The Bolshoi Live at Portsmouth Polytechnic - 02/07/1987

Portsmouth Polytechnic was the third stop on the "A Way II" tour and despite the fact that it predates the release of "Lindy's Party" by seven months, the set list starts out with "Auntie Jean" and includes four songs total from that release. Given that, the show plays like a true best of for the band, with every single except "Sob Story" represented. The band signed off with "A Way" before launching into an encore that included an energizing version of "Fat and Jealous" and finished it all with a great mix of "Happy Boy" and "Giants."

The overall sound quality of this show is fine. It was not a soundboard recording but the quality is definitely above that of a normal audience recording. Thanks to Warren Swaine for making this show available!

Here's Warren's own account as to the reason behind the great sound quality:

The reason the Portsmouth Poly tapes are slightly better than a normal audience recording is because The Bolshoi brought their own PA that day (Skan PA, soundman that day was the legendary Grizzly), so I had all the Poly’s normal sound equipment lying around. I ran two Shure SM58 microphones direct into the concert hall directly in line with the PA stacks above the audience noise. They were connected to our Soundcraft monitor desk which I’d moved to our projection room. It then went through our 20 way graphic which I’d adjusted during the sound check and into our TEAC tape drive. The first copy had been run off before the band had left the building!

The full set list follows. Click on the file size next to a song title to download that individual song. To download the show in its entirety, click on the link below the set list. All files are WMA format except the full show, which is a MP3.

Set List

1. Auntie Jean - 5:50 (7.2 MB, 128 kbps)
2. Fly - 4:06 (5.1 MB, 128 kbps)
3. Someone's Daughter - 4:34 (5.7 MB, 128 kbps)
4. T.V. Man - 5:09 (6.4 MB, 128 kbps)
5. Books on the Bonfire - 4:42 (5.8 MB, 128 kbps)
6. Please - 3:58 (4.9 MB, 128 kbps)
7. Crack in Smile - 6:22 (7.9 MB, 128 kbps)
8. Sunday Morning - 7:02 (8.7 MB, 128 kbps)
9. Looking for a Life to Lose - 4:13 (5.2 MB, 128 kbps)
10. A Way - 6:43 (8.3 MB, 128 kbps)

Encore

11. Fat and Jealous - 4:54 (6.1 MB, 128 kbps)
12. Happy Boy/Giants - 7:37 (9.4 MB, 128 kbps)

Full Show with no edits - 1:07:09 (92 MB, 192 kbps)

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