The Flamin' Groovies
October 31, 1981 (private party)
The Miyako Hotel
San Francisco, California, USA
from cassette master - tracks 1>3 and 12>22 are audience (single channel mono duplicated to both channels). Tracks 4>11 are audience + soundboard matrix remix from 1 channel audience and 1 channel soundboard.
This show has a story, and it's not a pretty one, for this was the last performance of the Flamin' Groovies with Chris Wilson as lead singer. In a stupid move by one of the band members, this private party was booked as one of 2 shows to be played that night with minimal road crew support for either of the gigs. Because this first show had very good "party refreshments", Chris Wilson stayed at the Miyako Hotel party and missed the night's second show elsewhere in San Francisco. This, as expected, resulted in his immediate exit from the band. So he actually quit rather than getting fired, though either way the result was the same. I don't think that the other members have ever talked to him since then and though I might be wrong about that, I am fairly certain that he has never again appeared on stage with Cyril Jordan or Mike Wilhelm. Last I heard, Chris Wilson was living in France and he has done some solo ventures over the years.
This recording is rather cut up because the audio soundboard signal was coming from a video feed that was stopped and started to accommodate short Beta-cam tapes and the feed was lost completely for a lot of the show. Nevertheless, this is longer than a lot of Flamin' Groovies recordings and makes for a decent overall listening experience. The sound quality is very good to excellent on all of it.
By the way, though the video footage from this performance does exist, I have never viewed it and the person that has the material has refused to ever give it out. He wants money which is of course not likely to ever happen from either a fan or the Groovies themselves. But if anyone is interested in negotiating, I could furnish the information of where to find him...
Setlist [all cuts are on the master]:
01 [1:11] Aleister Crowley poem >
02 [3:12] Black Bill [instrumental]
03 [0:38] [cuts in] Soul Shoes [cut - only a bit of the song]
04 [2:37] [cuts in] Just Like Me
05 [3:33] Let It Rock
06 [6:41] Baby Please Don't Go
07 [3:51] Paint It Black [cut]
08 [2:32] [cuts in] I'll Feel A Whole Lot Better When You're Gone
09 [4:12] [cuts in] Old Brown Shoe
10 [2:41] Roll Over Beethoven [incomplete - some in middle of song is cut]
11 [3:47] Jumpin' In The Night
12 [0:23] thanks and applause before encores
encores:
13 [3:24] Dizzy Miss Lizzie
14 [3:48] Around & Around [incomplete - some in middle of song]
15 [2:29] From Me To You
16 [2:51] Back In The USSR
17 [2:51] [cuts in] A Hard Day's Night
18 [3:18] Kicks
19 [1:07] Ticket To Ride [cut]
20 [3:29] [cuts in] I Feel Fine
21 [4:22] Shake Some Action
22 [0:22] final thanks and applause
total time: 63:19
Lineage: 1 channel ElectroVoice RE10 microphone + 1 channel soundboard feed > Sony TC-D5 (Dolby B encoded) > Maxell UD XLII cassette master.
Transfer: Nakamichi Dragon (Dolby B decoded) > Pro Tools ["nip and tuck" edits, normalization, duplication of single channel audience to other channel, matrix mix for section where soundboard feed is on 1 channel and tracking) > xACT (Flac level 8 files with sector boundaries verified).
Enjoy and SHARE (and Happy Halloween!)