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Smiths live/backstage footage from ‘84 – Rough Trade and deo.com web exclusive
posted by davidt on Monday March 05 2001, @10:15AM

 Glenn Cooper writes:

Smiths live in ‘84 Web Exclusive – First Ever Broadcast!

Monday 5th March 2001, London

Previously unseen footage of The Smiths recorded live in concert at Sheffield Town Hall and backstage at various venues during their 1984 UK tour receives its world premiere on the Web today as an endpiece to the Rough Trade Shops 25th Anniversary celebrations.

The video, ‘Reel Around The Fountain (The Smiths Live in ’84)’ was filmed as a souvenir for the band and roadies on the tour and the sole surviving copy has existed in VHS format for 17 years. Brief excerpts from it were used on the video for ‘How Soon Is Now?’.

Fifty-two minutes in length, the video captures a powerful moment in 20th century pop history when Smiths mania first caught light and the band were on the cusp of fame. Now fans worldwide can relive those thrilling times as the video is broadcast on www.deo.com/roughtrade - a joint Web production between Rough Trade Shops and pure music site deo.com.

(more)



Including explosive live versions of such Smiths classics as ‘Hand In Glove’, ‘This Charming Man’, ‘Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now’ and ‘What Difference Does It Make’, the footage was shot using two cameras in keeping with the likeminded DIY ethos continued to this day by Rough Trade Shops and the recently re-launched Rough Trade label, home to such acclaimed new acts as The Strokes, Mull Historical Society (just signed to Warners!) and Low.

In turn, the backstage footage is a mixture of the humorous and the sublime: pre-show nerves, post-gig banter, and a guitar lesson for Morrissey from Johnny Marr are some of the highlights. Four young men on an adventure: can you see the light in their eyes? Cherish the moment when Morrissey ad-libs the lyric “Meet me at the fountain, shag me on the patio...”

Rough Trade and deo.com extend massive thanks and full credit to video producers Hetty Church, Grant Showbiz and Jonathan Barnett (Director, Portobello Film Festival) for authorising the Web premiere and broadcast of this unforgettable Smiths material. For full details of Portobello Film Festival events visit their site www.portobellofilmfestival.com.

Deirdre Molloy, editor of deo.com, said: “I missed The Smiths date in Belfast on this tour as the gig sold out so quickly, so being involved in the resurrection of this priceless material goes some way to compensating! A slice of history like this is a real adrenaline rush to see. We’ve got Rough Trade to thank for signing the Smiths and allowing them the artistic freedom to make the music they wanted.”

The footage will be streamed in five sequenced segments on the Rough Trade 25th website 24/7 throughout the week for four weeks beginning Monday 5th March. On each weekend (from Friday to Sunday) in this period the video will also be streamed in its entirety.

The Smiths track ‘Hand In Glove’ is also featured on the ‘Rough Trade Shops 25 Years’ quadruple compilation CD released on Mute today, Monday 5th March 2001.

For more details please contact:

Glenn Cooper, Marketing Manager, deo.com

Tel: 0208 996 3700 Fax: 0208 996 3701

Rough Trade 25th Anniversary website: http://www.deo.com/roughtrade

Live tracks setlisting:

1) Instrumental track (unknown)
2) Reel Around The Fountain
3) Barbarism Begins At Home
4) Still Ill
5) Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now
6) Hand in Glove
7) This Charming Man
8) What Difference Does It Make
9) Back To The Old House
10) Handsome Devil
---
Clive also writes:

I see that ......

THE SMITHS will feature in an exclusive webcast as part of the ROUGH TRADE 25th Anniversary celebrations, with previously unseen live footage from their 1984 tour and rare backstage moments captured on film being premiered today (March 5).

For the next five days, a handful of songs will be available to view at http://www.deo.com/roughtrade, with the full 52-minute film being streamed on Friday (March 9). The segmented webcasts continue for four weeks.

 
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Related Links
  • www.portobellofilmfestival.com
  • http://www.deo.com/roughtrade
  • Clive
  • http://www.deo.com/roughtrade,
  • Glenn Cooper
  • www.deo.com/roughtrade
  • More on The Smiths
  • Also by davidt
    •

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    Smiths live/backstage footage in ‘84 – Rough Trade and deo.com web exclusive | Log in/Create an Account | Top | 27 comments | Search Discussion
    Threshold:
    The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
    nope (Score:1)
    this isn't "Previously unseen", it was shown at the Smiths convention in Pasadena, Ca in Feb97.
    torr <torrissey80@yahoo.com> -- Monday March 05 2001, @10:31AM (#8650)
    (User #227 Info | http://torr.typepad.com/ )
    • Re:nope by state of emergency (Score:1) Monday March 05 2001, @12:32PM
      media player (Score:1)
      I can't get the media player to play the video. It plays the music, but shows no video. Does anyone know what could be wrong?
      hiddenautumn -- Monday March 05 2001, @11:49AM (#8654)
      (User #2220 Info)
      no video (Score:1)
      yep, only audio is working for me, too

      any tips?
      measurectal -- Monday March 05 2001, @11:53AM (#8656)
      (User #186 Info)
        video quality (Score:1)
        The video quality seems to be really poor. I can kind of make out the title screen, as well as a few of the outside shots, but for the most part it is just digital blur... is there such a thing as PAL format on webcasts???
        Aaron -- Monday March 05 2001, @12:03PM (#8657)
        (User #238 Info)
        Thank You, Thank You (Score:0)
        It's quite nice to see these humble beginnings isn't it? Yes, I thought so...
        Anonymous -- Monday March 05 2001, @12:24PM (#8659)
          Saving the clips? (Score:1)
          just wondering if it's possible to save these clips onto your hard disk? i'd love to keep a copy!
          thanks,
          alex
          alansmith94 -- Monday March 05 2001, @01:47PM (#8665)
          (User #1500 Info)
          Record companies.... (Score:1)
          I am very happy that this sort of rare material sees the light of day, but this is exactly the kind of thing that baffles me about the record companies. Why re-release "The Complete Picture", "Live In Dallas" and most of "Hulmerist" and "The Malady Lingers On" on DVD, when there are loads of unreleased gems like this one. I can think of a few others off the top of my head... Paris - 12/01/84 (which is only available via a marginal bootleg), Wolverhampton - 12/22/88, and Mountain View CA - 10/31/91. I'm sure there are a few more, as a few people (including myself) have seen tour personnel videotaping preformances which have never surfaced.

          Well, I guess all we can do is hope that some of that stuff surfaces.
          Aaron -- Monday March 05 2001, @04:20PM (#8679)
          (User #238 Info)
            now in squint-o-vision (Score:1)
            from what i saw, it was very interesting. I can't figure out why Moz was counting at the end. Without good photo resolution, I'm resolved to think it's one of his personality quiks acting up again.

            Either that, or the band was practicing their coordinated dance moves.
            suzanne -- Monday March 05 2001, @07:57PM (#8693)
            (User #36 Info | http://www.myspace.com/snootywriter )
             I scare dead people.
            The importance of what we're seeing.... (Score:1, Insightful)
            In case anybody had any doubts that the Smiths are the most important band since the Beatles, here's your proof. I saw them in '86 for the Queen tour, but that was a far cry from what I have just witnessed today. The video captured the Smiths much like a wildlife photographer takes a picture of a beautiful animal previously thought extinct. Listening to "Wonderful Woman" 17 years ago was one of the defining moments in my life and so is this one. Thanks Rough Trade.
            Anonymous -- Tuesday March 06 2001, @08:09AM (#8717)
              Re:The importance of what we're seeing.... (Score:2, Insightful)
              I know it's been years ago, but it's so strange how things evolved into what they have. People who no longer speak to each other. Moz in his gucci and not his gladoli. A band that was excited that ANYBODY was paying attention to them vs. the niggling over label size and payouts, no longer proudly flaunting how DIY they are.

              Yes, this video was on the cusp of MANY things.

              I watch it and can't believe that these are the same people.
              suzanne -- Wednesday March 07 2001, @11:45PM (#8777)
              (User #36 Info | http://www.myspace.com/snootywriter )
               I scare dead people.
              [ Parent ]
              does anyone have... (Score:0)
              does anyone have the show as a file, rather than streaming. i can't get the website to give me a login/password.

              mail me...

              suedehead520@hotmail.com
              Anonymous -- Tuesday March 06 2001, @10:18AM (#8721)
              An idea ! (Score:0)
              Rough Trade,
              Put this on video, or better yet DVD, I will haplessly buy and be very happy. I hope you do this, best wishes,
              m
              Anonymous -- Tuesday March 06 2001, @11:53AM (#8724)
                damn....missed day 1. (Score:1)
                But thanks anyway,the back stage shots are quite
                awesome,though, the quality is poor,but it was
                1984 remember.
                Just saw the day 2 footage, Morrissey with a towel
                cleaning his gladioli, before sticking it in his
                pants, and snaps of the public/punks, great stuff.
                Oh well, it just isn't like those days anymore,
                am I still ill.
                Celibate Cry <vauxhall@mail2uk.com> -- Tuesday March 06 2001, @08:03PM (#8739)
                (User #220 Info)
                 and the hills are alive with celibate cries
                  ***Saving Rough Trade videos*** (Score:3, Informative)
                  For those of you wanting to save the concert on the Rough Trade web site (http://www4.deo.com/uk/roughtrade/): There is a program called ASFRecorder which lets you save the video to disk. Get it from http://www.kayotix.com/tools/index.html. To save the videos, go to the Rough Trade site, right click on the video you want and choose Save Target as. Click save and then use Notepad (or similar) to open the file you've just downloaded - it will have an .asx extension. Copy the section of the file that starts mms:// up to where it ends .asf. Do not include the quotation marks. Load up ASFRecorder, click on File, Open URL and paste in the address you just copied. Click OK and enter a name and location for the video. Sit back while it downloads and then enjoy. Hope this helps everyone. Charmer
                  charmer <dearolblighty@hotmail.com> -- Wednesday March 07 2001, @01:49AM (#8746)
                  (User #2151 Info | http://www.goddessology.co.uk/ )
                  this is so awesome (Score:1)
                  watching this live smiths concert via my windows media is so awesome; i've tuned in every night so far. one question,though... a lot of the video clips that are shown each night are remain still for a long time. will the broadcast of the entire concert on friday night have all the clips in motion? if anyone knows,please feel free to respond. thanks,and enjoy the show fellow moz fans!
                  rusholmeruffian -- Wednesday March 07 2001, @07:10PM (#8768)
                  (User #1450 Info)
                   "Ask me why and I'll spit in your eye"
                    Please, let me get what I want... (Score:0)
                    As I am not able to view this, can anyone get this in VHS format or on a disk. I will happily pay for it. Please let me know.

                    Thanks
                    Jeane
                    Anonymous -- Friday March 09 2001, @09:59AM (#8858)

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