Tokyo, Japan - Media Reviews

Backstage with Phil at Budokan By Ian O'Malley

So off we went, grabbed Phil at his hotel and went out for a bite. The next 2 hours were spent with Phil pissing himself laughing during dinner as Derek and I gave him a detailed rundown of the previous 40 or so hours. Post dinner we dropped Phil off and made plans to meet up with him and see the rest of the band during soundcheck the following afternoon at Budokan.

Friday.... Final full day and Gig night. And during the day it pissed rain of the Forrest Gump sideways variety.That was all well and good since it gave an opportunity to get some shopping done and hit the gym. Got to Budokan early to see the guys and also had a chat with David Coverdale of Whitesnake who asked that I send his regards to the Q listenership.

After the typical pre-show backstage stuff we wandered out to our seats. I've said on the air on more than a few occasions (with all respect to concert goers worldwide) that my feeling was a New Jersey based audience was hands down the best and loudest to be found anywhere. Well they now have some serious competition.

Right before the show started, the sold out audience was typical Japanese, unfailingly polite and relatively subdued.Then the lights went down and the Def Leppard "God save the Queen" intro started. The place just exploded. I mean went completely beserk stone cold crazy for the next 2 hours. I've never seen anything like it in my life, and have been to hundreds of shows.The band just totally rocked. I now have a full understanding why so many of my rockstar pals love playing in front of Japanese crowds.

By Q104.3 2008.

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