Which songs they messed up the most live?
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Being a bootleg collector since the late 80's - this is simple fer me. Most of the fookin songs were hit and miss - it all depended on what mood the band were in 
Special shouts out to AOC / AIIWIW & Sunrise though, 3 of my favourite all-time songs so frequently abused during live gigs, very rarely did you get the verses / lyrics in the correct order and even rarer were the geetar parts spot on, I have to also mention Face Up and Subculture as well and again - another two favourites!
"I suppose it adds to the charm.....dunnit" (MENA 98)
runwild 1 wrote: True Faith, Glastonbury 1987 and Run Wild (once) in 2005
?
Much of Glastonbury 1987 is below par. Temptation has an out of tune guitar, and keyboard riff at end of Age of Consent is well cocked up too. Even now, 23 years after Temptation was first released, Barney cant seem to get lyrics, singing or guitar parts right. You would have thought 23 years practice would have made for a more professional sound.
there's really no contest, it has to be the version of 'Chosen Time' they played in the states in the mid eighties (second to last time it was ever played, someone else can confirm the date).
Hooky plays the entire song in the wrong key. It has to be the absolute worst performance of any song in their entire career.
johnny james wrote: there's really no contest, it has to be the version of 'Chosen Time' they played in the states in the mid eighties (second to last time it was ever played, someone else can confirm the date).
Hooky plays the entire song in the wrong key. It has to be the absolute worst performance of any song in their entire career.
Have to agree with you. Maybe the Tim brain can confirm the date but I think it was The Fox, Atlanta in Aug 85. Perhaps someone might put a link here for that song.
As for songs that were commonly shit live, perhaps Rock The Shack (00), Cries And Whispers (83), WFTSC (05), Weirdo (86/87).
1 thieves likes us 2 confusion 3 EGG 4 as it when 5 every little counts(never heard a clean version Barney always messes up on the lyrics)
johnny james wrote: there's really no contest, it has to be the version of 'Chosen Time' they played in the states in the mid eighties (second to last time it was ever played, someone else can confirm the date).
Hooky plays the entire song in the wrong key. It has to be the absolute worst performance of any song in their entire career.
Yes, it's Fox Theatre, 11th of August 1985. But it's actually Gillian who is off-key throughout the entire song. The next night they did a great version of it though, just before dropping it entirely.
As for another addition; "World" from Loreley 1993 qualifies, Bernard sounds pretty out of it on that one.
I disagree, it is Hooky who is playing the whole thing a semitone (or a tone) out (can't remember without finding it). Compare with another version that's definitely pitched right you'll see (or hear).
How about a whole show?
What was the name of that simultaneous BBC Radio 1 and BBC2 broadcast that they took part in, some time between PC&L and Low-life?
The set ran something like this:
Sooner Than You Think [Not announced, and unknown to me then - pretty good version] Age of Consent [Barney selects the wrong fret to start the guitar, gets rattled, snatches the breath shield off his mic] Blue Monday ["I still find it so hard to stay in tune with you/But I'm quite sure that you'll tell me/What the fuck we should do"] In a Lonely Place [Barney spends the song urging Steve to "speed up...it's a little bit faster than this..." before snapping "faster!" near the end] Temptation [Announced as "an atmospheric song in an un-atmospheric place." Barney follows "Oh, it's the last time, oh, it's the last time" with "an' it fookin' is."]
Some details above may be wrong, or missed - I'm going from memory, and my tape gave out years ago.
I'd really like to hear that show again, though!
I once had a tape with a truly horrid "Weirdo"... If I remember correctly it was from a London gig in late 1985
David Gladwin wrote: How about a whole show?
What was the name of that simultaneous BBC Radio 1 and BBC2 broadcast that they took part in, some time between PC&L and Low-life?
The set ran something like this:
Sooner Than You Think [Not announced, and unknown to me then - pretty good version] Age of Consent [Barney selects the wrong fret to start the guitar, gets rattled, snatches the breath shield off his mic] Blue Monday ["I still find it so hard to stay in tune with you/But I'm quite sure that you'll tell me/What the fuck we should do"] In a Lonely Place [Barney spends the song urging Steve to "speed up...it's a little bit faster than this..." before snapping "faster!" near the end] Temptation [Announced as "an atmospheric song in an un-atmospheric place." Barney follows "Oh, it's the last time, oh, it's the last time" with "an' it fookin' is."]
Some details above may be wrong, or missed - I'm going from memory, and my tape gave out years ago.
I'd really like to hear that show again, though!
Yer spot on - send me an email and I'll help you out 
David Gladwin wrote: How about a whole show?
What was the name of that simultaneous BBC Radio 1 and BBC2 broadcast that they took part in, some time between PC&L and Low-life?
The set ran something like this:
Sooner Than You Think [Not announced, and unknown to me then - pretty good version] Age of Consent [Barney selects the wrong fret to start the guitar, gets rattled, snatches the breath shield off his mic] Blue Monday ["I still find it so hard to stay in tune with you/But I'm quite sure that you'll tell me/What the fuck we should do"] In a Lonely Place [Barney spends the song urging Steve to "speed up...it's a little bit faster than this..." before snapping "faster!" near the end] Temptation [Announced as "an atmospheric song in an un-atmospheric place." Barney follows "Oh, it's the last time, oh, it's the last time" with "an' it fookin' is."]
Some details above may be wrong, or missed - I'm going from memory, and my tape gave out years ago.
I'd really like to hear that show again, though!
Yer spot on it was called "Rock Around The Clock" most people call it Saturday Live (which I think the programe was called) - send me an email and I'll help you out
Pretty much anything off Brotherhood except BLT and maybe Paradise, though they really seemed to struggle with most stuff that was past mid-tempo and required guitar work.
Admittedly however, those renditions of Leave Me Alone they belted out in 1983 with the blistering pace were ace when Gillian and Barney could successfully syncopate their guitars (rarely).
Blue Monday at the TotP in 83 (wasn't it?) and Crystal and True Faith in 2002... I haven't heard a lot of live recordings, but... I'd lvoe to. I love nitpickin em =P
Oh, and this one performance of Ina A Lonely Place where the got the whole thing done in about 4:11, including the instrumental bits and all three verses, with Bernard urging the whole thign to go 'Faster!'... yeesh... I love the song, it's slow, it's dark...
Bernard made the song resemble a bloody freight train tryign to beat out LA traffic. >>
Gerhard wrote: Regret, Point Depot 1993, opening track, got it so wrong they had to start it again.
As far as i remembered they ripped through Regret that night - actually in my memory that was a great set from start to finish, but my memory is crap anyway
Lansdown Road in 2001, they had to restart 60MPH, because Hooky got the bass line all wrong - at least that was Bernards excuse!
Jones Beach in 1987 when Hooky fell flat on his face at least twice during a song I can't remember...It might have been Ceremony.
((((e))))
a lovely member of NOOL sent me a tape of the 1987 red rocks show; their equipment broke down near the end and they all walked off stage except for hooky!
They screw everything up live. Nothing escapes their incompetent wrath, with the possible exception of Regret, which they seem to have more or less under control. And every once in a while, a moment of accidental genius will occur.
That's all part of the fun, right?
Andrew Pastor wrote: They screw everything up live. Nothing escapes their incompetent wrath, with the possible exception of Regret, which they seem to have more or less under control. And every once in a while, a moment of accidental genius will occur.
That's all part of the fun, right?
That's why we love them so much...cause even on stage they are human...
It's as real as you can get with them.
Barney's outbursts are fukkin hilarious.
One of these days they're gonna duke it out on stage.
Overall kind of like everyone else...semi-dysfunctional
((((e))))
They screw everything up live. Nothing escapes their incompetent wrath, with the possible exception of Regret, which they seem to have more or less under control. And every once in a while, a moment of accidental genius will occur.
Shit - you nailed it. "Incompetent wrath" had me 
.
They are more like "Accidental God-like Geniuses".
I think everything's been fucked up at some stage or another. That's part of the appeal, a band that can be fantastic the one night and shocking the next night, playing exactly the same songs in the same order!
It must have been fun to see this phenomenon in 1978/79 - when things went wrong they really went wrong!
