The Truth About 'Live in the Land of the Rising Sun'
FACT: The show contained on this DVD never happened. Here’s what did.
Before the band hit Japan, they did a sort of warm-up gig at the 2003 Orange County Fair. This was the first show in a long time that David Kendrick had played with the band. You may be familiar with from CDs of the show in the archives, as it was recorded off the soundboard in a variety of fashions.
A bit more than a week later, DEVO played their first date in Japan. The night was August 2nd and the city was Tokyo. Scott Stanton and the Sick Video crew were on hand to document this and the next night’s performances in hopes of releasing a concert video. Four different videos were procured that night. Two handheld cameras (Scott and his associate Tony), one stationary camera and a recording of the video monitor feed from the venue. The recording of the monitor feed came in a less-than-optimal format: a VHS tape. It was the only way to document that video source.
The performance the next night was in Osaka, Japan. Documentation-wise, the same thing went down. Two handheld cameras, one stationary and a VHS tape of the monitor feed.
Both nights, the crew attempted to record the show’s audio off of the soundboard. Both nights, the audio came back unusable.
So, what to do in this situation? Well, Scott did what any good editor would do. He made the best out of the materials available to him. Using all of the angles from both nights, a video edit was put together. The reason why some shots look a bit softer than others is because those are the shots that came from VHS. The reason those same shots have "letterbox" black bars at the top and bottom is to hide the analog video noise inherent in the format.
The audio for all of the songs in the final edit was taken from the recordings made at the Orange County Fair, with in-camera audio filling in for Jerry’s on-stage banter and some of the sound of the fans in between songs. The only reason this was possible is because DEVO is such a well-rehearsed band that they played everything almost exactly the same every night.
So there you have it. The truth about "Live in the Land of the Rising Sun," a show that never really happened. And now, with these DVDs in our collection, you can go behind-the-scenes and see for yourself what the shows were really like.