Back to the web ringBack to the web ring
HomeNewsLinksGuestbook
RecordsCompositionsConcertsArtistsStories
FirstPreviousUpNextLast

1980, October 11 - 1980, November 23

Tour 1980


Details

Line-upEdgar Froese, Chris Franke, Johannes Schmoelling


Dates

October 11Kiel Ball Pompös (Germany)
October 12Bremen Stadthalle (Germany)
October 13Brussels Cirque Royal (Belgium)
October 14Munich Deutsches Museum (Germany)
October 15Düsseldorf Philipshalle (Germany)
October 16Hamburg Congress Centrum (Germany)
October 17Luxembourg Centre Sportif (Luxembourg)
October 19Mestre Palazzo dello Sport (Italy)
October 20Bologna Palasport (Italy)
October 21Genova Teatro Margherita (Italy)
October 23Barcelona Palau Blau-Grana II (Spain)
October 25Porto (Portugal)
October 26Lisbon Parilhao dos Balenenses (Portugal)
October 31Cork Connolly Hall (Ireland)
November 01Dublin National Stadium (Ireland)
November 02Newcastle City Hall (UK)
November 03Glasgow Apollo Theatre (UK)
November 04Edinburgh Odeon Theatre (UK)
November 05Preston Guild Hall (UK)
November 07Birmingham Odeon Theatre (UK)
November 08Manchester Apollo Theatre (UK)
November 09London Victoria Apollo (UK)
November 10London Victoria Apollo (UK)
November 11Portsmouth Guild Hall (UK)
November 12Oxford Apollo Theatre (UK)
November 13Ipswich Gaumont Theatre (UK)
November 14Derby Assembly Rooms (UK)
November 15Liverpool Royal Court (UK)
November 22Santa Monica Civic Auditorium (USA)
November 23San Francisco Warfield Theatre (USA)


Set List

First Set

Undulation (5:30)
An introductory piece. The beginning consists of several exchanges between a lowish single note and a twangy guitar riff, played over a background drone, then continuing with a "drainy" type of overall sound, incorporating watery effects and reverb. This section ends with some metallic effects, leading into a variation of Unexpected Death from Edgar's Kamikaze 1989 album. This version usually differs from the released version by having a high lead voice playing over the trademark sequence. Conversely, the accompanying "buzzing" patch is missing. The track is liberally sprinkled with high, percussive riffs. The "steely" sounds from the first section fade in and out. Ends quite suddenly.
Track 80 (7:00)
Begins with a monophonic bass-line, much as at the beginning of Silver Scale, then doubled up (and embellished) by a high voice. Various background noises as in Undulation, climaxing with the steely voice, mixed in with wispy voices featured at the beginning of Kiew Mission. About a minute later it moves into a see-sawing bass sequence, which continues for several minutes without any real development. There is little melody as such, merely a series of chords played over the sequence, mildly embellished with a woodwindy voice at first, followed by a similar, though fatter, sound. Ends with more metallic noises. An excerpt of this track -- a studio version -- appears in the film Strange Behavior.
Calymba Caly (15:30)
The piece begins with some high pitch staccato chord padding. After half a minute the bass sequence featured in Speed kicks in, accompanied by a soft percussion line with riffs every fourth bar. Unlike that piece, though, this moves around from the tonic occasionally -- in vi-vii-vi-vii-i sequences. Usually overlaid with a terrific high lead solo, quite jazzy in style (with variations from show to show). After about 7 minutes, as the first section moves towards the end, all voices gradually drop out, until only the bass sequence and percussion remain. The second section begins with the bass sequence changing suddenly to a different pattern, a four-bar repeating phrase. Shortly, a high lead enters (the same voice as in the first section), playing a partly improvised melody (there was a measure of similarity between shows). There is some soft percussion and high chord padding in the background. Closes with the first note of Silver Scale underneath, repeated several times, then the track grinds to a halt. Leads into the next track.
Unexpected Death (4:30)
This is a more or less faithful rendition of the released version of Unexpected Death. The "buzzing" voice in the background is restored, and while the high-pitched lead remains (playing a "melody" different in both form and length from the released version), the whole closely resembles the Kamikaze 1989 track.
Piano Solo 80 (5:00)
Opens with a roaring wind type of noise, then leads into a phased piano solo, which varied between concerts. Some (e.g. Hamburg) echoed the piano part at the beginning of Quichotte, Part One, others (e.g. Preston) did not. However, the core of this piano solo runs common through all concerts of this tour (and, indeed of the spring 1981 tour that followed). Finishes with a roaring wind/helicopter type effect.
Force Majeure (3:15)
The beginning of the excerpt of Force Majeure that appears on Dream Sequence, finishing before the point at which the drums would enter.
The Price (3:00)
A piece reminiscent of Logos Coda but with a different chord pattern and in a different key.

Second Set

Silver Scale (18:30)
Starts with a series of legato chords played over a moving drone (though staying in one key). The chords are broken, and as a note drops out, a new one is added, slowly metamorphosing each chord into the next. Reminiscent to the start of Church Theme from Wavelength, but then follows Silver Scale from Tangents; that is to say, the opening of Silver Scale as appears on Tangents is not played here. The live version carried on several minutes longer, with basically an extension of the end of the released version. Towards the end of the piece only the bass sequence remains. Also as in Church Theme, there is a high-pitched lead line, though not following the Wavelength version faithfully. It is possible that some concerts did not begin the second set in this way, rather leading into Silver Scale as appears on Tangents.
Horns Of Doom (3:00)
As appears on the Jubileumcassette, but a shorter version. Indeed, the released version starts with the tail-end of the live version of Silver Scale, then features the live couple of minutes of Horns Of Doom, then, after a short bridge, plays the track over again (identically), on the second occasion fading out to Phase Change over about a minute. It is therefore possible that the version used on the KLEM cassette was constructed from the live version but given extra length by including the bulk of the track twice (not unlike the way in which Phil Spector lengthened I Me Mine on Let It Be).
Phase Change (4:15)
A bridge with a rather cosmic sound to it, reminiscent of the opening of Quichotte, Part Two, though without the choir effects. Discordant throughout, and with a complete absence of melody, there was some degree of improvisation in this track, inasmuch as there were differences -- some subtle, some blatant -- in this track from show to show, although the overall sound and feeling of the track were constant.
Diamond Duster (4:30)
Originally believed to be an unreleased track from the film Thief. The pace of the track -- echoed by the percussion -- is similar to that in Beach Theme, a slow, thumping rhythm overlaid with a four-chord repeating phrase.
Diamond Diary (10:00)
The pace picks up here -- the rhythm is the bass and percussion from Diamond Diary, but the track is overlaid with a guitar solo. Doubtless used as an opportunity for Edgar to wield his axe.

Encores

Choronzon (11:00)
The live version of Choronzon was greatly extended from the original in a number of ways; firstly, the track progressed in eight-bar phrases, rather than the six-bar phrases as on Exit; secondly, there was an extended "middle eight" which was almost entirely percussion; thirdly, the ending was longer (and different from the Exit version's) -- it was more of a fade-out, and without the wispy voices. This track became a live favourite, hardly leaving the playlists until 1986.
Encore 80 (6:15)
An unreleased encore, somewhere between Thermal Inversion and Dr. Destructo (it shares the same rhythm section of these two pieces). This encore is overlaid with a guitar solo (thereby providing Edgar with a second guitar opportunity).

(All times rounded to nearest 15 seconds and include bridges following song, if any.)

Large parts of this section have been taken from the site What Dreams Are Made Of by kind permission of the authors John A. Burek and Mark Schaffer.


Notes

A new(ish) decade, and a new format for tours. From now on, improvisation would be limited to variations in piano solos; otherwise, the entire playlist would be preordained, and the concerts in any given tour would be virtually identical. To usher in this new era, TD wrote a whole new playlist, consisting almost entirely of unreleased material -- only Force Majeure had already been released, with a handful of other tracks subsequently emerging. If the Berlin concert earlier in the year was cut from the same musical cloth as Tangram, then this tour had its closest parallels in the Thief soundtrack; a number of the tracks showed off the now well-known sequence that first appeared in Diamond Diary, Scrap Yard and (slowed down) Burning Bar, and that got used again and again over the next three years. In addition, Choronzon appeared live before the release of the Exit album.
 

 

Flyer from the 1980 Tour

This flyer, issued by Virgin in Italy, announces three gigs in Italy. Most probably only the one in Bologna took place.

Thanks to Nicola Cont for providing this scan.

(Click on the image to see a larger version of the flyer in a new browser window)


 

 

 
FirstPreviousUpNextLast
Copyright/Disclaimer   © 2001-2021 by Michael Berling. Last Update: 2021-09-19 21:31