Sugarcubes
Cabaret Metro
Chicago, IL
August 11, 1988 (Thursday)
WXRT-FM
Cabaret Metro
Chicago, IL
August 11, 1988 (Thursday)
WXRT-FM
01 Sugarcubes - Motorcrash
02 Sugarcubes - Tidal Wave
03 Sugarcubes - Planet
04 Sugarcubes - Cold Sweat
05 Sugarcubes - Water
08 Sugarcubes - Deus
06 Sugarcubes - Nail
07 Sugarcubes - Dream TV
09 Sugarcubes - Traitor
10 Sugarcubes - WXRT-FM Station ID
11 Sugarcubes - Pump
12 Sugarcubes - F_cking In Rhythm & Sorrow
13 Sugarcubes - Cat
14 Sugarcubes - Delicious Demon
15 Sugarcubes - Birthday
16 Sugarcubes - Hot Meat
17 Sugarcubes - Cowboy
18 Sugarcubes - WXRT-FM Outro
This is a low generation copy of a WXRT-FM Budweiser Sunday Night Concert rebroadcast of the Sugarcubes live at Cabaret Metro on August 11, 1988. There's some hiss and a bit of radio noise but this sounds pretty good.
One of the first things I do when I tackle an old tape is to check to see if it has been officially issued, or if there's already a circulating copy in better quality. Why should I spend an hour digitizing my master cassette Springsteen at Winterland when he's released it on his website?
In this case, I found the blog https://gudmundsdottirbjork.blogspot.com/ which has a lot of Sugarcubes / Bjork downloads available (and which looks to possibly be written or sponsored by Bjork or someone connected to her).
Sure enough, I found the Cabaret Metro show and downloaded it... and... uh... to my ears, I think my cassette sounds slightly better. Unlike the Springsteen CDs, this is not an official release, it's an off the air tape someone digitized, and it's not a master. So, I went ahead and digitized my version. This isn't a huge upgrade in quality, so don't expect miracles. In comparing the two versions, my cassette has a bit more dynamic range; the download looks more compressed. At the very least, my version is chaptered into individual tracks, while the download has the entire show as a single flac file.
And if you like Bjork, check that site out. There's a LOT of downloads there.
I also found a TON of 1988 American press coverage of the Sugarcubes...46 newspaper clippings, most of them articles about the band, but also concert reviews. While most coverage was positive ("unsettling but fascinating," "unique," "quirky") several critics were downright appalled by their show at the I-Beam. The writer for the NME said they "were crap." The review of the same gig by the Knight-Ridder writer was picked up for distribution nationwide said it was "an excruciating show" played with "monolithic ineptitude."
And...as it turns out, I have an uncirculated audience tape of the I-Beam show those two critics attended. I've never had the guts to tackle it, as identifying the song titles was beyond my limited ability. But once again, the Internet managed to provide a set list, so I'm putting that one up, too. Both of them are in a single download, along with the press clippings.
Here you go! What do you think of their 1988 live tour? Was this quirky or crap?
