On location tour 1980

[Banjo99uk]

Ive never paid any attention to this tour so know very little about it. I discovered a version of single handed sailor on youtube from Boston and I'm loving it. So my question to you good people is can anyone recommend a good concert to download. I'm on the tracker so can get it there.

[herlock]

I did not know about this tour either until I listened to concerts. Today I consider this OL tour to be maybe the best ever: perfect balance of old (2 first albums) and new songs, not stadium rock yet (bia and does tour were too much  in that sense) but already experiments and expanded versions... Rough, fresh, experimental, emotional... A really great tour. Best ones for me are the late 1981 ones, Wiesbaden second night is really fab.

Highlights are lions and news: how to turn little tunes into epic masterpieces ! News dedicated to john lenon, with a lot of emotion and keyboards, is really great. Also the early version of TR is fab.

1981 setlists are maybe the best balanced ever: sadly from the log tour onwards the 2 first albums will be discarded...

[yontwocrows]

Wow, never heard this version before

[dmg]

Personally I find it merely "interesting" but not that great.  The keyboards are way over the top in a lot of songs and Lions is wasted by going on forever without actually getting anywhere.  It was much better in the earlier tours.

Again, TR is only "interesting" to see just how the song developed for the final studio cut IMO.

The highlight of this tour, and what makes the bootlegs worth having alone, is Skateaway - the only tour the song was performed. 

The Boston show happens to be my favourite from the tour, partly due to it's excellent sound but it's a fine gig musically too.

[herlock]

I think the faster pace, church bells and piano added a lot to Lions,,,

[Pottel]

boston, emerald city are afew good ones. i always loved the milan show too

[Banjo99uk]

Cheers everyone. I've got the Boston one. I can't believe I've ignored this tour all these years. My favourites so far are Single Handed Sailor and In The Gallery.

[ds1984]

A great tour tour because they were experimenting some new things.

My faves :

- DTW
- WDYTYG
- News
- Portobello Belle

[JF]

My favorite tour, with maybe 82-83 also.

yes lot of experimentations, new arrangements, and like thomas Molin said on his site "the missing link between the early days like on live at the BBC, and the peak of the band in the mid 80ies like alchemy or BIA tour"

best versions of angel of mercy, WDYTYG, news, single handed sailor (but I also love amsterdam 79), in the gallery
uniques versions of les boys, skateaway
and the theme from the good the bad and the ugly as introduction !


in the oldfield book, Ed Bicknell says something like "the band had reached what Mark wanted exactly at the time, they played the music he had in his head, he was very happy during this tour"




1st leg of tour (late 80) is great because you have many songs : that were ditched in 81
- Les Boys
- Lions
- In the gallery
- Single hande sailor linked with skateaway
- wild west end

2nd leg of tour (81) is great because songs are more developped : DTTW (piano solo) WDYTYG (keyboard solo), angel of mercy,...and you have Telegraph road,


highlights for me :

- emerald city (story before Les Boys, great WWE with long intro)
- Boston (great SHS)
- wiesbaden : 1st (best WDYTYG) and 2nd night
- San Remo : best TR
- Werchter (my fav angel of mercy)

[herlock]

Lions was not dropped in 81, it was even expanded with church bells in the intro ! Cool, although I almost prefer the rougher link between dttw and lions in 80. Dortmund 80 is really a great show to watch... The electrical atmosphere during dttw... The emotion during news... Fantastic. Too bad no wdytyg....

[Ingo]

Too bad no wdytyg....

In fact they played WDYTYG on that night (Dortmund 80) but it was not included on the TV broadcast (same for EL).  Mark played it on the sunburst Schecter.

[JF]

Lions was not dropped in 81, it was even expanded with church bells in the intro ! Cool, although I almost prefer the rougher link between dttw and lions in 80. Dortmund 80 is really a great show to watch... The electrical atmosphere during dttw... The emotion during news... Fantastic. Too bad no wdytyg....

ah yes you are right about Lions, I made a mistake.

I don't like that much the dortmund gig.

Marks is too much "show off" imho
TOL is out of tune at the end
songs are less elaborated than at the end of the tour especially News and DTTW, both that I far prefer on werchter, but of course it's all a master of taste

and yes call me mad but I don't like the look of the red strat with black PUs....
too me, a white pickguard has to be with white caps. Black PU are for blacks or gold pickguard (like the sunburst one)
I know it's just "esthetic", but...

[dmg]

Lions was not dropped in 81, it was even expanded with church bells in the intro ! Cool, although I almost prefer the rougher link between dttw and lions in 80. Dortmund 80 is really a great show to watch... The electrical atmosphere during dttw... The emotion during news... Fantastic. Too bad no wdytyg....

ah yes you are right about Lions, I made a mistake.

I don't like that much the dortmund gig.

Marks is too much "show off" imho
TOL is out of tune at the end
songs are less elaborated than at the end of the tour especially News and DTTW, both that I far prefer on werchter, but of course it's all a master of taste

and yes call me mad but I don't like the look of the red strat with black PUs....
too me, a white pickguard has to be with white caps. Black PU are for blacks or gold pickguard (like the sunburst one)
I know it's just "esthetic", but...

No, no, no.  It's a nice monochrome contrast!    He did change that though (see avatar).

I agree with you about the rest though.

[JF]

No, no, no.  It's a nice monochrome contrast!   

I find it looks too much "80ies" for my taste. You know all these guitars in early 80ies with schecter colors, weird pickguard/knobs looks, metallic/shiny finishes, etc... in opposition to aged/faded colors from 50-60-70 guitar models

I prefer the white caps look, because it has more a "blues-rock-old-school-vintage" style I may say, in fact the original fender look, while the black PU look has more a "80ies-new-wave" style I think 

but maybe is it just psychologic...

[Jules]

OL tour for me its a key moment of the DS history, its a landmark, the moment when they pass from the 4 piece band to what it would be one of the best rock bands.