackmore’s final UK tour.