Billy Squier - lead vocals, guitar; Jeff Golub - guitar; Alan St. Jon - keyboards, vocals; Doug Lubahn- bass, vocals; Bobby Chouinard - drums
Captured live at Japan's famous 15,000-seat arena, Budokan, this exceptional recording captures Billy Squier at the pinnacle moment of his career. For many, Squier personified early 1980s arena rock, and his 1981 album, Don't Say No, along with its 1982 follow-up, Emotions In Motion, have become defining rock albums of the era. Seasoning his brand of hard rock with a touch of pop melodicism, Squier's arena rock anthems and power ballads would shoot right up the charts and remain there for two solid years. Thanks in part to his photogenic nature, Squier would also become a fixture of MTV, which would eventually prove to be both a blessing and a curse.
This concert was recorded when Squier was still out on the road promoting Emotions In Motion, his biggest commercial success and the album that took him from reliable support act to bona fide arena headliner. This performance not only contains all of his biggest hits, but focuses exclusively on material from the pair of albums that remain his most popular, 1981's Don't Say No and the aforementioned followup. All of his biggest hits are included here, including "Everybody Wants You," "I Need You," "My Kinda Lover," "Listen To The Heartbeat," "In The Dark," "The Stroke," and a highly expanded version of "Lonely Is The Night." Lesser known numbers like the boogie-woogie concert staple "Keep Me Satisfied," also in highly expanded form here, the moodier "Learn How To Live" and the Stones-influenced "Catch 22," also surface and never sounded better. Squier even caps things off with a roaring rendition of The Stones' Exile On Main Street classic, "Rip This Joint," to conclude this consistently strong performance.