By 1972, Deep Purple had achieved considerable commercial success in Japan, including several hit singles, so it made sense to tour there. Three dates were booked; the Festival Hall, Osaka on 11 and 12 May, and the Budokan, Tokyo on 16 August, though these were later changed to 15 and 16 August, and 17 August respectively due to an earlier US tour being rescheduled.The dates sold out almost immediately, and consequently the Japanese arm of the band's label, Warner Bros. Records, wanted to record the tour for a live album to be released in the country. The band eventually agreed to the idea, but insisted if it was going to be released, they wanted it to be done properly. Gillan recalled, "we said we would have to OK the equipment, we wanted to use our own engineer and we would have the last say on whether the tapes were released". The band enlisted producer Martin Birch, who had worked on previous studio albums, to record the shows onto an 8-track recorder so they could subsequently be mixed.
Ritchie Blackmore – lead guitar
Ian Gillan – vocals, harmonica (uncredited), percussion (uncredited)
Roger Glover – bass guitar
Jon Lord – organ, piano
Ian Paice – drums
15th August 1972 Koseinenkin Kaikan, Osaka, Japan
01 Highway Star
02 Smoke on the Water
03 Child in Time
04 The Mule
05 Strange Kind of Woman
06 Lazy
07 Space Truckin
08 Black Night
09 Speed King
16th August 1972 Koseinenkin Kaikan, Osaka, Japan
01 Highway Star
02 Smoke on the Water
03 Child in Time
04 The Mule
05 Strange Kind of Woman
06 Lazy
07 Space Truckin
08 Black Night
09 Lucille
17th August 1972 Nippon Budokan, Tokyo, Japan
01 Highway Star
02 Smoke on the Water
03 Child in Time
04 The Mule
05 Strange Kind of Woman
06 Lazy
07 Space Truckin
08 Black Night
09 Speed King
