Nico
Minneapolis MN USA
Duffy's
Thursday 12 June 1980
[stereo audience recording; total running time: 38:45.70]

cassette side A (38:45.70):
01. start (00:49.35)
02. Genghis Khan (04:13.17)
03. interim (00:34.00)
04. Purple Lips (02:46.43)
05. interim (02:16.38)
06. Henry Hudson [aborted] (01:18.63)
07. Henry Hudson [complete] (03:08.67)
08. interim (00:28.65)
09. We've Got the Gold [aborted] (01:03.41)
10. interim (00:18.21)
[tape deck stopped]
11. Janitor Of Lunacy (02:26.10) [beginning truncated; aborted]
12. interim (01:59.16)
13. unknown title [guitar instrumental] (02:07.44)
14. I Feel Good [James Brown] (01:58.38)
15. interim (01:00.53)
16. interim / comments (01:02.38)
17. Innocent and Vain [aborted] (01:15.64)
[tape deck stopped]
18. interim (00:19.43)
19. Procession (04:04.46)
20. The End (02:21.71)
21. interim (01:28.26)
22. interim / comments (04:10.25)

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Digitizing notes:

The same recording appears on both sides of the cassette - presumably, side A is the master.
The taper suggested that back in the day, he often tried to consolidate tape by re-combining segments on other cassettes. A segment of the same recording also appears on the B-side of Beat The Dutch 25 October 1980.

I’ve read more than one review stating that this was a solo performance, featuring Nico and a harmonium, but clearly she is accompanied by a guitar at times. Most of the songs here were aborted, and Nico’s voice does sound like it was in pretty rough shape; it seems that she left the stage several times, and was coaxed back by the audience (who are pretty vocal toward the end). At one point mid-set, the (unidentified) guitarist plays a short instrumental, and possibly the same person sings a James Brown cover, which seems almost surreal in the context of this performance. I’ve heard from people who attended the show that Nico had “a meltdown”, which I suppose is a pretty easy thing for someone to say, but it does sound as though both her health and psyche were fairly fragile at the time. Still, there are five complete songs here, a few of which are minimal interpretations of the album versions.

Trivia note: This show took place less than two weeks after Joy Division would have been playing at the same venue, on 29 May 1980, with Husker Du scheduled as an opening act.

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lineage:
original master cassette [2-channel stereo] > Nakamichi DR-3 cassette deck [Azimuth adjustment applied to playback head] > Edirol R-04 [RCA/analog in; 24-bit/96kHz transfer (.wav)] > PC [via USB] > CD Wave Editor [Version 1.98; Windows Build Number: 0000.23F0] (sector boundary tracking) > Trader's Little Helper [Version 2.7.0; Build 172] (Level 8 .wav > .flac conversion)

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The DG Tapes.
Made available to the world through the collaborative resources of these people:
Recorded in 1980 by Daniel Grobani.
Digitized in 2016; and technical notes by J. Free [sonicarchives.com]