Doogie White in Tokyo
Scottish vocalist Doogie White revisited his Rainbow past and showed his Japanese fans he’s still got it.
Doogie White at Holiday, Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan on 16th November 2025
Scotland has natural resources such as oil and gas, coal, fertile land for agriculture and timber, as well as great fishing and seafood. However, none of that is as important as the strategic natural resources it has cultivated in the form of powerhouse vocalists such as Alex Harvey from Glasgow, Dan McCafferty from Dunfermline and Doogie White from Motherwell. Alex and Dan are sadly no longer with us, but Doogie is thankfully alive and kicking.
During his career, Doogie has been the lead vocalist for Rainbow, Alcatrazz, Tank, Yngwie Malmsteen, Michael Schenker, Praying Mantis, Jon Lord and many others. Having seen Doogie perform in Japan several times with Michael Schenker, I was eager to hear the Scotsman perform as a solo artist with a special Rainbow setlist.
At the second of his two Tokyo shows, Doogie performed the terrific 1995 Rainbow album “Stranger in Us All” in its entirety (he performed a different set the previous night), marking the 30th anniversary of the album’s release. “Stranger in Us All” was Rainbow’s final studio album. It not only featured Doogie on lead vocals, but he also co-wrote most of the songs on the album.
Standout songs in Doogie’s Rainbow set included “Wolf to the Moon”, “Cold Hearted Woman”, “Stand and Fight”, “Ariel” and “Black Masquerade”. Of course, he also performed the Rainbow versions of Edvard Grieg’s “Hall of the Mountain King” and The Yardbirds’ “Still I’m Sad”. We even got a smashing version of “Emotional Crime”, which was a bonus track on the Japanese edition of the album.
Doogie used a Japan-based backing band for his two shows. The band was solid and consisted of Jien Takahashi on guitar, Jill Okagaki on the Hammond, Ollie Bernstein on bass and Kota Mikawa on drums.
A great evening was rounded off with “Long Live Rock’n’Roll” (the title track from Rainbow’s 1978 album) and “The Temple of the King” (from 1975’s “Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow” album). What a great evening celebrating Doogie White and Rainbow.
