The BIG Finish Live

The BIG Finish Live records the final night of the added dates on The BIG Finish Farewell Tour, played at the Nippon Budokan in Tokyo on 26 July 2023. Evolution Music (evoXS) issued it on 25 October 2024, and it reached Japan on 22 November; the two-disc MQA-CD is EVSD2852M (JAN 4895241432842) and a three-disc set with a Blu-ray is EVSD2853MB. Twenty-six items, about two hours and five minutes. It is the last night of a farewell tour by a band that had been playing in Japan since their 1989 debut. The first disc opens on ‘Addicted to That Rush’ and takes in ‘Green-Tinted Sixties Mind’ and ‘Just Take My Heart’ across thirteen items. The second begins with ‘To Be With You’, and its later stretch is largely covers: Fleetwood Mac’s ‘The Chain’, Cat Stevens’ ‘Wild World’, Humble Pie’s ‘30 Days in the Hole’ and the Who’s ‘Baba O’Riley’. Paul Gilbert’s guitar solo and Billy Sheehan’s bass solo each take a slot of their own, with ‘Colorado Bulldog’ and ‘Shy Boy’ on either side. The Blu-ray carries what the label describes as the band’s first live recording in immersive audio, together with an interview by Masanori Ito and backstage footage.