Rainbow performed on this day in 1981 at the Cow Palace in San Francisco, California.
Rainbow performed with Canadian Pat Travers. In fact, he’s the only one on the ticket. However, Rainbow is know to have performed as well. The portion of the Difficult to Cure Tour that Rainbow undertook with Travers had begun in the guitarist’s native Canada. At this point, they had hopped the border to singer Joe Lynn’s Turner’s native country. However, he was from the East Coast, not the west.
In a review from the show, Rainbow is compared to Journey—a comparison guitarist Ritchie Blackmore would have enjoyed, as he had actively courted a turn to a poppier sound. Ever the gadfly, he reportedly even looked forward to accusations that Rainbow had sold out! Overall, the review is critical of what they think is too much showmanship and mentions technical failures. Not much is said about the state of the music.
The concert is known to have been recorded. It is in circulation online.
Post Sources