Shows/1983-12-06
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Links:
- New Yorker listing (lists the show's date as Dec. 8, likely incorrect)
Setlist:
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True West
— with Screen Test, End to End, and They Might Be Giants opening —
CBGB in New York, NY
December 6, 1983
Fan Recaps and Comments:
John Linnell performed this show with his right hand in a cast, as he had broken his wrist a few weeks earlier.[1] All of John Flansburgh's belongings had also been stolen a few weeks earlier, including his guitar and amp. For this show he used a Roland Jazz Chorus amp, which he borrowed from a friend at the last minute. Flansburgh: "[It was] considered a modern and fancy amp at the time but which was so loud and clean it freaked me out."[2] It isn't clear which guitar he would have used for this show.
This show was on a Tuesday night, so it likely would've been an audition showcase gig. Flansburgh explained in a 2018 interview:
CBGB was very much the official gatekeeper of the New York rock scene at that time. It seems so surprisingly democratic, but there was so much demand for bands to play there that they set up this very clear structure for bands to march through to get to a weekend gig. There'd be an audition night, and if you passed that, they'd give you a Monday or Tuesday show, and if you brought in a lot of people, you'd get up to a Thursday or Friday or Saturday show. It took the better part of a year to get from audition night to a Thursday night, and if you didn’t keep on playing, you’d get pushed back.
Recalling the show in an email to TMBW in late 2023 to correct the date, John Linnell said:
My calendar says 12/6 which seems more likely because we wouldn’t have been drawing enough of a crowd to play on a Thursday night, Tuesday would make more sense. Possibly our first gig after I broke my wrist and John had his apartment burglarized. I guess I was playing the keyboard with my left hand!
