Van Der Graaf Generator
Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
London, England
1976-11-21

VG audience recording

Lineage: Audience cassette(unknown gen)>(?)>CDr>EAC>WAV>Soundforge(re-tracking,edits)>flac level 6>you

The Band:

Hugh Banton - organ and bass pedals
Guy Evans - drums and percussion
David Jackson - flute, saxophones and hat
Peter Hammill - guitars, clavinet and vox

Set:

CD 1

01. Masks
02. La Rossa
03. Still Life
04. A Place To Survive
05. Lemmings

CD 2

01. Arrow
02. Tuning
03. Childlike Faith In Childhood's End

This is my re-tracked and abridged version taken from CDrs sent to me by the late Jamie Fogg (R.I.P)
Unfortunately the concert was incomplete in that it finished after a few minutes of Meurglys III and therefore lacked Gog and Sleepwalkers. In addition to that the first song When She Comes is absent from all known versions of the recording from this date. My copy had deteriorated over time to the extent that EAC couldn't extract the final track due to errors. I ommited it (incomplete as it was in any case) and the rest came through OK although there are audible errors in the last minute of Childhood's End; that sort of skipping noise-but it's not that bad and doesn't detract from the music I find.
After listening and cross-referencing with online databases I discovered the track Still Life to be misplaced in the running order and that the end of Lemmings had somehow been attached to it's beginning. To correct this I edited in Soundforge and now you have what appears to be the correct (albeit incomplete) running order. Other than that I have left the recording as I received it. It sounds as if some hiss removal has been applied but it is quite subtle and the recording is good enough to have not suffered in the process.
Before A Place To Survive Hammill launches into quite an amusing monologue the point of which seems to be that he is not in a talkative frame of mind!
I attended this show and remember the sad sight of large areas of the stalls unoccupied. In the end I think the entire audience moved to the front stalls or at least those of us not in the balconies. The stage was very large and Banton's enormous bass speakers dominated the backline. At certain points Hammill, with very long hair and dressed entirely in white circulated across the stage and behind the amps and drums gesticulating like a man possessed.
I can well understand his and the band's frustration at what should have been a sold out house welcoming their conquering heroes home from a successful tour of North America but those of us that did make the effort were well satisfied. Van Der Graaf Generator certainly wasn't for everyone but those of us who liked it have stuck with it and been rewarded for our patience and dedication.
If anyone can provide an upgrade to this I for one would be very happy. Please share on and keep the files lossless.