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Blistering Nick Cave & The Birthday Party sets in ‘Pleasure Heads Must Burn’ 1982/1983
10.27.2017
10:05 am
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The Birthday Party played the legendary Haçienda Club in Manchester once in 1982 and once in 1983, and, per Haçienda policy, both shows were videotaped for posterity. The Birthday Party’s two most recent releases at that point were also their two best albums, Prayers on Fire and Junkyard, and based on this footage there’s a strong argument that they were as good as any band in the world at that moment.

The shows were released under the title Pleasure Heads Must Burn on VHS by Ikon in 1983 and then again on DVD by Cherry Red in 2003. The DVD release had a bunch of nifty extras such as a bizarre video for “Nick the Stripper” and some other Dutch and Australian and British clips.
 

 
In the 1982 show Cave is wearing a pale blue (possibly grey) blazer he would probably not be caught dead wearing today; a year later his jacket is black. So many of their best songs are represented here, “Hamlet (Pow! Pow! Pow!)” and “Dead Joe” and “Release the Bats.” Both shows are shot in an immersive, “up the bracket” style that is very effective.

More after the jump…

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Posted by Martin Schneider
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10.27.2017
10:05 am
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In The Shadows: Cabaret Voltaire, live at the Hacienda, 1983
04.27.2017
11:36 am
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The Haçienda opened its doors on May 21, 1982, and the very next day Cabaret Voltaire played its first gig there.

A year later, in August 1983, Cabaret Voltaire released The Crackdown, which is arguably their strongest LP (either that or Red Mecca), and the band did a brief series of gigs in the U.K. to support the album. As you can see from this marvelous full-page ad that appeared in the NME, the Haçienda was the first stop on the tour. (The two dates featuring Einstürzende Neubauten as openers are totally mouth-watering, no?)

The Haçienda show took place on August 11, 1983, and it was documented on video. 

More after the jump…

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Posted by Martin Schneider
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04.27.2017
11:36 am
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The night The Smiths stole the show at The Hacienda and changed music

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On February 4th 1983, The Smiths were booked to play the Hacienda in Manchester, England, as support to 52nd Street, a funk band signed to Factory Records. The audience was there to see the headliners, but it was the best band that Tony Wilson never signed who stole the night.

The show was a milestone in The Smiths career, a night when they went from interesting local band, to next-big-thing, and beyond.

As the band took the stage Morrissey greeted the audience by saying “Hello… We are the Smiths. We are not ‘Smiths’, we are the Smiths. ‘These Things Take Time’....” Following the latter set opener he simply said “Oh thank you” then the band launched into “What Difference Does It Make?”. Within a year the song would be released as a single and make it onto the band’s debut album. At this point it was played slower and featured slightly different lyrics. For example instead of “I’m so sick and tired” (album) or “I’m so very tired” (Peel session), Morrissey simply sang “I’m so tired”. Also, Morrissey sang “Oh my sacred Mother in falsetto at the end, instead of the more familiar “Oh my sacred one”.

Next up was “The Hand That Rocks The Cradle” and it was introduced by Morrissey with a simple drop of its title. This song also featured different lyrics to the version which would be released on the band’s debut album. The outro of “as long as there’s love / I did my best for her” was absent and a line was then sung as “your mother she need never know”. Right before “Handsome Devil” Morrissey said: “I repeat: the only thing to be in 1983 is handsome… ‘Handsome Devil’.” The next track was probably seeing its live debut and was simply introduced as “Jeane!”. Strangely it would not be performed for long, it was soon to be dropped from the setlist until the Smiths reinstated it when touring the debut album more than a year later.

The performance of “What Do You See In Him?” was a very passionate one. The song would not remain in the Smiths’ set for long. After being dropped for a few months it would re-emerge in June as “Wonderful Woman”, with the same music, but different lyrics. The song that would become the Smiths debut single was then introduced with a slowly articulated “Hand. In. Glove.” It was also performed very passionately, and seems to have woken the audience into paying attention to the yet unknown opening band. The song was well received and this prompted Morrissey to shyly say “Oh you’re very kind… thank you…”

The evening’s final number was then announced twice as “Miserable Lie”. The song’s early lyrics didn’t yet include the line “I know the wind-swept mystical air” while the line “I recognise that mystical air” was sung twice. Instead of “I’m just a country-mile behind the world” Morrissey sang “I’d run a hundred miles away from you”. After the song Morrissey simply said “Bye bye…” twice and the band left the stage while a few new converts cheered and whistled.

A review written by Jim Shelley and published in the NME a month and a half later had only good words for the Smiths, comparing them to Magazine, Josef K and The Fire Engines.

 

 
More from The Smiths at the Hacienda, after the jump…
 

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Posted by Paul Gallagher
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02.04.2011
05:21 pm
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William Burroughs performs live at The Hacienda, 1982

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According to the gospel of Saint Anthony H. Wilson, Manchester, England, was the center of the universe during the 1980s and 1990s. Not only for its music, its talent, its imagination, and sheer brass neck, but also because it had the Haçienda, the fabled night club where you could see Madonna one night and William Burroughs the next.

Designed by Ben Kelly, The Haçienda opened its doors on Friday May 21st 1982. Owned by Factory Records and New Order (the latter plowed most of their earnings into the venue), it was given the Factory catalog number FAC51. The mix of who played there reads like an A & R man’s wet dream and included, New Order, The Happy Mondays, The Smiths, OMD, The Birthday Party, Husker Du, The Stone Roses, Oasis, James, Echo and The Bunnymen, A Certain Ratio, and Divine, amongst others. Mike Pickering, Graeme Park and Dave Haslam were host DJ’s, and in the late 1980s and 1990s, the club was the catalyst for Madchester - the music and drug fueled Second Summer of Love.

Yet, as it is said, all good things must end and the Haçienda closed down in 1997; and the club was demolished to make way for “luxury apartments” in 2002.

When Peter Hook (legendary bass-player with Joy Division and New Order), guest-blogged on the NME back in 2009, he recalled his top 10 Haçienda memories. At number three, was William Burroughs performance at The Haçienda, October 1982, of which Hooky wrote:

“That was one of those nights when there was hardly anyone in but it was quite intense because of what William Burroughs was doing. The funny thing was that one of Joy Division’s first gigs abroad was with William Burroughs, a William Burroughs evening in the Plan K in Belgium so we had a little bit of history with him ‘cos he’d told Ian to fuck off when he asked for a free book. Even at The Haçienda I didn’t ask for a free book either. I was as scared of William Burroughs as he was.

Burroughs was always impressive when presenting his work on stage, and this clip, posted by orange object, is a great piece of pop and literary culture.
 

 
Previously on DM

Divine performs in front of stunned punks in Manchester, England, 1983


 

Posted by Paul Gallagher
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01.18.2011
04:33 pm
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