LDB Special Series #309

Out of my 7,000+ shows and radio broadcasts, I have many concerts that were special for some reasons: the setlist, the
musicians, the venue or unexpected events. These are the ones I'd like to propose you. Most of these come from my
cassettes collection, so they will be released at a slower pace than my Master Series! But you won't be disappointed!
I will try to gather the most unusual things I have in my collection and, as always, your feedback and comments will be my
reward for all the work involved in this project.

DO NOT share this music on mp3, just convert it for your own use. Sharing mp3's is the right way to make me stop sharing
music here.

Let me make a point about musicians who do not allow their shows to be traded / shared for free:

1) Some of those people claim that they don't like others to trade / share their intellectual property. I am not going to
remind how really intellectual property works in other sectors such as IT but let's say that these people do care about
shows being traded for free while they do not care when photos made by professionals wearing a 'photo pass' are sold and a
profit is made beyond their will. Trackers are an easy target to ‘kill’, where individual sites by photographers are more difficult
to stop.

2) Some of these artists are themselves listeners / owners of ROIOs both audio and video, although they don't want to admit it.
And they are quite embarrassed when it is found out.

3) Most, if not all, of those who record shows do it discreetly since it is well known that the best way to be caught is to
show the microphone in front of the artist. Those who really show-off are the ones who like to film a few minutes of the
show with their smartphone or camera to keep a souvenir or post it to youtube...Not really a danger...

4) Nobody claims to have the 'right' to record shows. If artists feel that - for whatever reason - they don't want their shows
to be shared, fair enough. But they do not have to find irrealistic reasons why they don't want this to happen. Let's say that, if
you take the list of artists for which recordings exists (let's say...5000/6000), only a very small minority requires their
shows to be banned (let's say less than 50) which is less than 1%. Are they right or wrong? I don't know, let's only say that
they just doing the opposite of the big majority, as much as today's world is all about sharing freely as long as this does not
cause a financial damage to the owner, which is not the case.

5) The presence of live shows has never been the reason for an artist to be successful. But for some of them it has helped. A lot,
especially in the early days. And some of the artists that are today against such recordings are the ones that have probably taken
advantage from their shows circulating and building a strong and loyal fanbase. On the other side, artists such The Rolling Stones
or Bob Dylan for which live recordings have always been more a pain in the neck (especially in the vinyl boot days) are among
those who are ok with such recordings. Strange, isn't it?

6) The Beatles, U2, Led Zeppelin, Frank Zappa, David Bowie, Pink Floyd, Genesis, Rolling Stones, Radiohead, Pearl Jam.
What do these artists have in common? They all allow their recordings to be shared. Then one has a hard time to figure out
why artists like Artful Dodger, Dickey Betts, Blackfield, ELP, King Crimson, Bo Diddley, John Scofield do not allow it. And
the "excuses" are the most fantasy ones. "contractual obligations and the wishes of other musicians with differing opinions";
"They object to the presumption that it’s okay for someone else to barter and trade our intellectual property". Some others
send lawyers letters while it is sufficient a simple email on behalf of the artists to have them in the NAB list. And artists
like ELP who are in the NAB list do rip people off by releasing and selling their own crappy live shows recorded with a crappy
microphone with an awful sound quality!

7) Recordings are part of the music history, and no lawyer will stop them, especially in this digital era. Thanks to it we have invaluable documents that keep
the legacy of the music and make sure that some moments are captured for posterity. If a certain Dean Benedetti did not bring
his recorder, we would not have today the privilege to listen to some of the finest Charlie Parker solos that have been saved
for music students and jazz lovers to listen and learn. And God bless Mike Millard…

Live music recording will always exist, beyond me, you or the artists and his well paid legal department. That, is a fact...

THE POLICE
Reggio Emilia, Palasport
April 3, 1980

01.Intro / Next To You
02.So Lonely
03.Walking On The Moon
04.Hole In My Life
05.Deathwish
06.Truth Hits Everybody
07.Driven To Tears
08.Bring On The Night
09.Visions Of the Night
10.The Bed's Too Big Without You
11.Message In A Bottle
12.Roxanne
13.Can't Stand Losing You / Day-O (Banana Boat Song)
14.Landlord
15.Born In The 50's
16.Fall Out / Next To You (closing)

TT 83:37

Lineage: Unknown recording device > n generation copy > Aiwa Tape Deck TC-WE475 > M-Audio Audiophile 2496 > HD >
SoundForge 7.0 > CD Wave > FLAC Frontend (level 6)

Sting - bass, vocals
Stewart Copeland - drums
Andy Summers - guitars

The show was scheduled to be played in Roma, but the authorities feared riots and cancelled the show. To avoid riots in Reggio Emilia the doors were opened at 4.00pm. The police tried to disperse the
huge crowd outside the venue by using tear-gas. About 2.000 people without tickets manage to sneak in by breaking open a door. The place was packed. The backstage area was cleared for a while because
tear-gas reached this area.

Before Next To You: "Nice to be in Reggio Emilia".
Before So Lonely: "I tell you if anybody spits at me again I'll come down and pull your fucking legg off. Right? FUCK OF".
During Hole In My Life Sting started to become abusive.
"Here is a song called Deathwish. You are not making enough noise to my liking. I'm pissed of. You should be louder than the [??] are".
"This is a song called Driven To Tears. You won't know this one, unless you were in Milan last night. I wish I could speak more Italian. All you English people can fuck off. Are you spitting? I tell you,
if you spit at me once more mate than I'll fuck you. Fuck off. You fucking wanker. Stronzo".
Before Bring On The Night: "Quiet a lot. Quiet a lot".
During Can't Stand Losing You: "Alright Reggio Emilia. ALRIGHT REGGIO EMILIA. Fucking whimps. Come up. Wake up. I tell you, last night we played in Milano and they were extremely loud. Very accomadating.
You don't meet them. Your fucking asses kicked. It's all a waste of time".
Before Fall Out: "There is a fire down there. I must say you have woken up. Thank God for that".