Saturday, 4 December, 1982 – Students Union,  University, Manchester, England

  1. Garden
  2. Hexen Definitive
  3. Strife Knot
  4. I Feel Voxish
  5. Deer Park
  6. Hard Life in Country
  7. Ludd Gang
  8. Marquis Cha-Cha
  9. Tempo House
  10. Room to Live
  11. Backdrop
  12. Solicitor in Studio
  13. The Man Whose Head Expanded
  14. Lie Dream of a Casino Soul
  15. Pilsner Trail

NOTES

91 minutes

Good audience tape, The group is clear. The vocals are a little lost in the acoustics of the venue. Some minimal audience chatter.

Amazing. A stunning gig.

It kicks off with a proto version of “Garden” – significant musical differences from the final recorded version on “Perverted by Language” and then continues at a relentless pace. Crowned by excellent versions of “Deer Park”, “Hard Life” and probably the most exacting if not exemplary version of “Backdrop” that this band played. There are not enough superlatives, adjectives or any other form of semantics to describe the magnificence of this performance.

Stunning versions of “Solicitor in Studio” and “The Man whose head expanded” demonstrate how powerful this band were. Not surprising then that Mr Smith should decide to strip it down some eight gigs later and remove the keyboard driven elements of the music.

An essential gig.