Seaside Festival '83 De Panne Belgium 13th August 1983

 

Leo Morriss sent me a request yesterday. Like many of us he is swiftly turning the pages of the recently delivered JJ book. Within it a tale is told about a festival squabble between The Stranglers and The Cure over headlining. The Stranglers were indifferent and agreed to Fat Bob and Co. coming on last, a decision that the promoter overturned. 

It seems as though the band's monitors were not connected properly so none of the four musicians on the stage could hear what each were playing, all were effectively playing blind. In JJ's recounting the band opened with 'Midnight Summer Dream' and not hearing the rest of the band came in to early with the bass part of 'European Female' upon which JJ smashed the useless monitor and departed the stage.

Today I listened to DomP's remastered version of this gig. It is clear throughout that the sound is all over the shop, 'MSD' does indeed fuck up and grinds to a halt before 'European Female' starts after a few moments of silence. That track then cuts from this recording. More problems can be heard at the end of London Lady when JJ continues playing after the rest of the band have finished the track. Finally, during the set closer, 'Down In The Sewer', Dave's keyboards are all at sea as is JJ's bass. It is at the end of this song when a mighty crash can be heard, presumably the sound of a live base hitting the stage with force. The crowd burst into surprised laughter that would be consistent with seeing a stage tantrum and a walk off. So there you have it, sadly there is no Nice-esque commentary on the issues at hand... just a lot of mistimed, bum notes and the final crash of a thrown bass.

Nice recording though... thanks DomP!

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-rltGDSLIHj

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-QYo6LJ5D1M