Rainbow performed on this day in 1981 at the Estadio Roman Valero in Madrid, Spain.
Rainbow were at this time on the European leg of their Difficult to Cure Tour, which after their first-ever set of dates in Spain would see them return to England, the home country of three of the five musicians. As a point of interest regarding home countries, Spain is the current home of Rainbow’s lead singer, Ronnie Romero. He would be born in Chile two months after Rainbow’s Difficult to Cure Tour came to an end.
Despite the ads for this and other Spanish concerts claiming Scorpions were on the bill with Rainbow and Def Leppard, the triad of hard-rocking groups was actually rounded out by UFO, a last-minute substitution. They were not remembered well by a review of the concert, which also shared that they were the opening act of the three. Rainbow came next; due to a great many delays pushing the concert back, guitarist Ritchie Blackmore had them play before Def Leppard, as he wanted to get out a bit earlier. The review is overall quite positive, suggesting the band was in fine form and that keyboardist Don Airey’s typical trick of playing local numbers was well-received.
Due to the lateness of their performance, most of the crowd left before Def Leppard could even get onstage, which they did after 1:30 in the morning!
There is no known recording of this particular concert.
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Post Sources
- https://www.blabbermouth.net/news/rainbow-singer-ronnie-romero-rejoins-lords-of-black/
- http://www.rainbowfanclan.com/tourdates/1981.html
- http://www.rainbowfanclan.com/reviews/live/1981_europe.html#04071981
Edit on 2020-07-05: There is no known recording; I had incorrectly stated there was one.