senses working overtime, indeed!

here is the last of the xtc for the week . . .

in march 1982 xtc had just begun their european tour to support the 'english settlement' lp. on the 18th they were to play at the le palais in paris. the sold out show was to be broadcast over t.v. and radio, and 30 seconds into the first song andy unplugged the guitar and ran off the stage. by the time the band found him backstage he was crumpled in a dark corner, holding his stomach and bawling his eyes out. andy flew home and they cancelled the rest of the tour. he saw doctors, underwent tests and hypnosis, but he was just plain fried.

trying to salvage the u.s. tour they packed up and flew to america on march 30.
xtc would play one more show on april 3 in san diego, (with andy on auto-pilot), then he called it quits for good. no more performing in concert, he had a full-blown case of stage fright. in it's most violent physical and emotional form.

ten days before the paris show xtc played the paradiso in amsterdam, and from the sound of it, you would never see the breakdown coming . . . .

the paradiso - amsterdam march 8, 1982 (mp3)
ball and chain
no thugs in our house
senses working overtime
all along the watchtower
no language in our lungs
towers of london
making plans for nigel
living through another cuba
generals and majors
real by reel
sgt rock (is going to help me)

and here are a few videos:
may 16, 1989 mtv studios - scarecrow people/blue beret/king for a day (wmv)

while here is a very strange history of xtc, (by xtc) . . . done with puppets(?):
the road to oranges and lemons (wmv)
(thanks to xtc4u.org)

recommended xtc reading:
chalkhills and children - chris twomey
xtc : song stories - xtc and neville farmer