Live in Japan

Savatage's first live album was recorded at Club Citta' in Kawasaki on 12 November 1994, the last night of the tour, and came out in Japan on 25 January 1995 from Zero Corporation as Japan Live '94 (XRCN-1210); the date and the hall are those in the band's credits and its tour history. Live in Japan is the title it took for Nuclear Blast America's American release in November 2000, and the one the band lists it under today. On stage were Zak Stevens on vocals, Alex Skolnick on lead guitar, Johnny Lee Middleton on bass, Jon Oliva on keyboards, guitar and vocals, and Jeff Plate on drums; Zak and Jon share the closing "Gutter Ballet". The show was taped on the Sound Creators mobile truck, Paul O'Neill mixed it at Soundtrack Studios in New York, and it was mastered at Onkio Haus in Tokyo. The album is dedicated to Criss Oliva. Skolnick told Blabbermouth in 2024 that the album came from the last of four shows in Japan, and that the crowd that night was the most animated he had seen there. Twelve of the sixteen songs played made the CD; "Conversation Piece", "Stare Into the Sun", "Damien" and "Hall of the Mountain King" were left off. All sixteen are on the video released on 22 February 1995 (XRVN-5001), and earMUSIC's first vinyl edition of 2024 put the whole show on record, in running order, for the first time. The running order here is the original's as printed.