Friday, 19 July, 1985 — W.O.M.A.D. Festival, Mersea Island, Essex, England 

Wings
Bombast
Disney’s Dream Debased
Couldn’t Get Ahead
What You Need
L.A.
Smile
Gut of the Quantifier
Petty Thief Lout
Slang King
Spoilt Victorian Child
Kicker Conspiracy (part only)
Lay of the Land
Pat Trip Dispenser

NOTES

Final performance of Smile.

Reviewed from the video recording all of which used to be on You Tube but seems to have vanished in part. What is left is above.

Exceptional audio quality apart from an occasional loss of sound.Visuals are from stage right and mostly concentrate on Mark and Brix with the occasional glimpses of the others.

An interesting experience. Notable is Mark prowling the stage, sipping on a can of lager, insulting his drummer and generally having the look of a man in control of his world. Musically its generally fine, one or two dodgy notes and some fairly tuneless wailing from Brix on Disney’s but here is a band at the zenith of its wotsits.

The highlights include an exceptionally brash “Couldn’t Get Ahead, Craig’s jerky robotic dance as he bashes out the riff for “What you need”, and Brix’s sexy little smile and movement as she plunders the “Smile” riff. Indeed “Smile” itself is a particular tour de force with great dynamics and a great work ethic.

A moment of abiding humour is Mark’s interrogation of the lack of drumming from Karl at the beginning of “Gut” which like “Smile” before it is delivered with intense power and collective zest. The meshing of three guitars that this band achieved was a wonder to behold (I saw this incarnation of the band a month earlier at the International in Manchester and it was exceptional).

Jacket back on and some microphone stand twiddling leads to a sultry swinging and mesmeric “Petty Thief Lout” with some exceptional phrasing and exposition from Mark.

Encore break leads to the loss of the first few minutes of “Kicker” which seems particularly thrashy tonight – a lovely turbulent mess of a noise followed by an equally unforgiving charge through “Lay of the Land” – Brix rooted to the spot and moving with the beat, Craig prowling the stage like a caged beast sending out shards of chords.

A wonderful record of a wonderful band.