The Birthday Party
-Chronology-

The band played their last show as the Boys Next Door on February 28th, 1980 in Melbourne at the Macy's club at Her Majesty's Hotel. They leave from Melbourne Tullamarine Airport for London (UK) on 29-Feb-80 at 8:40PM. Arriving in England they change their name to The Birthday Party. They live in poor circumstances and have to take day jobs to support themselves.

Upon arrival they check in at a hotel near Gloucester Road in South Kensington. Soon after, Mick Harvey and girlfriend Katy move to a bedsit in West Kensington, and the rest moves to a one room basement flat in Earls Court. By April/May all ten move into a two-bedroom house in Fulham at 39 Maxwell Road . In June Nick and Tracy, with their girlfriends (and a bunch of other Australians like John Murphy [The Obsessions, The Young Charlatans] and Harry Zantey [Crime and the City Solution]) move to a squated house, without heating, running water or electricity, in Walterton Road/Harrow Road, Maida Vale. During 1980 Mick works in an office for the Lyons food group, Phil in a jeans shop on Kings Road, Tracy as a cleaner at Heathrow Airport and Nick washes dishes at the London Zoo (for about a week). Rowland (and girlfriend Genevieve) tried a job for one day at a Topshop clothing factory outside of London, then a week washing dishes, but after getting mugged and robbed from his earnings decided having a job was not his thing.

They will end up playing only 10 shows (largely on borrowed equipment) in London in 1980. Despite the name change they continue to perform mainly Boys Next Door songs during their live sets. Only as of the spring of 1981 their sets will consist mainly out of new, Birthday Party, material.

"I also did a lot of the organising. We had a publicist Chris Carr and we were booked through Rough Trade. I booked backline, rehearsals and transport. Also carnet and visas when required. Mick [Harvey] and I organised the manufacturing of the first "Mr Clarinet" 7 inch single prior to moving to 4AD records. In the first year there weren’t many gigs, so it was more about getting airplay. Once [BBC radio John] Peel started pushing us and gave us our first [radio] session, the magazines took note and we were on our way. There was never any money, at the best of times we earned around 50 quid [pounds] a week." Phill Calvert on Facebook.

06/08-Mar-80
UK London,The Marquee

Ad: Scan of ad from Sounds 08-Mar-80.

Note: A live gig by The Cure. "A lot of people don't realize how well the [Birthday Party] could play. We rehearsed and we were very tight and we played live [a lot] and I remember when we first went to England the first band we went and saw [live] -almost fresh off the plane the second night- were The Cure at The Marquee, and [they] could really play and they got up, a three-piece band, and they played the "Three Imaginary Boys" record start to finish note perfect and we said 'fuck if anyone everyone England can play like this we're in big trouble'. Then I think about a week later we went and saw Siouxsie and the Banshees or Teardrop Explodes [and] they really played badly. [..] We were really developing quite a sound at that point. When we came back [to Australia] at the end of the first year in England there was a really noticeable change. It was a much more muscular kind of sound that we were getting then we did prior to leaving." Phil Calvert, interviewed for "Mutiny In Heaven" documentary (Ian White, 2023).

19-Apr-80
UK London-Victoria,The Venue
[with The Barracudas and The Feelies]

Flyer: Scan of flyer.

Note: A live gig by The Cramps, attended by Nick Cave (and Keith Glass, the Birthday Party's manager and Missing Link record label chief). Lux Interior appears bare-chested and had painted his chest. "It changed Nick's life the night he saw the Cramps, I know because I was there, at the Venue in London. That was the trigger to the first time he stripped off his shirt and painted his chest. Now that may be just a cosmetic thing, but their music was affected as well." Keith Glass in "Stranded -Australian Independent Music, 1976-1992 (Revised/Expanded 2021)", a book by Clinton Walker.

xx-Jun-80
AU Release of 'Mr. Clarinet/Happy Birthday' 7" single (Missing Link records).

Note: These are in fact still Boys Next Door songs recorded in Melbourne in Jan/Feb-80

29-Jun-80
UK London-Covent Garden,The Rock Garden
[support for Temporary Title and The Dave]

Ad: Taken from NME mag 28-Jun-80, collection From The Archives.

Note: First concert as The Birthday Party, 4 months after arriving in the UK. Attended by BBC1 Radio DJ, John Peel, who would invite them for a radio session on 10-Sep-80.

10-Jul-80
UK London-West Hampstead,The Moonlight Club @ The Railway Hotel
[support for DAF and The Lines]

Ad: Taken from Sounds mag 28-Jun-80, collection From The Archives.

Photo: Google street view, December 2017.

Note 1: Second concert as The Birthday Party. Ivo Watts-Russel (4AD Records) attends the show, as well as Daniel Miller (Mute Records). Shambolic performance due to the fact that the band had consumed their 'rider' of free alcohol only 10 minutes before taking the stage (from Ian Johnston's biography "Bad Seed").

Note 2: The band would perform 13 times at the Moonlight Club, which started in 1961 as the Klooks Kleek (jazz and rhythm 'n' blues club) and closed in 1970.

Summer 1980. Fulham, @ 39 Maxwell Road. Nick Cave and Rowland S.Howard write new songs: "King Ink" and "Figure Of Fun". Rowland writes "Zoo Music Girl" and Nick "Nick The Stripper", "Cry", "Yard" and "A Dead Song". The only instruments in that house were Mick and Rowland's guitar and Tracy's bass. Later, the songs are further rehearsed at a rehearsal space in Battersea owned by 'Kevin'.

07-Aug-80
UK London-Covent Garden,Rock Garden
[support for Blurt]

Ad: Taken from UK mag Aug-80, collection From The Archives.

Note: Third concert as The Birthday Party. Ivo Watts-Russel of 4AD records again attends the show.

28-Aug-80
UK London-Covent Garden,Rock Garden
4AD Records' night
[with The The]

Ad: Taken from NME mag 23-Aug-80 , collection From The Archives.

Note: Fourth concert as The Birthday Party. Ivo Watts-Russel of 4AD records again attends the show.

10-Sep-80
UK London,BBC Maida Vale Studios,Studio 4
recording John Peel Radio Session I

Setlist: Cry/ Yard/ Figure Of Fun/ King Ink

Note: First time these newly written songs are recorded. They will all end up on The Birthday Party's debut album "Prayers on Fire" recorded in Melbourne during December/January 1980/1981. Peel session first broadcast by BBC Radio One on 25-Sep-80. Session recorded by Nick Gomm and Martin Colley. Produced by Dale 'Buffin' Griffin [Mott The Hoople]. All tracks released on "The John Peel Sessions" CD (Strange Fruit UK-2001)

18-Sep-80
UK London-Islington,Hope & Anchor Hotel

Ad: Taken from NME mag 20-Sep-80, collection From The Archives.

Note: Fifth concert as The Birthday Party. Concert to celebrate their deal with of 4AD records.

08-Oct-80
UK London,West Hampstead,The Moonlight Club @ The Railway Hotel
[support for DAF]

Setlist: Amongst others: Figure Of Fun & The Friend Catcher.

Ad: Scan of xerox taken from UK mag Oct-80.

Review: Review by Terri Sanai, taken from Sounds mag 25-Oct-80.

11-Oct-80
UK Release of 'The Friend Catcher/Waving my arms/Catman' 7" single (4AD records).

Note: These are in fact still Boys Next Door songs recorded in Melbourne in Jan/Feb-80

23-Oct-80
UK London-Camden,Music Machine
[with In Camera & Dance Chapter]

Ad: Taken from NME mag 25-Oct-80, collection From The Archives.

Note: Seventh concert as The Birthday Party.

30-Oct-80
UK London-Hammersmith,Clarendon Hotel
[with In Camera & Mass]

Flyer: Original flyer (design Gary Asquith), collection From The Archives.

Ad: Advert, taken from NME mag 25-Oct-80.

Flyer 1: Scan of flyer.

Note: Eight concert as The Birthday Party.

03-Nov-80
UK London-West Hampstead,The Moonlight Club @ The Railway Hotel
[with End Games]

Ad: Scan of xerox taken from UK mag Oct-80.

Note: Ninth concert as The Birthday Party.

04-Nov-80
UK London-Richmond,Snoopy's Disco

Ad: Taken from Sounds mag 18-Oct-80, collection From The Archives.

Note: Tenth concert as The Birthday Party.

xx-Nov-80
AU Release of 'Boys Next Door/Birthday Party' compilation album (Missing Link records)

xx-Nov-80
AU Newcastle,RSL Club

Note: "As it so happens, Newcastle is my hometown and the first place I ever saw the much-hyped Birthday Party, who'd only just changed their name from The Boys Next Door and returned from England in late 1980. I hated them, Nick most of all, whom I regarded as a poseur and someone who held the audience in contempt. It was clear none of the band wanted to be in Newcastle at an RSL, playing to a half-empty room. Musically, they were hedged between the power pop of 'Door, Door', the Jarry-esque experimentalism of the 'Hee Haw' album and a pale vein of primitivism yet to open up with their 'Prayers on Fire' recording. It's likely Newcastle was just a warm-up show, testing out the old and the new and deciding what they would do next." From "Boy On Fire", a Nick Cave biography book by Mark Mordue (2020).

22-Nov-80
AU Melbourne-St.Kilda,Seaview Hotel,The Crystal Ballroom

Poster: Original poster for tour from November 22 - December 9, 1980. Collection From The Archives.

Review 1: Taken from the Canberra Times 26-Nov-80.

Review 2: Scan of review from Roadrunner Dec-80/Jan-81.

Note: First concert after their return from London and start of their first Australian tour as The Birthday Party. Tour organised by Ken West (then Laughing Clowns manager, later Big Day Out fest promotor).

Dolores San Miguel took charge of the Seaview Hotel (former George Hotel in Fitzroy Street) from its previous occupants in August 1978. In February 1979 Laurie Richards took over and renamed the venue the Crystal Ballroom and operated it under that name until January 10th 1981.

26-Nov-80
AU Canberra,Ainslie Hotel,Backdoor
[with Young Docteurs and Framed]

Ad: Taken from the Canberra Times 22-Nov-80.

Note: According to Arthur C. "There was almost nobody there". Concert presented by 2XX FM, community radio station.

27-Nov-80
AU Melbourne-Prahran,Market Hotel

Ad: Photo of Bands Own Gig Guide.

28-Nov-80
AU Sydney,Paris Theatre
[with Laughing Clowns & The Go-Betweens]

Setlist: King Ink/ Happy Birthday/ Guilt Parade/ Yard/ Mr. Clarinet/ Figure Of Fun/ The Friend Catcher/ Waving My Arms/ Nick The Stripper/ Safehouse/ Catman [Gene Vincent]/ Cry/ The Hair Shirt/ Riddle House.

Poster: Photo of poster. Another version of the poster taken from the inside cover of "Inner City Sound", a book by Clinton Walker.

Poster: Photo of poster, designed by Cameron Hulme.

Photo: Photo credit Adrian Cunningham.

Review: Scan of review from Roadrunner Dec-80/Jan-81.

Note 1: Broadcast live to air by 2JJ FM radio in Sydney. "Cry" released on "Cremation" bootleg LP (listed as Melbourne,Hearts 9-Apr-81). Nick Cave plays sax and (Farsifa) keyboard. Live sound mixed by Steven -Groper- Colgan.

Note 2: During this tour in Sydney Nick and Tracy get their first tattoos. The Go-Betweens' first gig in Australia outside of Brisbane. "Air travel being expensive, we came down by train and went straight from the station to the venue. The front doors of the theatre were open, and not knowing anyone to report to, we went through the foyer and sat in the darkened stall seats at the back, in time to watch The Birthday Party soundcheck. They looked fantastic in their black suits and ties and jagged art-school haircuts, all the while puffing dramatically on endless rounds of cigarettes. They were playing melodic rock songs; sure, there was wild guitar noise from Rowland Howard, the band was dangerous, and Nick Cave was screaming and gesturing at the ceiling, yet these unreleased numbers were identifiable from their strong, song-title choruses — 'Cry', 'Zoo-Music Girl'. It was impressive music with a big visual whack, and in the darkness I sank in my chair..." From "Grant & I", a book by Robert Forster (Omnibus Press, 2018).

29-Nov-80
AU Sydney-Kings Cross,Rock Garden
[with Pel Mel and Popular Mechanics]

Ad: Photo of ad from The Alternative Gig Guide (TAGG), sourced from Rock Posters Australia Facebook group.

30-Nov-80
AU Sydney-Darlinghurst,Brighton Hotel
[support by The Go-Betweens and Pel Mel]

Poster: Photo of poster. Another version, reproduced in booklet with "Definitive Missing Link Recordings 1979-1982" 5CD box set (Missing Link, 1991).

04-Dec-80
AU Brisbane,National Hotel
[support by The Go-Betweens and Ninja Skil]

Poster: Original -handwritten- poster, collection From The Archives.

Note: Organised by 4ZZZ FM radio from QLD.

05-Dec-80
AU Brisbane,National Hotel
[support by The Go-Betweens,The Numbers and The Repairs]

06-Dec-80
AU Brisbane,National Hotel
[support by The Go-Betweens,The Numbers and The Repairs]

Poster: Photo of poster W Marty Burke.

Note: Organised by 4ZZZ FM radio from QLD.

07-Dec-80
AU Sydney-Gladesville,Bayview Tavern

0x-Dec-80
AU Sydney-Paddington,Green Hotel,Brownies

Photo: Two photo sets, credit Kevin Blyth. Photo set two.

Note: Nick Cave plays sax and (Farsifa) keyboard. Brownies was a small room upstairs at the hotel, later changing name to Players. The Gun Club played at the club on 12-Oct-83.

09-Dec-80
AU Melbourne-South Yara,Her Majesty's Hotel,Macy's
[with The Go-Betweens]

12-Dec-80
AU Melbourne-St.Kilda,Seaview Hotel,Paradise Lounge
[with The Go-Betweens]

Flyer: Photo of flyer.

Note: In April 1980 Dolores San Miguel was asked by owner Graeme Richmond to return to the Seaview Hotel to run weeknight gigs in what she named, the Paradise Lounge (on the ground floor). After Laurie Richards left The Crystal Ballroom on January 10th 1981, Dolores took on a business partner, Nigel Rennard, and they ran the venue as The Ballroom until a falling out in September of ’81, whereby Dolores vacated her position. Nigel renamed the venue the Seaview Ballroom and ran it till the end of ’83. Dolores was back in ’84 but left in early ’85. She ran a few nights in 1986 before the hotel/venue was closed for business in 1987. More information in "The Ballroom: The Melbourne Punk & Post Punk Scene", a book by Dolores San Miguel.

13-Dec-80
AU Melbourne-Carlton,Imperial Hotel,Martini's
[with The Go-Betweens]

Setlist: Nick The Stripper/ Happy Birthday/ Zoo-Music Girl/ Yard/ Mr. Clarinet/ Let's Talk About Art/ The Friend Catcher/ Waving My Arms/ King Ink/ Guilt Parade/ The Hair Shirt.

Note: Perhaps moved to the Crystal Ballroom, St.Kilda.

20-Dec-80
AU Melbourne-North Carlton,Polaris Inn Hotel,Hearts Club
[with Equal Local]

Setlist: The Friend Catcher/ Guilt Parade/ Safehouse/ King Ink/ Waving My Arms/ Yard/ Mr. Clarinet/ Nick The Stripper/ Let's Talk About Art/ Happy Birthday/ Figure Of Fun/ The Hair Shirt/ Cry/ Catman [Gene Vincent]/ Cracked Portrait/ Riddle House.

Listing: Scan of listing, taken from The Age newspaper, 19-Dec-80.

30-Dec-80
AU Melbourne-St.Kilda,Seaview Hotel,The Crystal Ballroom
(Benefit concert for the Crystal Ballroom, with many others.)

Setlist: I Wanna Be Your Dog/ Funhouse (Garry Gray [Negatives/Sacred Cowboys] joins on vocals)/ Loose/ 1969.

Photo: Credit Steve Gleeson. (Garry Gray is seen far left).

Note 1: The band play a 15 minutes set. Without drummer Phil Calvert, Mick Harvey taking his place.

Note 2: "Me and Nick came back to Australia and totally independently went home and found these Stooges records in our collections and played them to death. Then said to each other, hey, guess what, I've rediscovered the Stooges." Rowland Howard in "Stranded -Australian Independent Music, 1976-1992 (Revised/Expanded 2021)", a book by Clinton Walker.

Note 3: Rowland: "We were doing 'Prayers On Fire' [album], and were asked to play a benefit for [concert promoter] Laurie Richards because the Crystal Ballroom was going broke. Although Laurie had given us lots of gigs, he had also, we felt, treated us like shit. Considering that we guaranteed him an audience and played there every week for a year and made him a lot of money, he used to pay us really badly, and his attitude was, 'I've given you your big break, I made you'. So our immediate reaction was, 'Fuck you!', and then we thought, 'Let's go and play something ridiculous and stupid', and Phill [Calvert] said, `No, I'm not going to do it, there's a principle involved here and I refuse to play'. So we said, 'Fine, we'll play without you' [with Mick Harvey moving to drums]. We decided to do Stooges songs, so five minutes before the set I was showing Tracy [Pew] how they all went, and we got up and did forty-five minutes of Stooges songs: 'I Wanna Be Your Dog', `Funhouse', 'Loose', '1969', perhaps others. It was a great set.". Rowland S.Howard quoted in "Nick Cave: The Birthday Party and Other Epic Adventures", a book by Robert Brokenmouth.

Note 4: "Staying in the black remained a challenge for [Laurie] Richards; and for every 10 musos who'll swear they're in his debt for the early gigs he gave them, there might be one who reckons he still owes them 50 bucks." From Obituary: "Maverick promoter gave many bands a break" Sydney Morning Herald, March 22, 2014.

31-Dec-80
AU Melbourne-St.Kilda,Seaview Hotel,The Crystal Ballroom
[with Bleu Scooters + International Exiles + Peter Lillee + The Zorros]

Photo: Credit Wayne O'Farrell.

Ad: Photo of advert.

Note: One of the stage-divers was kicked off stage by Tracy Pew (from Ian Johnston's biography "Bad Seed"). Nick Cave plays sax and (Farsifa) keyboard.

Late December 1980 to January 1981
AU Melbourne, Richmond Recorders studios: "Prayers on Fire" album recording sessions. Armstrong's Audio Visual II Studios: "Prayers On Fire" and "Nick The Stripper" 12" recording sessions. All engineered by Tony Cohen. Songs recorded: "Zoo Music Girl", "Cry", "Capers", Nick The Stripper", "Ho-Ho", "Figure Of Fun", "King Ink", "A Dead Song", "Yard", "Dull Day", "Just You And Me", "Blundertown" and "Kathy's Kisses".

21-Jan-81
AU Adelaide,Radio 5-MMM,Kathy Texaco's "What's On" show

Note: The band is interviewed on the eve of their 4 nights in Adelaide.

22-Jan-81
AU Adelaide,Hotel Fantasia
[with Dance Movie]

Note: Start of the 2nd Australian tour, again organised by Ken West [Big Day Out fest]. On the first night [of the tour in Adelaide] at the Fantasia, Nick [Cave] wrapped his mike cord around Tracy [Pew] and dragged him across the stage. from "Nick Cave: The Birthday Party and Other Epic Adventures", a book by Robert Brokenmouth. During the set Rowland's guitar fails after which he's lend one from Rob, Dance Movie's guitarist.

23-Jan-81
AU Adelaide,Tivoli Hotel
[with The Beat Detectives & Joyous Invasion]

Setlist: Encore: Loose [The Stooges].

Poster: Reproduction taken from "King Ink strolls into Town..", a photobook by Alison Lea.

Contract: Reproduction of contract, credits as above.

24-Jan-81
AU Adelaide,Tivoli Hotel
[with Fun Fun Fun & The Mutes]

Setlist: Nick The Stripper/ Mr Clarinet/ Zoo Music Girl/ The Friend Catcher/ Happy Birthday/ Yard/ Guilt Parade/ Let's Talk About Art /King Ink/ Waving My Arms/ Cry/ Catman [Gene Vincent]/ Hair Shirt/ Safehouse/ Loose [The Stooges].

Photo: Credit Alison Lea, taken from "King Ink strolls into Town..", a photobook by Alison Lea. Another of Alison's photos of this night is on the cover of the "Nick The Stripper" 12" (Missing Link records, June 1981).

Note: Nick Cave plays saxophone on "Yard" and keyboard on some others.

25-Jan-81
AU Adelaide,Tivoli Hotel
[with The Bad Poets & The Lounge]

Photo: Credit Alison Lea, taken from "King Ink strolls into Town..", a photobook by Alison Lea.

Notes: "One of the best series of gigs were the three nights we did at the Tivoli Hotel in Adelaide in January 1981, when Hunters and Collectors were our road crew (with the huge, dark-red Hieronymous Bosch 'Hell' reproduction hovering above the stage). "The first night was really good, and we thought, 'Oh, we gotta do two more here', and the second night was even better. It was a really great show. "The build-up to the next night ... 'Tomorrow's going to be disastrous because the last two nights were so good'. We were sitting there all day thinking, 'It's going to be a disaster'; it had such a build-up beforehand that the third night was actually better again. That was when Nick first started painting his chest." Mick Harvey quoted in "Nick Cave: The Birthday Party and Other Epic Adventures", a book by Robert Brokenmouth.

31-Jan-81
AU Melbourne-St.Kilda,Seaview Ballroom
[with Fabulous Marquises + Little Murders]

Note: Show recorded by Tony Cohen, who considered it a "terrible gig".

05-Feb-81
AU Sydney-Cammerey,San Miguel Inn
[with Fabulous Marquises]

Poster: Taken from the inside cover of "Inner City Sound" book by Clinton Walker.

06-Feb-81
AU Sydney-Darlinghurst,Cell Block Theatre
[with Fabulous Marquises + Wild West]

Poster 1: Reproduction of poster taken from "Set in Stone, The Cell Block Theatre", a book about the venue by Deborah Beck.

Poster 2: Scan of another poster

Flyer: Scan of flyer .

Note: Cell Block Theatre, the former prison for female criminals (from 1841 to 1920), rarely programmed rock/punk concerts.

07-Feb-81
AU Sydney,Gladesville,Bayview Tavern
[with Fabulous Marquises + Moving Parts]

Poster: Scan of poster.

08-Feb-81
AU Canberra,The Jam Factor
[with Fabulous Marquises]

Ad: Scan of ad, taken from the Canberra Times 07-Feb-81.

Photo: Photo credit 'Pling'.

14-Feb-81
AU Melbourne-North Carlton,Polaris Inn Hotel,Hearts Club

21-Feb-81
AU Melbourne-St.Kilda,Seaview Hotel,The Crystal Ballroom
[with Equal Local and International Exiles]

Setlist: Happy Birthday/ Nick The Stripper/ Guilt Parade/ Zoo-Music Girl/ Yard/ Mr. Clarinet/ The Friend Catcher/ Let's Talk About Art/ Waving My Arms/ King Ink/ Figure Of Fun/ The Hair Shirt/ Catman [Gene Vincent]/ Cry/ Loose [The Stooges].

Poster: Photo of poster.

Review: Scan of review, taken from Roadrunner zine March 1981.

Note: Last concert before going back overseas. Rowland [Howard]: "We were doing 'Loose' and Nick [Cave] called this guy [Michael] from the audience onto the stage and gave him the mike, and this guy sang 'Loose' very well, better than Nick was doing it. Tracy [Pew] hadn't seen any of this happen, and walked up behind the guy and pushed him as hard as he could with his boot in the small of the guy's back, so he went flying into the audience and landed on his head." [...] Michael: ".. I hit the floor hard, and landed on my head. As a result, I spent the next half to three quarters of an hour in a daze, occasionally verging on semi-consciousness. Most of the time I was seeing double. There were moments when I couldn't see much at all ... If I had just invaded the stage and snatched the microphone off Nick, then I would've deserved to be kicked off. But the truth is that Nick invited me onto the stage, to sing ... maybe Tracy did it because he was drunk ... he really made an idiot of himself, but the worst part is that it reflects on you all. "I really wish it hadn't happened . . . it's left me slightly angry ... but more puzzled than anything ... please don't think this has put me off the band at all ... you're still one of the best bands going anywhere in the world." Rowland: "Mick and I were most upset, and Nick was pretty worried too. Michael is right, it did reflect badly on the band. It was really horrible and mortifying, because everyone had been tainted." Tracy was still drunk by the end of the night, and Rowland didn't see Tracy the next day so he doesn't know what his reaction was, he was probably equally upset; he would have known he'd made a foolish mistake. [...] Although it reflects badly on Tracy, it's easy to see how he could have made such a mistake. It also points to the band's lack of clear communication. It's amazing that no-one was killed at their gigs. [...] Paul Goldman: "The level of anger about the band really got out of hand; I remember being told that they were just pretentious, stupid idiots, that they did everything purely for shock value, and the band had no real integrity. I've never experienced a similar hatred and intensity of anger directed towards any other band." Quotes from "Nick Cave: The Birthday Party and Other Epic Adventures", a book by Robert Brokenmouth.

2x-Feb-81
AU Melbourne-Camberwell/Hawthorn tip (landfill)

Photo: Screen capture from video.

Note: Evan English & Paul Goldman (a.k.a. The Rich Kids) shoot the "Nick The Stripper" promo video (edited by John Hillcoat and/or David Biltmore) the day before the band return to London.

“We got permission to use the tip from the local council who had no idea what we doing,” Goldman recalls. “We bussed in a whole lot of people from a psychiatric hospital [..]. They all dressed up in costumes, we invited a lot of people from the Crystal Ballroom scene from the era, we also put the world out on RRR (FM radio). We got an apprentice electrician to illegally tap into power. We set fire to parts of the tip and the fire brigade and police turned up. We had explosives there. It was all pretty illegal.” It took ten hours to shoot, we ran out of fuel for the fires so people tore down back fences from nearby homes. [..] The video was meant to be a slap in the face, it was banned from Australian TV for a long time because of complaints from viewers. [..] Goldman says the video cost around $2000, but he had ways of keeping the cost down. “I was at Swinburne film school, various students helped me sneak the equipment out over 24 hours and I stole half the film stock from the school.” from an interview with Paul Goldman, published in the Australian Daily Telegraph on March 16, 2016.

xx-Mar-81
UK London-Bayswater,squat

Note: (Some of) the band move to another place.

11-Mar-81
UK London-West Hampstead,The Moonlight Club @ The Railway Hotel
[with My Captains]

Ad: Taken from NME mag 14-Mar-81, collection From The Archives. Scan of another advert.

18-Mar-81
UK London-Covent Garden,Rock Garden

Ad: Taken from NME mag 14-Mar-81, collection From The Archives.

19-Mar-81
UK London-Victoria,The Venue
[with Colin Newman and Department S]

Ad: Taken from NME mag 21-Mar-81, collection From The Archives.

Note: Barry Adamson (later to become a Bad Seeds member), Bleddyn Butcher (later to become the band's 'house' photographer) and John Peel (BBC radio DJ) in the audience.

29-Mar-81
UK London-Covent Garden,Africa Centre
[with Zeitgeist and The Apocalypse]

Flyer: Original flyer, collection From The Archives.

Ad: Scan of xerox of ad from UK mag.

30-Mar-81
UK Release of "Prayers on Fire" album (4AD records).

31-Mar-81
UK London,West Hampstead,The Moonlight Club @ The Railway Hotel
[with Mass]

Photo: Credit Harry Papadopoulos.

Ad: Scan of xerox of ad from UK mag.

21-Apr-81
UK London,BBC Langham 1 Studio
recording John Peel Radio Session II

Setlist: Release The Bats/ Rowland Around In That Stuff/ (Sometimes)Pleasure Heads Must Burn/ Loose [The Stooges].

Note: First broadcast by BBC Radio One on 28-Apr-81. Session recorded by Mike Robinson. Produced by Dale 'Buffin' Griffin [Mott The Hoople]. Also released on "The John Peel Sessions" CD (Strange Fruit UK-2001).

24-Apr-81
UK London,West Hampstead,The Moonlight Club @ The Railway Hotel
[with Broadcast & The Balloons]

Ad: Taken from UK mag Apr-81, collection From The Archives.

26-Apr-81
UK London-Acton,The Fire Escape (above The Kings Head)
[with Dif Juz]

Setlist: Nick The Stripper/ Happy Birthday/ Release The Bats/ Yard/ Waving My Arms/ Figure Of Fun/ The Friend Catcher.

Ad 1: Taken from NME mag 25-Apr-81, collection From The Archives.

Ad 2: Ad, taken from Sounds mag 25-Apr-81.

Note: Nick Cave plays sax on "Yard".

Apr-81
UK London-Shepherd's Bush,Townhouse Studio II. "Release the Bats/Blast Off" single recording session. All in one night until 8AM. Engineered by Nick Launey.

Note: The Town House was built in 1978 by Richard Branson as part of his Virgin Studios Group.
"I first met them [The Birthday Party] when they turned up at the Townhouse Studio. I had managed to get cheap studio time in Studio Two, after midnight only, which suited them perfectly. They arrived with their gear at about eleven and I remember the receptionist calling me and saying 'I think your band has arrived - at least, they look like one of your bands. Can you get them out of reception? They are scaring the other clients'. I think Queen were in the other studio [Queen recorded parts of "Flash Gordon" Feb-Mar 1980 @ Townhouse]. The daytime session in Studio Two was Phil Collins, who had finished and gone home by now [Collins recorded overdubs for his "In The Air Tonight" single and his "Face Value" album Nov-Dec 1980 @ Townhouse. The single was released on 05-Jan-81 and the album on 09-Feb-81]. They walked in looking like they hadn't slept in days, all smartly dressed in black like they had just come from church but maybe the church was a ruin with rats, and they hadn't washed in weeks. Being Australian they were actually very polite, but impatient to start - a trait that Cave has never lost. [..] "We recorded two songs, 'Release The Bats' and 'Blast Off', in one night. About halfway through I recognised the disappearing to the bathroom thing, but I'm glad to say it only added to the fuel and edginess of the night." Nick Launey interview by The Quietus, August 18, 2014

01-May-81
UK London,University of London Union
[with Theatre of Hate & Modern English]

Setlist: Nick The Stripper/ Happy Birthday/ (Sometimes)Pleasure Heads Must Burn/ The Friend Catcher/ Figure Of Fun/ Yard/ Rowland Around In That Stuff/ A Dead Song/ King Ink/ Release The Bats/ Cry/ Catman [Gene Vincent].

Flyer: Photo of flyer credit of Steven Rascoe.

Ad: Taken from Sounds mag 02-May-81, collection From The Archives.

Review: Review, taken from Record Mirror 16-May-81, courtesy of Dimitri.

06-May-81
UK London,Covent Garden,The Rock Garden

Ad: Taken from NME mag 02-May-81, collection From The Archives.

15-May-81
UK London-West Hampstead,The Moonlight Club @ The Railway Hotel
[with Dr Mix & The Remix and Self Control]

Ad: Taken from NME mag 16-May-81, collection From The Archives. Scan from another ad.

16-May-81
UK London,The Mall,ICA,Rock Week
[with Blurt and Ivory Coasters]

Photo: Credit by Cliff Homow. Used by kind permission. Taken at soundcheck.

Ad: Taken from NME mag 16-May-81, collection From The Archives.

17-May-81
UK London-Bayswater,squat

Photo: Credit David Corio. Sourced from Gettyimages/Redferns music photo libraries.

Note: Photoshoot by David Corio at the band's place.

18-May-81
UK London-Victoria,The Venue
[support for The Lounge Lizards]

Photo: Credit David Corio. Sourced from Gettyimages/Redferns music photo libraries.

Ad: Taken from NME mag 16-May-81, collection From The Archives.

Note: Nick Cave plays saxophone on some songs.

0x-Jun-81
UK Hemel Hempstead,Pavillion

Note: Their first UK gig outside of London (28 miles).

05-Jun-81
UK Leighton Buzzard,Bossard Hall
[with This Dead Plaything and The Chronic Outbursts]

Setlist: A Dead Song/ (Sometimes)Pleasure Heads Must Burn/ Nick The Stripper/ Cry/ Release The Bats.

Ticket: Reproduction of (forged) ticket in "1000 Gigs - A Life Well Lived", a book by Ian Lee.

Review: Scan of review from "1000 Gigs - A Life Well Lived", a book by Ian Lee.

Note: Their second UK gig (45 miles) outside of London. They only played a really short set because of the 2 other (local) bands on the bill, who played before them, and because they had to get back to London to catch the last tube. Which meant they must have been playing largely on borrowed equipment.

xx-Jun-81
AU Release of 'Nick The Stripper/Kathy's Kisses/Blundertown' 12" (Missing Link records).

08-Jun-81
UK Brighton,The Richmond
[with Death Rides a Horse]

Poster: Photo of poster, courtesy of Mark Benjamin [Death Rides a Horse, later Bone Orchard].

Listing: Listing, taken from NME mag 06-Jun-81, collection From The Archives.

12-Jun-81
UK London-West Hampstead,The Moonlight Club @ The Railway Hotel
[with The Parting Shots]

Setlist: Blast Off/ A Dead Song/ The Friend Catcher/ Zoo-Music Girl/ Rowland Around In That Stuff/ Nick The Stripper/ (Sometimes)Pleasure Heads Must Burn/ Happy Birthday/ King Ink/ Figure Of Fun/ Cry/ Release The Bats/ Catman [Gene Vincent].

Ad: Taken from NME mag 13-Jun-81, collection From The Archives.

17-Jun-81
UK Newcastle,University-Union
[support for Bauhaus, with Subway Sect]

Setlist: Nick The Stripper/ Release The Bats/ Zoo-Music Girl/ The Friend Catcher/ (Sometimes)Pleasure Heads Must Burn/ A Dead Song/ King Ink/ Blast Off/ Figure Of Fun/ Catman [Gene Vincent]/ Cry.

Ad: Scan of xerox taken from UK mag June 1981.

Ticket: Photo of ticket.

Setlist: Photo of setlist.

Note: Start of first (8 date) tour of the UK in which they do the support for Bauhaus.

18-Jun-81
UK Liverpool,Royal Court Theatre
[support for Bauhaus, with Subway Sect]

Setlist: (partial) King Ink/ Nick The Stripper/ Release The Bats/ (Sometimes)Pleasure Heads Must Burn/ Catman [Gene Vincent].

Listing: Scan of listing for June/July 1981.

Note: "I didn't know them at the time but they blew me away. [...] Later, after the Bauhaus set, I and my friend went up to ask Nick and Tracy (sitting drinking alone in the bar) who they were. After a couple of minutes of conversation, it was plain that Nick was losing patience with these two inquisitive teenagers and told us to "go away". As we retreated, I heard Tracy say to Nick "Well, that's half the fan club gone!" Later Nick nearly got into a fight with three tough local 'scallies' and the bouncers had to put him in a taxi". Fan account by Johnny Mooney.

19-Jun-81
UK Nottingham,Rock City
[support for Bauhaus, with Subway Sect]

Setlist: King Ink/ Blast Off/ Happy Birthday/ Zoo-Music Girl/ Nick The Stripper/ A Dead Song/ Release The Bats/ (Sometimes)Pleasure Heads Must Burn/ Cry/ Catman [Gene Vincent].

Setlist: Photo of setlist.

Ad: Taken from NME mag 06-Jun-81, collection From The Archives.

Photo: Photos, credit Brian Hartley.

20-Jun-81
UK Aylesbury,Friars-Maxwell Hall,
[support for Bauhaus, with Subway Sect]

Setlist: (not in this order:) Figure Of Fun/ Cry/ Nick The Stripper/ Blast Off/ Zoo-Music Girl/ (Sometimes)Pleasure Heads Must Burn/ King Ink/ A Dead Song/ Release The Bats.

Ad 1: Ad taken from NME mag 20-Jun-81, collection From The Archives.

Ad 2: Ad, taken from Sounds mag 20-Jun-81, collection From The Archives.

Flyer: Photo of flyer. Photo of alternative flyer.

Ticket: Scan of ticket .

21-Jun-81
UK Brighton,Jenkinsons cabaret bar
[support for Bauhaus, with Subway Sect]

Note: Jenkinson's turned into Coasters late 1981 (and operational through early 1986) and was situated under the Odeon cinema then known as the Kingswest.

23-Jun-81
UK Leeds,Merrion Centre,Tiffanys
[support for Bauhaus, with Subway Sect]

Setlist: Cry/ Nick The Stripper/ Blast Off/ Zoo-Music Girl/ The Friend Catcher/ (Sometimes)Pleasure Heads Must Burn/ King Ink/ A Dead Song/ Catman [Gene Vincent]/ Release The Bats/ Loose [The Stooges].

Ticket: Scan of ticket.

Photo: Scan of photo, credit Paul Perce.

Note: Tiffany’s, opened in the '60s and owned by the Mecca Leisure Group, was as of 1979 located upstairs in the Merrion Centre.

24-Jun-81
UK Reading,Top Rank Club
[support for Bauhaus, with Subway Sect]

Ad: Taken from NME mag 13-Jun-81, collection From The Archives.

25-Jun-81
UK London,Lyceum
[support for Bauhaus, with Subway Sect]

Setlist: King Ink/ Release The Bats/ Zoo-Music Girl/ The Friend Catcher/ Blast Off/ (Sometimes)Pleasure Heads Must Burn/ Nick The Stripper/ A Dead Song/ Catman [Gene Vincent]/ Cry.

Ad: Taken from NME mag 06-Jun-81, collection From The Archives.

Photo: Scan of photo, credit Steven Palmacci.

Note: "Catman" released on the "Devil In A Bottle" bootleg LP.

27-Jun-81
UK Cambridge,Corn Exchange
[support for Bauhaus]

Setlist 1: Release The Bats/ Nick The Stripper/ Happy Birthday/ Zoo-Music Girl/ The Friend Catcher/ (Sometimes)Pleasure Heads Must Burn/ King Ink/ A Dead Song/ Catman [Gene Vincent]/ Cry.

Setlist 2: Fever (Bauhaus with Rowland S.Howard on guitar and Nick Cave doing most of the vocals).

Photo 1: Credit Kevin Haskins [Bauhaus], as published on Post-punk.com

Photo 2: Screen captures from a private video by Graham Bentley [former manager of Bauhaus, then their lighting guy].

Note 1: "The last gig [of the tour supporting Bauhaus], at the Cambridge Corn Exchange, was something to remember. There's an English tradition that the main band cream pies the support band on the last gig. A vaudevillian tradition? That didn't fit in with where we come from, although we'd got on well with Bauhaus. The other band, Vic Godard and The Subway Sect, weren't playing, so we went on to play in daylight, so it didn't feel right. It was an okay crowd, but the place had a noise meter, and with the light it all sort of dampened us. We came off spewing, spitting chips; 'Okay, how are we gonna get 'em back?' We had Johnny Waller from Sounds with us and we're going, 'Peter Murphy, what a tosser' and so on, and one of their roadies overheard us. We were saying, 'We'll get him, we'll pull his pants off on stage during their set'; but we decided that was a bit too heavy, but the roadie had split and warned them, so when Bauhaus were on, they thought we were going to pull Peter's pants down during their set. Peter saw us from the stage trying to get on stage, and the roadies trying to hold us back, but we'd all been appointed to our places: arm, arm, leg, leg. Johnny Waller's a short stocky guy, and goes hurtling on stage in this major rugby tackle. Peter Murphy hits the deck, we're all holding him down, Tracy runs in with a big black felt pen. Peter was fighting like hell; he was wearing these black leggings like tights and no top, and he thought his daks were coming off and he'd be left on stage starkers. Tracy drew this great big dick on his chest, and we all ran off. Peter stood up, looked down, and cracked up laughing. At the end, we all got up and did 'Fever', Nick and Pete swapping verses." Phill Calvert quoted in "Nick Cave: The Birthday Party and Other Epic Adventures", a book by Robert Brokenmouth.

Note 2: Recollections by Kevin Haskins [Bauhaus] from his book "Bauhaus Undead".

29-Jun-81
UK London,Heaven
[with Dif Juz & Hugo Klang]

Poster: Photo of poster.

Flyer: Photo of flyer credit of Steven Rascoe.

Note: Hugo Klang is Ian 'Ollie' Olsen [The Young Charlatans] and John Murphy's [The Young Charlatans] band, formed in London during May 1980.

09-Jul-81
UK London-West Hampstead,The Moonlight Club @ The Railway Hotel
[with The Transmitters]

Ad: Taken from NME mag 11-Jul-81, collection From The Archives.

16-Jul-81
UK London-Victoria,The Venue
[support for The Blue Orchids and with The Nightingales]

Photo: Credit Harold Schellinx at SoundBlog.

Ad: Taken from NME mag 18-Jul-81, collection From The Archives.

Flyer: Scan of flyer.

Ticket: Scan of ticket.

29-Jul-81
UK London-Covent Garden,Rock Garden

Ad: Taken from NME mag 25-Jul-81, collection From The Archives.

Note: On the day of the Prince Charles & Dianna's wedding.

31-Jul-81
UK Release of 'Release the Bats/Blast Off' 7" single (4AD records).

Summer/November 1981
UK London,Paddington/Earls Court

Note 1: "Depending on how you viewed it, the high or low point of this journalistic niche was the day Johnny Thunders dropped by the Paddington crash-pad I shared with, among others, Birthday Party singer Nick Cave. Thunders made us look like amateurs: Nick nearly overdosed on the cotton bud Johnny had used to strain his hit. Nor was my editor at the NME amused when I invoiced him for the quarter-gram of heroin I’d scored to secure an interview with the former Heartbreaker. My own heart was broken at this time, though I rarely talked to Nick about it. He and I didn’t talk about much besides heroin: who had it, where to get it, how strong it was. In November 1981, we were busted together in Earl’s Court and spent a night in the local police cells." Barney Hoskyns The Guardian 05-Feb-17.

Note 2: "I'm not sure I grasped how great Waits really was until I lived for a long wet summer with Nick Cave, who often played "Small Change" and "Foreign Affairs" and "Blue Valentine" in the druggy crashpad we shared in Paddington." From "Lowside Of the Road - A Life Of Tom Waits", a biography by Barney Hoskins.

01-Aug-81
UK Northampton,Roadmenders Club
'Summer Shock Special/summer extravaganza' festival
[with Joseph K, Mr.Liquorice, The Sinister Ducks, The D-Go-tees and a performance group called Living Room]

Ad: Taken from Sounds mag Jul-81, collection From The Archives.

Note: The Birthday Party do not play. Neither do Joseph K, who don't turn up because of some sort of disagreement on the PA system.

07-Aug-81
UK London-West Hampstead,The Moonlight Club @ The Railway Hotel
[with Emotion Pictures]

Ad: Taken from NME mag 08-Aug-81, collection From The Archives.

2x-Aug-81
UK London-Kensington,Royal College Of Arts
[with Blurt]

Photo: Credit Chris Slane. Used with kind permission.

23-Aug-81
UK London-Covent Garden,Africa Centre
[with Dancing Chapter and The Orange Cardigan]

Setlist: Big Jesus Trash Can/ Catman [Gene Vincent]/ Nick The Stripper/ Blast Off/ Zoo-Music Girl/ King Ink/ A Dead Song/ Cry/ Release The Bats/ (Sometimes)Pleasure Heads Must Burn/ Figure Of Fun.

Ad: Taken from UK mag Aug-81, collection From The Archives.

Flyer: Photo of flyer .

Photo: Photo credit Bleddyn Butcher, published in "6 Inch Gold Blade" photo zine (Walk On Press, 2022).

Review: Scan of review from "1000 Gigs - A Life Well Lived", a book by Ian Lee.

Note: "Welcome to The Birthday Party. 45 minutes of sheer hell", announces Nick Cave at the start of the show (as reviewed by Neil Norman in the NME 12-Sep-81).

25-Aug-81
UK Edinburgh,Nite Club
(Edinburgh festival '81)

Setlist: Big Jesus Trash Can/ Catman [Gene Vincent]/ Nick The Stripper/ Blast Off/ (Sometimes)Pleasure Heads Must Burn/ Zoo-Music Girl/ King Ink/ A Dead Song/ Figure Of Fun/ Release The Bats/ Cry/ Loose [The Stooges].

Ad: Taken from NME mag 15-Aug-81, collection From The Archives.

27-Aug-81
UK York,Territorial Army Centre
[with The Blue Orchids]

Flyer: Photo of flyer credit of Steven Rascoe .

28-Aug-81
UK Manchester,DeVilles

Poster: Photo of poster.

Ad: Scan of advert taken from UK mag Aug-81.

03-Sep-81
UK Brighton,New Regent-Xtreems Club
[with Death Rides a Horse]

Poster: Photo of poster, courtesy of Mark Benjamin [Death Rides a Horse, later Bone Orchard].

Ad: Advert, taken from NME mag 05-Sep-81, collection From The Archives.

Note: Opening night of the Xtreems Club.

10-Sep-81
UK London-Victoria,The Venue
[with London Underground + King Trigger]

Setlist: Junkyard King/ Nick The Stripper/ Zoo-Music Girl/ Big Jesus Trash Can/ Blast Off/ Danger Zone Were The Rednecks Live/ Dim Locator/ A Dead Song/ King Ink/ Cry/ Release The Bats/ (Sometimes)Pleasure Heads Must Burn/ Figure Of Fun/ Loose [The Stooges].

Note: "A highpoint of the set was when one of the punters grabbed the mike and took over the vocals for the duration of a song [Danger Zone..]" (as reviewed by Mike Nichols in Record Mirror 19-Sep-81). "Danger Zone.." was a song by The Fuckpigs [precursor to Turkey Bones & The Wild Dogs] and sung by one its members. They frequently did this at (Birthday Party) gigs.

Ad: Taken from NME mag 05-Sep-81, collection From The Archives.

18-Sep-81
UK London-Bloomsbury,Action Space Theatre @ Drill Hall
[with Drowning Craze and Animal Answer]

Setlist: Big Jesus Trash Can/ Cry/ The Dim Locator/ Zoo-Music Girl/ Nick The Stripper/ Blast Off/ Junkyard King/ King Ink/ (Sometimes)Pleasure Heads Must Burn/ Release The Bats/ A Dead Song/ Figure Of Fun.

Ad: Taken from UK mag Sep-81, collection From The Archives.

Review: Scan of review from UK fanzine." A wall of meaningless drivel, noise, and consistent screams. These guys give new hope to incompetant [sic] musicians all over."

Sep-81
Denmark,København & other Scandinavian dates

1981
US Release of "Prayers on Fire" album (Thermidor records).

23-Sep-81
US NY,New York City,The Underground (in Union Square)
New Wave Band Night

Setlist: Big Jesus Trash Can/ Zoo-Music Girl/ King Ink.

Review: Review, taken from New York Rocker #45, December 1981.

Photo: Photo credit Helena Glass (one of the Missing Link Records label owners). Used with very kind permission.

Note 1: Start of first -10 date- tour of the USA. For their stay in New York City the band resides at the Iroquois Hotel, 44th Street.

The concert starts around midnight at this upmarket rock disco. The audience consists out of the disco's clientele and only 8 fans, four from Chicago. Nick Cave is wearing -Iggy Pop style- gold lame trousers. Tracy Pew sports a big black cowboy hat. Mick Harvey -who's screaming drunk- shouts insults at the audience, which does not want the band to be there. During the 15 minute version of "King Ink" Nick walks into the audience, wraps the mic lead around the throat of a woman in the front row and screams ' Express yourself!'. The ten remaining people start leaving. The concert is then stopped by the management of the club (from Ian Johnston's biography "Bad Seed"). Nick Cave had invited Iggy Pop to the gig, and he actually came.

Advertized as as The Birthday Boys because Ritz management didn't allow any shows prior the gig on 25-Sep-81. NME writer Barney Hoskins' article about the show, published on 17-Oct-81, triggered the whole image of The Birthday Party as a wild and dangerous band for which violence at gigs was the standard.

Note 2: "I had a stall in Kensington Market [London] selling crazy clothes so [Nick Cave] asked me to make him those trousers for his first gig in New York. He wanted them to be a copy of a pair that Iggy [Pop] used to wear on stage, so we went shopping for fabrics and found the lame. They were indecently tight, as all his jeans were! He told me when he got back that he invited Iggy to the gig, and he came, and that he was so honoured and excited to be wearing the same trousers as Iggy that he really went for it on stage. But....the trousers weren`t up to his wild stage behaviour, and in the first song, they split. He ran off stage and got some tape stuck onto the split, but by the end of the gig they were in shreds. He told Iggy the story, which they both found funny, mostly because Iggy`s were made of silver leather, so they weren`t even the same!" - Rozie, an English fan.

24-Sep-81
US NY,New York City,Chase Park Lounge

Note: Advertized as The Birthday Boys. Due to weather conditions only 1 (Polish) woman shows up. She was at the Underground show and had been put on this night's guest list by Rowland. Gig rescheduled to 03-Oct-81.

25-Sep-81
US NY,New York City,The Ritz
[with Au Pairs]

Photo 1: Credit Stefan Sonic .

Photo 2: Photo credit Helena Glass (one of the Missing Link Records label owners). Used with very kind permission.

Note 1: During "King Ink" Nick beat his head on the snare drum so hard it started bleeding upon which the club management decided to stop the concert, after only 35 minutes. (from Ian Johnston's biography "Bad Seed").

Note 2: Keith [Glass]: "Public Image [Ltd] had taunted the crowd some weeks earlier [May 15th, 1981] at the Ritz, so the Ritz were kinda nervous, partly because of the type of band The Birthday Party were, and partly because they'd heard the story from Union Square. They had about six security guys around the stage, and when the first microphone stand hit the ground they said, 'You've got 15 minutes to get out of here, and if you're not out by then you don't get paid.' So instant legend in New York." Phill [Calvert]: "We went on, the curtain went up, and they had a line of bouncers across the front of the stage because they thought there was going to be trouble. The minimal audience really reacted to that. Nick reacted to the bouncers more than the audience, and after about four songs they pulled the plug. They paid us just to get out." Rowland [Howard]: "We went on and came off in about 10 minutes ... I was confused when we were pulled off; they confiscated our beer, and we were being escorted out by five bouncers, and when I asked why they needed so many people to escort us, they replied; 'to protect their patrons'." Mick [Harvey]: "I was told the crowd kicked the management's door in and did a whole lot of stuff. The management dragged us upstairs and locked us in our band room and said, 'stay there, don't make any trouble', so I didn't see what went on. They decided we were going to be outrageous. We were playing a really good concert, but I suppose that was pretty outrageous for them. It was 1981, and there was about 450 people there, a potential riot." Quotes from "Nick Cave: The Birthday Party and Other Epic Adventures", a book by Robert Brokenmouth.

27-Sep-81
US NY,New York City,The Ritz

Note: Gig cancelled by the club management due to Nick's behaviour on 25-Sep-81.

01-Oct-81
US MA,Boston,The Spit

Ad 1: Scan of ad from The Boston Phoenix 29-Sep-81, Vol.10 #39.

Ad 2: Scan of advert, taken from Boston Rock #21 (03-Sep-81).

02-Oct-81
US NY,New York City,Chase Park Lounge
[with Malaria!]

Setlist: Zoo-Music Girl/ Release The Bats .. and more.

Review: Taken from New York Rocker #45, December 1981.

Note: About 20-30 people show up including Lydia Lunch [then in 13.13], who meets the band backstage. The Chase Park (a slightly “Diamond Doggish" affair) was atop an old Chase Bank @ 622 Broadway on the south west corner of Broadway and Houston.

03-Oct-81
US PA,Philadelphia,East Side Club
[with John Cooper Clarke, The Minimalistics]

Flyer: Scan of flyer.

Ad: Scan of advert, taken from Philadelphia Daily News 02-Oct-81.

04-Oct-81
US NY,New York City,Peppermint Lounge

Setlist: Big Jesus Trash Can/ Zoo-Music Girl/ Junkyard/ The Dim Locator/ Figure of Fun/ Nick The Stripper/ Blast Off/ Pleasure Heads/ King Ink/ Release The Bats/ A Dead Song/ Cry/ Catman [Gene Vincent].

Handbill: Reproduction from "Too Fast To Live Too Young To Die" book by Andrew Krivine (Pavillion, 2020).

05-Oct-81
US DC,Washington,9:30 Club
[with Malaria!]

Photo: Credit Suzy -Sputnik- Soshinsky.

Note: The club is at 930 F St. in an apartment transformed into a club. The gig starts at midnight. Tracy Pew grabs a guy (a diplomat's son) in the front of the audience by his necktie and kicks him. The cops come in and end the show after 20 minutes. "Keith [Glass]:"That Washington gig was really hairy. There were middle-class/upper-class punks down in this ghetto-area punk venue; lots of nerdy guys. I remember Nick pulling one real nerd across the crowd by his skinny tie, and the guy turning blue." Helena [Glass]: "Wasn't it Tracy? From the stage, he grabbed this boy's tie and broke his glasses and he slammed the guy into this pillar. Keith and I said to each other, 'We're running away.' We did not want to be dealing with the police in Washington." Quotes from "Nick Cave: The Birthday Party and Other Epic Adventures", a book by Robert Brokenmouth.

xx-Oct-81
US NY,New York City,Ruth Polsky’s apartment (on 90 West Houston Street).

Photo: Credit Laura Levine, sourced from Gettyimages photo library.

Note: A photoshoot in the courtyard of Ruth Polsky’s apartment. Ruth was booker at several NY clubs (Hurrah, Danceteria, The Ritz). She was killed by a runaway car in front of the Limelight discotheque in Chelsea on 07-Sep-86, aged 32.

xx-Oct-81
US NJ,Trenton,-

Poster: Generic tour poster. Reproduction from "Too Fast To Live Too Young To Die" book by Andrew Krivine (Pavillion, 2020).

10-Oct-81
US IL,Chicago,Club C.O.D.(Come on Down)
[with The Effigies]

Photo: Taken outside of C.O.D.'s club. Credit Brian Shanley.

Flyer: Photo of flyer.

Note: Last date of tour. "The band was too hot for New York. By the time we played Chicago we just had this full house." Mick Harvey interview. Money and a bottle of drugs are thrown on stage. Nick, Rowland & Tracy sample some pills from the bottle on the flight from Chicago to London. It took them 3 days to sleep it off. Read more in Ian Johnston's biography "Bad Seed" book.

12-Oct-81
UK Re-release of 'Mr. Clarinet/Happy Birthday' 7"single (4AD records).

Note: These are in fact still Boys Next Door songs recorded in Melbourne in Jan/Feb-80. The New Singles, 09-Oct-81.This weekly pamphlet was published on Friday, but by 1980 the actual record was released after the weekend, on Monday.

12-Oct-81
UK Oxford,Scamps

Ad: Taken from NME mag 03-Oct-81, collection From The Archives.

Note: Australian Bob Gosford starts doing their live sound.

14-Oct-81
UK London-West Hampstead,The Moonlight Club @ The Railway Hotel

Photo: Credit © Bleddyn Butcher .

Ad: Taken from NME mag 10-Oct-81, collection From The Archives.

16-Oct-81
UK London-Brixton,Brixton Town Hall
[with Maximum Joy + Natural Scientist]

Setlist: Big Jesus Trash Can/ Cry/ Bully Bones/ Junkyard King/ Nick The Stripper/ Zoo-Music Girl/ The Dim Locator/ A Dead Song/ Release The Bats/ (Sometimes)Pleasure Heads Must Burn/ King Ink.

Flyer: Photo of flyer.

Ticket: Scan of ticket, courtesy of David G.

Note: In front of an audience of over 1,000. Their largest so far in the UK.
"We did a very good show at Brixton Town Hall, with a great audience who were really going off, and [Bob 'Bingo' Bingham] in the audience was going mental, dancing off his head. During `Release The Bats', where Nick did the little whacks on the snare drum, Bingo hopped on stage, grabbed the drumstick out of Nick's hand, put it between his teeth and broke it in his mouth with his hands." [..] "We got talking to him backstage, and he turned out to be a really well-balanced guy who was into making sure that he had a really good time. His father was in the army, and he'd been in the Marines, but had bought his way out. He would go to every gig, so if we were playing in Coventry, he'd be there. He'd catch the train or hitch to get there. He did this all over Europe, and when there was room he'd be on the tour bus, or he'd be with us on the train. He'd check into the hotel and sometimes we'd let him crash. He was totally, totally into the band and what we were doing for a lot of the right reasons. He later became a really good friend to me . . . he's a hell of a guy." Bingo's response to the confrontational nature of the band was to challenge the band right back, particularly Nick. He used several ways to bait the band on stage [..] without attempting to wound or maim." Phill Calvert quoted in "Nick Cave: The Birthday Party and Other Epic Adventures", a book by Robert Brokenmouth.

22-Oct-81
UK London-Kilburn,St Augustine Kilburn Church (on Kilburn Park Road)

Photo: Credit David Corio. Sourced from Gettyimages/Redferns music photo libraries.

Note: From a photoshoot by David Corio at the church which then had fallen in disrepair.

22-Oct-81
UK London-Kilburn,a pub

Photo: Credit David Corio. Sourced from Gettyimages/Redferns music photo libraries.

Note: From a fhotoshoot by David Corio.

23-Oct-81
UK London,Polytechnic of North London
[with The Pinkies and Zounds]

Photo: Credit by Steve Makin. Used with kind permission.

Ad: Taken from NME mag Oct-81, collection From The Archives.

Note: Their maniac fan, Bob 'Bingo' Bingham is bruised and scarred by Tracy Pew's bass for pinning Cave to the floor. Gareth Sager and (the late) Sean Oliver [both Rip Rig & Panic] are on stage, sitting on Phill's drum riser. Announced Belgian band TC Matic was replaced by Zounds. According to "1000 Gigs - A Life Well Lived", a book by Ian Lee, it was a "surprisingly lack-lustre gig".

24-Oct-81
UK Guildford,Surrey University
[with Sleep + Imperfect Hold]

Ticket: Courtesy Soundscene Does Facebook.

Ad: Original advert, from UK mag Oct-81, collection From The Archives.

Note: 16 year old James Johnston [now Gallon Drunk and for some time also The Bad Seeds] attends the gig. "The first time I saw The Birthday Party was at Guildford University when I was about 16. About 90% of the audience stood at the back, and there were about two rows at the front going mad. I went up to see them in London a few times after that, the last one being an amazing gig at the Lyceum, I think, supported by Einstürzende Neubauten. Just unbelievable. James Johnston interview The Quietus November 16, 2016.

26-Oct-81
UK London-West Hampstead,The Moonlight Club @ The Railway Hotel
[with Schlaflose Nächte]

27-Oct-81
UK London-West Hampstead,The Moonlight Club @ The Railway Hotel
[with UT]

Setlist: Nick The Stripper/ A Dead Song/ She's Hit/ Big Jesus Trash Can/ Junkyard/ Release The Bats/ The Dim Locator/ King Ink/ Bully Bones/ (Sometimes)Pleasure Heads Must Burn/ Zoo-Music Girl/ Little Doll.

Ad: Taken from NME mag 24-Oct-81, collection From The Archives.

Note: with Jessamy Calkin [Neubauten tour manager/fan club 1985-1990] in the audience.
First time "She's Hit" is performed.

03-Nov-81
DE Berlin-Kreuzberg,SO 36

Setlist: Big Jesus Trash Can/ Zoo-Music Girl/ The Dim Locator/ She's Hit/ A Dead Song/ Nick The Stripper/ Release The Bats(*)/ Junkyard/ King Ink/ (Sometimes)Pleasure Heads Must Burn/ Cry(*)/ Little Doll(*).

Note: First ever concert on the European continent. Apparently a second date @ the SO 36 on 04-Nov-81 had been planned, but they played in Amsterdam instead. Tracks (*) released on "Devil In A Bottle" Bootleg LP.

04-Nov-81
NL Amsterdam,Melkweg

Setlist: amongst others: Release The Bats.

Photo: Screencapture from Dutch VPRO TV broadcast 08-Nov-81.

Poster: Scan of poster.

Review 1: Scan of review from Het Parool 05-Nov-81. "Due to the late announcement, the band only played to a handful of people, which did not prevent the show from being overwhelmingly rough and good."

Review 2: Scan of review from Trouw 07-Nov-81. "The band combines a very high level of technical skill with great inventiveness. [...] Each note has its own function and is irreplaceable. Nothing is left to chance. Nevertheless, this music is of a breathtaking emotion." Singer is identified as 'Dick' Cave and guitarist as Mick 'Harney'.

Note: First concert in the Netherlands, organised at the last minute. Filmed by VPRO TV for the BGTV program, broadcast on 08-Nov-81. BGTV (BinnenGasthuis-TeleVisie) ran from 1981-1983 and was a weekly (30 minutes) program with reports on art, culture, politics and social issues.

06-Nov-81
NL Eindhoven,Effenaar
[with Baader Pop Gruppe]

Setlist: Zoo-Music Girl/ The Dim Locator/ Nick The Stripper/ A Dead Song/ She's Hit/ Bully Bones/ Big Jesus Trash Can/ Junkyard/ (Sometimes)Pleasure Heads Must Burn/ King Ink.

Poster: Photo of poster, which could be folded into the shape of a cakebox.

Photo 1: Photo credit Inge Bekkers.

Photo 2: Photo and Photo credit Robert Frey [Gore], reproduced in "Memories Can't Wait- 40 Years Effenaar" book (2011).

07-Nov-81
NL Nijmegen,Doornroosje

Poster: Scan of poster, sourced from Regionaal Archief Nijmegen.

Photo: Photo credit Benno te Linde.

08-Nov-81
NL Amsterdam,Posthoornkerk
[with Puber Kristus]

Setlist: Nick The Stripper/ A Dead Song/ She's Hit/ Bully Bones/ Big Jesus Trash Can/ Junkyard/ Blast Off/ King Ink/ (Sometimes)Pleasure Heads Must Burn/ Release The Bats.

Photo: Credit Laboratori!Kooos, as published in Muziekkrant Oor 18-Nov-81.

Note: Sunday afternoon gig at a late 19th century church. The very few visitors who turn up are seated in the church benches that were still part of the original furnishing. Broadcast by Dutch VPRO radio. "Nick The Stripper", A Dead Song" & "Big Jesus Trash Can" released on the "Cremation" bootleg LP. All tracks (except "Blast Off" and "King Ink") released on the "Amsterdam 1981" bootleg LP.

09-Nov-81
CH Zürich,Kino Walche
[with Corrosive Crowd]

Setlist: Zoo-Music Girl/ The Dim Locator/ Nick The Stripper/ A Dead Song/ She's Hit/ Bully Bones/ Big Jesus Trash Can/ Junkyard/ Blast Off/ King Ink/ (Sometimes)Pleasure Heads Must Burn/ Release The Bats.

Note: Fan account: a tired, disappointing concert at the Walche cinema, organized by the record store Jamarico. The band stayed overnight after a long journey, between Amsterdam and Bologna. Only 80 people were present.

10-Nov-81
IT Bologna/Imola-Toscanella,Piro Piro-New Disco Circus

Note: "The first venue had provided amps and drums, but no drumsticks, so Phill got a broom-handle and broke it in half and his hands got split. It was a disco, and the stage and steps were all metal. On stage, Nick [Cave] would come up to me and put his arm around me, and I'd get a big shock off the P.A. There were these Italians leaning into the front of the stage, and one of them had wire-frame glasses. Nick put his finger between the guy's eyes and touched the frames, and these big blue sparks went flashing everywhere and this guy shoots back into the audience, and all the Italians were standing there looking quite alarmed." Rowland Howard quoted in "Nick Cave: The Birthday Party and Other Epic Adventures", a book by Robert Brokenmouth.

12-Nov-81
IT Genova,-

13-Nov-81
IT Firenze-Certaldo,Teatro Tenda di Certaldo

Setlist: Big Jesus Trash Can/ Cry/ The Dim Locator/ She's Hit/ Nick The Stripper/ A Dead Song/ Junkyard/ Zoo-Music Girl/ King Ink/ (Sometimes)Pleasure Heads Must Burn/ Release The Bats.

Poster: Photo of poster.

Note: Free concert organized by communist party in a tent. Chaos erupts after Tracy hits an audience member. People throw everyting on stage and try to get on it, but security beats the hell out of them (from Ian Johnston's biography "Bad Seed"). "We played at a Communist festival in a big circus tent, and they thought we were fascists because one of us was wearing a black shirt or something, and threw chairs at the stage. The promoter had hired all his nephews as our roadies, so we had a small horde of about 12 roadies. One of them was leaping around the stage like a salmon, deflecting flying chairs and so on with his head like a soccer player." Rowland Howard quoted in "Nick Cave: The Birthday Party and Other Epic Adventures", a book by Robert Brokenmouth.

14-Nov-81
IT Gabicce Mare,Aleph Club

Setlist: Zoo-Music Girl/ The Dim Locator/ A Dead Song/ Nick The Stripper/ She's Hit/ Blast Off/ Junkyard/ Bully Bones/ King Ink/ Big Jesus Trash Can/ Release The Bats/ (Sometimes)Pleasure Heads Must Burn/ Loose [The Stooges]/ Cry.

Poster: Photo of poster. Alternative version .

1x-Nov-81
IT Napoli,-

17-Nov-81
DE Köln,Bürgerhaus Stollwerck,Machinenhalle
[with Jimmy,Jenny & Jonny]

Setlist: Zoo-Music Girl/ The Dim Locator/ A Dead Song/ Nick The Stripper/ She's Hit/ Blast Off/ Junkyard/ Bully Bones/ King Ink/ Big Jesus Trash Can/ Figure Of Fun/ Release The Bats/ (Sometimes)Pleasure Heads Must Burn/ Loose [The Stooges].

Poster: Photo of poster.

Photo: Photo of the pissing incident by Gernot Huber, published in Spex magazine January 1987.

Note: They were advertised as 'The toughest live band from London' ("Die härteste Live-band aus London"). A drunken audience member pisses on stage. Tracy punches the guy in the face (from Sounds article 19-Dec-81 and Steve Sutherlands' MM article "Fear On The Autobahn" 17-Jul-82). Article from NME 19-Dec-81.

20-Nov-81
UK London,City Polytechnic
[with Death In June]

Ad: Taken from UK mag 21-Nov-81, collection From The Archives.

21-Nov-81
UK Leicester,Polytechnic

26-Nov-81
UK London-Victoria,The Venue
[with Lydia Lunch]

Setlist: Junkyard/ A Dead Song/ The Dim Locator/ Zoo-Music Girl/ Nick The Stripper/ Blast Off/ Release The Bats/ Bully Bones/ King Ink/ (Sometimes)Pleasure Heads Must Burn/ Loose [The Stooges]/She's Hit/ Big Jesus Trash Can.

Photo: Credit David Corio. Sourced from Gettyimages/Redferns music photo libraries.

Ad: Original advert, from UK mag 28-Nov-81, collection From The Archives.

Note: Lydia's first concert with The Birthday Party. Lydia Lunch was touring the UK with 13.13 (as support for The Cure). All but last 3 songs released on "Live 81-82" CD (4AD records 1999). "Loose" available on "Drunk On The Pope's Blood" 12" (4AD records 1982).

27-Nov-81
UK Manchester,Eden club @ Rafters
[with Lydia Lunch]

Setlist: Nick The Stripper/ (Sometimes)Pleasure Heads Must Burn/ Bully Bones/ Junkyard/ A Dead Song/ She's Hit/ The Dim Locator/ Zoo-Music Girl/ King Ink/ Release The Bats/ Big Jesus Trash Can/ Jackson.

Flyer: Photo of flyer.

Note 1: Lydia joins on "Jackson" [by Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood].

Note 2: "We first met [Nick Cave] and his band in Rafters shortly after Craig [Scanlon] and I [Steve Hanley] joined The Fall [sic, they joined on 09-May-79]. They'd been interviewed in the music press and Nick said the only current band that mattered in Britain was The Fall. So, of course, we had to go to see them. Nick doesn't sing so much as howl and scream and crawl around the stage like some demented, furless werewolf. Imagine a skinnier, haunted Iggy Pop minus the sense of humour, dragged through several layers of hell and you're getting there. Meanwhile his band, rather than playing along, compete against his psychotic diatribes from all angles, especially the frenzied guitarist [Rowland S.Howard] whose sound rips up the words like shards of poison glass. [Tracy Pew's] deep bass drills disturbingly through the entire noise to brilliantly gruesome effect. Rafters has got a low ceiling and, during the gig, Nick Cave, in the throes of a particularly anguished derangement, tore a light fitting off and hurled it into the audience. Out of everywhere it could have gone, where did it land? It went flying into my shoulder and would have knocked me over if it hadn't been so packed down the front. Amazing someone as weedy-looking as Nick Cave managed to lob something so heavy with such might. He must have had the power of his entire hell-force behind him. As Craig, Marc [Riley] and I rehabilitated at the bar after the gig, who came along but Mick Harvey, one of the guitarists. Because we knew they liked The Fall, we introduced ourselves and, to my horror, he insisted we accompany him backstage. There was no way out. We had no choice but to follow him hellward into Hades itself. Filled with trepidation, I was half-expecting to find the dressing-room walls dripping with the blood of pigs heads. The door was hanging off its hinges but as I ventured through I was relieved to find a very sedate-looking Nick sitting nicely at a table in a smoking jacket, sipping a small glass of bourbon. 'Hey, Nick,' said Mick. 'Check out these drongos. It's The Fall. I found 'em at the bar. Will ya look at this.' 'G'day, mayte,' Nick growled with a friendly smile. 'Tayke a seat.' I wasn't sure if he meant to throw it somewhere but as I was about to sit down I realised I was still holding the light fitting from before. 'Here y'are, mate,' I said, knowing what sharks local club owners can be, 'you can get charged a fortune for this kind of thing round here.' I settled myself at the table, secure in the knowledge I had done everything I could to give this man a good start in the UK. As an ice-breaker it seemed to work; apparently he'd had similar trouble back in Australia." From "The Big Midweek - Life Inside The Fall", a book by Steve Hanley.

30-Nov-81
UK Oxford,Scamps

Setlist: (Sometimes)Pleasure Heads Must Burn/ Nick The Stripper/ Cry/ Junkyard/ Bully Bones/ She's Hit/ A Dead Song/ The Dim Locator/ King Ink/ Release The Bats/ Big Jesus Trash Can/ Zoo-Music Girl/ Loose [The Stooges].

02-Dec-81
UK London,BBC Maida Vale Studios,Studio 4
recording John Peel Radio Session III

Setlist: Big Jesus Trash Can/ She's Hit/ Bully Bones/ Six Inch Gold Blade.

Note: First broadcast by BBC Radio One on 10-Dec-81. Session recorded by Peter -Overend- Watts [Mott The Hoople, The Scientists engineer/producer]. Produced by John Owen Williams. Also released on "The John Peel Sessions" CD (Strange Fruit UK-2001).

Dec-81
UK London, Nick Cave and Lydia Lunch collaborate on (about) 10 of "50 one-page-plays".

11-Dec-81
UK London,Polytechnic of Central London
[with Malaria! and Death In June]

Setlist: Junkyard/ A Dead Song/ Six Inch Gold Blade/ (Sometimes)Pleasure Heads Must Burn/ She's Hit/ Nick The Stripper/ The Dim Locator/ Zoo-Music Girl/ King Ink/ Release The Bats.

Ad: Taken from NME mag 05-Dec-81, collection From The Archives.

Poster: Photo of poster.

Anounce: Taken from Sounds mag 12-Dec-81, collection From The Archives. Taken from NME mag 12-Dec-81, collection From The Archives.

Note: Last concert before returning to Melbourne to tour and record the "Junkyard" album. "The band is in total shambles [yet delivers an intense set]. Nick forgets the lyrics to "She's Hit" for which Mick punches him in the mouth. Nick beats up a heckler during "She's Hit". Tracy overdoses before the concert, Nick after." (from Ian Johnston's biography "Bad Seed").

Mid-Dec-81
AU Melbourne,Armstrong's Audio Visual Studios
Start of the "Junkyard" album recording sessions and mixing the "Drunk On The Pope's Blood" live 12".
Tony Cohen engineering & mixing.

xx-Dec-81
AU Melbourne-Brunswick,Bombay Rock
[with Dead Can Dance]

24-Dec-81
AU Melbourne-St.Kilda,Seaview Ballroom
[with Equal Local, The Go-Betweens and Dorian Gray]

Setlist: Big Jesus Trash Can/ Junkyard/ Zoo-Music Girl/ The Dim Locator/ She's Hit/ Blast Off/ Nick The Stripper/ A Dead Song/ Bully Bones/ King Ink/ Release The Bats/ (Sometimes)Pleasure Heads Must Burn/ Six Inch Gold Blade/ Cry.

Ad: Scan of ad. Another ad, taken from "Inner City Sound", a book by Clinton Walker.

Poster: Scan of poster, courtesy of @jimsmusicphotos.

Photos: Photos, credit Jim Goodwin @jimsmusicphotos.

Ticket: Scan of ticket.

Note: Filmed by Evan English & Paul Goldman (a.k.a. The 'Rich Kids'). Start of Australian tour organised by Ken West [Big Day Out fest]. Nick Cave plays saxophone on some songs.

26-Dec-81
AU Sydney-Cammeray,San Miguel Inn
[with The Same]

27-Dec-81
AU Sydney-Surry Hills,Trade Union Club
[with Out Of Nowhere and With A Lie]

Note: Both dates rescheduled to 02/03-Jan-82.

31-Dec-81
AU Melbourne,The Jump Club
[with The Moodists]

Setlist: (Sometimes)Pleasure Heads Must Burn/ Junkyard/ A Dead Song/ The Dim Locator/ She's Hit/ Nick The Stripper/ Release The Bats/ King Ink/ Six Inch Gold Blade/ Blast Off/ Big Jesus Trash Can/ Zoo-Music Girl/ Loose [The Stooges].

Photo: Photo of setlist.

Jan-82
AU Melbourne,Armstrong's Audio Visual Studios,continuing the "Junkyard" album sessions and mixing the "Drunk On The Pope's Blood" live 12". Tony Cohen engineering & mixing.

02-Jan-82
AU Sydney-Cammeray,San Miguel Inn
[with The Same]

Photo: Credit Andrew Grosas.

Listing: Scan of listing, taken from Sydney Morning Herald 02-Jan-82.

Article: Scan of article, taken from Sydney Morning Herald 26-Dec-81.

03-Jan-82
AU Sydney-Surrey Hills,Trade Union Club
[with Out Of Nowhere and With A Lie]

Ticket: Scan of ticket, courtesy of Leigh A.

Listing: Scan of listing, taken from Sydney Morning Herald 03-Jan-82.

04-Jan-82
AU Sydney-Surrey Hills,Trade Union Club

Note: Extra show?

06-Jan-82
AU Sydney,University-Refectory
[with Hunters & Collectors and Pel Mel]

Setlist: Cry/ She's Hit/ The Dim Locator/ A Dead Song/ Nick The Stripper/ Zoo-Music Girl/ Bully Bones/ King Ink/ Release The Bats/ (Sometimes) Pleasure Heads Must Burn/ Loose [The Stooges].

Photo: Credit Warren Ross (BluesOnStage). Used with kind permission.

Handbill: Scan of handbill, courtesy of Brian Hartley.

Ticket: Reproduction of ticket taken from "Fanatic!", a book by Henry Rollins.

Review: Scan of review, taken from Roadrunner zine Feb-82.

Note: In front of 1,600 people. Tracks from "Nick The Stripper" to "Pleasure Heads" were broadcast by 2JJJ FM. Gig organised by Ken West [Big Day Out fest] to launch Clinton Walker's "Inner City Sound" book release.

07-Jan-82
AU Sydney,Stranded Gay Night Club (@ Strand Arcade)

Photo: Credit Steve Teece.

08-Jan-82
AU Brisbane,Queensland Uni refectory

Ad: Scan of advert, taken from Roadrunner zine Dec-81/Jan-82.

09-Jan-82
AU Brisbane,South's Leagues Club Hall
[with The End, The Seven Ballerinas]

Flyer: Scan of flyer, courtesy of Chuck.

10-Jan-82
AU Brisbane,New York Hotel
[with Xero and Birds of Tin]

Setlist: (partial) King Ink/ Nick The Stripper [..]/ Loose [The Stooges].

Review: Scan of review, taken from Roadrunner zine Feb-82.

Note: Mick Harvey on drums for the first song. Tex Perkins [later Beasts of Bourbon] attends.

Jan-82
AU Melbourne,Armstrong's Audio Visual Studio,recording a track which would later be released -without consent of the band- as "After The Fireworks" by the Tuff Monks: The Birthday Party without Tracy Pew & Phill Calvert, with Grant McLennan, Robert Forster & Lindy Morrison [all of The Go-Betweens]. Engineered by Tony Cohen.

Note: "In January 1982, despite [The Go-Betweens'] uneasiness with Missing Link, the group recorded another single ["Hammer The Hammer"] for the label. [..] The recording was made at AAV studios during time booked for the Birthday Party's notoriously expensive "Junkyard" album, presumably during session time for which the group had failed to show up. [..] The "Junkyard" sessions not only produced a great Go-Between single, and -eventually- a great Birthday Party album; they also produced a third, rather more bizarre, product in the shape of the Tuff Monks song, "After the Fireworks." As both the Go-Betweens and the Birthday Party were in the studio at the same time, and since the Birthday Party would dearly rather do anything other than record their own album, it was decided that the two groups would collaborate on a song. The result was one of the few true Forster/McLennan joint compositions. The lyrics are Cave's, and the drumming indisputably Morrison's -as Mick Harvey discovered when he attempted to tell her what rhythm to play. Soon after recording this track, the two groups convened again, on stage at the Tiger Lounge in Richmond [on 16-Jan-82], to perform a version of [Johnny Cash's] "Ring of Fire." But there was no lasting attempt to forge a creative partnership between the two bands, and "After the Fireworks" remains an isolated if fascinating experiment. Keith Glass released it as a single later that year to recoup money he claims the Birthday Party had squandered in the studio: Glass: [The Birthday Party] were in AAV. It was costing top dollar -[AU] $1,000 [AU$ 3500 in today's money] a night." Despite telling me that all of the tracks were written for the album, they weren't. One night they came up with that track because they had nothing else to do. So I said,"We'll use it as a vehicle to parlay against the accrued costs." They flung it at me: "Here we are, we've come up with this," and I went,"Okay, it'll help." I think Nick Cave came up with the idea to put it out as the Tuff Monks. The general feeling was "put it out." It sold quite a few copies. In Rowland Howard's recollection, the Tuff Monks name came from Anita Lane, Nick Cave's girlfriend at the time. McLennan agrees with Glass that it was Cave's idea. Wherever it came from it's a dreadful name. Mick Harvey, who has nothing positive to say about Glass, denies that releasing the song as a single was the band's idea: "We were over in England and we suddenly heard this record was coming out. I think he must have private meetings where he sits in his living room, imagines we're all there, discusses everything with us and says, "Right, that'll be okay. I'll do that, then." Glass takes responsibility for the cover picture -of some monks- as well as for the b-side, which consists of parts of the a-side recording reversed, and entitled "After After the Fireworks." From "The Go-Betweens", a book by David Nichols (Verse Chorus Press 2003).

15-Jan-82
AU Melbourne-St.Kilda,Astor Theatre
[with The Laughing Clowns & The Go-Betweens]

Setlist: King Ink/ The Dim Locator/ She's Hit/ A Dead Song/ 6" Gold Blade/ (Sometimes)Pleasure Heads Must Burn/ Junkyard/ Blast Off/ Release The Bats/ Nick The Stripper/ Big Jesus Trash Can/ Dead Joe.

Handbill: Original handbill.

Note 1: All but "6" Gold Blade" released -without consent of the band- on "It's Still Living" album on Missing Link records. Filmed by Evan English & Paul Goldman (a.k.a. The 'Rich Kids').

Note 2: The Birthday Party were the first to perform at the Astor Theatre (before that the theatre ran Greek language movies -during that era The Little River Band played there on 27-Aug-76). From 1982 to 1984 INXS, Men At Work, Midnight Oil, Siousxie and the Banshees, Hunters and Collectors, UB40, Iggy Pop, and many others played at the venue. For Australian bands, Astor Theatre was a sort of a stepping stone from pub gigs to larger venues.

16-Jan-82
AU Melbourne-Richmond,Royal Oak Hotel-Tiger Lounge
[with Sunburnt Pharaohs, Precious Little, The Pierre Betweens and Piano Piano]

Setlist: New Age/ Downtown Swinging Town/ I Don't Care, Yeah/ Dead Joe/ Ring Of Fire [Johnny Cash].

Review: Scan of review, taken from Roadrunner zine Feb-82.

Note: A private Missing Link Records party. The Birthday Party (without Phill Calvert) perform with members of The Go-Betweens, Andrew Davis [Precious Little] (guitar), Bryce Perrin [Equal Local] (trumpet), Philip Jackson [Equal Local/Whirlywirld] (trumpet) and others. They perform as "The Cavemen". Precious Little had Kim Beissel [Crime and the City Solution] in its line up; Sunburnt Pharaohs included members of Equal Local and Tch Tch Tch.

19/20-Jan-82
AU Melbourne,Armstrong's Audio Visual Studios
Tony Cohen mixes the "It's Still Living" live album, recorded @ St.Kilda's Astor Theatre on 15-Jan-82.

Invoice: Photo of invoice for Tony's mixing work. From tonycohenbook (IG).

22-Jan-82
AU Adelaide-Seaton,Shandon Hotel-The Stagedoor
[with The Go-Betweens]

Note: The Stagedoor was a beer bar @ the Shandon (now Seaton) Hotel.

23-Jan-82
AU Adelaide-Seaton,Shandon Hotel-The Stagedoor
[with The Go-Betweens]

Setlist: Encore: Jackson [Lee Hazelwood].

Article: Scan of article from Roadrunner Feb-82.

Note: "Jackson" with Lindy Morrison [The Go-Betweens] drumming and Jade Adrenalin [ex- Adelaide band The Bad Poets] as guest vocalist,duetting with Nick Cave.

24-Jan-82
AU Adelaide,Governor Hindmarsh Hotel
[with The Go-Betweens]

Setlist: King Ink/ (Sometimes)Pleasure Heads Must Burn/ Zoo-Music Girl/ 6" Gold Blade/ The Dim Locator/ Junkyard/ A Dead Song/ She's Hit/ Dead Joe/ Release The Bats/ Nick The Stripper/ Big Jesus Trash Can/ Loose [The Stooges].

Review: Taken from DNA zine 27/28.

Note: "Despite the worst heat wave in 30 years they put on 3 manic shows in Adelaide", Harry Butler [DNA fanzine].

28-Jan-82
AU Sydney-Gladesville,Bayview Tavern
[with The Tablewaiters]

Handbill: Photo of handbill.

Listing: Scan of listing, taken from Sydney Morning Herald 28-Jan-82.

29-Jan-82
AU Sydney,Manly Vale Hotel
[with The Laughing Clowns]

Photo: Credit Bob King. Sourced from Gettyimages/Redferns music photo libraries. Another photo, credit Bob King.

Listing: Scan of listing, taken from Sydney Morning Herald 24-Jan-82.

30-Jan-82
AU Sydney-Newcastle,North Leagues Club
[with The Laughing Clowns]

Flyer: Photo courtesy of Helen Britton.

31-Jan-82
AU Sydney-Paddington,Town Hall
[with The Laughing Clowns and Kill The King]

Setlist: King Ink/ (Sometimes)Pleasure Heads Must Burn/ Zoo-Music Girl/ 6" Gold Blade/ The Dim Locator/ She's Hit/ A Dead Song/ Junkyard/ Release The Bats/ Dead Joe/ Nick The Stripper/ Big Jesus Trash Can/ Loose [The Stooges].

Photo: Photo of setlist.

Listing: Scan of listing, taken from Sydney Morning Herald 31-Jan-82.

01-Feb-82
AU Brisbane,-

05-Feb-82
AU Melbourne,The Chevron Club
[with The Moodists and People With Chairs Up Their Noses]

Setlist: The Dim Locator/ Hamlet(Pow!Pow!Pow!)/ Release The Bats/ Junkyard/ (Sometimes)Pleasure Heads Must Burn/ Big Jesus Trash Can/ King Ink/ Loose [The Stooges]/ The Friend Catcher.

Ad: Scan taken from The Age 05-Feb-82.

Note: Jim White [later of the Dirty Three] is the drummer of PWCUTN.

10-Feb-82
AU Melbourne,The Longford Cinema.

Flyer: Reproduction taken from the "Definitive Missing Link Recordings 1979-1982" CD box set booklet.

Note: Screening of uncut original footage filmed by Evan English & Paul Goldman (a.k.a. The 'Rich Kids') of The Birthday Party live at The Seaview Ballroom on 24-Dec-81 and The Astor Theatre 15-Jan-82. To finance the making of a Birthday Party documentary (which did not happen).

16-Feb-82
AU Melbourne,Tracy Pew was arrested for stealing a car (after leaving Armstrong's Audio Visual Studios, where the band was recording "Junkyard") and drunk driving without a licence on 17-Jan-82. For this and several other outstanding offences (theft of a sewing machine, rice and frankfurts sausages in 1979) he is sentenced to 8 months imprisonement (serving only 2.5 months) at (the C-Division for short term prisoners at) H.M. Pentridge Prison , at the same place Mark "Chopper" Read was imprisoned in the late 70s. As a consequence, The Birthday Party's live dates in New Zealand, California (US) and Germany had to be cancelled.

Article: Scan taken of article written by Dave Dawson, from the "Truth", a Melbourne tabloid.

18-Feb-82
UK Release of 'Drunk On The Pope's Blood' 12" EP on 4AD records

19-Feb-82
AU Melbourne-St.Kilda,The Seaview Ballroom
[with Safehouse and Plays With Marionettes]

Setlist: She's Hit/ The Dim Locator/ A Dead Song/ Junkyard(*)/ Release The Bats/ Nick The Stripper/ Big Jesus Trash Can/ Funhouse[The Stooges]/ The Hair Shirt.

Photo: Screen capture from video.

Note: Tracy Pew is replaced by Chris Walsh [The Moodists]. Plays With Marionettes is Hugo Race and Edward Clayton-Jones' band. Hugo would join Nick Cave's band for 6 months in 1983/1984 and Edward replaced Blixa Bargeld for Nick Cave's tour of Europe in May 1984. (*) released on "Composite Signals" VHS video compilation.

20-Feb-82
AU Melbourne-St.Kilda,The Seaview Ballroom
[with the Moodists and Plays With Marionettes]

Setlist: Junkyard/ Zoo-Music Girl/ The Dim Locator/ She's Hit/ Dead Joe/ Nick The Stripper/ Release The Bats/ A Dead Song/ Big Jesus Trash Can/ King Ink/ Funhouse [The Stooges]/ Catman [Gene Vincent].

Photo: Credit unknown.

Note: Tracy Pew is replaced by Chris Walsh [The Moodists].

24-Feb-82
NZ Auckland,Windsor Park

Note: Cancelled, due to Tracy Pew's arrest.

Ad: Scan from Rip It Up magazine, courtesy of Michael Canning.

2x-Feb-82
US CA,bay area show

27-Feb-82
US CA,San Francisco,Canon Kip
[with Minimal Man, The Meat Puppets]

28-Feb-82
US CA,Berkeley,Keystone
[with Minimal Man, The Meat Puppets]

Flyer: Photo of flyer credit of Steven Rascoe.

Article: Scan of article taken from Roadrunner zine, Mar-82.

Note: All three Bay Area shows cancelled, because Tracy Pew had just started serving time at H.M. Pentridge Prison.

05-Mar-82
UK London-Victoria,The Venue
[with The Cocteau Twins]

Setlist: Dead Joe/ (Sometimes)Pleasure Heads Must Burn/ Junkyard/ Zoo-Music Girl/ She's Hit/ A Dead Song/ Hamlet(Pow!Pow!Pow!)/ 6" Gold Blade/ Release The Bats/ King Ink/ Big Jesus Trash Can/ Funhouse [The Stooges]/ Nick The Stripper.

Flyer: Scan of flyer.

Ad: Scan of ad, taken from NME mag 27-Feb-82.

Ticket: Scan of ticket .

Note 1: First UK show after their return from Australia. Tracy Pew is replaced by Barry Adamson [then of Magazine, later Bad Seeds], because Tracy's still serving time at Pentridge Prison, Melbourne. Barry only had been through one(!) rehearsal with the band, but was "clearly in complete control" [as reviewed by Barney Hoskyns in the NME 13-Mar-82].

Note 2: "Towards the end, Nick Cave, as he would do, bent from the waist and bellowed his words into the faces of the front row just once too often...because he rose up only after someone had discharged what was seemingly a full can of party string into his hair- he was not best pleased!" Fan account by Michael W.

xx-Mar-82
UK London-Holborn,Matrix Studios (@ 35 Little Russell Street),re-recording (with Barry Adamson replacing Tracy) "Dead Joe","Kiss Me Black" & "Kewpie Doll" from the "Junkyard" album session. Engineered by Richard Mazda.

Photo: Google street view 2019.

Note: The Saints recorded their "Out In The Jungle" (aka "Casablanca") album in February 1982 at the same studios. Clock DVA recorded 2 tracks from their "Passions Still Aflame" 12" in March '82 at Matrix.

xx-Mar-82
UK London-Hammersmith,Riverside Studios/Rehearsal space (@ Crisp Road),Rowland S.Howard & Mick Harvey record "Some Velvet Morning" 12" (with Lydia Lunch, Barry Adamson & Genevieve McGuckin). Engineered by Peter Williams.

15-Mar-82
UK London-Hammersmith,Riverside Studios
Appearance at BBC2's TV show "Riverside"

Setlist: Dead Joe/ Big Jesus Trash Can.

Photo: Screen captures from TV broadcast, which was largely marred by 'experimental' 80's video effects.

Photo: Photo credit © Joe Dilworth . Used with very kind permission.

Ad: Advert, taken from Sounds mag 03-Mar-82, collection From The Archives.

Note 1: "Dead Joe" with Mick Harvey on extra drums. Tracy Pew is replaced by Barry Adamson [then of Magazine, later Bad Seeds] on bass.

Note 2: "Riverside" was a weekly arts/music/fashion magazine programme, directed by David C. Croft and presented by Mike Andrews, Nicky Picasso and Steve Blacknell, which ran for two series on BBC2 TV between January 1982 and November 1983. The 15-Mar-82 programme (Episode #1.11) was: The Birthday Party- live set; Steve Strange [Visage]- interview; Martin Fry [ABC] and Paul Weller [The Jam]- interview backstage at Top of The Pops.

16-Mar-82
DE Braunschweig,Jugendheim Nord

18-Mar-82
DE Berlin-Friedenau,Music Hall

20-Mar-82
DE Hamburg,Versuchsfeld

Ad: Taken from German mag Sounds March 1982.

Article: Scan of article taken from Roadrunner zine, Mar-82.

Note: All 3 were cancelled due to Tracy Pew's imprisonement.

25-Mar-82
UK London,Hammersmith Palais
[with The Fall, The Room]

Setlist: (Sometimes)Pleasure Heads Must Burn/ Dead Joe/ Junkyard/ Kewpie Doll/ She's Hit/ A Dead Song/ The Dim Locator/ Hamlet(Pow!Pow!Pow!)/ Release The Bats/ King Ink/ Big Jesus Trash Can/ Zoo-Music Girl.

Ad: Taken from UK mag 20-Mar-82, collection From The Archives.

Poster: Photo of poster.

Handout: Photo of handout.

Note: Tracy Pew is replaced by Barry Adamson [then of Magazine, later Bad Seeds].
Their fan, Bob 'Bingo' Bingham is breathing fire at the band. Backstage, Nick Cave demanded to meet his maniac fan and Bingo became the Birthday Party's new minder (from Steve Sutherlands' MM article "Fear On The Autobahn" 17-Jul-82).

27-Mar-82
UK Liverpool,Warehouse

Setlist: Dead Joe/ King Ink/ Zoo-Music Girl/ 6" Gold Blade/ The Dim Locator/ A Dead Song/ Junkyard/ Release The Bats/ She's Hit/ Hamlet(Pow!Pow!Pow!)/ (Sometimes) Pleasure Heads Must Burn/ Big Jesus Trash Can/ Funhouse [The Stooges].

Flyer: Photo of flyer credit of Steven Rascoe .

Photo: Photo credit Francesca Mellina.

Note: Tracy Pew is replaced by Barry Adamson [then of Magazine, later Bad Seeds]. The band stops the show until their fan Bob 'Bingo' Bingham is brought back into the venue. “I remember the club being very dark. When Nick came on stage it was almost impossible to see him or the band. There was, literally, just one light, from the side of the stage, used as the light show. It was a very intense, moody and dark set. But I loved it!” Francesca Mellina from Getintothis.

21-Apr-82
UK Sheffield,Hofbrauhaus Bierkeller (on Eyre Street)
[with The Surface Mutants]

Setlist: King Ink/ Dead Joe/ The Dim Locator/ 6" Gold Blade/ Zoo-Music Girl/ She's Hit/ A Dead Song/ Hamlet(Pow!Pow!Pow!)/ Release The Bats/ Junkyard/ Big Jesus Trash Can.

Poster: Reproduction taken from "Beats Working For A Living - Sheffield popular music 1973-1984", a book by Martin Lilleker.

Note: Tracy Pew is replaced by Harry Howard (Rowland's brother). Hofbrauhaus (which had for years survived on strippers at lunchtime) in January 1983 briefly became Dingwalls until summer 1983.

22-Apr-82
UK Glasgow,Night Moves
[with Cocteau Twins]

Setlist: Dead Joe/ Junkyard/ Zoo-Music Girl/ The Dim Locator/ She's Hit/ A Dead Song/ Hamlet(Pow!Pow!Pow!)/ King Ink/ Release The Bats/ Big Jesus Trash Can/ Funhouse [The Stooges].

Setlist: Photo of setlist.

Photo: Photo, credit Simon Clegg.

Note: Tracy Pew is replaced by Harry Howard [later Crime and the City Solution/These Immortal Souls]. Mick Harvey takes the drum seat for the encore, "Funhouse".

23-Apr-82
UK Edinburgh,The Nite Club
[with Cocteau Twins]

Setlist: Dead Joe/ King Ink/ Hamlet(Pow!Pow!Pow!)/ Zoo-Music Girl/ The Dim Locator/ She's Hit/ A Dead Song/ (Sometimes)Pleasure Heads Must Burn/ Release The Bats/ Junkyard/ Big Jesus Trash Can/ Funhouse [The Stooges].

Photo: Credit Innes Reekie, taken from his "Sometimes Pleasure Heads Must Burn", photo booklet (Stereogram 2018).

Note: Tracy Pew is replaced by Harry Howard.

25-Apr-82
UK Reading,Top Rank
[with The Fall]

Setlist: Dead Joe/ (Sometimes)Pleasure Heads Must Burn/ Junkyard/ Hamlet(Pow!Pow!Pow!)/ She's Hit/ Zoo-Music Girl/ 6" Gold Blade/ A Dead Song/ King Ink/ Release The Bats/ Big Jesus Trash Can/ Funhouse [The Stooges].

Ad: Taken from Sounds mag 24-Apr-82, collection From The Archives.

Note: Tracy Pew is replaced by Harry Howard.

06-May-82
UK Leeds,The Warehouse club
[with The March Violets]

Setlist: Big Jesus Trash Can/ Junkyard/ She's Hit/ Zoo-Music Girl/ 6" Gold Blade/ (Sometimes) Pleasure Heads Must Burn/ Sad Dark Eyes [The Loved Ones]/ Dead Joe/ King Ink/ Release The Bats/ Hamlet(Pow!Pow!Pow!).

Ad: Taken from NME 08-May-82, collection From The Archives.

Review: 'Review' of show, taken from Leeds Student 14-May-82.

Note: Tracy Pew is replaced by Harry Howard. Show was cut short because Rowland's guitar pedals were stolen from the stage after the main set before they would start their encore.

08-May-82
UK London-Westbourne Park,Zig Zag Club
[with UT and The Cravats]

Setlist: Big Jesus Trash Can/ Junkyard/ 6" Gold Blade/ (Sometimes)Pleasure Heads Must Burn/ Hamlet(Pow!Pow!Pow!)/ Several Sins/ Zoo-Music Girl/ She's Hit/ Dead Joe/ Release The Bats/ Funhouse [The Stooges]/ Sad Dark Eyes [The Loved Ones]/ A Dead Song.

Ad: Taken from UK mag 08-May-82, collection From The Archives.

Note: Tracy Pew is replaced by Harry Howard.

26-May-82
UK London-Hammersmith,Clarendon Hotel,Ballroom (upstairs)
[with The Go-Betweens]

Setlist: The Friend Catcher/ (Sometimes)Pleasure Heads Must Burn/ 6" Gold Blade/ Dead Joe/ Sad Dark Eyes [The Loved Ones]/ The Dim Locator/ She's Hit/ Release The Bats/ Junkyard/ Big Jesus Trash Can/ Hamlet(Pow!Pow!Pow!)/ Nick The Stripper.

Article 1: Taken from MM mag 15-May-82, collection From The Archives.

Article 2: Taken from NME mag 22-May-82, collection From The Archives.

Note: Tracy Pew is back! (from a 2.5 months sentence at Melbourne's Pentridge Prison.) Tracy had flown over from Melbourne to London with The Go-Betweens, after been released earlier from jail due to good behaviour. The Go-Betweens' debut London show.

27-May-82
UK London-Hammersmith,Clarendon Hotel,Ballroom (upstairs)
[with James King and the Lone Wolves]

Setlist: The Friend Catcher/ Junkyard/ Release The Bats/ Sad Dark Eyes [The Loved Ones]/ (Sometimes)Pleasure Heads Must Burn/ 6" Gold Blade/ Kewpie Doll/ Hamlet(Pow!Pow!Pow!)/ She's Hit/ Dead Joe/ Big Jesus Trash Can/ Zoo-Music Girl/ King Ink.

Ad: Taken from NME 15-May-82, collection From The Archives.

03-Jun-82
NL Eindhoven,Effenaar
[with Die Haut and Lydia Lunch & Rowland S.Howard]

Setlist: Big Jesus Trash Can/ Junkyard/ Sad Dark Eyes [The Loved Ones]/ Release The Bats/ The Friend Catcher/ A Dead Song/ From Her To Eternity/ Dead Joe/ Dim Locator/ She's Hit/ (Sometimes)Pleasure Heads Must Burn/ Hamlet(Pow!Pow!Pow!).

Poster: Photo of poster.

Ad: Scan of advert from Vinyl mag #14, May-82.

Photo: Photo credit Robert Frey [Gore], reproduced in "Memories Can't Wait- 40 Years Effenaar" book (2011).

Note: start of the 'This is the last day of the rest of your life'-tour.
Lydia's & Rowland's 10 minute set uses a specially prepared backing tape by Einstürzende Neubauten. Lydia's presence exacerbates the rift growing between Cave and Howard. Die Haut and The Birthday Party meet for the first time. (Most likelely) an early version of "From Her To Eternity" (later by The Bad Seeds) is played.

04-Jun-82
NL Amsterdam,Paradiso
[with Die Haut and Lydia Lunch & Rowland S.Howard]

Poster: Photo of a Martyn Kaye poster.

Advert 1: Scan of advert from Vinyl mag #15, Jun-82.

Advert 2: Scan of advert from Het Parool 02-Jun-82.

Note: On this day Nick Cave is introduced by Gudrun Gut [ Malaria!] to Blixa Bargeld [Einstürzende Neubauten] who are in Amsterdam for their concerts at the Huis van Bewaring on 04-Jun-82 and at the Meervaart on 06-Jun-82.

05-Jun-82
NL Groningen,Vera
[with Die Haut and Lydia Lunch & Rowland S.Howard]

Setlist: Dead Joe/ Junkyard(*)/ The Friend Catcher/ Big Jesus Trash Can(*)/ Sad Dark Eyes [The Loved Ones]/ A Dead Song(*)/ Dead In The Head(*)/ Hamlet(Pow!Pow!Pow!)(*)/ (Sometimes)Pleasure Heads Must Burn(*)/ She's Hit(*)/ Release The Bats/ Catman [Gene Vincent]/ Loose [The Stooges].

Photo: Credit unknown.

Ad: Scan of advert from Vinyl mag #15, Jun-82.

Article: Article, taken from Nieuwsblad van het Noorden 04-Jun-82.

Review: Review, taken from Nieuwsblad van het Noorden 07-Jun-82.

Note: Phill plays on Thomas Wydler's [Die Haut] drum kit. Lydia joins The Birthday Party on "Dead In The Head". (*): Broadcast by Dutch VARA FM radio on 18-Jan-83. All but the last 4 tracks also available on the (fair quality) "The Front Row Is Not For The Fragile" bootleg LP.

06-Jun-82
NL Den Haag,Paard Van Troje
[with Die Haut and Lydia Lunch & Rowland S.Howard]

Setlist: The Friend Catcher/ (Sometimes)Pleasure Heads Must Burn/ Sad Dark Eyes [The Loved Ones]/ Big Jesus Trash Can/ Dead In The Head/ Hamlet(Pow!Pow!Pow!)/ She's Hit/ A Dead Song/ Junkyard/ Dead Joe/ Funhouse [The Stooges]/ Nick The Stripper.

Photo: Screen capture from a private video.

Ad: Scan of advert from Oor magazine 02-Jun-82, collection From The Archives.

Note: Lydia joins The Birthday Party on "Dead In The Head". Rowland vocals on " A Dead Song".

07-Jun-82
NL Rotterdam-Kralingen,Utopia-Hal 4
[Die Haut and Lydia Lunch & Rowland S.Howard]

Note: Lydia joins The Birthday Party on "Dead In The Head".

08-Jun-82
FR Paris,Bains-Douches
[with Die Haut and Lydia Lunch & Rowland S.Howard]

Setlist: Dead Joe/ 6" Gold Blade/ (Sometimes)Pleasure Heads Must Burn/ Sad Dark Eyes [The Loved Ones]/ Release The Bats/ Dead In The Head/ Hamlet(Pow!Pow!Pow!)/ A Dead Song/ Junkyard/ Big Jesus Trash Can/ She's Hit.

Poster: Photo of poster, designed by Loulou Picasso of the Bazooka collective.

Photo: Photo credit Jean Paul Guinet, taken from New Wave #16, July 1982.

Note 1: Concert recorded by France Inter for Bernard Lenoir's "Feedback" program. Lydia joins The Birthday Party on "Dead In The Head". Fights erupt on and off stage. Their only concert ever in France. A great account by fan Victoria can be found here at http://rowland-s-howard.com

Note 2: Former public baths converted to a new-wave/post-punk club, which opened by (former antiques dealer) Jacques Renault on 21-Dec-78 and was closed in July 1984.

Jun-82
DE Berlin-Kreuzberg,Game Studio or Thomas Funk studios,sessions for the 'Honeymoon in Red' album (with Lydia Lunch, Genevieve McGuckin & Murray Mitchell. Without Phill Calvert.)

25-Jun-82
DE Berlin-Moabit,Ballhaus Tiergarten
[with Die Haut and Lydia Lunch & Rowland S.Howard]

Setlist: Dead In The Head/ 99 Ways/ Hamlet(Pow!Pow!Pow!)/ Dead Joe/ 6" Gold Blade/ (Sometimes)Pleasure Heads Must Burn/ Release The Bats/ Sad Dark Eyes [The Loved Ones]/ Zoo-Music Girl/ Junkyard/ Big Jesus Trash Can/ She's Hit.

Photo: Screen capture from a private video by Yvonne B. Neumann.

Setlist: Photo of setlist.

Note: start of the -by Rowland christened- 'Oops!, I've got blood on the end of my boot' tour. All tracks available on "Live In Berlin" bootleg tape. Lydia joins The Birthday Party on "Dead In The Head" and "99 Ways". Mick Harvey takes the drum seat for a couple of songs [Hamlet(Pow!Pow!Pow!), She's Hit].

26-Jun-82
DE Hamburg,Versuchsfeld
[with Die Haut and Lydia Lunch & Rowland S.Howard]

Setlist: Hamlet(Pow!Pow!Pow!)/ Dead Joe/ The Friend Catcher/ Release The Bats/ 6" Gold Blade/ Sad Dark Eyes [The Loved Ones]/ A Dead Song/ Junkyard/ (Sometimes)Pleasure Heads Must Burn/ She's Hit/ Big Jesus Trash Can.

Photo: Credit Tschiponnique Skupin. Sourced from Gettyimages/Redferns music photo libraries.

Ticket: Photo of ticket.

Review: Scan taken from Scritti zine Jul-82.

Note: Mick Harvey takes the drum seat for a couple of songs [Hamlet(Pow!Pow!Pow!), She's Hit].

27-Jun-82
DE Bochum,Zeche
[with Die Haut and Lydia Lunch & Rowland S.Howard]

Setlist: A.o. Hamlet(Pow!Pow!Pow!)/.../ 6" Gold Blade/ ..

Photo 1: Original photos, credit Peter Kostiw. Used with kind permission.

Photo 2: Screen capture taken from a private video by Gusztáv Hámos. Uploaded by Mick Harvey to his YouTube channel.

Ticket: Photo of ticket.

Note: Lydia joins The Birthday Party on "Funhouse". Mick Harvey takes the drum seat for a couple of songs [Hamlet(Pow!Pow!Pow!) She's Hit].

29-Jun-82
DE München,Alabamahalle
[Die Haut and Lydia Lunch & Rowland S.Howard]

Note: Lydia joins The Birthday Party on "Funhouse". Mick Harvey takes the drum seat for a couple of songs [Hamlet(Pow!Pow!Pow!), She's Hit, Funhouse].

01-Jul-82
DE Bremen,Aladin
[with Die Haut and Lydia Lunch & Rowland S.Howard]

Setlist: Big Jesus Trash Can(*)/ Dead Joe(*)/ The Friend Catcher(*)/ A Dead Song/ 6" Gold Blade(*)/ Junkyard/ Release The Bats/ Hamlet(Pow!Pow!Pow!)(*)/ She's Hit(*)/ (Sometimes) Pleasure Heads Must Burn/ Funhouse [The Stooges].

Photo: Credit Wolfgang Wiggers. Used with kind permission.

Note: Lydia joins The Birthday Party on "Funhouse" (see photo). Mick Harvey takes the drum seat for a couple of songs [Hamlet(Pow!Pow!Pow!) She's Hit, Funhouse]. Broadcast by Radio Bremen FM. All but "Release The Bats" & "She's Hit" released on bootleg LP "A Social Gathering For the Celebration Of The Anniversary Of Someones Birth". (*)Released on "Live 81-82" CD on 4AD records. Complete concert also available on the "Funhouse" bootleg LP.

02-Jul-82
UK Release of the "Junkyard" album (4AD records).

xx-Jul-82
AU Release of the "Junkyard" album (Missing Links/CBS records).

02-Jul-82
DE Köln,Bürgerhaus Stollwerck,Maschinenhalle
[with Die Haut and Lydia Lunch & Rowland S.Howard]

Setlist: Hamlet(Pow!Pow!Pow!)/ The Friend Catcher/ Release The Bats/ Junkyard/ Kiss Me Black/ 6" Gold Blade/ Dead Joe/ (Sometimes)Pleasure Heads Must Burn/ She's Hit/ Big Jesus Trash Can/ Funhouse [The Stooges].

Photo: Credit Tom Sheehan. Another photo

Note 1: Lydia joins The Birthday Party on "Funhouse". Mick Harvey takes the drum seat for a couple of songs [Hamlet(Pow!Pow!Pow!), She's Hit, Funhouse]. During "Kiss Me Black" Nick inavertently kicks a girl in the face. Roadie/minder Bob 'Bingo' Bingham saves Nick from being hit by a skinhead with an iron bar. Bedlam with bouncers and audience erupts. Captured on a private video tape, filmed by Gerd Plitzner and Rudi Fring. "Hamlet(Pow!Pow!Pow!)" and "Funhouse" released on "Kino Aus Der Kassette" German cassette-zine (1982).

Note 2: In 1839, Franz Stollwerck opened a factory in Cologne, producing cough bonbons. By 1860 the production was extended by chocolate, marzipan and gingerbread. The factory was operational until the late 1970's. In 1980 the derelict Stollwerck was occupied and throughout the 80's used as a cultural centre by "Pallazzo Schoko and Regenbogenhaus" organisation.

03-Jul-82
DE Frankfurt,Batschkapp
[with Die Haut and Lydia Lunch & Rowland S.Howard]

Setlist: Big Jesus Trash Can/ Junkyard/ Dead Joe/ Hamlet(Pow!Pow!Pow!)/ The Friend Catcher/ Release The Bats/ 6" Gold Blade/ Zoo-Music Girl/ She's Hit/ (Sometimes) Pleasure Heads Must Burn/ Funhouse [The Stooges]/ Nick The Stripper.

Photo: Credit Peter Weiss. Used with kind permission.

Note: Lydia joins The Birthday Party on "Funhouse". Mick Harvey takes the drum seat for a couple of songs [Hamlet(Pow!Pow!Pow!), She's Hit, Funhouse].

Jul-82
DE Berlin-Kreuzberg,Game Studio,Rowland S.Howard records for Einstürzende Neubauten's "Durstiges Tier/Thirsty Animal" 12" (with Lydia Lunch & Alex Hacke)

Jul-82
DE Berlin-Kreuzberg,Game Studio,sessions for the 'Honeymoon in Red' album (with Lydia Lunch, Genevieve McGuckin & Murray Mitchell. Without Phill Calvert)

Jul-82
UK South London-Brixton,Cold Storage Studios (an old meat storage/processing facility),Nick Cave & Lydia Lunch record "Der Karibische Western" 12" with Die Haut. Engineer Charles Bullen [ex- This Heat].

Jul-82
UK London,Nick Cave writes about 40 of "50 one-page plays".

10-Jul-82
UK London,Zig Zag Club
[with Sisters of Mercy and Play School]

Setlist: Hamlet(Pow!Pow!Pow!)/ Dead Joe/ The Friend Catcher/ Release The Bats/ Junkyard/ 6" Gold Blade/ (Sometimes) Pleasure heads Must Burn/ Kiss Me Black/ She's Hit/ Big Jesus Trash Can/ Funhouse [The Stooges]/ Nick The Stripper.

Flyer: Scan of flyer.

Ad: Scan of ad from UK mag.

Photo: Photo credit Ian Kerkhof.

Membership card: Zig Zag club membership card certificate.

Note: Mick Harvey takes the drum seat for a couple of songs [Hamlet(Pow!Pow!Pow!), She's Hit, Funhouse].

15-Jul-82
UK London-Kilburn,band's press office

Photo: Credit David Corio. Sourced from Gettyimages/Redferns music photo libraries.

Note: From a photoshoot by David Corio.

21-Jul-82
NL Hilversum,VPRO TV studios
"Götterdämmerung 2000" TV show - Episode 2

Setlist: Junkyard (*)/ Big Jesus Trash Can.

Photo: Screen capture from DVD.

Listing: Scan of TV guide from Het Parool 25-Sep-82.

Video: Episode 2 and Episode 3

Note 1: Broadcast on Sunday evening, 26-Sep-82. Live vocals over playback music. Due to complaints from TV viewers after the broadcast of "Junkyard" (Episode 2), "Big Jesus Trash Can" is not shown the next week (Episode 3). (*) Released on "Pleasure Heads Must Burn" DVD (Cherry Red UK 2003).

Note 2: Program produced by Bram van Splunteren, which only had 3 (test) episodes, before it was cancelled.

22-Jul-82
UK Manchester,Hacienda

Setlist: Hamlet(Pow!Pow!Pow!)/ Dead Joe(*)/ 6" Gold Blade/ A Dead Song(*)/ The Dim Locator/ Junkyard(*)/ Release The Bats(*)/ She's Hit/ (Sometimes) Pleasure heads Must Burn(*)/ Big Jesus Trash Can(*)/ Funhouse [The Stooges].

Ad: Taken from NME mag 03-Jul-82, collection From The Archives.

Note: (*)Released on "Pleasure Heads Must Burn" video (Icon F.C.L. UK 1983)/DVD (Cherry Red UK 2003). Mick Harvey takes the drum seat for a couple of songs [Hamlet(Pow!Pow!Pow!), She's Hit, Funhouse].

23-Jul-82
UK Liverpool,Warehouse

Setlist: Big Jesus Trash Can/ The Friend Catcher/ Hamlet(Pow!Pow!Pow!)/ 6" Gold Blade/ The Dim Locator/ A Dead Song/ Junkyard/ Release The Bats/ She's Hit/ Dead Joe/ (Sometimes) Pleasure heads Must Burn/ Nick The Stripper.

Note: Mick Harvey takes the drum seat for a couple of songs [Hamlet(Pow!Pow!Pow!), She's Hit].

24-Jul-82
UK Retford,Porterhouse

Setlist: Hamlet(Pow!Pow!Pow!)/ Dead Joe/ The Friend Catcher/ Release The Bats/ Junkyard/ The Dim Locator/ 6" Gold Blade/ (Sometimes) Pleasure heads Must Burn/ She's Hit/ Big Jesus Trash Can/ Funhouse [The Stooges].

Ad: Taken from NME mag 17-Jul-82, collection From The Archives.

Note: Next to last concert with Phill Calvert. Mick Harvey takes the drum seat for a couple of songs [Hamlet(Pow!Pow!Pow!), She's Hit, Funhouse].

05-Aug-82
UK London-Victoria,The Venue
[with The Laughing Clowns]

Setlist: Hamlet(Pow!Pow!Pow!)/ (Sometimes) Pleasure heads Must Burn/ 6" Gold Blade/ Junkyard/ Release The Bats/ The Friend Catcher/ The Dim Locator/ A Dead Song/ She's Hit/ Dead Joe/ Big Jesus Trash Can/ Zoo-Music Girl/ King Ink.

Photo: Credit Ian Kerkhof. Another photo by David Corio, sourced from Gettyimages/Redferns music photo libraries.

Flyer: Scan of flyer.

Ticket: Photo of ticket.

Ad: Original advert taken from NME mag 31-Jul-82, collection From The Archives. Another advert, taken from Time Out mag 06-Aug-82.

Note: Last concert with Phill Calvert. Barry Adamson drums on last 2 songs. The Laughing Clowns, with Jeffrey Wegener [1977-78 in The Young Charlatans with Rowland S.Howard], had just flown over from Australia, making their UK live debut.

Aug-82
UK South London-Brixton,Cold Storage Studio(?),final sessions for the 'Honeymoon in Red' album (with Lydia Lunch, Genevieve McGuckin & Murray Mitchell. Without Phill Calvert). Engineered by Steve Montgomery.

Aug-82
"In early '82, basically, the writing was drying up. By mid-'82, a scapegoat had to be found, and that scapegoat was Phill [Calvert], of course." Mick Harvey quoted in "Stranded", a book by Clinton Walker.

Mick Harvey moves from rhythm guitar to drums.The band, sick of London, leaves and moves to Berlin (DE). First at Mark Reeder's [Die Unbekannten] place then later when Anita Lane arrives all move to Dresdener Strasse 11 (Christophe Dreher's [Die Haut] place).

Phill Calvert joins The Psychedelic Furs (1982-84 ) and then Blue Ruin (1985-91). Later he forms The Sunday Kind (1992-93), The Sugarhips (1998) and In Vovo (2002). In 2006 he produced (the Birthday Party influenced) Witch Hats' first EP and album. In 2015 Calvert launched the label Behind the Beat Records with associate Ben Ling.

Aug-82
DE Berlin,a studio,recording "The Fullness Of His Coming" & "I Killed It With A Shoe" with Anita Lane on (Nick's muse). "The Fullness.." was released on Anita Lane's compilation album "Dirty Pearl" (Mute 1993). "I Killed It.." was never released.

17-Sep-82
GR Athina,Sporting
"First Ever Festival of Independent Rock 'n' Roll."
[with The Fall & New Order]

Setlist: Hamlet(Pow!Pow!Pow!)/ Sonny's Burning/ 6" Gold Blade/ Deep In The Woods/ The Dim Locator/ Fears Of Gun/ Still Burning/ Release The Bats/ She's Hit/ Dead Joe/ Funhouse [The Stooges]/ Junkyard/ Loose [The Stooges].

Photo: Credit Thodoros Papadopoulos (aka T.Berlin). Another one, credit unknown.

Poster: Scan of poster.

Ticket: Scan of ticket.

Note 1: Day one of a three day festival, taking place in a basketball stadium and organised by Petros Moustakas.
Jim G. Thirlwell [Foetus] on sax during last 3 songs. First concert with Line-up#2. Nick pushes the 6 bouncers off stage. Audience storms the stage (from Ian Johnston's biography "Bad Seed"). "Funhouse" released on "Live 81-82" CD on 4AD records.

Note 2: Rowland [Howard]: "When the promoter arranged the tour, he pleaded with us not to bring any drugs with us. When we got off the plane there was like four photographers taking photos [..] "This man appeared, our promoter's cousin, who worked in Customs and Immigration; if we followed him we wouldn't have to go through Customs. We were whisked through, probably because the promoter was terrified we'd have guitar cases crammed full of heroin. [..] We arrived at our hotel, everyone was completely fucked and desperately wanted to go to bed. I remember looking at the front desk and seeing Nick standing there with the girls [he met at the airport], and I went upstairs and went to sleep. "About an hour later the desk rang up Minou, our tour manager, saying 'Can you please do something about this man?' Nick was standing down there, demanding that these two girls be allowed to share his room. The hotel said, 'Fine, if you'll give us whatever amount more to pay for them', and Nick was saying, `No!' So Minou, falling back on her femininity, rang up Mick; `Please, Mick do something about this, it is terrible!' So Mick gets up and goes down there and says, 'You fucking cunt! Get into fuckin' bed and go to sleep!' "And Nick goes, 'Right! I'm leaving the band!', picks up his little briefcase and marches out into the night! "The next morning, a policeman found him asleep under a bush in a park, and moved him on. He was so pissed, his memory of the last day was completely clouded, and he thought he was still in Berlin. Getting on a bus, he tries to pay German marks, and he's saying, `Codbusitor?' [Kottbusser Tor] which was where we lived, and he didn't speak any German, and the driver's going, 'What?' in Greek. Nick ended up wandering around for an hour, eventually realising that this is not Berlin, and he's sitting at this train station, and he looks up. "Directly opposite him is this hotel, and we all walk out the door and down the steps. The next day the newspaper headlines read, 'Punk Rock Star Found Asleep In Park!' So we were on the front page of the Greek daily newspapers for two days in a row." Mick [Harvey]: "Everyone was on stage at the end of the concert in Athens, it was like a party. It was also in defiance of the security who'd been throwing people off the stage. Eventually Nick walked up and pushed one of these security people out of the way, and the whole crowd went totally crazy." Quotes from "Nick Cave: The Birthday Party and Other Epic Adventures", a book by Robert Brokenmouth.

23-Sep-82
DE Berlin-Friedenau,Music Hall
In der Hall ist der Teufel los festival
[with Malaria! and Die Haut]

Setlist: Sonny's Burning/ 6" Gold Blade/ Dead Joe/ Deep In The Woods/ Fears Of Gun/ Hamlet(Pow!Pow!Pow!)/She's Hit.

Flyer: Photo of flyer.

Note: Nick joins Malaria! on vocals for their encore "We Are The Famous Men". Nick Cave: "Shut up! This is our concert, not yours." Released on the (poor quality) "Drunk on Deutschen Blood" bootleg album.

Oct-82
DE Berlin-Kreuzberg/Neukölln,Sector
[with Einstürzende Neubauten]

Note: Weeks in advance both bands had been offered unlimited supply of free drinks to attract customers to this new club. The concert was cancelled by the club owners (2 Turkish arms dealers) when they found out they would never be able to recoup these expenses and certainly after they saw the flyer -with a photo of Nick & Rowland- to advertise the concert. The club closed soon after.(From Ian Johnston's biography "Bad Seed").

Photo: Credit Rainer Berson [Die Haut]

07-09/Oct-82
DE Berlin,Hansa Tonstudio (@ Köthener Strasse 38),sessions for the "Bad Seed" EP ("Sonny's Burning", "Wild World", "Fears Of Gun" and "Deep In The Woods"). Engineered by Tony Cohen. The sessions suffered from a shortage of material, since Cave had ceased writing with Howard, instead he started writing with Harvey.

Oct/Dec-82
UK London-Fulham,329 Fulham Palace Road

Note 1:"The four of us hadn't been there [329 Fulham Palace Road] long when the chance to reciprocate Melbourne hospitality came knocking. Nick and his girlfriend Anita Lane, and Birthday Party bassist Tracy Pew with partner Kate Jarrett, needing a place to crash after a Berlin recording session, bunked on the loungeroom floor. Winter was approaching, money scarce, and life in the crowded house became nocturnal.[..] Nick and Tracy had a test pressing of their Berlin recordings, The Bad Seed EP, with four very strong songs on it. This would have intimidated me in the past, being perhaps the most powerfully concise thing they ever did, but our album ["Before Hollywood"] was strong enough to follow it."From "Grant & I", a book by Robert Forster (Omnibus Press, 2018).

Note 2: "Good! For a while there were eight of us in this flat [i.e. squat] on Fulham Palace Road. We were all musicians, so there was no need to wake up at seven o'clock. The Birthday Party were friends and both bands got on well. There was a lot of music being played. 'TB Sheets' by Van Morrison was played to death. I first heard John Phillip's 'The World King Of LA' there and 'Surf's Up' by the Beach Boys, an amazing record. Obviously there were drugs. There was a whole feeling that [The Birthday Party] thing would self selfdestruct. Nick [Cave] always had the talent and charisma, but whether he was going to reach 30 or 40 or 50, and what musical world he'd have around him, was unknown. I'm sure he couldn't see much beyond where he was at that time either. But we all survived another London winter.". Robert Forster [The Go-Betweens] quoted in Uncut #263 April 2019 in reply to a reader's question "What was Nick Cave like as a housemate?"

Note 3: "[Robert] Forster and [Lindy] Morrison moved into the upstairs rooms of a squat in Fulham, West London where their former Zeros bandmate Debbie Thomas was living (members of the Birthday Party moved into rooms in the building as well). It was presumably the commitment to a rock 'n' roll lifestyle, combined with sheer boredom, that was responsible for the widespread heroin use in the squat: [Lindy] Morrison [drums in The Go-Betweens]: 'I used to be the one responsible for cleaning the house because no one else would. I found some heroin of Nick [Cave] -I could never afford heroin, I was broke all the time- in an envelope in the kitchen and naturally I just took it. Anyway, Nick came home that night and of course I was really stoned, and Nick said, "How come you're stoned?" because I was the one who was never stoned. And I said "I found some on the kit[chen sink]". "You knew that was my heroin!" He went completely berserk about how I'd stolen his heroin, and I said "I didn't know it was yours, I found it on the kitchen floor." But for months afterwards Nick was saying, "You stole my heroin, you took my heroin:' And I was so happy about it. Tracy [Pew] was forever having overdoses, always OD'ing. And when they'd hit OD it was like this kind of ritual that everybody loved! They'd fill their syringes with salt water and be pumping him with salt water, they'd be throwing him in the shower. Meanwhile, straight Lindy would be running up and down the stairs screaming, "We've got to get an ambulance! We've got to get an ambulance!" and everyone would say, "Get her out of here! Robert, take her upstairs, get her out of here, don't let her near the phone!" while they walked Tracy up and down the corridor, up and down the stairs, threw him in the shower. It was a regular occurrence. It was an awful scene. I cooked this fabulous Christmas dinner, and half an hour before Christmas dinner everybody hit up. So when Christmas dinner came, nobody could eat. And everyone was just sitting around, the gravy was congealing in thick lumps over the chicken, the green vegetables were going stiff and the potato was hard. And the plates just sat there all day, it was a tragedy. It was that constant "straight" thing, that constant thing that I was very straight, and I could never move in that other world. Well, I didn't want to. I didn't need to.'" From "The Go-Betweens", a book by David Nichols (Verse Chorus Press 2003).

Photo: Google street view November 2017.

14-Oct-82
NL Rotterdam-Kralingen,Utopia-Hal 4
[with Het Laatste]

Setlist: Hamlet(Pow!Pow!Pow!)/ 6" Gold Blade/ Deep In The Woods/ Dead Joe/ Wild World/ Fears Of Gun/ The Dim Locator/ She's Hit/ Release The Bats/ Sonny's Burning.

Poster: Photo of poster, design Mambo's. From Dig It Up

Photo: Photo credit John -Phoxx- Groot. From Dig It Up

Review: Scan of review from Muziekkrant Oor 20-Oct-82. "The band didn't feel like it from the start. Cave stated that they would rather go home but the contract required them to play for an hour. After 45 minutes the dressing room won." Photo credit John Groot. John was allowed to photograph Nick Cave because they had the same hair style. He drowned near his boat in Rotterdam on 26-Feb-07 at the age of 45.

15-Oct-82
BE Brussel,Plan K
[with Isolation Ward]

Setlist: Hamlet(Pow!Pow!Pow!)/ 6" Gold Blade/ Deep In The Woods/ Dead Joe/ Wild World/ Fears Of Gun/ The Dim Locator/ She's Hit/ Release The Bats/ Sonny's Burning/ 16 Tons [Tennessee Ernie Ford]/ Funhouse [The Stooges].

Photo 1: Photo credit © Philippe Carly @ Newwavephotos.com . Used with very kind permission.

Photo 2: Another set by credit © Etienne Todoir @ Music Belgium Photos.

Photo 3: Photo credit Dominique Papin.

Poster: Photo of poster courtesy of Etienne Vernaeve [Isolation Ward].

16-Oct-82
BE Hasselt-Kuringen,Ontmoetingscentrum Gildezaal
[with The Metropolitan Construction Co. and Struggler]

Setlist: Sonny's Burning/ 6" Gold Blade/ Wild World/ Dead Joe/ The Dim Locator/ Deep In The Woods/ Fears Of Gun/ Release The Bats/ She's Hit/ Hamlet(Pow!Pow!Pow!).

Photo: Credit Erik Leroy [The Metropolitan Construction Co.] Used with kind permission. Erik died on 08-Feb-24, at the age of 63.

15-Nov-82
UK London,BBC Studios
recording John Peel Radio Session IV

Setlist: Deep In The Woods/ Marry Me(Lie!Lie!)/ Pleasure Avalanche/ Sonny's Burning.

Ad: Taken from Melody Maker 13-Nov-82, collection From The Archives.

Note: First broadcast by BBC Radio One on 22-Nov-82. Recorded by Dave Dade. Produced by Dale 'Buffin' Griffin [Mott The Hoople]. Also released on "The John Peel Sessions" CD (Strange Fruit UK-2001). "Marry Me(Lie!Lie!)" would later in 1987 be the first single released by Rowland's band These Immortal Souls.

22-Nov-82
UK Edinburgh,Coasters
[with The Laughing Clowns]

Setlist: Hamlet(Pow!Pow!Pow!)/ Deep In The Woods/ 6" Gold Blade/ Dead Joe/ Pleasure Avalanche/ Wild World/ Fears Of Gun/ She's Hit/ Sonny's Burning/ Loose [The Stooges].

Ticket: Scan of ticket.

23-Nov-82
UK Glasgow,Night Moves
[with The Laughing Clowns]

Ad: Taken from UK mag Nov-82, collection From The Archives.

Note: The gig descended into chaos with Nick Cave jumping from the low stage to fight with a member of the audience. "If you want us to play for more than one minute then fucking behave" says Cave [as reviewed by Andrea Miller for Sounds 01-Jan-83]. The concert was filmed by the venue.

25-Nov-82
UK London-Brixton,The Ace Cinema
[with Virgin Prunes]

Setlist: Sonny's Burning/ Deep In The Woods/ Big Jesus Trash Can/ 6" Gold Blade/ Pleasure Avalanche/ She's Hit/ Dead Joe/ Wild World/ Fears Of Gun/ Hamlet(Pow!Pow!Pow!)/ Release The Bats (aborted).

Photo: Screen capture from DVD.

Ad: Advert from NME mag 20-Nov-82, collection From The Archives. Scan of alternative version of Advert.

Ticket: Scan of Ticket 1 and Ticket 2.

Note 1: "We were having a big argument about the encore (..) and we couldn't decide what to do (..) and we were all screaming at each other in the dressing room, and finally we said, Well, let's just do 'Release The Bats'. Mick and Nick didn't want to, but they said alright, and the cameras were rolling, all the audience was screaming and shouting and then, 'Tracy forgot how to play it!'. I was playing 'Six Inch Gold Blade', I had a mental block (..) So we tried it again,(..) I still couldn't do it, and I think we had a third go, then Mick just hurled his sticks down and launched himself off stage. Nick left. Rowland went and hid behind his amp or something. And I was left on the stage alone looking -deservedly- like an arsehole." Tracy Pew quoted in "Stranded" a book by Clinton Walker.

Note 2: "On leaving, I was not alone in thinking that The Birthday Party are, maybe the Greatest Rock'n'Roll Band in the World" [as reviewed by Mat Snow for the NME 04-Dec-82].

Note 3: The concert was filmed by Channel 4 TV for "Whatever You Want" programme, broadcast on 27-Nov-82. It was rebroadcast as "Whatever You Didn't Get" on 28-Feb-83. "Fears Of Gun" and "Hamlet(Pow!Pow!Pow!)" are later released on "Pleasure Heads Must Burn" DVD (Cherry Red UK 2003). Released on the (fair quality) "Slum Church" bootleg album.

Dec-82
DE Aachen,Studio West,Nick Cave records "Burnin the Ice" album with Die Haut in 2 days. Engineered by Rainer Rutow. Mixed by Klaus Krüger [Tangerine Dream] @ Studio Funk,Berlin in Mar-83.

Dec-82
NL Eindhoven,Effenaar (Die Haut with Nick Cave)

Note: Nick Cave's first live guest appearance with Die Haut (Christophe Dreher's band). They perform songs from the "Burnin' The Ice" album.

18-Jan-83
NL Hilversum,Vara FM Radio,Moondogs

Playlist: The Stooges: Loose/ Archie Shepp and Jeanne Lee: Blasé/ Hank Williams: Kaw-Liga and Your Cheating Heart/ Tennessee Ernie Ford: 16 Tons/ Kris Kristofferson: Stony Cold Ground/ Captain Beefheart: Ashtray Heart/ The Walker Brothers: The Electrician/ Van Morrison: The Way Young Lovers Do/ Alex Harvey: Hammer Song/ The Saints: Story Of Love/ Boys Next Door: Shivers and Death By Drowning/ Birthday Party: The Friend Catcher/ The Fall: Fantastic Life (live Groningen-Vera 17-May-81)/ Birthday Party: King Ink/ Mark Stewart: Jerusalem (live Groningen-Vera 13-Jan-83)/ Red Crayola: Parable Of The Arable Land/ Teenage Jesus and the Jerks: Red Alert/ Rowland S.Howard and Lydia Lunch: Some Velvet Morning/ The Meat Puppets: Walking Boss/ Foetus Over Frisco: Birth Day/ Birthday Party: 7 tracks (live Groningen-Vera 05-Jun-82).

Ad: Taken from Oor mag 12-Jan-83, collection From The Archives.

Note: Nick and Tracy host the 3-hour radio program and are interviewed by Bram Van Splunteren (who in 1987 would make the TV documentary "Stranger in a strange land" about Nick Cave). "That drunken interview ... it wound up in excess." (Mick Harvey quoted in Ian Johnston's biography "Bad Seed").

19-Jan-83
NL Utrecht,Tivoli

Review: Review of concert, taken from NRC newspaper 20-Jan-83. Another review, from the Volkskrant 21-Jan-83. One more review, from Trouw 22-Jan-83.

Note: Ed Kuepper had broken up The Laughing Clowns in London in December 1982. Jeffrey Wegener [ex-Laughing Clowns] is asked to play drums on a short -5 dates Dutch tour. He plays drums half of the set on songs where Mick Harvey switches back to guitar.

20-Jan-83
NL Arnhem,Stokvishal

Setlist: Six String That Drew Blood/ Sonny's Burning/ She's Hit/ 6" Gold Blade/ Pleasure Avalanche/ Deep In The Woods/ Dead Joe/ Wild World/ Fears Of Gun/ Hamlet(Pow!Pow!Pow!)/ Big Jesus Trash Can.

Photo: Credit unknown.

Note: With Jeffrey Wegener [ex-Laughing Clowns] on drums for half of the set. All except last 2 tracks available on the fair quality "Fuckin' Rotten Business This! bootleg LP.

21-Jan-83
NL Amsterdam,Paradiso
[with Exploiting The Profits]

Note: With Jeffrey Wegener [ex-Laughing Clowns] on drums for half of the set.

Photo: Credit John Groot, as published in Muziekkrant Oor 09-Feb-83.

22-Jan-83
NL Rotterdam,Arena
[with Exploiting The Profits]

Setlist: Hamlet(Pow!Pow!Pow!)/ Pleasure Avalanche/ Fears Of Gun/ Deep In The Woods/ Wild World/ Dead Joe/ She's Hit/ Sonny's Burning/ The Friend Catcher/ Six Strings That Drew Blood.

Note: With Jeffrey Wegener [ex-Laughing Clowns] on drums for half of the set.

Ad: Taken from Oor mag 12-Jan-83, collection From The Archives.

23-Jan-83
NL Eindhoven,Effenaar
[with Isolation Ward]

Setlist: Hamlet(Pow!Pow!Pow!)/ Fears Of Gun/ Deep In The Woods/ 6" Gold Blade/ Dead Joe/ Wild World/ Pleasure Avalanche/ Big Jesus Trash Can/ She's Hit/ Six Strings That Drew Blood/ Sonny's Burning/ The Friend Catcher.

Listing: Scan of listing, taken from Het Parool 20-Jan-83.

Note: Last show with Jeffrey Wegener [ex-Laughing Clowns] on drums. "It was an opportunity [Jeffrey] should have relished (..). The gigs went fine, but Jeffey insisted on calling a meeting every night to apologise for his poor performance. Naturally The Birthday Party soon tired of this uncalled-for ritual. Jeffrey finally wore out his welcome back in Berlin. Tracy [Pew] wrestled him off and threw him out. 'And then' Kate [Jarrett, Tracy's girlfriend] recalls, 'he just walked off into oblivion, hitched to Paris I think'". From "Stranded" a book by Clinton Walker. Jeffrey eventually worked with Ed Kuepper [ex-Laughing Clowns] again.

Feb-83
UK Release of "The Bad Seed" 12" EP on 4AD records.

Feb-83
UK West Hampstead,a squat on Kingdon Road

Note:"I don't remember how Lindy [Morrison] and I found the squat in West Hampstead, but it made cramped apartment living with members of The Birthday Party and a gonzo Australian rock journalist [Clinton Walker] seem the very picture of normalcy. The house was a three-storey terrace, not dissimilar to St Charles Square, but in a posher part of town. [..] On the top floor, in the attic, lived perhaps the most upstanding folks on the premises, Rowland Howard and his elfin, fine-featured girlfriend Genevieve McGuckin. It was quite a household." From "Grant & I", a book by Robert Forster (Omnibus Press, 2018).

24-Feb-83
UK Manchester,Hacienda

Setlist: Hamlet(Pow!Pow!Pow!)(*)/ Say A Spell/ Fears Of Gun/ Pleasure Avalanche(*)/ 6" Gold Blade(*)/ Deep In The Woods/ Dead Joe/ Wild World(*)/ Six Strings That Drew Blood(*)/ Sonny's Burning(*)/ Swampland/ She's Hit(*).

Ad: Taken from NME 19-Feb-83, collection From The Archives.

Review: By Dave Roberts, taken from NME 05-Mar-83.

Note: Mick Harvey switched back on drums. (*)Released on "Pleasure Heads Must Burn" video (Icon F.C.L. UK 1983)/DVD (Cherry Red UK 2003).

25-Feb-83
UK Leeds,Polytechnic-Ents Hall
[with Crown of Thorns]

Setlist: Hamlet(Pow!Pow!Pow!)/ Pleasure Avalanche/ Say A Spell/ Dead Joe/ Wild World/ Fears Of Gun/ Deep In The Woods/ Six Strings That Drew Blood/ 6" Gold Blade/ Sonny's Burning/ Swampland.

Ad: Scan of ad, taken from Leeds Student 18-Feb-83.

Poster: Photo of poster.

Ticket: Scan of ticket.

Review: Scan of review, taken from Leeds Student 04-Mar-83.

Note: About a 1,000 in attendance.

26-Feb-83
UK St. Albans,City Hall
[with Crown of Thorns]

Listing: Taken from UK mag Feb-83, collection From The Archives.

27-Feb-83
UK Brighton,Coasters (formerly Jenkinson's Bar)
[+ support]

Setlist: Hamlet(Pow!Pow!Pow!)/ Say A Spell/ Fears Of Gun/ Pleasure Avalanche/ 6" Gold Blade/ Deep In The Woods/ Dead Joe/ Wild World/ Six Strings That Drew Blood/ Sonny's Burning/ She's Hit.

Ad: Scan of ad from UK mag Feb-83.

Listing: Listing from UK mag Feb-83, collection From The Archives.

05-Mar-83
DK København,Saltlageret,Nosferatu Festival 2
[with Tom Cats, Under For, etc..]

Poster: Scan of poster.

Photo: Photo credit Søren Svendsen.

07-Mar-83
UK London,Lyceum
[with Malaria! and Einstürzende Neubauten]

Setlist: Hamlet(Pow!Pow!Pow!)/ Pleasure Avalanche/ Say A Spell/ Dead Joe/ 6" Gold Blade/ Swampland/ Fears Of Gun/ Deep In The Woods/ Six Strings That Drew Blood/ Sonny's Burning/ Big Jesus Trash Can/ She's Hit.

Ad: Taken from NME mag 19-Feb-83, collection From The Archives.

Ticket: Scan of ticket.

Mar-83
Band changes labels (from 4AD) to Mute Records. Mick Harvey announces his departure from the group, but agrees to do the American tour.

1x-Mar-83
SE -,-

19-Mar-83
NO Oslo,University-Blindern campus,Chateau Neuf-basement

Photo 1: Credit Steinar Buholm. Nick Cave's left hand is bandaged as a result of a fight with an audience member at The Lyceum, London concert on 07-Mar-83.

Photo 2: Photo and more photos, credit Steinar Buholm, taken from Arbeiderbladet/Nye Takter music magazine #64, 1983.

Listing: Listing taken from Arbeiderbladet 18-Mar-83.

Note: "After the gig, Nick Cave thought that it had been a mediocre concert, neither good nor bad. So not extreme in any way, which should mean that it was bad." From Nye Takter #64, 1983.

23-Mar-83
US MA,Boston-Logan,International Airport

Note: " I picked them up at Logan airport on the 23rd. Mick and Roland came right through Customs and Immigration. Nick and Tracy took about 3 hours to get through. They weren't looking their best." Jeffrey Osborne (tour manager/sound mixer).

24-Mar-83
US MA,Boston,The Channel Club
[with Dangerous Birds]

Ad: Scan taken from The Boston Phoenix March 22, 1983.

Photo: Taken from Forced Exposure #6.

Review:"We're not here to be entertaining" (Nick Cave): from a review taken from Boston Rock #39 (27-Apr-83).

Note: Start of 2nd tour of the U.S.A. The same night Iggy Pop performed at The Paradise.
"The last tour of [North] America was about the best tour we ever did." Mick Harvey quoted in "Nick Cave: The Birthday Party and Other Epic Adventures", a book by Robert Brokenmouth.

25-Mar-83
US MI,Detroit,Traxx
[with L-Seven and Laughing Hyenas]

Setlist: Hamlet(Pow!Pow!Pow!)/ Pleasure Avalanche/ Say A Spell/ Dead Joe/ 6" Gold Blade/ Swampland/ Fears Of Gun/ She's Hit/ Six Strings That Drew Blood/ Sonny's Burning.

Flyer: Scan courtesy of 'smudge wedgin'.

26-Mar-83
US NY,New York City,The Peppermint Lounge

Photo: Credit Catherine Ceresole, as taken from the Italian booklet on Stampa Alternativa (1995/1998).

27-Mar-83
US GA,Atlanta,-

28-Mar-83
US CA,San Francisco,I Beam
[with B Team]

Setlist: Sonny's Burning/ Six Strings That Drew Blood/ Deep In The Woods/ Dead Joe/ 6" Gold Blade/ Swampland/ Fears Of Gun/ She's Hit/ Pleasure Avalanche/ Hamlet(Pow!Pow!Pow!).

Ad: Scan of ad, taken from The San Francisco Examiner 27-Mar-83.

Article: Scan of article, taken from The San Francisco Examiner 27-Mar-83.

30-Mar-83
US CA,Los Angeles,Roxy
(1st show 9PM)
[with Lydia Lunch & Jim Sclavunos]

Setlist: Hamlet(Pow!Pow!Pow!)/ Pleasure Avalanche/ Say A Spell/ Dead Joe/ 6" Gold Blade/ Swampland/ Fears Of Gun/ She's Hit/ Six Strings That Drew Blood/ Sonny's Burning.

Photo: Credit: © David Arnoff (used with kind permission).

Ad: Scan of advert, taken from Los Angeles Times 27-Mar-83.

Note: Jim Sclavunos supports Lydia's spoken word on keyboards and sax. In 1994, Jim would join the Bad Seeds.

30-Mar-83
US CA,Los Angeles,Roxy
(2nd show 11PM)
[with Lydia Lunch & Jim Sclavunos]

Setlist: Sonny's Burning/ Six Strings That Drew Blood/ Deep In The Woods/ Big Jesus Trash Can/ 6" Gold Blade/ Swampland/ Wild World/ Pleasure Avalanche/ She's Hit.

Flyer: Scan of flyer. Photo of alternative flyer.

Article: Scan of review taken from the Los Angeles Times 01-Apr-83.

Note: Henry Rollins (then of Black Flag) attends the show. Jim Sclavunos supports Lydia's spoken word on keyboards and sax.

31-Mar-83
US CA,Los Angeles,Club Lingerie
(a Minutemen show)

Note: Nick Cave and Henry Rollins attend this concert by the Minutemen and meet for the first time.

01-Apr-83
US CO,Denver,Mercury Cafe

Setlist: Sonny's Burning/ Swampland/ Deep In The Woods/ Dead Joe/ 6" Gold Blade/ Six Strings That Drew Blood/ She's Hit/ Pleasure Avalanche/ Hamlet(Pow!Pow!Pow!).

Photo: Credit Duane Davis.

Flyer: Scan of calendar .

02-Apr-83
US TX,Dallas,Hot Klub
[with The Devices]

Setlist: Big-Jesus-Trash-Can/ She’s Hit/ and more..

Photo 1: Credit Bill Daniel.

Photo 2: Photo credit Bill Daniel. David Yow bottom right.

Listing: Scan of listing, taken from Forth Worth Star-Telegram 01-Apr-83.

Recollection: David Yow's recollections from Dallas Observer 16-Jan-24.

Note: About 40 people attending, including David Yow and David Sims [both Scratch Acid, later Jesus Lizard]. "[It was] The day before Easter 1983. I flew from Austin to Dallas for it. It was fucking great. They opened with 'Big-Jesus-Trash-Can' and I thought, 'How the hell are they going to go over this?' Well they showed me. I'd say there were 40 or 60 people there, but they played like their lives depended on it. There's a picture from that concert where you can see me standing through Cave's legs. Afterwards, my friend and I went backstage to interview Cave and guitarist Rowland S. Howard- we pretended to be journalists and photographers, and Cave and Rowland invited us out for late-night tacos, but we had to catch our flight to Austin." Yow interviewed in Humo (Belgium, 10-Sep-24).

03-Apr-83
US IL,Chicago,Tuts (on 959 W.Belmont)
[with 4XY]

Flyer: Photo of flyer.

Listing: Scan of listing, taken from Chicago tribune 03-Apr-83.

0x-Apr-83
CA ON,Toronto,-

06-Apr-83
US MN,Minneapolis,First Avenue
[with Timbuktu]

Setlist: Hamlet(Pow!Pow!Pow!)/ Six Strings That Drew Blood/ Deep In The Woods/ Dead Joe/ Swampland/ Fears Of Gun/ Wild World/ Big Jesus Trash Can/ Sonny's Burning/ She's Hit/ 6" Inch Gold Blade/ Pleasure Avalanche.

Photo: Screen capture from multicam video made by the club. Credit Gary Smith.

Calendar: Photo of calendar for month of April 1983.

Ad: Scan of advert from City Pages 30-Mar-83, courtesy of Jay Kern.

Ticket: Scan of ticket.

Contract: Scan of contract. The band perform for a fee of $1,000. 453 people attend (164 paying and 289 giveaways or complementary tickets).

08-Apr-83
US NY,New York City,Danceteria
[with Die Haut]

Photo: Credit Catherine Ceresole, as taken from the Italian booklet on Stampa Alternativa (1995/1998).

09-Apr-83
US PA,Philadelphia,East Side Club
[with Swans]

Flyer: Scan of calendar courtesy of Phil G.

Ad: Scan of advert, taken from Philadelphia Daily News 08-Apr-83.

10-Apr-83
US DC,Washington,9:30 Club
[with Social Suicide]

Setlist: Swampland/ Sonny's Burning/ 6" Gold Blade/ Deep In The Woods/ Dead Joe/ Six Strings That Drew Blood/ Wild World/ Fears Of Gun/ Hamlet(Pow!Pow!Pow!)/ She's Hit.

Photo: Credit Suzy -Sputnik- Soshinsky. Used with kind permission.

Handbill: Scan of handbill, courtesy of Marty C.

Ad: Scan of advert, taken from American Eagle 08-Apr-83.

Note: Last ever concert in the U.S.A. Girl in the audience: "They're evil!", boy in the audience: "Yeah, they're really evil!"

April-83
DE Berlin,Hansa Ton studios (@ Köthener Strasse 38),sessions for "Mutiny!" EP ("Jennifer's Veil", "Mutiny In Heaven", "Swampland" and "Say A Spell") and also recording 3 more tracks: "Six Strings That Drew Blood", "Pleasure Avalanche" & "Wings Off Flies". Engineered by Tony Cohen.

Photo: Screen capture from the "Mutiny!" DVD-R.

Note: Blixa Bargeld [of Einstürzende Neubauten] visits the band in the studio. Footage from these sessions was used by Heiner Mühlenbrock for his film "Die Stadt" ("The City"). In 2008 a DVD-R, "Mutiny! - The Last Birthday Party", containing this film was released through The Birthday Party website.

26-Apr-83
UK London,Camden,Electric Ballroom
[with S.P.K.]

Setlist: Swampland/ 6" Gold Blade/ Sonny's Burning/ Pleasure Avalanche/ Deep In The Woods/ Dead Joe/ Wild World/ Hamlet(Pow!Pow!Pow!)/ Fears Of Gun/ She's Hit/ Jennifer's Veil.

Ad: Taken from NME mag 16-Apr-83, collection From The Archives.

Review: Review by Robin Gibson, taken from Sounds 07-May-83.

Note: Last live concert with Mick Harvey, who had announced his departure from the band in March 1983.

01-May-83
AU Sydney,Trade Union Club
[with Idiom Flesh and Kill The King]

Poster: Scan of poster. alternative poster.

Note: Rescheduled to 15-May-83.

02-May-83
NZ Auckland,Mainstreet Cabaret,rehearsing

Note: New Zealander, Des Hefner (real name Simon Monroe) [of Marching Girls and Dead Can Dance] replaces Mick Harvey on drums for the NZ/AU tour. The band rehearses 7 songs with him for 10 hours: Deep In The Woods/ Sonny's Burning/ Jennifer's Veil/ Wild World/ Fears Of Gun/ Hamlet(Pow!Pow!Pow!)/ She's Hit.

03-May-83
AU Auckland,Auckland motel

Photo: Credit Kerry Brown. Scan taken from Rip It Up magazine, courtesy of Michael Canning.

Note: Nick Cave and Rowland S.Howard are interviewed by Russell Brown for Rip It Up magazine.

03-May-83
NZ Auckland,Mainstreet Cabaret
[with The Marching Girls and Fishschool]

Setlist: Deep In The Woods/ Sonny's Burning/ Jennifer's Veil/ Wild World/ Fears Of Gun/ Hamlet(Pow!Pow!Pow!)/ She's Hit.

Poster: Scan of poster.

Photo: Credit Kerry Brown. Scan taken from Rip It Up magazine, courtesy of Michael Canning.

Note: Start of last tour, arranged by concert promoter Ken West (now Big Day Out organizer). Concert was broadcast on radio. "Sonny's Burning" released on "Cremation" bootleg LP. "Fears Of Gun" released on "Devil In A Bottle" bootleg LP.

05-May-83
NZ Palmerston North,Massey University
[with The Skeptics, The Marching Girls and Kevin Hawkins]

Setlist: Dead Joe/ Deep In The Woods/ Sonny's Burning/ Jennifer's Veil/ Wild World/ Fears Of Gun/ Hamlet(Pow!Pow!Pow!)/ She's Hit.

Photo: Credit Bruce Maunsell. Used with kind permission.

Note: The gig was recorded by the radio station, which was in the same building as the venue. "Hamlet" and "She's Hit" released on "Cremation" bootleg LP. "Jennifer's Veil" released on "Devil In A Bottle" bootleg LP.

06-May-83
NZ Wellington,Victoria University,Union Hall
[with Fish School and The Marching Girls]

Setlist: Deep In The Woods/ Dead Joe/ Wild World/ Jennifer's Veil/ Sonny's Burning/ She's Hit/ Fears Of Gun/ Hamlet(Pow!Pow!Pow!).

Ad: Scan of ad, taken from "Salient" (Victoria University's newpaper), courtesy of Michael Canning.

Note: Concert was broadcast live-to-air by Radio Active, then Victoria University's radio station.

07-May-83
NZ Christchurch,Sandridge Hotel
[with The Marching Girls]

Ad: Ad for 4-date tour. Scan taken from Rip It Up magazine, courtesy of Michael Canning.

Note: Concert moved to Gladstone hotel on the 9th.

09-May-83
NZ Christchurch,Gladstone Hotel
[with The Marching Girls]

Setlist: Deep In The Woods/ Dead Joe/ Wild World/ Jennifer's Veil/ Sonny's Burning/ She's Hit/ Fears Of Gun/ Hamlet(Pow!Pow!Pow!).

Ad: Scan of ad taken from Rip It Up magazine, courtesy of Michael Canning.

Photo: Photo credit Gordon William Bartram.

13-May-83
AU Sydney-Kensington,University of New South Wales-Roundhouse
[with X, The Scientists, The Same, Pel Mel and Upsidedown House]

Setlist: Hamlet(Pow!Pow!Pow!)/ Wild World/ Junkyard/ Six Strings That Drew Blood/ Deep In The Woods/ Sonny's Burning/ Jennifer's Veil/ Dead Joe/ Fears Of Gun/ She's Hit.

Poster: Photo of poster, designed by Cameron Hulme.

Ad: Scan of ad for Australian tour, taken from RAM, May 1983.

Article: Scan of article, taken from Sydney Morning Herald, 11-May-83.

14-May-83
AU Sydney,Trade Union Club
[with The Reels]

Setlist: Hamlet(Pow!Pow!Pow!)/ Deep In The Woods/ Wild World/ Sonny's Burning/ Junkyard/ She's Hit.

Promo sheet: Scan of sheet.

Photo: Screen captures taken from DVD.

Note 1: Above tracks were recorded and broadcast by 2JJJ-FM on May 23 @ Pretty Patty Paws program. All tracks available on "God Gave Them Sex Appeal" bootleg tape. All but "Sonny's Burning" and "She's Hit" released on "Devil In A Bottle" bootleg LP.

Note 2: Filmed by Glen Auchinachie. "Deep In The Woods" from his footage is still regularly shown on Australian TV and is also released on the "Pleasure Heads Must Burn" DVD (Cherry Red UK 2003). The audio section from his clip is taken from another concert (T.U.C. 15-May-83?).

15-May-83
AU Sydney,Trade Union Club
[with Idiom Flesh and Kill The King]

Review: Scan of a review for one of the 2 TUC gigs, taken from RAM, May 1983.

Listing: Scan of listing, taken from Sydney Morning Herald 15-May-83.

Note: Moved from 01-May-83. Paul W. recollects that the band came on really late (about 1AM) and Nick Cave was at his most cathartic.

18-May-83
AU Perth-Northbridge,The Red Parrot

Poster: Reproduction of poster.

Note: Nick was bitten on the leg by a hospital clerk named Sarah, and knocked to the ground by Ray Brown, the former lead singer of The Shuffling Hungarians (from Ian Johnston's biography "Bad Seed"). Ray Brown got on stage to give Nick a hug and a kick cos he thought Nick was a pussy, and Nick fell over/under Ray, and got a blood nose, and that was the end of a very short set.

"Nick Cave stalked the long stage of the Red Parrot, contorting his thin, lanky body, doubling over, hooping the microphone lead metres into the air, whiplashing the cord and creating a massive inverted horseshow. [..] He was hassling the stand-in drummer, Des Heffner: gesturing, physically demonstrative, insisting he hit the drum harder, demanding to hear more of a crack in the snare. [..] Half an hour into the set, out of nowhere, came the awkward, bulky, hulking figure of Ray Brown, singer of The Vegas Payback. He launched out from behind the curtains and across the stage, tackled Cave and slammed him to the hard floor. Show over, band walked off." From "You're Not Rob Snarksi", a book by Rob Snarski [Black Eyed Susans].

20-May-83
AU Melbourne,Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT),Storey Hall
[with The Scientists]

Setlist: Hamlet (Pow! Pow! Pow!)/ Fears of Gun/ Deep In The Woods(*)/ Dead Joe/ Jennifer's Veil(*)/ Junkyard(*)/ Six Strings That Drew Blood(*)/ Sonny's Burning(*)/ She's Hit(*)/ Wild World(*).

Article: Scan of article from The Age newspaper, 20-May-83.

Note: Tracks (*) were recorded and broadcast by 3RRR-FM. A re-broadcast happened on 14-Feb-04. Warren Ellis [later Dirty Three] attempts to attend the concert, but passed out drunk in the foyer. (Interview for ABC radio "J-Files", 28-Sep-23).

21-May-83
AU Melbourne,The Venue
[with The Moodists & The Scientists]

Setlist: Junkyard/ Sonny's Burning/ Wild World/ Six Strings That Drew Blood/ Deep In The Woods/ Fears Of Gun/ Dead Joe/ Hamlet(Pow!Pow!Pow!)/ She's Hit/ Jennifer's Veil.

Flyer: Scan of flyer.

Note: Next to last concert! Filmed by Jurgis (George) Maleckas, and shown as "She's Hit-The Last Birthday Party" (38mins) at the Melbourne 2009 International Film Festival.

09-Jun-83
AU Melbourne-St.Kilda,The Seaview Ballroom
[with The Moodists and Tall Dark and Handsome]

Setlist: Junkyard/ Sonny's Burning/ Wild World/ Six Strings That Drew Blood(*)/ Deep In The Woods(*)/ Dead Joe/ Fears Of Gun/ She's Hit/ Hamlet(Pow!Pow!Pow!)/ Jennifer's Veil.

Handbill: Original handbill.

Note: Last ever Birthday Party concert! Done to get some money to return to the UK. Track (*) released on "Composite Signals" VHS video V/A compilation. Some video footage used in "Johnny Ghost", a 2011 film by Donna McRae. In August Nick, Rowland and Tracy return to London to recommence work on the "Mutiny!" EP.

Aug-83
UK London,Britannia Row Studios,re-working of the "Mutiny!" EP

Note: Towards the end of the sessions Blixa Bargeld (of Einstürzende Neubauten and then recording in London) replaces Rowland S.Howard on "Mutiny In Heaven". Mick Harvey also assists in finalising the recording session.

Nov-83
UK Release of the "Mutiny!" 12" EP on Mute records.

07-Nov-86
AU Melbourne

Article: Scan taken from On The Street 19-Nov-86.

Note: After the Birthday Party's "Mutiny!" EP sessions in London Tracy Pew returns to Melbourne, where he resumes studying art at Melbourne University. He joins Nick Cave on his short Australian "Man or Myth?"-tour in Dec-83/Jan-84 and later he joins The Saints European touring band of Fall/Autumn 1984. He also guests on Nick Cave's "Kicking Against The Pricks" album in Nov/Dec 1985. He died on 07-Nov-86.

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