Johnny Thunders

Johnny Thunders, born John Anthony Genzale, Jr (July 15, 1952 - April 23, 1991), was a rock and roll guitarist and singer, first with the New York Dolls, the proto-punk glam rockers of the early '70s. During the late '70s, he was a familiar figure on the New York punk scene, both with The Heartbreakers and as a solo artist. His screeching, penetrating guitar sound is distinctive and highly influential in punk rock music. Thunders tangled with the demons of fame along with alcohol and drug addiction. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Thunders)

Scheduled

The final timetable, handed out during the festival, shows Johnny Thunders twice: Friday, 21 September 1984, "Grote Box", 03:00 - 04:00 Saturday, 22 September 1984, "Mini Box", 21:45 - 22:30

Line-up

Saturday's show was a solo performance. The Friday show lineup is uncertain. Up to September 16th, Johnny has played shows in Scandinavia with Billy Rath on bass and Jerry Nolan on drums; in October he forms a new band with Dick Trueman on guitar, Keith Yon on bass and Terry Chimes on drums. It's unclear what the situation was at Pandora's Music Box: they could have both been solo performances. (http://johnnythundersinfo.blogspot.com/)

Set list

01 The wizard

02 Play with fire

03 Ask me no questions

04 She's so strange

05 It's not enough

Recordings

I have a lossless (flac) recording of the above 5 tracks, recorded on Saturday evening, taken from a radio broadcast.

Other info

Correctly listed twice in Thunders' gigography: 09/21 Pandoras Box, Rotterdam, Netherlands (Nomads, Gun Club) 09/22 De Doelen Rotterdam, Netherlands (http://www.bunbun.ne.jp/~take-4/JTGigographyLeft.html)

Thunders on stage at Pandora's 84 (Spex 1984/11)

The Legendary Pink Dots

The Legendary Pink Dots (LPD) are an Anglo-Dutch experimental rock band formed in London in August 1980. Although far outside the mainstream (in terms of their music and career path), LPD have released more than 40 albums, have a devoted worldwide following, and tour frequently. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legendary_Pink_Dots)

Scheduled
Friday, 11 October 1985, "Small Hall", 22:25 - 23:10

Line-up
Edward Ka-Spel – vocals, keyboards; The Silverman (Phil Knight) – keyboards; rest unknown

Set list

01 The heretic

02 Mmmmmmmm

03 City ghosts

04 Femme mirage (feat. Julia Niblock)

05 I am the way, the truth, the light

06 (early cut)

(http://people.zeelandnet.nl/sveingold/boots/)

Recordings
A recording exists. I've seen it being listed twice, possibly because of late start:
10/11/85: Rotterdam / De Doelen
10/12/85: Rotterdam / Pandora's Club

Other info

Article from festival booklet

The Rain Parade

The Rain Parade were a band active in the Paisley Underground scene in Los Angeles in the 1980s. Its founding members were Matt Piucci (guitar) and brothers David Roback (guitar) and Stephen Roback (bass guitar),who had been in a band called The Unconscious with Susanna Hoffs (who went on to lead the most famous of the Paisley Underground bands, The Bangles.) The band soon added Will Glenn (keyboards and violin) and later Eddie Kalwa (drums). (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rain_Parade)

Scheduled
Saturday, 12 October 1985, "Small Hall", 03:10 - 04:10

Line-up
Matt Piucci - guitar; David Roback - guitar; Stephen Roback - bass guitar; Will Glenn - keyboards, violin; Eddie Kalwa - drums
Maybe David had left already to join Opal with Kendra Smith (ex-Dream Syndicate).

Set list
Unknown. They are joined on stage by Green on Red for the finale of their set.

Recordings
It's unknown whether any audio recordings exist.


Fragment of the Rain Parade together with Green on Red at Pandora's 85 as uploaded to YouTube by waaghalsrecords.

Other info


Article from festival booklet

Article from Oor (1985/20)

Me & the Heat

Scheduled
Saturday, 22 September 1984, "Kleine Box", 23:45 - 00:15

Line-up
Tom Meger (aka Tom Mega) – vocals; Bernd Krämer – guitar, trumpet; Nico Hesselbach – keyboards; Reinhard Falk – bass; A.G. (Achim Grebien) – drums, sax; Blaine L. Reininger – guest vocals on “What use?”

Set list
01 Old cultures dying
02 New clear reality
03 Naked bodies shouting
04 What use? (Tuxedomoon cover)
05 Where has my love gone

Recordings
I have a lossless (flac) radio recording of tracks 01 - 05, total time 27'44". According to the timetable, Me & the Heat were allocated only 30 minutes, possibly making this the complete show.

Other info
Ik heb ze destijds (midden jaren 80) gezien op het Pandora festival in Rotterdam en maakte ook op mij diepe indruk. – Brolin (http://www.musicmeter.nl/album/24107)


Article from festival booklet




Article from Vinyl Magazine (1984/12) discussing Me & the Heat at Pandora's

Blaine L. Reininger

Multi-instrumentalists Blaine Reininger and Steven Brown, then two students of electronic music at San Francisco City College, formed Tuxedomoon in 1977. In 1983 Reininger left the group in order to pursue a solo career.

Scheduled
Saturday, 22 September 1984, "Mini Box", 00:45 - 01:45

Line-up
Unknown, but Mr. Reininger has his violin with him and the drum machine is working

Set list
01 Night air
02 Paris au temps
03 Ash and bone
04 Mistery and confusion
05 Broken fingers

Recordings
I have a lossless (flac) recording of tracks 01 - 05 (total time 23'01"), taken from a radio broadcast. Should be complete broadcast, surely incomplete concert.

Other info
Blaine guested on vocals during What Use? (written by him) during the Me & the Heat show earlier that evening.

Pandora's Music @ Box.net

A surprisingly little number of the Pandora's shows has ever been officially released. To the best of my knowledge, nothing from 83 was released. From 84, 7 songs have shown up on the Gun Club's Danse Kalinda Boom, and 2 songs as bonus tracks on the rerelease of the Sound's In The Hothouse. From 85, only 2 songs appeared as bonus tracks on the rerelease of Jeffrey Lee Pierce's Wildweed, and Nico's full show was released as Behind The Iron Curtain. And that's about it so far...

Beggars Archive is currently preparing a (partial?) release of the Fall's 84 show as bonus disc for the rerelease of their The Wonderful And Frightening World Of The Fall.

I'll be uploading the recordings that I have to the Box.net widget in the right hand frame over the next couple of weeks. They are encoded as mp3's at a relatively low bitrate, to ensure quick loading. If you're interested in having a high quality mp3 or lossless (flac) copy of the files, drop me a line and I'll see what I can do.

Uploaded so far:

1983
Armoury Show, Danse Society, Die Haut with Nick Cave, Fad Gadget, Jah Wobble & the Invaders of the Heart, Siouxsie & the Banshees, Skeleton Crew, SPK, W.A.T.

1984
Anne Clark, Anti Group, Billy Bragg, Blaine L. Reininger, Bronski Beat, Claw Boys Claw, Fiat Lux, Icicle Works, Me & the Heat, Palais Schaumburg, Shriekback, Tom Verlaine

1985
Chris Isaak, Echo & the Bunnymen, Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds

Festival booklet 1983

Each year, the Dutch magazine Vinyl published the official festival booklets in the edition preceding the weekend.


Front cover of the official festival booklet. Note: the photo features the same models and car as the front cover of the Theme from Pandora's Music Box 12"...


Introduction by Joost Niemoller

Tickets 1984

Used ticket for Friday night


Unused ticket for Friday night (can you imagine: unused!)


Unused ticket for Saturday night

Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds

Nicholas Edward Cave (born 22 September 1957) is an Australian musician, songwriter, author, screenwriter, and occasional actor. He is best known for his work in the rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, and his fascination with American music and its roots. He has a reputation, which he disowns, for singing dark, brooding songs which some listeners regard as depressing. His music is characterised by intensity, high energy and a wide variety of influences. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Cave)

Scheduled
Saturday, 12 October 1985, "Big Hall", 02:40 - 03:40

Line-up
Nick Cave – vocals; Blixa Bargeld – guitars, vocals; Mick Harvey – guitar; Barry Adamson – bass; Thomas Wydler – drums

Set list
01 Avalanche
02 Tupelo
03 Well of misery
04 Sad dark eyes
05 Blind Lemon Jefferson
06 Wanted man
07 Say goodbye to the little girl tree
08 Knocking on Joe
09 Train long suffering
10 Saint Huck
11 I put a spell on you
12 Mutiny in heaven

Recordings
This show has been extensively bootlegged over the years, but never officially released. Tracks 01 – 12 were on the bootleg LP (and later CD) Pandora’s Misery (complete audience, PMB 131085 (FR,198?)), 03 – 11 were released on the bootleg CD's He Put A Spell On Us (incomplete radio broadcast, Wild Angel records -NCCD2 (NL,1992)). The release is wrongfully credited as being recorded in Amsterdam, 1984. It is in fact Pandora's 1985. The same tracks were also released as In Funeral Night (incomplete radio broadcast, BRX 007).
I have a lossless (flac) copy of He Put A Spell On Us.


Front cover of (CD version of) Pandora's Misery


Front cover of In Funeral Night


Front cover of He Put A Spell On Us

Other info
Both Bargeld and Harvey played Pandora's 85 twice: Bargeld was also in Einsturzende Neubauten, Harvey also played in Crime & the City Solution.


Nick Cave on stage at Pandora's 1985 (http://www.fromthearchives.com/nc/chronology.html)


Nick Cave on stage at Pandora's 1985 (photo by Marcel Snoek - huge thanks to Jeroen)

On stage at Pandora's 85 (Sounds 26 October 1985)

Article from festival booklet


Eric Brus descibes his experiences of the show in literary magazine Passionate, issue 3, May/June 1997. (http://www.dbnl.org/tekst/_pas002199701_01/_pas002199701_01_0051.htm)

Poster 1985

Poster for Pandora's 1985