On Stage

“On Stage” is a live album released by “Rainbow” in 1977.

The album features a cover of a song from Blackmore’s previous band “Deep Purple”; “Mistreated”.

The album was recorded live over several German and Japanese dates in late 1976 during the “Rising” world tour. Many of the tracks were spliced together from different dates by producer Martin Birch, and the running order was changed to more easily fit four sides of vinyl.

The recording features the customary introduction to a rainbow show - the classic quote from the “The Wizard of Oz” (1939 film), “Toto: I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore. We must be over the rainbow!” with the last word repeated a couple of times.

A more representative example of a Rainbow concert of the time was the 1990 release “Live in Germany”.

The original gatefold-sleeve vinyl release had picture-bag liners and the 1999 remaster duplicated the full artwork.

The song “Kill the King” appeared on this album before it ever appeared on a studio album. The studio version can be found on the follow-up release, 1978’s “Long Live Rock ‘n’ Roll”.