Thursday, 4 June, 1981 – Maxwell’s, Hoboken, New Jersey, United States  

  1. C ‘n’ C
  2. Gramme Friday
  3. Leave the Capital
  4. Lie Dream of a Casino Soul
  5. Deer Park
  6. Fortress
  7. An Older Lover etc
  8. Totally Wired
  9. Prole Art Threat
  10. Hip Priest
  11. Middle Mass
  12. Session Musician
  13. Fantastic Life
  14. City Hobgoblins

NOTES

Good audience tape. Quite a lot of sound break up but nothing too distracting. Can be a bit bassy in parts.

The two openers from “Grotesque” are played with consummate ease and make for an interesting personal introduction to the rolling glory that is “Leave the Capital”. Mark advises that “Lie Dream” is “set in Wigan and we had better get it right this time” – well they do although there is an slight nervousness in the playing and some odd notes in one of the descending riffs and a mess up on the lyrics in places.

Interesting early version of “Deer Park” with higher guitar riff and different use of the words giving a different intonation. Also a reversal of “Deer Park” and “Fortress” and a more leaden and slightly different take on the latter. Fascinating to see the emergence of these numbers and their changes before the final version committed to history on “Hex”.

A worried version of “Older Lover” suffers from a sense of turbulence rhythmically, this is rescued by a vituperative and blistered version of “Wired” and a similarly obloquious “Prole Art Threat”. Things are brought back down to earth with a sparse version of “Hip Priest” and an explanation that “Middle Mass” is “about Switzerland”. “Session Musician” rolls and tumbles like it usually does and is beset by booming bass problems.

“Fantastic Life” is a touch lacklustre until Smith enters and pulls it together – some excellent vocals here. “Hobgoblins” is wonderfully spasmodic with reference to spiders and gremlins.

An odd little gig – not helped by the volume loss in place and some bass booming. Worth it for tracking down the original version of “Deer Park/Fortress”

flier