Eyes Of The World
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In Spiral Light #33 GORDON SHARPLESS, who back in 1984 produced THE BOOK OF DEAD LISTS [the forerunner to DeadBase], took time out to relate all the whys and wherefores of producing what, for many of us, was our first introduction to the heady and addictive world of GD set lists and other supplementary information. Over the years Gordon Sharpless has had the good fortune to see many GD shows throughout the length and breadth of the USA, and in addition to compiling the Book of Dead Lists, was also taping many of the shows he attended.
The taper's art has long fascinated me, and I suspect many others too. Just how did those hot quality Audience dubs come about? How, before the advent of the tapers section did the tapers manage to get such superb sound quality without getting caught? (As I did at a Neil Young show a few years back, and I thought I was being discreet). And just what is it that makes one tape sound so much better than another, and why is one venue so much better than another? Here GORDON SHARPLESS is again in conversation with ROB KEDWARD. (Thanks to Fred Ditmas for some of the lines of inquiry we pursue.)
Having traded tapes with Gordon for a number of years, one of the things that stood out was that his tape list contained a largish number of Audience master tapes from the early 80's, so it would seem that he had been particularly active on the taping scene long before the tapers section came into existence. As many of my quality audience dubs had come from him, it seemed logical to find out more about how he started out. What deck and mics did he use? Why and when did he start taping and furthermore why did he stop trading and taping and drop out of the GD scene for three years. And why are the tapers section tapes today of DAT origin not as good as the analogue dubs from yesteryear. So just where did it all begin?
"I started taping at shows for no other reason than I... wanted the tapes! The first show I ever taped was a Jerry Band show at the Tower Theater, just outside Philly, on 2.6.81, and the first Dead show was at the University of Maryland on 3.7.81. It had nothing to do with sound quality, I just wanted to have the luxury of leaving a show with a tape in my hands."
As portable tape decks seemed to be virtually unknown back in the late 70's how were these tapes produced and on what deck
"Initially, I was recording with garbage. All of my '81 masters (several of which I've long since culled), were recorded on a Walkman inferior to a Sony D6 (which at that time did not exist) and I used relatively cheap microphones the brand name I've forgotten. In '82 I continued using the same deck but always sought out someone to patch out of thus greatly improving the quality of the tapes. In '83 I went to a D6, still patching, though often I was able to borrow a Sony D5 (I had a friend with two!). In terms of equipment it would probably be of greater interest to relate to you what other people were using especially back in the '70's."
"First of all, it is a myth that the best tapes and equipment exist today. Those very same Sennheiser 421 and 441 microphones that are so commonly used are unchanged since the mid 70's (or earlier!). Nakamichi used to make two models of "field decks", the 550 and a smaller 350. The 550 was the deck of choice until the D5 came out (late 1980 I believe). The technology available in the 550 which I believe came on the market around '76, really is as good as any analogue machine available today. Plus, it could accommodate three microphones, a left, a right and a blend. It's biggest drawback was it's size, larger than most home decks. You could not sneak one of those things in. It also required 8 D batteries to run it. The 350 was a smaller version but was also slightly lesser in quality. It had only one meter (a la Sony D6), averaging left and right, and required an external battery pack. I think the differences between the two are much like the differences between the D5 and the D6, both quality machines, but one a bit better than the other."
"Also available was the predecessor to the D5 known as the Sony 158. I've never seen one, but I have several tapes from '76 that were made with one and they are quite nice. JVC also made a field deck known as the KD-2 although I haven't seen one used since '81 but I have heard some nice tapes. Marantz also made decks, the model number of which I've forgotten and have not seen one since '82 or know if any of my tapes were made with one, (I'm sure some were). Marantz is still in the portable deck business so I'd imagine there are still some in use."
There are, a tape trader pal of mine still uses one. The PMD 430. Actually the sound that produces is very similar to the Nak 550 but only in the top and mid-range frequencies. It certainly lacks that solid bottom end of the Nak but still doesn't explain why the Nak didn't remain as the deck of choice.
"The popularity of the D5 was for several reasons. They were the best deck with the least amount of size and I'm sure most people not taping with DAT still use them. The only reason they out popularised the Nak 550 was their size.... you could sneak them in. I feel it's safe to say that the explosion in taping that came in the early 80's was partly due to the production of this deck. The Nak 550 is still the best portable deck ever made. I have heard numerous D7 tapes made from every which way and personally I am not entirely impressed. DAT as a format has a tremendous advantage over analogue, and should by all accounts be far superior to analogue but that's the medium, not the deck. I honestly can't say much good about the D7. Okay, it's a good deck but it's not a great deck. Personally, until Nakamichi enters the DAT market I'm staying with analogue. In conversation with a local professional technician, whom I feel to be eminently knowledgeable, in asking about the D7, his responses all included various forms of barfing, gagging, and general physical breakdown. Adjectives included 'gutless garbage', 'spineless', 'sewage treatment' etc. etc., Referred to it as the 'Phoney'. I had to move the conversation back to Nakamichi portables to revive him. Now I personally wouldn't go that far in denigrating the D7, but for whatever the reason, perhaps the quality of the D/A converter or vice versa in respect to the incoming signal, I have not heard the quality of tapes that the Nakamichi 550 produced."
"To be entirely fair I'll have to concede that location is a dominate factor, many of the older analogues were recorded up front .... where they should be, and not in the next county (taper section) {more later}. At the risk of causing further dissension and fury directed upon myself, my advice to anyone considering DAT ... don't, and wait. Wait for one, the industry to determine that DAT will remain (opposed to digital disc, etc.,) and two, for Nakamichi to enter the consumer market. I would very much like to hear the results of a comparison using a Nak 550 analogue and D7 DAT with the same mics in the same spot. Guess which one I'd bet money on. I'm not saying the D7 makes bad tapes, it doesn't. It makes good tapes. As did the D5, the D6 and all the other decks I mentioned. But I have a number of DAT origin tapes from the past few years that don't have a prayer in matching the quality of many AUD's from the 76-84 period. And for that matter are certainly no better than the average AUD of the same period. My contention simply is that the D7 is not the greatest thing to happen since sliced bread. It's over-rated."
So why are there not that many hot quality Audience tapes around prior to around '76? How much has the location of the taper got to do with the final quality being produced?
"I do not know of any premium quality being used prior to 1976. However, as I will detail later, equipment though extremely important, means little without a good location, and I have audiences back to 1971 that are at least on par with the average taper section recording from a big hockey rink.
So the position of the taper is paramount then?
"Location, location, location!!!! Up front whenever possible. Ideally about the 15th row."
Having taped numerous shows myself over the years one of the problems most often encountered was actually getting the tape recorder past the security guys, and assuming that one could get the deck in there always seemed to be problems keeping it out of the eyes of the security personnel. Also at quite a few shows I've seen equipment confiscated, if only for the duration of the show, so exactly how did the audience tapers get the equipment in past the clearly heavier American security?
"Getting past door security was usually a sneak-in job though once inside you could generally be open about it. A lot of it had to do with whether somebody in the GDO bothered to inform security that taping was okay (this ceased to be a problem beginning with 28.7.82... [more later]. Dead Heads were true pros at getting past security. The most elaborate schemes usually involved one person riding in a wheel chair (sitting on all the equipment of course) which was a virtual guaranteed success. We may often question the intelligence of security, but none I believe would be so callous as to drag a "disabled individual" out of a wheel chair to facilitate a search."
"Also fairly common was having a woman take a deck (D5, nothing larger) strapped in under a skirt. Many facilities did not have many women security personnel and it was fairly save to assume that no male security guard would be placing his hands up a female patron's skirt. Sometimes no measures were necessary as either searches were minimal to non-existent, security was informed by the GDO to let them in, or on occasion the security guard in your line just didn't care. Really."
"Once inside, generally you were left alone... but not always. I had a tape confiscated at a Jerry show (8.11.81) batteries taken during NFA at 8.4.82 Syracuse, but one always carried extras back then just for that reason so I only lost about a minute out of the song, and though I didn't tape at this show ... at Buffalo 26.9.81 they smashed decks ... many of them ... both at the door and during the show! The last straw for everyone ... tapers and the GD came at Red Rocks on 27.7.82."
"Three songs into the show a burly security guard walks right into the group of tapers, all up front, and much fewer than today, and grabs some people's equipment two rows behind us. Though we were busy scrambling to cover our stuff up, the scenario, as well as I remember went something like this: As this guy's carting off with this stuff threatening to smash it against the rocks all the while trying to fight off some now crazed with fury taper Deadheads ... an ugly sight ... some other folks ran back to the soundboard and got Healy's (or somebody's) attention, and the nonsense was put to rest at last, though I believe some equipment was damaged. This was the last time we ever had to worry ourselves about taping, for from that point onward security was always informed to let the tapers be. Unfortunately for me, the following night in the torrential rain, my deck was irreparably damaged and I didn't bother taping another show for nearly a year. Still occasionally you'd encounter a door security that tried to create problems but never anything significant. Though this and Buffalo the previous year were the only two times I ever witnessed equipment confiscating/damaging I do know it happened elsewhere. Of course it was from this point onward the number of tapers began to increase seemingly exponentially ... which led us to the taper section."
So was the taper section of any value to Deadheads and did GS actually avail himself of it. It would seem not as shortly after he stopped taping altogether.
"The taper section is nonsense. Its reasons for existing are quite understandable and reasonable though. Two problems began to occur as taping rapidly expanded in the years 82-84. The choice spots were (and still are ... or would be) up front. Thus, a lot of people with tickets for these spots found their seats occupied by tapers that weren't going to move. And yes, complaints were registered at the soundboard. Secondly, Healy, who wouldn't come out to the soundboard until minutes before the start of the show, apparently grew tired of looking out upon a literal sea of microphones, a few of which were raised well above head level. Most people had the courtesy to keep their mics at or barely above head level. (which is why the older tapes are generally more crowdier, that and the fact that, unlike with the taper section, one never knew what kind of people may be in front of them). I recall at Rochester 16.4.84 it was so bad that when Healy came out and saw nothing but mic stands be ordered security to move everyone, hundreds of us, behind the board .. all of this with at best ten minutes to show time ... quite a scramble."
"In any event my first experience with the taper section was on spring tour '85 and we basically ignored it. Why stand in the back of some cavernous hockey rink recording a bunch of air and sound waves bouncing off concrete when you can be up front getting it almost straight out of the mains. But rather than hassle with it I just retired permanently from taping after that tour (though I only taped four of the eleven shows I attended)."
One of the reasons I stopped taping at shows was due to constantly having to look over my shoulder which in many ways detracted from my enjoyment of the shows but certainly not to the point where it stopped me attending shows as it did with GS.
"I stopped taping at shows for two reasons, one was the taper section, and two, if I really want the tape ... somebody's bound to have it. As far as enjoyment, yes, but I alleviated that in the fact that I never taped every show I attended. For example in June of '83 I taped seven of seven. In October, only two of eight. So, no, by simply not taping every show I could avail myself of the enjoyment of not dealing with a deck. Of course this really required Solomonic wisdom, so as not to leave the deck in the car the night they play St. Stephen (as happened to me!)."
"As far as stopping going to shows, which had nothing to do with taping, that was a gradual thing. I wasn't so much displeased with the 'scene' except that the smaller venues were slowly disappearing from the touring schedules and that it became quite risky to arrive at a show without a ticket by 1986.
"1986 was an abomination. Remember, during that year and especially that last summer tour ... We did NOT KNOW Jerry was in such ill health. Though I was greatly concerned, like us all, for his health after his collapse and subsequent lapse into a coma, I just couldn't quite shake just how bad they really were that last July run. That was the first nail in the coffin for me. I still continued to tour, though not at the 25-30 show a year level I maintained up through 1985. But from there I just gradually moved away, 87 was passable but un-inspiring and 88 was just plain un-inspiring to me. I then began to explore other types of music, most notably jazz, and the Dead just drifted away ever further."
"But the end-all for me occurred at the Crap Centre 15.3.90. We've all no doubt heard, and in my case seen many and experienced a few, incidents of blatant harassment at this place but here's another one. At this particular show my buddy and I were in our seats (or somebody's ...) watching the show when this woman security guard starts waving her flash light into our section and yelling at someone seated several rows directly behind us to put out his cigarette. She then set her flashlight on me and started yelling at me to tell him (the guy behind us) to put out his cigarette ... like it's my job ... Needless to say I paid her no mind whatsoever until another security person, this time male and very sizeable, yells at me: "YOU HEARD WHAT SHE SAID ... TELL HIM TO PUT IT OUT!!" My response to this is not printable in a decent family oriented publication such as yours. Anyway, at that point it seemed inevitable that I was going to become mashed potatoes but as fate would have it, some Deadhead whose presence in the Capital Centre was clearly of a physical nature only, twirled and crashed headlong into this behemoth guard who I guess decided to take the bird in his hand and devote his negative energies to that poor sod rather than myself. My friend and I promptly left for greener pastures ... seats."
"Now that in itself really is not enough, I think, to lead someone to cease touring, it was just the final event in a long running period of disillusionment. It didn't help that upon leaving the concert I found that despite having paid my five dollars or whatever for a parking spot I had been completely parked in by an utter disorganisation of parked, or should I say, abandoned vehicles (who no doubt paid their fee as well ...) Good thing there wasn't a fire ... Anyway, since I was at the end of the lot I availed myself of the four wheel drive capabilities of my truck and found my own exit, it being obvious the parking lot exit, which I thought it's use I paid for, wouldn't be available till maybe June."
"After that I did essentially what Miles Davis did in 1975. In my case, I simply left the tapes and all else GD alone for a period of nearly two years. Two years of no shows, no tapes, no calls to the hotline, no concern for set lists, I'd at times even change the radio station if they came on! Really!"
That all seems rather drastic to say the least so why and how did GS get back into the GD scene?
"My return, as my disappearance, was a gradual process. Though early in 1992 I was occasionally popping a tape in, I suppose what finally spurred my interest was simply in making preparation for yet another change of residence. I was painstakingly dusting off and repacking the tapes that had sat largely untouched for two years and just got curious. Kind of "oh wow, I remember this!" It didn't hurt I guess that I even discovered a few unmailed dubs I had long since forgotten. [Right!!!] In any event I began to more thoroughly resume tape listening, and not only enjoyed what I was hearing, but after such a long absence, and a heavy exposure to other forms of music I was able to listen from an entirely new point of view. Subsequently I responded to some ads in DDN, and mailed off the now two or three year old dubs I owed. I won't bore the folks with a further history of my re-interest in the GD scene. Suffice it to say I once again avidly collect tapes and am steadily increasing the number of shows I attend, and just might reach 200 sometime in maybe 1996 or early 97. I reached 140 shows in 1988 but it took me until 1994 to reach 150!
Apart from the advances in technology does Gordon Sharpless see any major changes in the tapers section?
"Since I pay little attention to the taper section these days I can only add that asides for the advent of DAT I can't really see any changes and it doesn't seem there are any more tapers from ten years ago. Which I suppose might be partially due to the controls of the GDO and sticking everybody in the back."
Having spent what now seems like a lifetime listening to GD tapes, one generally makes comparisons with the tapes from the 70's as opposed to the 90's dubs, and its fairly obvious to any discerning listener that the 70's tapes are far superior in sound quality. Better dynamics, more Bass, better separation and more immediacy of sound. So how does GS rate the quality of DAT tapes with the 70's analogue dubs and has there in some respects been a retrograde step by the introduction of DAT? Or has the perceived step forward in the GD's sound been the deciding factor in that most tapeheads now consider the 90's tapes to be superior?
"I too agree the older pre-DAT tapes are superior, but location (the taper section) has a lot to do with it. It's as simple as this: The further back you get, the worse off you'll be. Despite my trashing of the D7, I would really like to hear the results of DAT decks in the 15th row. But I will say unequivocally the best AUD dubs are consistently found in the years of 1982-84, though many equally fine tapes are in older years, they're harder to find due to less tapers at the time and tragically less interest these days. If I may stand upon my soapbox again, I think it's a real shame there are people who won't touch an audience tape especially an older one. There's some great sounding stuff you're missing there. But anyway, so really as long as the majority of audience tapes come from the back of these arenas the quality is just not going to be there. I will concede that the tapers who can plant themselves within the first few rows behind the soundboard will get an above average tape, but the majority .... no."
"The main advantage to DAT is as long as you're in the DAT medium - everything is a master and hiss of course is eliminated, but for now, it's advantages lie in generational savings only. I think it's done great things in improving SBD's as many people can now get boards in the 1-3 gen range ... and that's nice. And apparently the problems of speed control is eliminated. I might add, if I didn't earlier: speed is a problem anytime you work with analogue. Consider this: unless your two decks end at exactly the same instant, you're creating a speed discrepancy. Personally I think a deck with a speed control feature is an essential element of any collector's equipment."
"Back to DAT: In general DAT is a better format, now all we need is a deck by a company that actually cares about quality, both in respect to sound and craftsmanship (guess who'd that be ... hint: nine letters starts with 'N'; Japanese), to give us a piece of equipment to properly exploit the DAT advantages. Cassette is really the poorest format for sound available. The speed is slow and compacted meaning a lot of sound is being put on a very small amount of tape: 1 and 7/8 inches per second on tape a fraction of an inch wide. Before digital technology, studios generally used 15 inches per second on two inch wide tape. And the higher frequencies are quite fragile on cassette (always the first thing to go, whether it be generational, damaged tape, mis-aligned heads, etc.). I do think people put a little too much emphasis on DAT. Especially analogue users who make a fuss about the fact that their second gen tape is of DAT origin!!! Big fucking deal, you're analogue, I'm analogue. It's second gen, great, dub me one ... but it's not DAT anymore. DAT, to me, is nice to know only in respect to the fact that I like to know what any tape originated from, and knowing, if it's a DAT transferred board, a few gens may have been saved. But I already conceded that's a positive feature of DAT that exists now. And remember ... those older 'DAT boards' were transferred to DAT, not mastered DAT."
I'd imagine that the scene at GD shows has changed dramatically over the years. What changes has GS observed?
"I've seen a lot of changes over the years. The most notable is the size of it all, which naturally led to other changes. It was once a fairly safe bet to arrive at a show ticketless. There were of course shows going back to day one, I suppose, that were tragically shut-outs for all, but up until the mid-80's one could generally get a ticket at most any Northeast weeknight show, and about any midwest show - even in venues of under 10,000 people. Thus, the mass of miracle seekers (freebies) is a relatively new (less than ten years) phenomena. I recall at the Portland, Maine show on 18.10.83, at the Cumberland Co. Civic Center, a fairly small arena, one could not give a ticket away."
"The venue selection I feel has suffered significantly in the past few years. Obviously with the larger numbers of people they simply cannot play many of those smaller (and nicer) places. Though even larger ones by their location have fallen off the schedule as well. Hartford Civic Center is a good example. Though the largest arena in New England it's location in downtown Hartford, a rather small city, has driven the GD right out. I've seen many shows there going back to 1981 and every year the 'invasion' of Hartford grew larger and larger and to many, legendary in a way. This of course occurred in other smaller cities with downtown arenas such as Providence, Springfield, New Haven, Worcester (good riddance), Pittsburgh (one of 89's several unfortunate and blatant examples of Dead Headism run amuck), and so on."
And the vending scene?
"The vending scene up until the crackdown in (89?) was truly getting absolutely out of hand. I recall at shows in the summer and fall of 88 just seeing row upon row of stalls of virtually anything and everything. Clothing of all kinds, food (one never have needed to go hungry), drink, paraphernalia, and on and on. Asides from overtaking the parking lots many of these people were not there to simply fund their touring but purely for the money, which would be fine except that many of these people never actually went to the shows. Fortunately vending is still much in evidence but on a slightly smaller scale. Curiously in the very beginning of the 80's vending was little more than a few folks walking around with T-shirts and bumper stickers. I'd personally, and I think most people would agree, would like to see some vending permitted at all shows but perhaps with some controls if necessary."
How about the fans themselves? There was an influx of much younger heads following the success of the T.O.G. Hit single.
"I do not feel that the crowds have gotten any younger. Obviously younger people are discovering the band, which is fine, but I don't see a proliferation of younger heads any more or less than ten years ago, we're just getting older that's all. Personally, I feel any animosity towards younger, newer heads is condescending and elitist, we all had to start somewhere. I was 14 when I saw my first show and was up to 92 shows by the time I turned 21. And had a few folks not been as helpful to a somewhat beginning tape collector a lot of phenomenal old and rare shows would never have found there way into my collection.
What I do take exception to, and almost disbelief, is the complaining about repetitiveness in song selections. Deadheads today don't seem to know how good they have it. One need only look to see how many Alabama's, Althea's, Lost Sailor's etc. were played in 1980-81. Or how many Esau's were played in 83. I was at 22 of the first 30 shows that year and saw Esau in 16 of them. Stop your bitching! If the song selection bores you... you're seeing too many shows."
Everyone I know found their way into the GD simply by someone else turning them on, myself included so what triggered GS's interest?
"My exposure to the GD came at first from listening to my older brother's albums. This was when I was about 11 or 12. Though I wouldn't have called him a Deadhead he had a majority of their releases to date (1975) of which I ate up thoroughly. My first live exposure, asides from live albums, was listening to the live FM broadcast of the Tower Theatre show on 24.6.76. I still can remember as a young kid of twelve, being in my bedroom grooving to Help On The Way, etc. Shortly thereafter I ran out to get the latest release "Steal Your Face". I somewhat had an opportunity to go to the Englishtown show (3.9.77) but it was quickly and firmly shot down by my parents. I finally managed a show in late 78, and had Jerry not fallen ill my first show would have been 28.11.78. Nonetheless, the rescheduled date 12.1.79 was my first."
"By the time I saw my first show, I had a fairly decent supply of live Dead. No tapes yet, but I had a lot of Boot LP's. It wasn't until later in 1980 that I started collecting tapes. I met some heads about my age who had a few miserable quality AUD's but at least it was a start. In '81 I managed to hook up with some people, mostly from the NYC area, who were willing to assist a beginner (Something we all should do from time to time) and thus led me to meet some other folks who owned the collections that got me started on the book, and provided me with some super sweet AUD's from the 70's."
When I first got in touch with GS I was simply amazed that anyone could actually have that amount of GD tapes. Nobody over here had anywhere near that amount of shows, so how many hours of live GD does he now have?
"My own tape collection runs about 1500 hours of GD/JGB with the heaviest concentration being in the years of 74-83. I presently have over 75% of everything from 26.2.77 to 17.2.79 and at least one set of 90% of those 160 shows. I have virtually nothing from 86-88 and am not in a real hurry to make up the deficit. As of today I've been to exactly 150 shows now 156 after fall tour of which I've taped about 40, not all of which I still have a master for (I upgraded a few, and may wipe out a few more if I find something better)."
With such a long touring background Gs must surely have been to most of the venues that the Dead have played at. What does he consider to be the best and worst of these?
"Four favourite venues topping my list would be the Starlight Theatre in Kansas City. A first class facility all the way around. Small (under 8000), top notch acoustics, comfortable seating, beautiful location in Kansas City's Swope Park next to the zoo, and very friendly security and police. Which warrants, unlike the Crap Centre, retelling of a most positive experience with the local police:
"In 1984, touring penniless, our group arrived the night before the show intending to camp out in the parking lot. There were maybe a hundred, perhaps two hundred of us, camping there that night. During the evening a Kansas City officer pulled into the lot and parked himself at the end about two hundred feet from us. After about fifteen or twenty minutes, several of us decided to walk down and find out his purpose. When we asked this officer what his intentions were, surprise to us we were told most politely that because Swope Park (where the theatre is located) is surrounded by a rather poor neighbourhood, and there were some problems in '82 (a mugging or two, and general harassment), it was decided that it would be best to station officers in rotating shifts throughout the night to see that we were left alone. And if that wasn't enough, he further stated that his presence was solely for our protection and he was not there to police our actions. He added that the city rather enjoyed the Dead Heads presence and felt when left alone we were generally a very well behaved group of people. And so it was, for the rest of the night we enjoyed ourselves in total peace with the protection of the Kansas City Police! It was one of those things had I not been there I might not ever have believed."
"I also look back favourably upon Manor Downs outside Austin, Texas (open air, lots of good food and drink - Lone Star beer sold by the case! in cans!), the Zoo Amp. in Oklahoma City (open air, small, intimate, roomy), the Warfield in S.F., and the Fox Theatre in Atlanta. I guess Red Rocks is really pretty but I couldn't tell. The only time I was there was in 1982 and all it did was rain. But it sounded good! There's of course a number of other places that have left positive impressions on me as well: Ventura (on the beach), St. Paul Civic Arena (good acoustics, relaxed atmosphere), Philly Civic Center (a good alternative to the Spectrum, and I'm told though slightly larger - a carbon copy of Winterland) and others."
"On the other extreme, my least favourite venue goes, without a moments thought, to the Capital Centre (now US Air Arena - call it whatever they want - once the Crapital Centre always the Crapital Centre) in Landover, MD. While I've been to a lot of places that are either miserable in terms of acoustics, layout etc., and others with Gestapo security and police presence, none compare to this place for having such an elegant combination of the two. I have not set foot in that miserable place since March 1990 and I don't care how much better people say it's become, I never will. My memory is pure, and my capacity for forgiveness at times limited. I have never encountered such an ultimate disregard for the rights of concert patrons than I've seen there. In '88 for example, a four night stand, on tickets alone the gross was close to 1.4 million dollars plus money spent for parking and concessions. Is it asking too much, in exchange for that amount of money, to expect at least a little courtesy from the concert organisers?"
And no doubt he has preferences to favourite years?
"Choosing a favourite year, like choosing a favourite venue is not easy. I certainly am most favourable to the years 1977-1984. 1978 is most represented in my tape collection (134 of 160 sets) and that's a year I feel has been given a bad rap. I will concede two points of criticism: generally unimaginative set lists and yes, there are some horribly lacklustre performances. As for the former, for me personally, how a show is played always takes precedence to what is played. A strong Scarlet > Fire or Estimated > Eyes is a lot more enjoyable than some bizarre combination of songs poorly played. As for the quality of shows in the late 70's, yes some boring shows exist, but on the other hand some of the most energetic performances are found in that same year. 1978 wasn't boring, just erratic. And I'd add, contrary to many people's opinion, on many nights Keith was very much a presence and I have the tapes to prove it."
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