Wishbone Ash (MK II)
Blackburn, King George's Hall
May 29, 1980

**NOTE**:
Torrented for the first time on Dime and (AFAIK) never on other trackers, also otherwise VERY RARELY circulated.

Lineage: unknown taper�s analog equipment > my Maxell XL II cassette tape (unknown gen., in early 90's trade/swap) > fresh September 27, 2017 transfer from Sony D6C walkman (Azimuth adjusted, pitch checked) to Olympus LS P2 PCM recorder at 44.1kH > wav > Audacity (for slight editing and auto-boosting levels) > wav > FLAC (level 8) > Dimeadozen > all Wishboneatix! Docdondy, September 28, 2017.

Sound quality: 3 out of 6/vg(+)
Audio sample for both shows in comments.
Comes with lovingly designed full colour cover artwork using contemporary pix and memorabilia (PDF files). Comments welcome. :-)

CD 1
1. DOCTOR
2. LADY WHISKEY
3. HELPLESS
4. I NEED PEOPLE
5. THE PILGRIM
6. LOOKIN� FOR A REASON
7. RUNAWAY
8. LIVING PROOF
9. BAND INTRODUCTION

CD 2
1. THE KING WILL COME
2. PHOENIX
3. BLOWIN' FREE
4. JAIL BAIT
5. BAD WEATHER BLUES

As the tour programme for the band's January 18 to April 4, 1980 10th anniversary tour to back their latest album "Just Testing" read, it was planned to tour the US and Japan in May and June 1980. However, the band had lost a lot of ground in The States, not least due to them having relocated back to the UK in 1978 and not touring their interim home country since 1977. It appears a bit odd though that the Japan tour didn't come to be either because the band had always been quite popular there.

In order to somehow compensate that loss, the band's then manager John Sherry quickly organised another, short-notice tour of the UK which would lead the band through cities they had not covered along their initial itinerary and partially though some smaller venues. Since the "10th anniversary" plug had run its marketing course by that time, they released a new and special single with "Blowin Free" and "Helpless" both freshly recorded live along the previous UK leg � clearly not a shot at the singls charts but a special treat for their loyal fanbase.

The band and their record company were obviously - and thankfully - already planning the "Live Dates" Vol. II" album so four shows along the first leg were recorded as were two along the second; not less than three tracks from that May/June tour would appear on side one of the future live LP!

What would not be released though, were two at that time UNRELEASED and strong Martin Turner-written numbers, "I Need People" and "Looking For A Reason", and both were solely played on his very tour! It had always been very rare for Wishbone to play numbers before they were recorded in the studio, so we are highly lucky that at least two shows were taped from the audience (this being the better sounding of the two).

It seems by May 1980, at least Martin had already started writing songs for their next album and one can only wonder how that may have sounded. Both new numbers though are pretty good rockers and nicely in the then recent "Living Poof"-vein so this could well have been a suitable musical direction for the band.

"Looking For A Reason" was luckily unearthed for the 1997 "Distillation" box set but at least at that time, it seemed the reels with "I Need People" had gone missing. Maybe they can be found for the projected 32 CDs (yes!) box set that Andy Powell reported of on his web page some time back. Up until then, this show here may help us all through...

On a final note: the inside photo of the �Live Dates Vol. II�, fold-open album cover with its "Rock & Roll backstage still life" so to speak shows several 1980 Wishbone memorabilia and a set list of this particular tour attached to a mirror. You may imagine that before I received the two taped shows, it had driven me N-U-T-S not to know about these two unknown titles.

Also, even if it hard to believe, this was the only MK II tour with "The Pilgrim" and who wouldn't LOVE to hear Laurie play that, right?
So, in case you've always had similar ...er, "Wishboneatix' issues", I'd be happy if this torrent could remedy them at least a little. :-)

Please do NOT sell this show or spread it in lossy formats - otherwise: trade, share, collect � and enjoy! Always looking forward to your comments and possibly even further info...

Uploaded to Dimeadozen on September 28, 2017 by DocDondy for all fellow-Wishbonenatix to enjoy.

Wishbone ahoy!
Th:-)mas