WW1 Superstar Concert - Men At Work, Akron Agora, Nov. 15, 1982

Westwood One Superstar Concert
Men At Work
For airing the weekend of 7/22/83

Recorded at:
The Akron Agora
Akron, OH
November 15, 1982

Sides 1, 2 and 3:
01 David Perry - Superstar Concert 83-4 Intro
02 Commercial - Sprite
03 David Perry - Superstar Concert 83-4 Segment Intro
04 Men At Work - No Restrictions
05 Men At Work - I Can See It In Your Eyes
06 Men At Work - People Just Love To Play With Words
07 Commercial - Sprite
08 Commercial - Sprite
09 Men At Work - Overkill
10 Men At Work - Touching the Untouchables
11 Men At Work - Catch A Star
12 Commercial - Sprite
13 David Perry - Superstar Concert 83-4 Break
14 Men At Work - F-19
15 Men At Work - Shintaro
16 Men At Work - High Wire
17 Commercial - Sprite
18 David Perry - Superstar Concert 83-4 Break

Sides 4, 5, and 6:
01 Commercial - Coke
02 Men At Work - Down Under
03 Men At Work - Underground
04 Men At Work - Helpless Automaton
05 Commercial - Coke
06 David Perry - Superstar Concert 83-4 Break
07 Men At Work - Who Can It Be Now
08 Men At Work - Mr. Entertainer
09 Commercial - Coke
10 David Perry - Superstar Concert 83-4 Break
11 Men At Work - It's A Mistake
12 Men At Work - I Like To
13 Men At Work - Be Good Johnny
14 David Perry - Superstar Concert 83-4 Outro
15 Commercial - Coke
16 David Perry - Superstar Concert 83-4 Promo

Runout grooves:
SSCS-SEG-1-7-22-83
SSCS-SEG-2-7-22-83
SSCS-SEG-3-7-22-83
SSCS-SEG-4-7-22-83
SSCS-SEG-5-7-22-83
SSCS-SEG-6-7-22-83

Brought to you by the Collective For Live Music
ĐR̃äⒻṬëŕṽöï digitized March 2026

I found an article in the January 22, 1983 issue of Billboard announcing a major expansion of Westwood One's programming. Already producing the live concert series In Concert (Rock), Live From Gilley's (Country), and the Budweiser Concert of the Month (R&B), Westwood One added five new shows, one of which was the Superstars Concert series.

The "Superstar Concerts" was a 10 concert summer series, sponsored by the Coca-Cola Company.  The shows came in a record box with a two-color printed front cover.  

Behind the scenes, the deal with Coke moved the company's sponsorship away from the ABC Radio Networks' "Super Groups In Concert" to the new Superstar Concert series.  Coca-Cola and Sprite were the only products advertised on the Westwood One show that summer. The series was a huge success and was picked up for a second run in 1984...and continued on through the 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, until it finally sputtered to a stop sometime in 2012.

There were no show numbers on the cue sheet or the record labels, but there were runout groove etchings.  The Journey show has "83-10" and it's the tenth show of the summer, so it makes sense that the shows were numbered 83-1, 83-2, 83-3, etc.

However, we also have the Men At Work show which does not have this numbering system, but has the run date in the etching: SSCS-SEG-1-7-22-83 (it runs SEG-1, SEG-2, etc. for each side).  I also have a copy of the Stray Cats show, and it's got the show number instead of the run date, too.  

This leaves me with two "official" numbering systems.  Given that the series carried on for decades with the (year)(ascending number) numbering format, I'm making the executive decision that the Men At Work show was 83-4 in spite of the lack of official labeling.  Men At Work = 4th show in the series, so quod erat fairdinkum, mate.

The 10 show, first season of Westwood One's Superstar Concert series:
83-        07/01/83 Rod Stewart
83-        07/09/83 Styx
83-        07/15/83 REO Speedwagon
83-4       07/22/83 Men At Work (the air date is in the run-out grooves)
83-        07/29/83 Genesis
83-        08/05/83 Sammy Hagar/Quarterflash
83-7       08/12/83 Stray Cats (show number in the run-out grooves)
83-        08/19/83 Fleetwood Mac
83-        08/26/83 Loverboy
83-10      09/02/83 Journey  (show number in the run-out grooves)

The same concert was broadcast as Westwood One In Concert IC-83-06-Y, with an air date of 3/18 - 3/20 1983, but minus the song "I Like To."   And guess what?   Yes!  That's in our Archives!

https://mega.nz/file/qIZi2LaL#KJr6wIUWp131IxWZ_ZYyaaSIGTRJjAVr1FDztYpVkrM

I am hoping that our friend AussieRock
of the most excellent  Rock On Vinyl  blog
can explain if the plumbing works differently Down Under...

NBC The Source NBC 84-32 Men At Work - Greek Theatre, Berkeley, CA Oct. 1983

Men At Work
NBC The Source NBC 84-32
broadcast date: August 17-18-19, 1984

Recorded at: 
The Greek Theatre
Berkeley, CA
Men At Work played Berkeley on October 7 and 8, 1983
Rona Elliot doesn't specify which date

01 Rona Elliot - NBC The Source NBC 84-32 Intro
02 Commercial - Plymouth Duster
03 Commercial - U.S. Navy
04 Commercial - Tightrope Movie
05 Rona Elliot - NBC The Source NBC 84-32 Intro 2
06 Men At Work - Overkill
07 Men At Work - Dr. Heckyll & Mr. Jive
08 Men At Work - Underground
09 Men At Work - The Longest Night
10 Rona Elliot - NBC The Source NBC 84-32 Break
11 Commercial - Tightrope Movie
12 Commercial - Plymouth Duster
13 Commercial - Lee Jeans
14 Men At Work - Down Under
15 Men At Work - Blue For You
16 Men At Work - High Wire
17 Rona Elliot - NBC The Source NBC 84-32 Break
18 Commercial - U.S. Navy
19 Commercial - Lee Jeans
20 Commercial - Plymouth Rocks America Giveaway
21 Rona Elliot - NBC The Source NBC 84-32 Segment Intro
22 Men At Work - No Sign Of Yesterday
23 Men At Work - Who Can It Be Now
24 Men At Work - Helpless Automaton
25 Rona Elliot - NBC The Source NBC 84-32 Break
26 Commercial - Plymouth Duster
27 Commercial - U.S. Navy
28 Commercial - Lee Jeans
29 Men At Work - Be Good Johnny
29 Men At Work - It's A Mistake
30 Rona Elliot - NBC The Source NBC 84-32 Outro

From the Sam Eliot's Mustache Collection
Brought to you by the Collective for Live Music.

Both nights were taped for an HBO program, with Saturday night being the night of the taping for the broadcast...so it's likely this is October 8 (Saturday).  I found an ad for the simulcast, which took place in March.

The Berkeley Gazette wrote, "While at first I thought Colin Hay kept erring in his references to the locale as "San Francisco," it later became clear he was only goading the audience into extracting an apology from him as a cute introduction for "It's A Mistake.  The joke seemed lost on the crowd."

I'll add that the "Thank you very much, San Francisco" might be mildly annoying in the East Bay, but there's not a huge rivalry across the Bay. Yes, professional sports means people lined up behind San Francisco's Giants and 49ers or Oakland's A's and Raiders, but this was in Berkeley.  The UC Berkeley campus is across the street from the Greek Theatre, and the students come from all over the world.

And from the East Bay perspective of 2025, if we really cared the A's wouldn't be in Sacramento, the Raiders in Las Vegas, and the Warriors in San Francisco.

"It's A Mistake" is not on the cue sheet and contains (or is followed by) a drum solo.

Paul Hogan's "G'day" commercials came out in 1984, so it was a high-profile year for Australia here in America.

Opening act was Mental As Anything (also from Australia)

At one point Colin Hay mentions Diana Ross, who was playing in Oakland a week later.

https://mega.nz/file/LQ4wTT7I#jq37CxZNlJ6LEe8KSlozEHDfXwgAUuYv8keo1LGoc9o

Men At Work - Akron Agora Nov. 15, 1982 Westwood One In Concert IC-83-06-Y

Men At Work
Westwood One In Concert IC-83-06-Y
Airs 3/18 - 3/20 1983

Recorded at:

the Akron Agora

Akron, OH
Monday, November 15, 1982

CD1:
01 David Perry - In Concert IC-83-06 Intro
02 Commercial - Honda
03 Commercial - Schick
04 David Perry - In Concert IC-83-06 Segment Intro
05 Men At Work - No Restrictions
06 Men At Work - I Can See It In Your Eyes
07 Men At Work - People Just Love To Play With Words
08 Commercial - U.S. Army
09 Commercial - Columbia Pictures Spring Break
10 David Perry - In Concert IC-83-06 Break
11 Men At Work - Overkill
12 Men At Work - Touching the Untouchables
13 Commercial - U.S. Army
14 Commercial - Budweiser (Randy Meisner)
15 Commercial - Schick
16 David Perry - In Concert IC-83-06 Break
17 Men At Work - F-19
18 Men At Work - Shintaro
19 Men At Work - High Wire
20 Men At Work - Down Under
21 Men At Work - Underground
22 Commercial - Honda
23 Commercial - U.S. Army
24 Commercial - Budweiser (Karla DeVito)
25 David Perry - In Concert IC-83-06 Break

CD2:
01 Men At Work - Helpless Automaton
02 Men At Work - Who Can It Be Now 
03 Men At Work - It's A Mistake
04 Men At Work - Catch A Star
05 Commercial - Honda
06 Commercial - U.S. Army
07 David Perry - In Concert IC-83-06 Break
08 Men At Work - Be Good Johnny
09 Men At Work - Mr. Entertainer
10 David Perry - In Concert IC-83-06 Outro
11 David Perry - In Concert IC-83-06 Promo
Flac files of wavs.  300 dpi scans of the disc labels and cue sheet.

A few newspaper articles...note that one article is from "the West Hartford Agora," not the "Agora Akron" where this show takes place.  Hey, it's there for context.  What was it like on their first U.S. tour?

Run Out Grooves:
IC=83-6-Y-A >  L-13038
IC=83-6-Y-B >  L-13038 ALSHIRE
IC=83-6-Y-C >  L-13038
IC=83-6-Y-D >  L-13038 ALSHIRE

Updated June 2025.  The prior version incorrectly identified the singer on Track 24 as Pat Benatar.  It is not Benatar, it is Karla DeVito.

As announcer Dave Perry placed the show at "the Agora in Akron, Ohio," it was easy to track down the show's date.  I was aware that there were several "Agora Ballrooms," but I'd never seen a list of them, so I did some research.  I've added the twelve that I've found to the end of this text file.

The recording date of November 15, 1982 puts this show right at a peak moment for Men At Work:  They performed "Down Under" live on Saturday Night Live three weeks earlier, on October 23, 1982. In the United States, the song debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 on nine days prior, on November 6, 1982 at No. 79.  It reached No. 1 in January 1983. The song was No. 1 for three non-consecutive weeks, selling over 2 million copies.  The song also went to No. 1 in Australia, New Zealand, the U.K., Ireland, Germany, Denmark, Italy and Switzerland.

Unfortunately, things don't end well for the band, as is often that case in the music industry.  The original band recorded one more album "Cargo" in March of 1983.  Several tracks appear on this live show, well in advance of album.  They then took a long hiatus, at the end of which the drummer and bass player had left, their guitarist was sidelined, and studio musicians brought in...and that album ("Two Hearts") was the end of the line for Men At Work.  

A live album ("Brazil") was released in 1996; by then it was just Colin Hay (guitar, vocals) and Greg Ham (flute, sax, keyboards) left from the original band.

But the story doesn't end there.  Greg Ham used the part of the melody of the song "Kookaburra" for a few bars in "Down Under."  At the time, the copyright was owned by the song's author, Marion Sinclair.  She wrote the song in 1932.  She didn't register the copyright until 1975.  Whether or not she heard "Down Under" is not known, but she neither she...nor her estate...did anything about the infringement.

In 1990, Larrikin Music acquired the rights to the song for $6,100.00.  In 2009, Larrikin became aware that "Down Under" had a bit of "Kookaburra" in it, and sued for 60% of the royalties.

A long legal battle ensued over the next five years.  Larrikin won about $100,000, and a 5% claim on royalties after 2002.  But the legal expense on both sides were massive...millions of dollars.
“After five years of litigation, it’s four and a half-million dollars chasing $100 grand,” Hay said. “So they didn’t really win, they just lost less than us.”
---------
I saw Colin Hay a few years ago as part of Ringo Starr's All Stars, and he was wonderful.  

As part of my "fact check everything you can" attitude, I looked up the "you're 67-November" reference the U.S. Army commercial, and yes, it's an actual helicopter repair category.
----
F-19, Shintaro, and Mr. Entertainer were "non-LP" tracks at the time.

https://mega.nz/file/mEAkHLqY#8joey3KxOo_n2r5OYGTBi_5Ufsm8_KbPwLvO-xKLrws

========================
List of Twelve "Agora Ballroom" venues.  These often go by a variety of names: "The Agora," "Agora Ballroom," "Agora Theater," "Agora (name of the city)."

Agora Akron, OH 
4193 State Rd
Cuyahoga Falls, OH 44223
Later became the Boot Scoot'n Saloon.

Agora Atlanta, GA 
665 Peachtree Street NE
Atlanta, GA
Open: August 17, 1978 - 1984
Formerly named Electric Ballroom (1974-1978).

Agora Cleveland, OH 
5000 Euclid Avenue
Cleveland, OH 44103
The first Agora (Agora Alpha) in Cleveland opened in February 1966 at 2175 Cornell Road and closed in 1969. In 1967 the second Agora (Agora Beta) opened on East 24th Street. This building was destroyed by fire in 1984, and the Agora re-opened at its current location on Euclid Avenue in October 1986. The Euclid Avenue building has a long history beginning in 1913 when it was known as the Metropolitan Theatre.

Agora Columbus, OH 
1722 N High Street
Columbus, OH 43201
Formerly the State Theater and later the Newport Music Hall.

Agora Dallas, TX 
6532 East NW Highway
Dallas, TX 75213
Formerly The Palladium and became Monopoly's in September 1983. Later reopened in Jone 1992 (again with the Agora name) before closing for good in 1993.

Agora Hallendale Beach, FL "Miami"
100 Ansin Blvd
Hallandale Beach, FL 33009
Later became the Button South

Agora Houston, TX
5134 Richmond Avenue
Houston, TX 77057
July 1980 - 1982
Located in the Windsor Plaza shopping center.
Formerly The Palace

Agora New Haven, CN 
379 Whalley Avenue
New Haven, CT 06511
Closed 1983

Agora Tampa
201 E. Yukon St
Tampa, FL 33604

Agora Toledo OH
3415 Dorr Street
Toledo, OH 43607
Open 1973 - 1982
Formerly The Draught House

Agora West Hartford, CN 
165 Dexter Avenue
West Hartford, CT 06110
1982 - 1989
This venue has been called the Agora Hartford, Agora Ballroom, Agora Theatre, Columbia Music Hall, Hard Rock Cafe (not the chain) Stage West, West Hartford Agora &  West Hartford Ballroom, West Hartford Ballroom and Music Hall, West Hartford Music Hall

Agora Youngstown, OH
213 W. Federal Plaza,
Youngstown, OH 44503
31 December 1978 - 23 July 1982
State Theatre (1927-1970)
Tomorrow Club (1974-1978)
Youngstown Agora (1978-1982)
State Theater and Civic Center (1983-1983)
Star Theatre (1984-1986)
Star Palace (1986-1988)

---------