XTC - Rockpalast (February 10, 1982)
Vložit
- čas přidán 11. 08. 2011
- Respectable Street
Towers of London
Runaways
Jason and the Argonauts
Burning With Optimism's Flames
Snowman
Ball And Chain
Sgt. Rock (Is Going to Help Me)
No Thugs In Our House
Senses Working Overtime
Making Plans For Nigel
Living Through Another Cuba
Generals and Majors
Real By Reel
Life Begins At The Hop - Hudba
![XTC - Sight And Sound 1978 (In Concert) [Stereo Sync]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/06gsX59kTBo/mqdefault.jpg)
![XTC - Sight And Sound 1978 (In Concert) [Stereo Sync]](/img/tr.png)
![XTC's Andy Partridge - How I Write Songs [Part 1]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/sZzhjgQqCJI/mqdefault.jpg)
Dave Gregory is such a beautifully precise guitarist.
1. Respectable Street - 0:18
2. Towers of London - 3:47
3. Runaways - 9:11
4. Jason and the Argonauts - 13:56
5. Burning With Optimism's Flames - 19:22
6. Snowman - 24:30
7. Ball and Chain - 29:07
8. Sgt. Rock (Is Going to Help Me) - 33:16
9. No Thugs In Our House - 37:24
10. Senses Working Overtime - 42:25
11. Making Plans For Nigel - 47:10
12. Living Through Another Cuba - 51:42
13. Generals and Majors - 57:26
14. Reel By Reel - 1:02:48
15. Life Begins At The Hop - 1:06:32
Cheers
Thank you
Thanks!
I love Andy’s whistling. Sounds like bomb dropping. Like the London blitz. A thread through the whole set.
Terry Chambers is crushing it. What a monster drummer.
Freaking drummer is killing it. .like a boss. XTC. One of the greatest.
Check out EXTC. Terry Chambers new band. They only do XTC songs.
Wheeeew xtc is like prog meets punk meets well…. Some of the best writing out there. These guys were wired different❤️
DEVO XTC THE BUGGLES
THE WEIRD WAVE
I find them to be just high-quality pop rock.
@@arickmccance3972Oingo Boingo
I have never witnessed a more theatrical singer. Partridge does not simply reproduce an album-fit version of his vocals, he re-performs them with all manner of yelps and screeches and ironic facial gestures, all the while rocking back and forth with stiff legs like some kind of animated rocking horse. He brings a whole sack of histrionics onstage.
Cheers to Dave Gregory for playing stellar guitar throughout. The guy never misses a note.
Their concert performance history was sadly all too brief due to Partridge's crippling stage fright. Thankfully they managed a glorious recording output. In my humble opinion XTC picked up where the Beatles left off.
With all due respect to Andy and his excellent performance, have you seen vintage Peter Gabriel in Genesis or Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull - next level stuff there!
I would also recommend checking out Tim Smith (The Cardiacs) as an equally animated singer/frontman!
@@L.ARTISTE19 I've always said the exact same. Not that they necessarily sounded like the Beatles, though they can be somewhat Beatlesque, but they're of the same ilk.
@@L.ARTISTE19 I never truly believed he had stage fright. He mugs around so much in videos and onstage plus he was also pulling jokes and funny voices. I am not bashing him. In the documentary, he said the band saw no money, I think, from touring. In other words, they were working for free or losing money. He said he thinks he knows *who* but obviously would not say to avoid getting sued. Possibly, the brother of a famous drummer aka the tour manager.
I think he thought he would rather not tour. Probably because it is a tiring grind and they were making no money doing it because...someone else.
I think Andy believed working in the studio was better use of time. Sadly, back in the day, you had to do both to build a bigger following. Maybe XTC was never about building a big following that they deserved. Today, touring is the ony thing that makes money but covid made insurance expensive for tours. Social media and streaming for young acts can be huge including $$. Sadly, XTC were from another era. Today, it is hyped up rubbish that makes money.
Now this is just one of those bands that is exceptional beyond measure. As far as their songwriting skills are concerned, I'd put them up against any act. Unfortunately, they just never got the proper promotion; otherwise, these guys would have blown up. English Settlement, Skylarking, Drums and Wires, Mummer some of the best songwriting this planet has ever witnessed. Amazing.
Frankincensed Mummer is a ridiculously underrated LP.
R. ROOKSBY True. Not much XTC did that wasn't quite impressive. I just listed my favs. Love their stuff.
Its strange that it flopped after English Settlement sold so many copies. No accounting for taste eh? :)
+R. ROOKSBY I kept hearing they had one of the worst record deals ever and that they never got any money from all their touring. I'm not making that up, you could ask Andy about it (He does reply on Twitter, I've messaged him a few times) but it's been covered before.
+Frankincensed Not forgetting Andy had a teensy nervous breakdown which sort of derailed their career, too.
Dave Gregory is hugely underrated. Great player, great tones.
Not by any guitar player from my generation. Any guitarist I've ever met who's heard of XTC has huge respect for him.
@@sclodes Easily the calibre of Johnny Marr.
They took over where the Kinks should have evolved. So glad for the amazing catalog of songs those 2 bands provided us in those 25+ years.
Really astute, excellent comment. I'd never considered that but that's right on!
The Kinks wouldnt have touched some of the styles XTC did though. Like the quirky and childlike things XTC did which i love. Idk the kinks were like"cooler" which doesnt mean better. XTCs more quirky
Kinks did childish, too ('Phenomenal Cat' is just one example).
Both great English bands but quite different in my opinion
Not British but equivalent to Kinks and XTC in musicality and great songs is Pavement (I’m British btw:) )
Andy and Colin are both such great songwriters, I love how they both pushed each other and evolved their songwriting over their time in XTC
Best british band since The Beatles. An endless source of inspiration as a songwriter.
I agree but Tears for Fears were right up there to. All three of these bands were essentially bands led by 2 front men.
@@dexsmith1864 This was a closed comment at Beatles and XTC.. But yes.
This version of "Optimism's Flames" is incredible!
DITTO TO THAT!👍
XTC never seizes to amaze me. Anyone who understands about music will agree that they are one of the greatest bands to come out of the 80s.
They are criminally underrated and under-appreciated. Some of the best and most unique music to ever be written.
Colin is so "ice" to Andy's "fire" lol such a handsome, cool guy.. and hey, a criminally underrated bassist. His lines are amazing throughout the entire XTC catalogue. AP what can you say? Just the best.
As a bassist I totally agree. These lines are just amazing.
finding good bassline music and just being like finally
He also wrote about 1/3 of the songs
Is he? All the bass players from my generation had huge respect for his playing and musical imagination. (Ditto guitarists and Dave Gregory).
Yes, I totally agree.
A band with two bona fide musical geniuses, Andy Partridge and Colin Moulding, and of course Dave Gregory and Terry Chambers are outstanding in their own right. They consistently put out incredible, catchy though also sophisticated music. I would say it's a shame more people aren't aware of them, but I think I might rather keep them to myself...and away from the heathens who don't know any better!
Terry was such a fantastic drummer!
Yes, I always loved what he was doing on the kit with XTC. Fantastic indeed.
Andy is a musical genius, but Colin is skilled musician primarily, and a solid songwriter lastly. He's a special talent to be sure, but I wouldn't call him a musical genius personally.
Barry Andrews is also a musical genius.
He is still! Buy and listen to TC&I "Great Aspirations" the first album of Colin and Terry !
so happy I found this video, XTC clearly was a great live band. sorry Andy decided to hang it up, I bet they would have found much more popularity if they kept up touring, but can sympathize with his anxiety. such an underrated band, best pop music writers since the Beatles
also this Living Through Another Cuba is fucking killer
I will say though, starting with Mummer, the music would have been more difficult to perform live, not touring, freed Andy up to do the kind of music he didn't have to worry about reproducing live.
I heard all the musicians I worked w speaking about XTC in hushed reverent tones as early as ‘82 but didn’t get a chance to hear them since touring for my album Zazu took 21 hrs a day for 7years straight and I barely was in one place for longer than a moment and in a new town and country then another 7 years working w Jeff Lynne was another 21 hrs a day of work. A friend played me Oranges And Lemons Over a month ago and I haven’t stopped listening to them nonstop since. I felt so inspired that I drew a couple portraits of Andy. Thanks for the most brilliant ear candy since the Beatles. LotsaLove
I looked up your album, and holy shit you worked with Steely Dan? that's awesome
Rosie v Listen to xtc = drums and wires album ...
I have always said that XTC was the second coming of The Beatles... And I started listening to them from the get-go...
It is no coincidence that they did some beatlesque songs as dukes of the stratosphere later on... Like mole from the ministry... Not a rip off... Just homage...
Well done for doing your best to turn this into being all about you. Don't think you dropped enough names to pull it off tho.
I was going to react to this comment, then I saw how long ago it was posted, and thought about how much I love Zazu and also respected your life choices, so this never happened, apparently.
inspired lunacy - god, there is so much going on in their songs. Thank you, XTC, for daring to be different.
I totally agree, incredible times and a excellent band, grew up in those times. Great memories.
Sorry but on a footnote things are so shit now all I wish for is a time machine lol cheers bro..
1:05:25 Dave Gregory, are you kidding me?? He nails the riff despite the speed of the performance.
Hear, hear 🙂
He rarely got to show off that flair at XTC. Incredible guitarist
This is such a treasure. This has got to be XTC at their very zenith--yet so fragile. English Settlement is my very most favorite album, yet it's so strange to see the crowd barely reacting--because it had not yet been released! so those monster pieces of pop perfection like Sense Working Overtime and No thugs In Our House were not yet etched into the heads of all fans everywhere like they are now. A couple of months later, this crowd would have been going mental--even Germans!
Often bands like XTC who are such perfection in the studio do not translate well to a live show, but XTC are so brilliant live. Wow. They really rock out, but they are also so totally PRECISE, and so many of XTC's songs are incredibly complex, layered, and, well, TRICKY. These guys are top musicians, every one of them. I love seeing the vocal interplays between Colin and Andy, and Andy manages to reign in his vocal nuttiness, something a lesser talent would have let get away from him. All the yelps and "woo hoos" are done with razor sharp restraint. My only wish--this would have made it a perfect set--is for them to have done "It's Nearly Africa", with those amazing percussion riffs. Andy's vocals are almost more percussion than singing on that track--it would have been great live.
The politics of the time really make a showing. The Cold War was in full thrust, and we were all still totally scared of a nuclear war. This is West Germany. Before the Wall went down. And South Africa was still deep into Apartheid, and a big topic on every European band's lips. It was still really effing cool to be political, and a great majority of the Brit New Wave bands were unashamedly political in their lyrics and their live shows. It meant something to be a rebel; not just an outfit of clothes or a night of getting wasted, and "bling" culture would have been laughed out of the room.
All said, WOW, what a band. I hate sounding like a jaded oldster, but they really don't make 'em like they used 'ta.
"..a great majority of the Brit New Wave bands were unashamedly political in their lyrics and their live shows" - really? I'd say that for every Tom Robinson there were five who couldn't give a stuff about politics.
I am an older too, and I will probably go to my death with XTC rhyming in my head...
Black Sea is still one of my top 5 LP's of all time. Great to finally see a great concert in this era by one of the best bands of all time. Inspired Lunacy - you are so right racketman2u!
I was a huge XTC fan by 1980, but sadly never managed to go see them.
This is a fantastic set!
Now this is a Partridge family I can get behind :)
So grateful this performance has been preserved. One of the most innovative pop groups of any era!
They're on another level.Brilliantly original and
unique.
Andy is so recognized as a great singer and songwriter that his guitar playing is often overlooked, he plays brilliantly.
Brilliantly and Quirkily.
What a great show. They're all fantastic. The craziest thing is that Andy was having panic attacks and valium withdrawal through all this. They played their last show in Paris like a month later.
Legends.
I adore XTC since I was a young boy in the 80ies (especially their side-project "Dukes of Stratosphere"...)
I saw them several times in New York in 79/80 and to this day they were some of the best shows I've ever seen.
That must have been a brilliant time.
I didn't realize how badass Dave is until watching this.
In these times of lockdown, I get the impression, millions of people are searching into their enjoyable musical experiences from the past, the distant past and the not to distant past, to try and reconnect and re experience how it was before lockdown. It proves how important these experiences were and how vital to our existence there are now.
Be it a ........ A mega music festival with thousands of jubilant people of different ages, different backgrounds and different cultures enjoying artists of different ages, different backgrounds and different cultures. A local band playing in a local pub, cafe, music venue and you see a musician or singer and you think "wow man you are world class, you gotta make it". Or one of your favourite bands who you worshiped for decades but never got the chance to see, and they suddenly decide to do a reunion tour and you get to see them at last.
We all need these vibes again or we will sink into a type of resignation where nothing outside of the 4 walls we live in doesn't matter any more.
We can't let this happen to us! What we have built up as "popular music culture" for the past 70 odd years can't be thrown in to the Covid garbage can with the rest of our human rights.
Keep on making music, keep on being artistic, it is a basic necessity and we must keep it alive.
Too good...too good by half. So far ahead of the field in their day no wonder they were overlooked or ignored by so many. Great, great band 👈❤👍
Terry Chambers a drumming tour de force.Fantastic group live.
And even more given the heavy beer/blood ratio he had in his veins at that time ;-) !
Yeah absolutely my friend.
Volanne
Well said! Terry partied hard and drummed harder, if you could even do that!
Terry Chambers was my mentor. His response to various magazines, about his drumming style was, "I just hit 'em!"
Terry still live in Australia I think 👣
I never saw them play live.... so until now XTC were just an album band to me. THANK YOU for posting this video.... NOW I understand why their live shows were so highly rated!! The energy levels caused by the rhythm section, bass, and the hyperactive Andy Partridge..... what a BUZZ!
OMG Dave playing that iconic Real by Reel solo at a much faster tempo. Totally underrated.
Watching Andy play syncopated chords while singing in different rythms is Great as is he.. holy cow... All these guys were So Excellent. Such Screaming Talent.. Will VERY RARELY be found these days If Ever. Such a treat to re find them. Ill be on an XTC RUN NOW for Quite Awhile... Does anyone wonder if any of them Ever see these posts. Or Realize how badly theyre MISSED. LOVE XTC ALWAYS! Thanx for posting this one,, youre awesome for it.. ☆♡☆
Well they didn’t get much recognition at the time, but they have left an incredible legacy and as time goes by more and more people will discover them, like I did a month ago.
Excellent to see XTC in action - never saw them live.. A superb collection of songs
Brilliant version of 'Living Through Another Cuba' - too short though!
Watch out for EXTC touring this spring.!!!!
The UKs most underrated band & this their last tour should have made them superstars ? Awesome set....
I bought the English Settlement album when I was 15 years old, and loved it, this is the first time I have heard the songs "live", and it just blew me away, I didn't realise just how good these guys were, thank you for the experience
Runaways is the best song ever written ! Thanks XTC ! :-)
Just like a nice amplifier, it sounds its best just before it falls apart. These guys were playing great at these last live shows.
Thanks so much for putting this on. I was lucky enough to see them quite a few times and still miss seeing them play live
this is a GEM, you've made my day. thanks so much for uploading
I had tickets to see them in Detroit and of course Andy had his issues and it never happened. I'm VERY thankful to see this video since this is pretty much the show I missed. Great stuff!
@Mr. G - I'm really sorry to hear it didn't happen for you! I can imagine you must've been gutted. 😔🙌 🌈
i had the very great fortune to see XTC play live during their very short existence. SO long ago and still in my top ten favourite bands of all time. How can you not get Making plans for Nigel out of your head once you've heard it?
That Rickenbacker sound is pure bliss
I can't help but speculate that if XTC had better management, who knew how to take better care of Andy and his problems that perhaps they would still be touring, or at least playing a handful of gigs somewhere in the world today.
Agreed. Whatever happened, shame that there was no force to keep them in state where they would be happy tour. Such a shame, such an influence group that built on past groundwork and an effect gave the platform for today's bands.
keep in mind that Andy had severe stage fright, which came to a head around the time of this tour. that's what has kept him off of stages, not outside forces. Maybe we'll see Andy do a Kate Bush in the future. One can hope.
I read XTC's autobiography and several interviews in MOJO magazine by Andy Partridge where he stated that his old management kept him on the road on tours in the US and Europe and that the money was not properly accounted for, which contributed greatly to his anxiety and stage fright.
Joseph Marrero
you're one up on me. i read one of the books written about the band, but it's likely been 20 years since. i love XTC, a top 5 band for me. watching this concert made me smile, as the band has that effect on me. AP and CM are musical geniuses and heros.
in the end, we still have the music and i'm glad of it.
Well said!
Wow. I've loved XTC for over 20 years, but this video makes me finally *get* Dave Gregory!
This set list is in my lowly opinion the greatest setlist ever put together. No filler.
how could you dislike this band
Oh my goodness, I have this concert on dvd, I'm happy to see it uploaded to youtube!
Thanks for uploading this. XTC was an amazingly creative band. Love them!
I'm new to XTC but this is a very fine example of what a live performance should be 👍
this band was so great...thanx for posting this concert...this is a gem.
Great energy, great performance - amazing show. Hard to believe that within 8 weeks of this taping, they would never play live again.
We wont see or hear music like this ever again. The music industry is a real POS sometimes. Thanks for the upload
Great to see this! I saw them live when they opened for the Police in Tucson jan. '81 i believe. XTC was touring for their Black Sea lp and i swear they played way longer than any opener i have ever seen! It seemed like they played nearly every song off their first 4 lps! They had so much energy it was incredible! They also had the very best light show fx i have ever seen! It was like they treated the stage as if it was a giant tv screen, and they had staic fuzz, horizontal and vertical lines of color and you could barely make out figures onstage. Then right at a certain lyric or note a small spot-light would pinpoint Andy or Colin's face, or just a cymbal! Incredible visuals, beyond a Pink Floyd light show. And drummer Terry Chambers was on fire that night, rock solid beats!
I saw The Police at Bogarts in Cincinnati in 1981. The club was half-filled. Sting played that same Telecaster Bass Guitar that he plays to this day. I bought a new pair of White Chuck Taylor Converse Shoes that day. They were incredible and I was so freaking young!
Would LOVE to see footage of that!
Thanks for the post, this was a great era fort the band. Great songs. Nice to see them live before they stopped performing. We love them in Canada too, hoser
Without a doubt, the greatest band most people don't know exists!
Listening to Jason and the Argonauts live is mind blowing!!
Shhhhh I haven’t gotten that far yet 🙃😜🙃
Wow, yeah 🙌🤘🙌
What a great find this is. Thanks for posting this.
I am so glad I stumbled across this. These guys were just so freaking great
I had no idea this footage even existed... thanks for posting !!. .This is fantastic.
So thankful to find this gem on CZcams. A favourite of mine as a young'un.
Gregsy--unsung hero!
Not Andy's fault about those 2 songs where his backing vocals were louder than the Colin. Fault of the soundman, or the producer/engineer who mixed the live recording for DVD.
I just confirmed, in fact the 12-string is Dave Gregory's Rickenbacher; hard to know since their are only 6 tuning pegs. (see other video with DG showing his guitars)
Onstage, Andy seems to be just being Andy, well-animated as all the best lead singers are. Brilliant to watch, bringing the songs new perspective, after living in our heads for so many years. You can hear the same eccentricities on the studio albums, so I don't see an impending meltdown at all. Just good confidence and showmanship. BRAVO !!!! Wish I had seen 'em.
XTC, wow !!! First heard stuff from Black Sea while at school, later absorbing every note of Skylarking, Oranges, and Nonsvch...all so underrated, for sure the best and most interesting post punk group with amazing chops. Andy and Colin's songwriting was/is unparalleled. I mean, just from a pop perspective, Oranges and Lemons has the first 9 songs as potential singles ! 9 !!! After a pause, there are 3 more ! (and I can't wait to re-acquire Skylarking, with it's different feel, which I had on vinyl)
They were awesome here. And they continued to get better. What a wonderful group! Thanks for posting.
XTC at their pinnacle! Thanks for posting this. Anything XTC from 79'-82' is awesome.
I've been an XTC fan since the early 80's. Sadly, I never got to see them play live. Thank you @misleadingsihouette for posting this! Love Andy! 💞
Thank you so much for posting this! This caught them just before Andy had his "Nope nope nope nope nope nope nope" moment and never went back to touring.
I am sitting here completely floored , blown away by the sheer genius of this band!! The brilliance of the playing , the amazing originality and improvisation of the singing along with the most clever and interesting songs has kept me spellbound and never bored for one second! I am a fan for life now and only wish I could have seen them live.
Yeah, Andy's a little hot in the mix, but I'll take what I can get. GREAT performance! One of my top 5 bands ever. Thanks for the post misleadingsilhouette!
thank you for posting this!
Thank you so much for this vidéo. I saw tim in Paris, at the Palace, for the smaller concert they made. I was one of the disappointed.
Thanks for posting this, 'misleading'.They really did a great job with tunes one would have thought weren't conducive to live performance.
Britain's greatest band since the 60s. Apple Venus Volume One is one of the finest set of songs in all music.
Thank you misleadingsilhouette for uploading this. Here's one band if you got to see live you were one of a very small group. Unfortunately they didn't play nearly as much as they should. Not sure they ever played another show after 1983.
XTC: THE best band in the last 30 years.
The Segue between "Living Thru Another Cuba" and Generals & Majors" is flawless!
I remember thinking the same listening to the same moment on the live B side of Sgt Rock...on headphones....oh my god, almost FORTY YEARS AGO!!
great song. i also love how they play it in the film, urgh! a music war. thanks for the upload.
tuve el privilegio de verlos en vivo cuando tenia 14 años en mi país,
What skilled players! Always great to hear this band, who cares if they're popular, we like 'em!
Thank you.
Just happened upon this. A fine live performance. Great band, one of my all time faves.
Absolutely thrilling rendition of "Generals and Majors," especially the ending. Very tight. And don't tell me that Andy suffered from stage fright.
One of the greatest bands ever!
Thank you, sweet baby jesus, that we have one complete XTC show on video to enjoy all our lives.
Wow, I can't believe this whole show is here! Amazing.
La viola de Gregory es tremenda, el tipo tiene un sonido ultra compacto. Es ideal para los arreglos del genio absoluto de Partridge. Que pedazo de banda loco. Una joya total.-
Brilliant live band. Andy was such a strong frontman.
Ironic, huh?
Damon Albarn's Parklife owns everything to this
Andy Partridge even worked on it into an extent where it sounded too much like XTC
I had the exact same thought a few days ago .. this is EXACTLY the same lyrics themes, the same guitar sounds, the same singing bass riffs .. though I adore Blur, one must admit Parklife is a 90's reissue of Black Sea / English Settlement
Just incredible... Are you receiving me is like a battle of guitars and yet somehow it all works Love the chords.. The dissonance... The dreamy groovy Andy Partridge you're a badass of course and Dave Gregory you have my heart forevermore and Colin where are you I never hear from you enough. Love love these boys....terry Chambers that you? I can hear you pounding perfectly but can't see you. What a workout! Things taken at such a tempo... Amazed guitars can get through the changes
When Giants walked the Earth ... Bless you XTC...
This is an insanely good upload. I was like "There's some feedback" and then I realized that feedback is older than I am, recorded in Germany.
Really appreciate it.
This is golden! Thank you!
The audience had ZERO concept of the musical brilliance they were in the presence of. Sad, but true...
How do you know?
Not true, saw them in 1980-81ish in Sheffield, blown away, spent a fair bit of the next couple of months catching them in other cities, they remain to this day the best band I ever saw.
Yeah, i noticed the applause was pretty quiet.
@@samreilly4360 That doesn't mean they didn't appreciate the music. Being quiet is sometimes a sign of appreciation, especially in Europe in previous decades.
@@ajs41 Yeah i know but they still are at least kind of a Punk band so usually the audience is more little vocal.
Great songs, and a tight little live outfit to boot. XTC picked up where the great guitar-pop bands of the 60's left off, and they took it to the next level. Influenced by, but never copying.
Partridge is up there with Lennon in my opinion and the playing is impeccable. Just fucking without peer !
I think he's a better songwriter, and a more talented instrumentalist than Lennon personally. From a technical standpoint. But there's something about Lennon that transcends technical abilities. Something I've never been able to put my finger on.
I miss them 🥺