University Sports Arena, Montreal, April 21, 1974

University Sports Arena
Montreal, Canada
April 21, 1974
Post-FM
A Classic Broadcast Revisited
PRRP - Special Anniversary Edition

Overall:


If you're a fan a Steve Hackett, this post-FM boot is for you. An exceedingly well-balanced mix, overall. The highlights on this one are the complete Dancing With The Moonlit Knight and The Cinema Show played by the original five members only on this tour. These songs wouldn't be played on the next tour, and after that, Peter was gone along with his voice and flute. A must-have.

Sound: * * * * *

Mix: * * * * *
Strangely, the keyboards disappear for a minute or so in the middle of The Musical Box. But glitches aside, it's an outstanding live mix.

Performance * * * *
Excellent for the most part. Firth of Fifth never really takes off. The Battle of Epping Forrest isn't the best live song. But the intensity remains high throughout most of the show.

Raw Notes

Disc 1

1. Watcher Of The Skies - The mighty Mellotron fills the hall with virtual violins. The bass rattles your speakers. We're off to a fine start. Do'h! Small glitch in the 'tron! Unusual echo effect on the vocals. Tony is doing something different with the organ rhythm, adding odd pauses. At first, I thought it was a mistake, but he does it more than once. Unusual performance. Crowd loves it!

2. The Story of Britannia - Told by Peter in French.

3. Dancing With The Moonlit Knight - I believe this is the only tour where they played the entire thing, complete with the "musical pond" at the end. This is a nice balanced mix. Steve's guitar is definitely audible here. Peter gets the "Round table talking down we go" lyric right, unlike the Rainbow Show on the Archive Box Set. A slightly rough and ballsy performance. I think I like the "pond" better than the studio version.

4. The Story of Romeo and Juliet - Again, in French. I don't speak the language, but the crowd seems amused.

5. The Cinema Show - Nice to hear Phil do the background vocals. This is the only tour that had them. Played a bit slowly, but that adds to the somber mood. Peter's flute solo is another feature that happened only on this tour. Nice intensity during the sublime instrumental section. I doubt a better recording of this song exists. Nailed.

6. I Know What I Like - The band performs their first hit single. Again, we get Peter and Phil singing together. That sounds like a sitar playing the main riff. Peter plays his flute along with Tony's synth solo at the end. Pleasant and concise performance before the song was drawn out into a nine minute snooze-fest.

7. The Story of Five Rivers - French

8. Firth Of Fifth - Complete with piano intro, played on electric piano. This always gave Tony trouble and this performance is no exception with at least three sour notes. You can see why they dropped the intro. The song itself is played a little too slowly in the beginning. The famous instrumental section is better, but on the whole, the performance never quite gets off the ground like it would later.

9. Story of Henry and Cynthia - You guessed it, French.

10. The Musical Box - Phil really goes all out this time with imitating effects pedals with his mouth. "Here it comes agaiiioooowwoowowowow". Steve Hackett owns the song at this point. The lead guitar growls and screams! Another rough and ballsy performance. Nice. The keys disappear for a while in the second driving instrumental section. All guitars and drums. Technical glitch? Peter really gets into character during the "She's a lady" section.

11. Horizons - Sounds almost like an electric guitar or an acoustic with electric pickup.

Disc 2:

1. The Battle of Epping Forrest - Phil's snare starts and the audience responds immediately. Kick drum comes in hard! Who is singing the high part in background during the chorus? Band seems to be having fun with the song. An echo effect is used to generate the triplets in the middle section. Going into the Reverend section. Peter: "..to see what the trouble was." Phil: "What's the trouble, then?" This is the only tour where the song was played. Good performance.

2. Story of Old Henry - Parlez-vous français? Seems to be the same story told in English on the box set. Includes Phil and Peter whistling "Jerusalem".

3. Supper's Ready - Similar to the box set version. Nice intensity. Excellent mix. Steve is once again quite prominent. The band seems to run out of steam slightly in the Apocalypse section causing the tempo to drop, but that's a only a minor quibble. Good performance, but not one of their best. The last tour where we hear the chimes at the beginning of Eggs Is Eggs. Replaced by a guitar when Phil takes over vocals.

4. CHOM-FM Radio Intro / Station ID / Sign Off