R.E.M.

Kabuki Nightclub

San Francisco, CA

Thursday November 10 1983

source : aiwa cm30 > aiwa hs-f1

transfer from master cassettes

taper  : little guy

transfer : markp

Reseeded by eckythump to Dime on 23/24 November 2019, depending on your time zone. Files tagged, and added a photo of the band taken right after the show, and a newspaper review of the show. New md5 has been added, and an ffp file also added. No other changes made.

Disc One

01 Walter's Theme

02 Moral Kiosk

03 Catapult

04 Burning Down

05 Letter Never Sent

06 Pilgrimage

07 7 Chinese Bros.

08 Talk About the Passion

09 So. Central Rain (I'm Sorry)

10 Harborcoat

11 Sitting Still

12 Pretty Persuasion

Disc Two

13 Just A Touch

14 Gardening At Night

15 9-9

16 Windout

17 Second Guessing

18 Radio Free Europe

19 crowd noise

20 Wolves Lower

21 Sweet Jane (Velvet Underground cover)

22 crowd noise

23 Femme Fatale (Velvet Underground cover)

24 Camera

25 Lies (The Neats cover)

26 1,000,000

27 Carnival of Sorts (Boxcars) 

Michael Stipe - Vocals

Peter Buck - Guitar

Mike Mills - Bass Guitar, backing vocals 

Bill Berry - Drums, backing vocals

with:

Andy Gill and John King from Gang Of Four on Sweet Jane

Eric Martin from the Neats on Lies

Show Notes: This was R.E.M.'s third visit to San Francisco; the first came in August/September 1982 where they mainly supported other bands (including Gang Of Four at this venue), and followed up with a return visit as headliners in June 1983. Their return to California in November was brief, with 3 shows, before their first overseas visit to Europe the following week. This trip seemed to be to trial producer Elliot Mazer to record their folow up to Murmur (producer for Neil Young and Bob Dylan amongst many others). I'm not sure what strings IRS must have pulled to get this, but this was a huge coup for a band that only had 1 EP and 1 album to their name at this point. The recording session occurred the day prior to this show, and the session can easily be found online to download if you haven't heard it yet. For whatever reason, the collaboration was never pursued (maybe Elliot didn't appreciate the subtleties of Cushy Tush!). To this day I'm intrigued by what Reckoning would have sounded like if Elliot Mazer got the nod.

That recording session was fairly extensive for 1 days work, and not only included songs that were in contention for their next record, but also "jokey" songs like 'Walter's Theme' and 'Cushy Tush'. That can be the only reason I can explain why the band chose to open this show with their mock BBQ ad, which while played very occasionally, never opened any other show where setlists are known. Word of mouth about this band was clearly spreading, and the band received an extremely enthusiastic response, with the packed crowd yelling and cheering songs like 'Talk About The Passion' like they were top 40 hits.

This show is particularly unique for the encores - friends Andy Gill and John King from Gang of Four, whom the band had toured extensively with joined the band to cover 'Sweet Jane', and Eric Martin from The Neats, who supported the band at this show (along with Let's Active), came out and sang his song 'Lies' with the band, the only known time this occurred.

No less than 7 songs from Reckoning feature at this show, an album that was still 6 months away from release and hadn't even been recorded yet, and were greeted with cheers as if people had known them for years. Given the crowd reaction at this show, it's no wonder in less than a year they would return to the bay city playing theatres, places like the Kabuki too small to satisfy demand.

Torrent notes: This is a reseed, it was originally seeded to Dime many years ago, and fell off the tracker a long long time ago. It's always been one of my favorites, and the sound quality is excellent, particularly given some of the very average recordings that exist from this time period out there. I added a newspaper review of the show found online, as well as a picture of the band that must have been taken immediately after the show given how sweaty they look!

http://remtimeline.com for all your R.E.M. setlist needs!