The Legendary Pink Dots

To be issued mid Oct. 2010 as a double CD set housed in a custom made gatefold case with artwork by Jesse Peper. It started with a dusty box of DAT tapes. Perhaps it was years since anyone had listened to them despite the tantalising labels,"Paris #1", "Paris #2","Paris #3”... Indeed it was Paris where the Dots played their first residency in 1992. However , these tapes were a document of the Dots' one and only 3-nighter from the 10th to the 12th of March 1994 at the delightful Theatre Passage du Nord Ouest. For this special occasion, HOURS of material were prepared and delivered in the certainty that quite possibly the same 300 or so people would turn up each night. Backing up that theory was the traditional shout of "champignons" from a mystery member of the audience on each of those nights. That clarion call actually began in Montreal a few years earlier, and we STILL hear it whenever we play in that city. It was ambitious. Sometimes the band was a little shaky but songs were played that were never heard again on a stage. Even so, some of the best shows happened outside Paris. In Marseilles for instance at Espace Julien a few nights later. A big venue and a surprising large turnout for another French city that The Dots simply fell for. What you hear on this collection is all from that 1994 tour culled from shows in the French capital, Marseilles and Toulouse (alas, nobody remembers the name of that venue). Even so, the Dots' French connection goes back to 1985 when they played in Strasbourg at Le Bandit. After playing in more sedatory venues in The Netherlands and Switzerland, this introduction to a French audience literally stunned every member of the band. Basically the crowd listened in complete silence as the notes were played, and would erupt like Vesuvius at the conclusion of a song. That show lasted for well over 2 hours. We still love France. The landscape, the culture and most of all, the people. We’ll be back.