Japan Tour 1985 was a mini concert tour by Texas blues

Texas blues

Texas blues is a subgenre of blues. It has had various style variations but typically has been played with more swing than other blues styles....

 band Stevie Ray Vaughan

Stevie Ray Vaughan

Stephen Ray "Stevie Ray" Vaughan was an American electric blues guitarist and singer. He was the younger brother of Jimmie Vaughan and frontman for Double Trouble, a band that included bassist Tommy Shannon and drummer Chris Layton. Born in Dallas, Vaughan moved to Austin at the age of 17 and...

 and Double Trouble

Double Trouble (band)

Double Trouble was the backing rhythm section for Texas blues rock guitarist and lead vocalist Stevie Ray Vaughan. Originally consisting of drummer Chris Layton and bassist Tommy Shannon, Reese Wynans would later join the outfit on keyboards.-History:...

. The tour was the band's first time in Japan and comprised five shows primarily in concert halls. Audio and video recordings were made for the Tokyo concert on January 24, 1985, which were released as Live in Tokyo

Live In Tokyo (Stevie Ray Vaughan album)

Live In Tokyo is an electric blues album of a live performance by Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble at Shiba Yubinchokin Hall, Tokyo, on January 24, 1985...

.

Concert overview

Out of the five concerts performed during the Japan Tour, each show had a similar set list, with 10-14 songs performed by the band. The concerts began with Lonnie Mack

Lonnie Mack

Lonnie Mack is an American rock, blues and country guitarist and vocalist....

's "Hound Dog Man" played through the PA

Public address

A public address system is an electronic amplification system with a mixer, amplifier and loudspeakers, used to reinforce a sound source, e.g., a person giving a speech, a DJ playing prerecorded music, and distributing the sound throughout a venue or building.Simple PA systems are often used in...

 system. During the song, the band members were introduced and they would begin the show.

Main set

The shows began with "Scuttle Buttin'" segueing into "Say What!

Say What!

"Say What!" is a song written by American/Texan guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan. It is the first track on his third studio album, Soul to Soul, and is noted for its extremely technical nature and heavy use of the wah-wah pedal....

," later released on the album Soul to Soul

Soul to Soul (album)

Soul to Soul is the third studio album by American blues rock band Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble released on September 30, 1985 by Epic Records. Recording sessions took place between March and May 1985 at the Dallas Sound Lab in Dallas, Texas. Vaughan wrote four of Soul to Souls ten tracks;...

. Following these songs, the band performed a cover of Jimi Hendrix

Jimi Hendrix

James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...

's "Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)

Voodoo Child (Slight Return)

"Voodoo Child " is the closing track on Electric Ladyland, the third and final album by the Jimi Hendrix Experience. The song is known for its wah-wah-heavy guitar work. It is #101 on Rolling Stone's list of 500 greatest songs of all time....

," featuring extended guitar solos in most concerts. Guitar Slim

Guitar Slim

Eddie Jones , better known as Guitar Slim, was a New Orleans blues guitarist, from the 1940s and 1950s, best known for the million-selling song, produced by Johnny Vincent at Specialty Records, "The Things That I Used to Do"...

's "The Things That I Used to Do

The Things That I Used to Do

"The Things That I Used to Do" is a blues song written by Guitar Slim and his 1953 recording of it in New Orleans, was arranged and produced by a young Ray Charles. It was released on Specialty Records in 1954 to become a bestseller...

" was sometimes played. "Love Struck Baby," "Cold Shot," "Couldn't Stand the Weather," "Tin Pan Alley," and "Texas Flood

Texas Flood (song)

"Texas Flood" is a blues song recorded by Larry Davis in 1958. It is considered a blues standard and has been recorded by several artists, including Stevie Ray Vaughan, who made it part of his repertoire.-Original song:"Texas Flood" is a slow-tempo twelve-bar blues notated in 12/8 time in the key...

" were done at every show.

Encores

The encores always included the songs "Lenny" and "Testify."

A total of 20 different songs were played on the tour. Out of the eight songs on Couldn't Stand the Weather

Couldn't Stand the Weather

Couldn't Stand the Weather is the second studio album by American blues rock band Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble. It was released on May 15, 1984 by Epic Records as the follow-up to the band's critically and commercially successful 1983 album Texas Flood. Recording sessions took place in...

, each song was played in full at least once. "Honey Bee" and "Stang's Swang" were only played once, and "The Things That I Used to Do" was played twice.

Tour dates

Date	City	Country	Venue
January 20, 1985	Osaka Osaka is a city in the Kansai region of Japan's main island of Honshu, a designated city under the Local Autonomy Law, the capital city of Osaka Prefecture and also the biggest part of Keihanshin area, which is represented by three major cities of Japan, Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe...	Japan Japan Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...	Koseinenkin Hall
January 21, 1985	Nagoya		Unryu Hall
January 23, 1985	Tokyo Tokyo , ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...		Yubin Chokin Hall
January 24, 1985
January 25, 1985