Rainbow
Monsters Of Rock-Live at Donington 1980.
(earMUSIC)
9/10

By Decibel Report

It was the best of shows and also the end of shows for this iteration of Rainbow as they wound up a long tour promoting their Down To Earth studio release - the only one with this line-up - with this legendary and incendiary headlining set at the inaugural Monsters of Rock at Donington. Finally released on vinyl, this seminal live show rages out of the speakers like a Tasmanian Devil revealing a beast of a performance by a band seeing the fabled pot of gold at the end of this Rainbow.

As with most bands containing a high calibre of individual musicianship, there is quite a bit of musical onanism on display between the almost perfect presentation of these classic songs. Nevertheless, this doesn't distract from a concert that has gone down in rock legend as a 'you had to be there' experience. This fan aware release again corrects this.

From the opening epic medley including Eyes Of The World and follow up hit Since You've Been Gone, soon to depart singer Graham Bonnet gives a bravura performance, as do all the players, all night long. With the concentration of songs being drawn from the Down To Earth album, the choice of previous Rainbow singer Ronnie James Dio's era of songs, including a monumental Stargazer, are performed with a stratospheric sonic gusto.

The last word almost goes to the final call to arms anthem Long Live Rock 'n' Roll, however, the man in black playing the white Strat, Ritchie Blackmore upstages everybody by repeatedly smashing his guitar into his amps thereby setting them on fire as the end of show fireworks explode around the stage.

And with a huge puff of smoke, this band line-up disappeared; never to be seen again.