OVER THE RAINBOW: First U.S. Dates Announced

OVER THE RAINBOW has scheduled the following U.S. dates:

Jul. 06 - Ocean City Music Pier - Ocean City, NJ
Jul. 08 - Palace of Auburn Hills - Auburn Hills, MI (Opening for BTO)
Jul. 10 - Crocodile Rock Cafe - Allentown, PA
Jul. 11 - The Stone Pony - Asbury Park, NJ

OVER THE RAINBOW is:

Joe Lynn Turner (RAINBOW 1980-1984) - Vocals
Tony Carey (RAINBOW 1975-1978) - Keyboards
Bobby Rondinelli (RAINBOW 1980-1983) - Drums
Greg Smith (RAINBOW 1994-1997) - Bass
Jürgen "J.R." Blackmore - Guitar

Jürgen Blackmore is a critically acclaimed guitarist in his own right and agreed to join this endeavor after realizing how intense the demand was for a RAINBOW "reunion." OVER THE RAINBOW marks the first time that four members from three different eras of RAINBOW have taken the stage together along with J.R. Blackmore.

Regarding OVER THE RAINBOW's recently completed Russian tour, Carey writes in an online posting, "We rehearsed like madmen for several days in a Moscow studio — J.R. and I had pre-rehearsed at my house in Germany and Bobby and Greg in New York. After the first 10 minutes, it was pretty clear that when we didn't suck; we were pretty good. The tricky part is playing balls-out, take-no prisoners, and still being (reasonably) accurate. If you start thinking about what you're playing, you're automatically using a safety net...

"First couple of shows had great moments and some fairly dodgy ones, as well. What surprised me was the turnout and the excitement level coming back to the stage.

"The last four gigs were light-years better. Everybody had sort of figured out how they wanted to play the songs (this doesn't include Greg and Bobby, they had it cold from the beginning, for which they've both earned my eternal emnity).

"I think Joe's doing a great job on songs he'd never sung before, great frontman, and Jürgen — well, I knew he was good going in, but he's killer and growing with each performance. And yes, he IS a Blackmore.

"The band reminds me of my high school R&B group — we played at my senior prom — in that the 'little kid' in each of us is alive and kicking (although we might have been more serious back in high school). They say 'don't sweat the small stuff' and we've all been around the block once or twice since then.

"So 'Cool's the Rule.' It's a big help when nobody's plastered, too.

"As for me, I'm having a ball playing organ and synths again, After 30 years of singer-songwriter stuff. I have to be reminded to sing background vocals. Usually Greg either 1) cues me or 2) shoots me 'the Look' when I miss the cue. Workin' on it, though."

The setlist for OVER THE RAINBOW's February 16, 2009 concert at BKZ Octyabrsky in Saint-Petersburg, Russia was as follows:

01. Tarot Woman
02. Kill The King
03. Street Of Dreams
04. Man On The Silver Mountain
05. Death Alley Driver
06. Eyes Of The World
07. Ariel
08. Wolf To The Moon
09. Power
10. Jealous Lover
11. Can't Happen Here
12. Drum Solo
13. Stargazer
14. Long Live Rock'n'Roll / Lazy / Long Live Rock'n'Roll

Encore 1:

15. I Surrender
16. Since You've Been Gone

Encore 2:

17. All Night Long

Check out pictures from Russia's Darkside.

Fan-filmed video footage of OVER THE RAINBOW's February 18, 2009 concert in Moscow, Russia can be viewed below (clips uploaded by "Tizianadolce").