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Mr. Udo RIP
The legendary Japanese concert promoter Seijiro Udo, widely known as ‘Mr. Udo’, has passed away at the age of 92. He was responsible for bringing Deep Purple to Japan for that historic tour in August 1972, and every subsequent visit of the band to that country.
His company UDO Artists issued the following statement:
It is with great sadness to announce that the Japanese Concert Promoter, Seijiro Udo a.k.a. Mr. Udo, passed away at 3:18 a.m. on Oct. 15 at the age of 92 due to senility.
He started his career in his early 20’s at Kyodo Kikaku and founded UDO Artists, Inc. in 1967. He was a pioneer in bringing Western music to Japan and had lived his life more than anything else to please music fans. He went on to bring hundreds of major international acts to Japan such as Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, KISS, Aerosmith, Santana, Jeff Beck, Bruce Springsteen, David Bowie, Billy Joel, Bon Jovi, George Harrison, The Who, Van Halen, TOTO, and Bryan Adams to name a few, and held over 10,000 concerts in Japan.
We would like to express our deepest gratitude to all of you who have attended our many concerts and will continue to offer more concerts that will remain in hearts of music fans in the future, following the will of the deceased.
Thanks to BraveWords for the news, however sad they are.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
Sad news, but it’s surprising why they always forget to mention Deep Purple, really Toto or Bryan Adams are more important, with all due respect to them?
October 24th, 2023 at 18:57Domo arigato, Mr Udo, for all those Budokan live recordings (not just by Purple) in great sound quality that wouldn’t exist without you.
And weren’t you also the man who established the contact between a freshly (again!) Blackmoreless (the “I-tear-up-my-Japanese-work-permit-right-before-your-very-eyes-just-because-I-can”-incident) and dumbfounded rest-DP and a US guitarist called Joe S you were promoting in Japan? You talked DP into not throwing the towel there and then, even more domo arigato for that!
Phil Banfield (Big Ian’s manager) and few other people have some nice things to say about him here:
https://www.iq-mag.net/2023/10/legendary-japanese-promoter-seijiro-udo-passes/
CAA UK co-ahead Mike Greek describes Udo as “always a gent to deal with”, while Wasserman Music agent Phil Banfield says he is “extremely saddened to hear the news of Mr Udo’s passing”.
“I first met him about 45 years ago, when he came to London, which was a rarity,” adds Banfield. “I had no idea who he was at the time, but I took to him straight away. We talked about Japan, the artists he was promoting and how I had got into the business. By the end of our meeting I felt honoured to be in his company.
“Since that first meeting, where we agreed to look at the possibility of Wishbone Ash going to Japan, I have worked with him on touring many artists including Ian Gillan, Jeff Beck, Sting, Deep Purple and many others. He was always a true gentleman in every sense of the word – honest, honourable and devoted to every artist he promoted. The word legend doesn’t do him justice as he was much more than that.”
October 24th, 2023 at 19:29RIP Mr.Udo !
@1…Queen, Little Feat & many other top-tier artists are not mentioned either, so don’t worry too much.
The important thing is Mr.Udo would fly around the world, with a suitcase full-to-the-brim of US-of-A Benjamin’s, to help encourage people to come visit / tour Japan.
He not only had a vision, but the $$$ to change vision into reality. And he got off his ass to do so. The people of Japan have much to thank him for.
Peace !
October 24th, 2023 at 23:13That headline scared the crap outa me, my first thought was Udo Dirshneider WOW!!!!!!!!!
October 25th, 2023 at 12:12Led zeppelin too….
October 25th, 2023 at 14:20LOL Timmi, didn’t you know that German tanks are INVINCIBLE?!
https://www.darkside.ru/band/1461/n57386.jpg
https://www.metal-hammer.de/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/16/14/udo-panzerfahrt7_BINARY_294564.jpg
October 25th, 2023 at 15:36@ 6…….LOL!!!!!!!!!
October 26th, 2023 at 12:28Do you know that he has a track named after him, “Mr. Udo”, on Santana:s triple album “Lotus”!
October 30th, 2023 at 10:43I use to own the Santana triple album Lotus & I didn’t know that about that track at the time. Thanks for that information. Cheers.
October 30th, 2023 at 19:43