Rainbow was formed by Ritchie Blackmore in 1975 after he left Deep Purple at the height of their fame. They were instantly successful and released a string of hit albums, with an ever changing line-up between 1975 and 1983, when Blackmore broke up the group to join the re-formed Deep Purple. This concert from their European tour in 1977 features the line-up responsible for the "Long Live Rock n Roll" album released later that year, including vocalist Ronnie James Dio and drummer Cozy Powell. Blackmore had to be smuggled out of Austria after trouble with the police at a gig two nights earlier and was very late arriving in Munich, all of which seemed to inspire both the band and the audience to create a truly remarkable gig.