SickthingsUK

Frommr.barlow:
"From what I was told over the years is that that whole concept was heavily influenced by the film "Apocalypse Now""

Also, he was pretty obsessed with a magazine about mercenaries and the military (called "Soldier Of Fortune", I think). He was also made a member of the "Special Forces Of America" (or something similar).

>I think the sparse stage setting and lack of props was a combination of both design and limited funds for the tour.

It is also interesting that around that time, Echo And The Bunnymen had a similar design for their shows as well.

> "That's my pally". (that's a little inside joke for Amuk)

Brian would have enjoyed that.

>I believe the US/Iran hostage crisis played into it as well as Alice wanted to express his American patriotism at a time when the USA was at a low point.

Yes, that's correct. The whole thing really just followed on from the "Flush The Fashion" tour.

He was also big on boxing at that time which explains his shadow boxing on stage during, I think, 7&7 is. I think he was a huge fan of Sugar Ray Leonard.

From pitkin88:
"He was also big on boxing at that time"

He still is as far as I know. He visited Thomas Hearns in 1990 and he's met Muhammad Ali once or twice as well.

From Daggers & Contracts:
"From what I remember about the intro was that it was a bit longer"

Yes, that's correct - but not as long as pitkin88 thought.

A_MichaelUK wrote:From Daggers & Contracts:
"From what I remember about the intro was that it was a bit longer"

Yes, that's correct - but not as long as pitkin88 thought.

How long was it?

From pitkin88:
"How long was it?"

About two minutes, so about double the length of the version on the album.

I have reached out to Duane Hitchings on FB to see if he can give a little info about the recording. Will report back if he respomds.

I remember the Coop on this tour, stood about 4 feet away at a small venue, 2 years after seeing him in a colosseum for Madhouse R. Anyway, he didn't seem to be "playing" the Alice character like he had since '75, he WAS Alice. Like many of the great observations on this thread, he was as threatening and "real" as he was in the '71-'73 period. The show didn't seem so calculated and produced, almost as if anything unexpected could happen at any time. Great show & great period for Alice fans (although he was probably battling multiple demons).

Mr.Bluelegs wrote:I remember the Coop on this tour, stood about 4 feet away at a small venue, 2 years after seeing him in a colosseum for Madhouse R. Anyway, he didn't seem to be "playing" the Alice character like he had since '75, he WAS Alice. Like many of the great observations on this thread, he was as threatening and "real" as he was in the '71-'73 period. The show didn't seem so calculated and produced, almost as if anything unexpected could happen at any time. Great show & great period for Alice fans (although he was probably battling multiple demons).

Agreed. A lot of the really great work was done when he was addicted to booze and cocaine.

At the glasgow gig the intro started with the helicopter sound, then the band crawled on as if they were in the jungle, they had their guns as if they were firing them into the audience. Then we heard Alice's weird vocals came over, we went crazy wondering where he was. Then the band broke into the intro music, we heard Alice say "who,do you think we are?" The door to the camouflaged cabinet tore open, a Alice stepped into view and 3500 Glaswegians went mental! I remember it as if it was yesterday.

dadascot wrote:At the glasgow gig the intro started with the helicopter sound, then the band crawled on as if they were in the jungle, they had their guns as if they were firing them into the audience. Then we heard Alice's weird vocals came over, we went crazy wondering where he was. Then the band broke into the intro music, we heard Alice say "who,do you think we are?" The door to the camouflaged cabinet tore open, a Alice stepped into view and 3500 Glaswegians went mental! I remember it as if it was yesterday.

Oh I wish I had a timemachine.

mestreech wrote:

dadascot wrote:At the glasgow gig the intro started with the helicopter sound, then the band crawled on as if they were in the jungle, they had their guns as if they were firing them into the audience. Then we heard Alice's weird vocals came over, we went crazy wondering where he was. Then the band broke into the intro music, we heard Alice say "who,do you think we are?" The door to the camouflaged cabinet tore open, a Alice stepped into view and 3500 Glaswegians went mental! I remember it as if it was yesterday.

Oh I wish I had a timemachine.

See deluxe edition for more Special Forces.

I know I posted my opinion of the tour when I seen it in North Tonawanda, NY (Buffalo)on another thread here. At the venue I was at the stage there was in the round & rotated around. I remember the intro (as was said here) being longer with the band looking as if they survived an attack. They were throwing what looked like cardboard grenades into the crowd & because the stage was in the round Alice ran down one of the aisles to get to the stage. I was 5th row & had no idea what I was looking at when I seen Alice. Special Forces wasn't released yet so I never heard Who Do you Think you Are. I could not believe it was actually Alice. It was wild though because the band & setlist kicked ass. It was great hearing Model Citizen & Guilty among others(I know he didn't play 7 & 7 is & don't believe Clones was played either). I've heard a few shows from the tour on youtube but when he played Generation Landslide at the show I attended it seemed like the band really jammed the tune for about 10 minutes.

dadascot wrote:At the glasgow gig the intro started with the helicopter sound, then the band crawled on as if they were in the jungle, they had their guns as if they were firing them into the audience. Then we heard Alice's weird vocals came over, we went crazy wondering where he was. Then the band broke into the intro music, we heard Alice say "who,do you think we are?" The door to the camouflaged cabinet tore open, a Alice stepped into view and 3500 Glaswegians went mental! I remember it as if it was yesterday.

Yeah , that's exactly as I remember it .....

Though , I also have an added memory that still makes me anxious every time I think about it ....


And it's also the same reason I know that the " war sounds " intro was longer than the album version ....

Thinking i had plenty of time before ALICE would come on , I'd decided to go for a quick rush to the toilet at the rear of the stalls ...

The loo was mobbed , and just as I got to the front of the queue , unzipped , that helicopter sound started , and the building was shaking with the noise of the crowd .....

Seconds later I ran out into the back of the dark stalls , aisles mobbed with people , fighting my way through , down to the front to my seat ...


Fortunately , I made it before the band took the stage - but every time I listen to the RADIO CLYDE broadcast of the gig , that memory still brings me out in a sweat ....

I'd love to have a film of that gig , just so I could look at the band - I didn't EVER look at any of them , as I couldn't take my eyes of ALICE ..

Glasgow 82 was an incredible gig- audience very noisy- band were really tight. By the way, I always thought Alice was poking fun mainly at Ronald Reagan's military exploits (e.g You're a Movie)

I remember it almost exactly as Dadascot describes only I was in Hammersmith. It was my first Alice concert and luckily I was in the second row seats, not that we sat at all, front of stage my right ear has never been the same since small price to pay for such an experience.

From recoop:
"By the way, I always thought Alice was poking fun mainly at Ronald Reagan's military exploits (e.g You're a Movie)"

Yes, there was some satire involved but he did also get caught up in the jingoism of the time (and remember, "Special Forces" was an extension of the "Flush The Fashion" tour, when he gave the band the name "Hostage Fever" which was a reference to the hostage crisis).

Had forgotten about Hostage Fever as name of FTF tour band. Probably didn't know that at time as low coverage in Uk as previously discussed.

A memory from the Glasgow gig- I was standing outside waiting in queue to get in- two guys are walking down the line- They stop and ask me if they can see my tickets as they have never seen Alice tickets before- I started to take tickets out of jeans and then put them back in and said approx " you're gonna try and nick them right"- Reply approx " Yeah, we'll try someone else". Probably, past history of Glasgow football matches and visiting brother in Maryhill made me streetwise enough, just. Reckon, I was two seconds from losing tickets after waiting years to see Alice.

recoop wrote:Had forgotten about Hostage Fever as name of FTF tour band. Probably didn't know that at time as low coverage in Uk as previously discussed.

A memory from the Glasgow gig- I was standing outside waiting in queue to get in- two guys are walking down the line- They stop and ask me if they can see my tickets as they have never seen Alice tickets before- I started to take tickets out of jeans and then put them back in and said approx " you're gonna try and nick them right"- Reply approx " Yeah, we'll try someone else". Probably, past history of Glasgow football matches and visiting brother in Maryhill made me streetwise enough, just. Reckon, I was two seconds from losing tickets after waiting years to see Alice.

Typical glasgow. Lol. We dogged off school to get the tickets (I know dogging means something completely different nowa days) and on the way back sneaked into a dentist and stole some dentist appointment cards (true story) we then handed them in at school but I got caught ha ha but well worth it.