Billy Joel/Tokyo,Japan 1.9.1995

This time, at “YOKOHAMA 1995”, a night of Billy Joel’s performance in Japan in 1995, which had been forgotten until now, was revealed, but excavated sound sources that seemed to add even more punch were also released at the same time. This is an audience recording that recorded Budokan on January 9th, the first day of the tour. The historical masterpiece “OSAKA 1995”, which includes the show held the day after the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake, has been released as well as this Kinney recording of Yokohama and the Japan performance that continued even after the earthquake, but this sound source is a disaster. This is a show before the incident. Naturally, the atmosphere is completely different from those two performances, but there are still incidents happening at the beginning. After Billy finished singing “Pressure,” the following explanation came out in Japanese. “Minasanni, Owabi, Shinakereba… Narimasen. Senjitsu (At this point, the audience roars loudly) Ashiwo kega shitanode, Itsumonoyouni, Ugoki mawaremasen.” This is how the audience was surprised when he said “Senjitsu.” and others. At Western music concerts, most artists do their best to say things like “Arigato” and “Konbanwa” in Japanese, but even Billy, who is a pro-Japanese, can’t get enough of this in Japanese when explaining the situation. If you think about it, the performance in Japan in 1995 may have been turbulent from the beginning. However, once the live performance started, the usual cheerful Billy exploded. In the first place, “Big Shot”, which required “I’m sorry”, had already stopped being played in the middle of the previous year’s tour, so it’s even more so. What is rather interesting is that songs that were not performed in Osaka or Yokohama (and even at Budokan at the end of the tour) are being played at this point. One of them is “The Ballad of Billy the Kid.” More than that, the great standard “Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song)” was performed only at this time when he came to Japan in 1995. Billy’s song is extremely popular, especially in our country, so those who were able to watch it that day were lucky. Also, there is no way to know about the disaster that will happen a week later (naturally?), and it is characterized by a very happy atmosphere throughout. In the second half of “Scenes From an Italian Restaurant,” the audience gets excited (was that where Billy stepped on the butt?) It’s obvious, but this difference is clearly conveyed in the audience recording. Unique. And this time, the first appearance sound source provided by a different taper than Kinney recording Yokohama. Even so, it is certain that the sound quality is good enough to hear, and it does a great job of reproducing the realistic feel of the happy atmosphere mentioned earlier, as well as the reality of the venue roaring with Billy’s famous words, “Senjitsu…”. As a result, the first day of the 1995 performance in Japan, which was veiled like Yokohama, will finally be revealed. This is a very real before and after document, with differences not only in the atmosphere but also in the live song selection! Live at Budokan, Tokyo, Japan 9th January 1995 TRULY AMAZING SOUND(from Original Masters) Disc 1 (67:12) 1. Intro 2. No Man’s Land 3. Pressure 4. The Ballad of Billy the Kid 5. Honesty 6. Prelude /Angry Young Man 7. Allentown 8. Band Introductions #1 9. Scenes From an Italian Restaurant 10. My Life 11. Band Introductions #2 12. I Go to Extremes 13. Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song) Disc 2 (51: 46) 1. Goodnight Saigon 2. Lullabye (Goodnight, My Angel) 3. The River of Dreams 4. Band Introductions #3 5. We Didn’t Start the Fire 6. A Hard Day’s Night 7. It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me 8. You May Be Right 9. Only the Good Die Young 10. Piano Man Billy Joel – Vocal, Piano, Guitar Marc Rivera – Saxophone Tommy Burns – Guitar Dave Rosenthal – Keyboards T-Bone Wolk – Bass Liberty DeVitto – Drums