Bilzen Festival 16th August 1980

Aural Sculptors - The Stranglers Live 1976 to the Present

Welcome to Aural Sculptors, a blog aimed at bringing the music of The Stranglers to as wide an audience as possible. Whilst all of the various members of the band that have passed through the ranks since 1974 are accomplished studio musicians, it is on stage where the band have for me had their biggest impact.

As a collector of their live recordings for many years I want to share some of the better quality material with other fans. By selecting the higher quality recordings I hope to present The Stranglers in the best possible light for the benefit of those less familiar with their material than the hardcore fan.

Needless to say, this site will steer well clear of any officially released material. As well as live gigs, I will post demos, radio interviews and anything else that I feel may be of interest.

In addition, occasionally I will post material by other bands, related or otherwise, that mean a lot to me.

Your comments and/or contributions are most welcome. Please email me at adrianandrews@myyahoo.com.

Saturday 18 August 2018

Bilzen Festival 16th August 1980

Here is a great festival set from the band in the summer of 1980. The Belgian town of Bilzen played host to this annual event that mixed up musical genres over a three day event. The bootleg that I have indicates that The Stranglers played on 17th but the programme above and a very informative website chronicling the history of music festivals in Belgium.

For the rock festival element, the line up was rather eclectic involving a mix of UK and Belgian bands.

Urban Heroes

The Katchies

Girlschool

Lambrettas

Dexy's Midnight Runners

The Shirts - Annie Golden

The Kids

The Stranglers

Here's what the site had to say of The Stranglers appearance (at least according to Google Translate and therefore tweeked by me!):

THE STRANGLERS, who replaced the Ramones, apparently decided to redeem themselves of a reputation that had deeply tainted them lately at various European festivals where their appearances were accompanied with violence.

In Bilzen, they were courteous, friendly with the public, and it is not impossible that the rumor circulating that Miles Copeland (The Police) would be their new manager, is in someway the reason.

Still, Jean-Jacques, Hugh, Dave and Jet gave a much less violent performance than the last time at the Ancienne Belgique and they let all their fans go on stage without it degenerating into a fight.

They performed a number of new songs, and they closed the festival on a slightly less bitter note, wiping out any fears they might have about their performances, but without erasing the fears that lingered about Bilzen 1981.

Bilzen Festival, Belgium

1980

Take a look at the set. I would exchange a dozen or more full recent gigs to have witnessed those 13 songs! Anyone on here that was at the gig?

MP3 (as received): https://we.tl/t-C5bFthllE8

01. Waltzinblack
02. Shah Shah A Go Go/Ice
03. Toiler On The Sea (aborted)
04. Toiler On The Sea
05. Duchess
06. Hanging Around
07. Four Horsemen
08. Meninblack
09. Down In The Sewer
10. Who Wants The World?
11. Baroque Bordello
12. Just Like Nothing On Earth
13. Tank