PiL
- Bristol, The Studio
November 8, 1983
Running Order:
1. Crowd
2. Public Image
3. Low Life
4. Annalisa
5. Religion
6. Memories
7. Chant
8. Solitaire
9. Flowers Of Romance
10. Anarchy In The UK
11. This Is Not A love Song
12. Under The House
Running Time:
46:20 minutes (approx)
Sound Quality:
(8) very good low-gen soundboard recording.
Tape Gradings Explained here
review by SAM HABASH
Notes:
This was posted to a lossless music trading site in January of 2006 claiming to have originated
from "the America record company". Which seems doubtful...
Recording sounds a bit watery, as if azimuth wasn't entirely aligned.
And cuts between encores. There is a drop in quality for
the encore.
Review:
This may be the clearest
representation (aside from 'Live In Tokyo') of the '83 era lineup,
and catches them after they've been able to put a few gigs under
their belt.
There were apparently issues with the sound mix during the first track, which rapidly clear up afterwards.
At the start of 'Public Image', John warns the crowd "Don't get fuckin' stupid," apparently Bristol was pleased to hear this as the opening number. The most apparent thing of this version is the organ sound, it's straight out of Wurlitzer, as others have noted, the 1983 gigs feature all sorts of odd keyboard styling's. Otherwise, it's a decent version, especially for the much-maligned 'Holiday Inn' lineup, but of course lacking the punch of the Levene/Wobble line-up.
Still good enough to get the punters spitting, enough to annoy John and get him to finish the song with a "Goodbye, stop gobbing you cheap little turd."
I guess things were going par for the course, as Lydon introduces 'Annalisa' with "What a nice crowd. And now another little bit of show business wonder."
By this point, I guess the spitting was starting to annoy, as before 'Religion' John says, "Really now, boys and girls, don't you think the spitting is a bit old-fashioned, do you know what I mean? Oh, I see. Mental retards! Never mind, you'll catch up with the rest of us one day."
The song is introduced with Lydon stating, "Get a load of the new god." and the song gains a long churchy organ intro. Sounding pleased with the performance on this number, Lydon announces "I'm fucking great, ain't I? Thank you. Crowd cheers their agreement.
An airing of 'Solitaire' can be found after renditions of 'Memories' and 'Chant'. By the end of this song, Lydon comments, "Yeah, why do I feel like a f**king spittoon?"
'Flowers of Romance' is pretty shambolic, with the syn-drums being particularly suspect. I think this is what John's sarcastic-sounding "niiice" was directed at. At the end he says something I can't make out to one of his bandmates and then tells the crowd, "Sorry, I fucked that one up boys and girls."
'Anarchy in the UK' features a 1-2-3-4 count-in. While I presume many fans were pleased to see this played, it's easily the least interesting song of the night. Lydon: "Nice to have something good to go back for a change, right? Good night!"
There's a cut in the tape between main set and encore, and John says "One more?"
The encore tracks seem to be a bit hissier than the rest of the tape, and there's a few issues with the tape for the first part of 'This Is Not A Love Song'.
Afterwards, John tells the audience, "If you want more you're gonna have to yell really loud. I'll be relaxing in my five star dressing room."
Another cut in tape between first and second encores.
During the chorus of 'Under The House', Lydon says, "Fuckin' ell, my throat hurts. You're gonna have to sing this one for me." The fans oblige, but it's not enough to save this one. Lydon announces, "Let's end this song and do another," so the band cease this song and progress with playing 'Attack', which is introduced with a "Welcome to the garden, Maude." Lydon ends it with a "Wow" and the recording abruptly stops.
All in all, a fairly good listen, helped by the good sound quality.
