The reunited classic lineup of DOKKEN — singer Don Dokken, guitarist George Lynch, bassist Jeff Pilson and drummer "Wild" Mick Brown — played its only U.S. show Friday night (September 30) at Badlands Pawn Guns Gold And Rock 'N' Roll in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The concert was a warm-up gig for the band's six-show Japanese run dubbed "Unleashed In The East". Fan-filmed video footage of the entire Sioux Falls gig can be seen below. Asked how he feels about the DOKKEN reunion, George told TeamRock: "Well, um, it's a mixed bag. It's complicated. But the overarching feeling I have is I'm glad it's happening for the right reasons. One of which is money. But another of which is putting a nice bow and closure on an important part of our professional and artistic lives, and also for people who care about this kind of music. Because it was important to their lives. And with all the bad things going around it's nice to see that people can come together sometimes. I just think it makes people feel good. I know it's a drop in the bucket, but, you know, I'll take it." Lynch expressed hope that the DOKKEN reunion could last beyond the Japanese tour, despite Don's recent comments to the contrary. "If I were betting, I'd say there's probably a 50/50 chance [that there will be more gigs]," the guitarist said. "And I'd be advocating for that, too. But it gets more complicated when you're talking about more shows because of all our other commitments. Jeff is locked in very seriously with FOREIGNER. It's not easy for him to take a couple weeks off. That's probably our biggest restriction. But it definitely would be something that promoters and the fans would like to see. On a business level, I'm sure it could be done very easily. So, you know, never say never." Dokken, Pilson, Lynch and Brown will launch the Japanese tour on October 5 in Osaka, before heading to Fukuoka, Tokyo for an appearance at the Loud Park festival and continuing on to Hiroshima, Aichi and finally, back to Tokyo for the final show on October 12. While offers from tours to festivals have been pouring in since the reunion shows were announced, Don is adamant that the upcoming shows will be it for the band. "My manager is getting hit up every day for pretty large sums of money to play festivals next summer, all over the world. But I had to say no," he explained to Billboard. "I love the band I have now; We've been together for 13 years, and I don't want to hurt that franchise. Plus if we were to continue with [the classic] lineup, old wounds might be opened, and I don't want to revisit that. I don't think any of us wants to. It's all great when a marriage fails and you say, 'I'm gonna get back with my ex' — for a week, maybe. Six months into it, the wounds come back. I don't want to experience that. It's just not part of my life anymore, and I think the other guys feel the same way. So this will be enough."
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