BAND: BOBBY AND THE MIDNITES
SHOW DATE: 11/26/82
VENUE: WORLD MUSIC FESTIVAL
LOCATION: FREEPORT ZONE, MONTEGO BAY, JAMAICA
SET(S): ENTIRE SET
LINEAGE SBD > Festival Master Cassette > D > D > SSSB
AUDIO RATING: AR1a
MEDIA REQUIRED: DAT: 1x120 min.
CD-R / MINI DISC: 2
RELEASED ON: 07/14/01
Set I
Festival Intro by Rita Marley, Fly Away, Festival -> Youngblood, It's So Easy To Slip -> Bahama Mama (instrumental), Rock Of The '80's, Little Junkie Girl, Laughing At Me
Set II
Man Smart, Women Smarter, Heaven Help The Fool -> Drums -> Josephine -> Thunder And Lightning, ENCORE: Book Of Rules
JAY'S PERSONAL COMMENTS:
PERSONAL COMMENTS:
NOTE: SINCE THIS WAS A NEW VERSION, AND WAS REWORKED FROM AN ENTIRELY NEW MASTER, IT IS NOT CONSIDERED A "RE-RELEASE"!
Like the B-52's show above, this recording is a digital clone of the Festival Master Cassette. But, the Weir crew wanted the engineers at the SBD to use a different brand of tape, and thus we wind up with a slightly "warmer" sound, and this also results in a roll-off of the very high frequencies (the harmonics of the cymbals, etc.). It's still a good sounding show, don't get me wrong, but there is a definite difference between this and the B-52's set. And because the two high-speed cassette decks weren't able to be correctly calibrated for this tape, the audio "sounds" to be just very slightly distorted sound, but it is not. Looking at the waveforms of the audio, there is no clipping at all noticed, so it was just the combination of the tape being changed from what the Festival people were using for the show and what Weir wanted used. Oh, well...
But, that's about the only negative aspect of this show. This is the complete set, in the order played that day. The band was "hot" (and not just temperature-wise!), and since they were the opening band, they were ready to get the audience in the mood for the remainder of the festival (which ran WAY past it's scheduled midnight closing time). It was apparent that the heat and humidity got to the band by the end of their set, and Rita Marley had to get the audience to pretty much force the band to come back and play the encore.
For it being held in Jamaica, Little Junkie Girl was pretty much a very appropriate song. Sad, yet holding the little rays of hope for this girl, who's pretty much oblivious to the damage she's doing to herself.
Excellent song selection, except for Drums, when Rita Marley steps up to the mic and introduces Billy Cobham doing his solo... I got the strange feeling she was going to pull a "Donna Jean" and start wailing away like a mad cow in heat (sorry to those of you who are Donna fans!). But she only said a few sentences, Billy kept drumming, and all was well.
Remainder of the show: GREAT! This set ran over the allotted time limit, and between the playing, the heat, and the humidity, the band REALLY didn't want to come back out for an encore. When Bobby steps up to the mic and apologizes for making the festival run long already (and they were the opening act!), he's really out of breath, and you can hear and sense that he's really exhausted. There was not a lot of "lull time" between their songs, so it was difficult to try to cool down. And from what I was told by a person who actually attended the fest, when they played, the stage covering wasn't keeping the sun from bearing down right on top of the band! Had to be rough...
Anyway, the Encore, Book Of Rules, is a great song. Listen to the words and think about what they are really saying. It's all about how we have control over our thoughts, words, and actions for our entire lives. Very "moral" song, yet good enough to really enjoy the music to it.
PERSONAL RATINGS: (on a 1 to 10 scale with 10 being excellent)
Audio Mix: 8.7 (some of the channels would vary slightly during songs)
Audio Quality: 9.0
Energy Level: 10.0
Show "Completeness": 10.0
Song Selection: For the time period, nothing out of the ordinary except for Little Junkie Girl