In August 1979, Heart travelled to Japan to play their first ever shows in the country. Released 11 months earlier, the band's fourth album, Dog & Butterfly, had sold two million copies in the United States, and reached number 67 on Japan's Oricon chart, an indication that their profile was rising. "Heart used to make a great story, noted Rolling Stone writer Ariel Swartley approvingly. "Now they've made a great album."
The group were booked to play three shows in Japan, as part of the Japan Jam series, headlined by the Beach Boys, and also featuring fellow Seattle hard rock act TKO and Boulder, Colorado melodic rockers Firefall.
Ann Wilson remembers the concerts held on Enoshima Beach on August 4 and 5, 1979 taking place in "1 million degrees" heat, the climate being so hot and humid that Rick Roberts,. the frontman of Firefall, actually fainted on stage. Around 60,000 people - including around 1000 American servicemen, according to US military newspaper Stars and Stripes - showed up each day., making the gigs a tremendous success.
The tour's final date took place on August 7, at Fushimi Momoyama Castle in Kyoto. The venue had a bloody history. Built in the late 16th century, it was destroyed in an earthquake just two years after it was constructed, and was later the site of a mass suicide ritual by a samurai named Torii Mototada and his loyal men, after they lost control of the castle following a 13-day battle.
The gig would prove to be one of the more memorable shows of Heart's career.
"When we started to play it was raining really hard, and it got worse and worse," Ann Wilson recalled in a 1994 interview with Musician magazine. "Soon, the stage, which was covered by a flat tarp, began collecting water. The tarp sprouted leaks, which eventually turned into waterfalls; pretty soon the roof had collected so much water, it collapsed on top of us. The light truss started to fall, but so slowly that we saw it coming and got out of the way. Our drummer and bass player were stuck underneath. One minute we were rockin' out, and the next minute the roof was on our heads. This gasp-like moan went up from the audience when they lost sight of us. And that was the end of the show."
You can actually hear the incident on a bootleg recording of the show, uploaded to YouTube. Ahead of the fifth song on the set-list, Straight On, Wilson jokes about "dancing in the rain", but before she introduces the next song Even It Up, you can clearly hear ominiously loud peals of thunder. "We're going to do some rock and roll if everybody's ready," Wilson says, but before the band can start the song, there are loud gasps and squeals from the audience as the roof collapses. The recording then cuts dead.
"The radio later reported a terrible tragedy in which we all died," Wilson told Musician. "Meanwhile, we were back at the hotel, pretty shaken up. We drank a lot of sake that night and contemplated our karma."
Listen to the recording below.
