On This Day (January 22)…Corridors of Shibuya

Gary Moore performed a concert on this day in 1983 in Shibuya, Tokyo while on his Corridors of Power Tour.

The album Corridors of Power was an excellent studio effort by Moore, pairing him with a lot of other talented musicians. The touring lineup took the best of these and threw them onstage together. Unsurprisingly, the result was pretty much pure magic. Some of the collaborations which began on this tour even continue quite regularly to this day.

Image result for gary moore don airey ian paice
The Corridors of Power touring lineup as depicted in the Japanese tour program. Retrieved from pinterest.

A full seven of the nine tracks off the album were played on this particular night. They were bolstered by songs from earlier in Moore’s solo career, including three numbers from Back On The Streets. The setlist was further enhanced by excellent instrumental solos from Gary Moore, bandmate Ian Paice, and bandmate Don Airey. Unique to the Japan shows was the inclusion of “Sunset” off of Cozy Powell’s solo album Tilt, dedicated to Randy Rhoads (source). Rhoads had died the previous year in a horrific accident. Airey, who along with Moore performed the song, had been the sole witness.

As you may be able to gather from the above, the concert has been recorded and has not yet been officially released. As with many Japanese bootlegs from this period, the sound is truly excellent.

This concert was performed at Shibuya Kōkaidō, which is translated to “Shibuya Public Hall”. The venue originated as a location for the Weightlifting portion of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics (source). In the late 2000s, it was known as the C.C. Lemon Hall to promote a beverage type.

File:CC-Lemon-Hall-Shibuya-02.jpg
Exterior of the hall. Retrieved from here.

It has since been rebuilt and reportedly reopened last October. In between its creation and renovation, these were some of the notable concerts which occurred there.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.