May 292007
Some would call this a key transitional period…Lou would have called this exactly the sound he’d always had in his head!
Some would call this a key transitional period…Lou would have called this exactly the sound he’d always had in his head!
There is much to love/hate in this clip:
Guitar orgasm faces
70s haircuts
Using your perfect 3-part masterpiece as a vamp for introducing the band
A lucite guitar
Holstering said guitar and then the cameraman lingering on said holstering
The bass player’s pimp hat
The keyboardist’s Freddy Mercury/clone look
Lou’s perfect sound translated through Euro tv broadcast audio quality
Inaudible drumming but a superfat bass tone
Lou was in his late 30s when this was shot, but he’s still working the exact same look to this day … should we not ask him the Chrissie Hynde question? What’s an icon to do?
You’ve nailed it, Steve!
I think I saw this tour when Street Hassle came out around ’79. The show was positively atrocious, Lou walking away from the mic to change hi-tech guitars due to tuning problems repeatedly interrupting stiff vocal versions of some of my favorite songs over a leaden groove. But then, as the closer I believe, they did Street Hassle and it was great. Possibly because it was the music that the band was made to play rather than “Rock’n’Roll” or “Sweet Jane”, possibly because Lou still gave a shit about his new binaural masterpiece. Whatever it was, he just tore into it, in a riveting theatrical presentation that this tape hints at. I think he came back for the encore and did a few more numbers that really came across great, including “Walk on the Wild Side.” It was truly bizarre, though, the yawning chasm between the good and the bad stuff that night with little in between.
Wow, here’s fodder for discussion: shows you’ve seen that meet this description. The first thing that comes to mind like this for me is one of those Elvis Costello & The Attractions Spinning Wheel shows from the time of Blood & Chocolate and King of America. Among all the game show and go-go girl schtick were a couple of great performances. Too much of nothing between each song, however, killed any chance of a great show.