Frontiers Records will release MR. BIG's reunion live CD and DVD, entitled "Back To Budokan", on October 16 in Europe and October 27 in the USA. The set features footage of the band's June 20, 2009 performance at Budokan in Tokyo, Japan.
"Back to Budokan" CD will include:
CD1:
01. Daddy, Brother, Lover, Little Boy (The Electric Drill Song)
02. Take Cover
03. Green-Tinted Sixties Mind
04. Alive and Kickin'
05. Next Time Around
06. Hold Your Head Up
07. Just Take My Heart
08. Temperamental
09. It's For You - Mars
10. Pat Torpey Drum Solo
11. Price You Gotta Pay
12. Stay Together
13. Wild World
14. Goin' Where The Wind Blows
15. Take A Walk
CD2:
01. Paul Gilbert Guitar Solo
02. Paul Gilbert and Billy Sheehan Duo
03. Double Human Capo
04. The Whole World's Gonna Know
05. Promise Her The Moon
06. Rock & Roll Over
07. Billy Sheehan Bass Solo
08. Addicted To That Rush
09. To Be With You
10. Colorado Bulldog
11. Smoke On The Water
12. I Love You Japan
13. Baba O'Riley
14. Shyboy
15. Next Time Around *
16. Hold Your Head Up *
17. To Be With You **
* New studio tracks
** Exclusive bonus track - acoustic version
The 2-DVD set will include:
Disc 1 (121 minutes):
Live at Budokan, Tokyo June 20, 2009
01. Daddy, Brother, Lover, Little Boy (The Electric Drill Song)
02. Take Cover
03. Green-Tinted Sixties Mind
04. Alive and Kickin'
05. Next Time Around
06. Hold Your Head Up
07. Just Take My Heart
08. Temperamental
09. It's For You - Mars
10. Pat Torpey Drum Solo
11. Price You Gotta Pay
12. Stay Together
13. Wild World
14. Goin' Where The Wind Blows
15. Take a Walk
16. Paul Gilbert Guitar Solo
17. Paul Gilbert and Billy Sheehan Duo
18. Double Human Capo
19. The Whole World's Gonna Know
20. Promise Her The Moon
21. Rock & Roll Over
22. Billy Sheehan Bass Solo
23. Addicted To That Rush
Disc 2 (51 minutes):
Encores:
01. To Be With You
02. Colorado Bulldog
03. Smoke On The Water
04. I Love You Japan
05. Baba O'Riley
06. Shyboy
Bonus footage:
* Next Time Around (videoclip)
Bonus live footage:
* Acoustic Live at Hard Rock Café Tokyo - February 2009
Check out audio samples at this location.
A four-and-a-half-minute snippet of the "Budokan" DVD can be viewed below.
MR. BIG released a new "best-of" album titled "Next Time Around" on April 29 through WHD Entertaiment. The collection includes songs that were voted on by fans and contains two previously unreleased songs, "Next Time Around" (2009 remastered version) and "Hold Your Head Up" (2009 remastered version). It was made available as a limited deluxe edition with a bonus DVD.
In an interview with BigMusicGeek.com, MR. BIG bassist Billy Sheehan stated about the band's decision to reunite, "One of the beginnings of that was when (guitarist) Paul (Gilbert) played on (my solo record) 'Holy Cow' on the song 'Dynamic Exhilarator'. It was the first time we had worked in a studio together since we had been in MR. BIG together. We jammed a zillion times and we hang out together a lot because we're both here in L.A., but we never actually thought about working together. When he came in to do the solo on 'Dynamic Exhilarator', we had a blast. It was awesome. He did a great, great solo. The first one is amazing and the second one somehow tops it (laughs). So after that, we had a little more organized jam here in L.A. when he played with his band. Richie Kotzen was there and Pat Torpey was there and we played a couple of MR. BIG songs. The crowd went out of their minds and we were like, 'The only thing that could top this is if (vocalist) Eric (Martin) was here.' So a couple of e-mails started floating back and forth and the next thing you know, we said, 'Well, let's get together and have dinner just to hang,' and right at that point, we just said, 'Yeah, let's just do it.. The good thing about it is that nobody dangled cash in front of us. It didn't come from outside of us. It wasn't where someone had an idea and said, 'Yeah, let's put your band back together. Let's put you on a bus somewhere for six months before you break up again.' So it actually came from us, from our desire to really want to play together again and how much we loved the band. It was self-generated and organic in that respect, so now it's going to happen again."