NO: 23 JUN 1983 Billy Barty's Roller Fantasy - Fullerton CA
John Darnielle (yes, the frontman of The Mountain Goats) sent the following in reminiscing about this show, which I am thankful to be able to share with you:
"Hi there! I was just thinking about a gig I attended a million years ago, and I found myself at your site. It was the 23/6/83 gig at Billy Barty's Roller Fantasy in Fullerton. (The promoter, Goldenvoice, was trying to get people to call it "The Fantasy" but nobody was buying it...roller disco had been a big deal in southern California a few years before.)
A few things I remember:
- The show was opened by Pompeii 99 and Saccharine Trust. Pompeii 99 went on to become the musicians in the second incarnation of Christian Death.
- During "Ceremony," at about the midway point, Peter Hook put down his bass and left the stage. At least I think it was Hooky. It might have been Bernard! Memory is sketchy after such a long time. At any rate, and you should be able to tell from the tape if you have it, one of them set down his instrument on a stand and left the stage, leaving the rest of the band to finish "Ceremony" by themselves. I remember Morris and Gillian exchanging a sort of "what the hell?" look at this point.
- The flyers and posters for the gig said PERFORMING THEIR HIT 'BLUE MONDAY' - it was a big number on KROQ at the time. To open the set with a half-done version of it seemed like a way of kissing off the public.
Despite all that I loved the show - the adversarial feel was somehow appropriate for the time, or for my age. I was sixteen.
That's all I've got, and it isn't much, but I thought you might find it interesting."
Regarding the recording:
Have a 3rd/4th gen-sounding copy of this performance, since upgraded to first-generation.
Blue Monday
Sound levels for the first minute fluctuate, quiet for the first 20 seconds, and then get louder for 10 seconds, and go back down. Again, this doesn't seem to be present on the first-gen, which may be a different recording.
Cheering at 1:34.
Leave Me Alone follows.
Sounds like a rough edit into The Village. The first gen doesn't have this edit.
And right at the start, it sounds like Hooky is saying, "Oh baby" or something similar, not very loudly.
The sequencer pattern sounds slightly different than wont.
The first-gen does sound like there's an edit between The Village and Cries And Whispers, which is quite an excellent rendition.
lyric: "Someday, we'll find / That truth is not to find..."
Brief edit on first-gen.
ICB
BS: "Listen, if you like this, you must like Ronald Reagan. If you like this, you like fucking anything."
After "taken from a killing ground, an all-providing hand..." is sung, Bernard yells, "More vocals." The 3rd/4th gen version distorts briefly for a couple of seconds shortly thereafter, this isn't present on the first-gen copy.
Another tape edit into In A Lonely Place . (higher-gen version). No edit on M/1.
Then Ultraviolence, which ends in a neat synth effect.
Procession follows.
Cut in tape between Procession and Denial (M/1 version, at the A/B flip point).
The last song is Ceremony. As John notes above, at about the three minute point Hooky stops playing, as there's no bass during the final portion of the sound.
The tape ends abruptly afterwards.
Versions
AUD #1 JC Sony ECM-990 / Sony TC-D5
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