'Rainbow's' first live release and despite only having two previous albums under their belts, released this highly regarded double live album. Featuring what most would call the classic line-up they gift us six tracks, eight including the medley, this doesn't seem much, but believe me there's plenty of material here. In reality too much material, many of the tracks are drawn out well past their studio counterparts and at times are far too indulgent, especially that of 'Richie Blackmore's' solos. It would have been nice to see some more tracks, 'Stargazer' is a glaring omission, and I would have liked the shorter tracks 'Tarot Women' and 'Run with the Wolf' from the excellent 'Rising'. Still there's no shortage of quality especially from 'Dio' who sounds nothing short of stunning, despite the fairly flat production.

The show kicks off which 'Kill the King', at the time of this album's release this song was previously unheard, later to be included in the next studio album 'Long Live Rock & Roll'. This in my opinion is the best song present, mainly due to it being a no nonsense run through, very similar to the album version but faster and played to absolute perfection. 'Man on a Silver Mountain' opens the medley and as with the previous track it sways little from the original and therefore is a decent track, the song progresses to the 'Blues' part and as this implies is a very bluesy sounding instrumental, quite long and fairly dull. Thankfully 'Dio's' vocals kick back in with a cracking if not short rendition of 'Starstruck', which in turn develops back to 'Man on a Silver Mountain' which closes the composition. 'Catch the Rainbow' follows and while this is a decent working of a quality song, fifteen and a half minutes is extravagant to say the least, especially that of the instrumental part and even some of 'Dio's' drawn out vocals excerpts. From 'Richie Blackmore's' 'Deep Purple' days is 'Mistreated', this is a quality song that sounds all the better for 'Dio's' vocals behind it, but as with 'Catch the Rainbow' it's extensively extended, this time it's 'Blackmore's subtle and fairly uninteresting guitar work which goes on far too long, thankfully the song picks back up and finishes on a high. From the first album we are treated to 'Sixteenth Century Greensleeves', I liked the studio version and I like this harder version even more, the intro is too long but when the track finally gets going it's quality stuff. The album closes with a cover of 'The Yardbird's' 'Still I'm Sad' and unlike the studio version, this cut isn't an instrumental and we are gifted 'Ronnie James Dio' delivering the lyrics with real zest, to make this another album highlight.

Overlooking the excessive sections of this disc, along with the mediocre production, this is still a good overview of the 'Dio's' 'Rainbow' years. If you enjoy 'On Stage' be sure to pick up 'Live in Germany', very similar to what we have here, but with a full version of 'Stargazer' and 'Man on a Silver Mountain' while 'Do you Close your Eyes' also makes the set list.