New addition:
OPAL (with Hope Sandoval), Dec. 14, 1987,Victoria, BC, Canada, Harpo's Cabaret
http://www.filefactory.com/file/3d4n143 ... andoval%20).zip
01. Magick Power
02. Revolution
03. Real Wild Child
04. Ghost Highway
05. Rock Section [The Colours Out of Time cover]
06. Happy Nightmare Baby
07. Rocket Machine
08. Where Did You Run To [a song originally performed by Hope's early duo Going Home]
09. Soul Giver
10. Blue Flower [Slapp Happy cover, partial. The song gets cut off after 40 seconds]
Total Time: 45:11
The last part of the show is missing from the recording, and presumably didn't get taped. The recording quality is very good - except for some loud talking during parts of it that marr some songs.
The band Opal changed its name to Mazzy Star in 1989.
This recording was kindly shared at popular live shows sharing site, dimeadozen.org, May, 2017
by DIME member kneesfudd (see kneesfudd's own notes pasted below).
As of this writing, this is the earliest Opal-with-Hope gig recording I've heard. The only other Opal-with-Hope
recordings I have (findable via this boots thread) are ones from Opal's European tour the following year, March & April, 1988.
According to Opal's & Mazzy Star's drummer, Keith Mitchell [sad to report, Keith died May 14, 2017
"after a very short illness"], Kendra Smith quit Opal as singer mid-tour when
Opal was touring as opening act for JAMC in the north-east U.S. In Keith's words, QUOTE:
"Kendra did not storm off the stage [as some accounts have it] and quit . She left after the show
in Providence, RI on the Jesus and Mary Chain tour. We finished the tour with Hope and then toured Europe as Opal."
A JAMC historical gigs list shows they played Providence, RI, Nov. 12, 1987. So, that would have been Kendra's last Opal gig. Hope would have replaced her soon after.
Here's a quote from Hope from Uncut mag., UK, Oct., 2013:
QUOTE: "I was asked to do some live shows (with Opal) because Kendra didn't want to be the front person,
and I think it just got really difficult for her. It was during a tour that they were doing with
The Jesus and Mary Chain, so I got a call from David asking if I would fly out to New York and finish the tour.
That's what it was. That's how I started working with his band." (-Hope)
There's an anecdote related to Opal/Mazzy Star & Harpo's Cabaret, Victoria, BC, that's amusing and short enough
to recount here. It comes from a 2012 Victoria Times Colonist article. The article recounts
reminiscences of Marcus Pollard, one of the promoters at Harpo's club. He booked acts there
from 1985 to 1995. Pollard describes his "Five Top Shows" from his years at Harpo's in Victoria.
His "number 5" top show is pasted below, QUOTE:
5. Mazzy Star, 1993. "They had walked off stage [in a huff],
so I went to their van and said, 'Guys you really have to
come back on.' It was like talking to stoned children. And
[singer Hope Sandoval] said, 'But nobody's listening, nobody cares.'
I said something that eventually got them back, and they finished
the set. Their tour manager said to me, 'They always leave the stage,
but I've never seen them come back. What did you say?' "
Presumably, the promoter had forgotten what it was he said exactly persuading the band to return to the
stage, or surely he'd have told us in the article.
-"Like talking to stoned children." Funny!
Further research on Opal's North American tour, 1987:
Opal was touring with JAMC for at least part of JAMC's Nov.-Dec. 1987 U.S. tour
JAMC 1987 gigs list from aprilskies.amniisia.com site:
[I'm ommitting the European dates from Aug. to Oct. 1987, & including
only North American ones]
03/11
USA
Philadelphia
04/11
USA
Washington DC
05/11
USA
New York, NY
06/11
USA
New York, NY
11/11
USA
Boston
12/11
USA
Providence [Kendra Smiths's last gig as Opal singer]
13/11
Canada
Montreal
15/11
Canada
Toronto
16/11
USA
Pittsburgh
17/11
USA
Cleveland
18/11
USA
Columbus
20/11
USA
Detroit
21/11
USA
Chicago @ Cabaret Metro
23/11
USA
Atlanta
27/11
USA
Houston
28/11
USA
Austin
29/11
USA
Dallas, TX @ Club Clearview
02/12
USA
Phoenix
03/12
USA
San Diego @ Montezuma Hall, San Diego State University campus
04/12
USA
Los Angeles, CA
05/12
USA
San Francisco, CA
??/12
Canada
Toronto @ RPM Club
-Note Opal played NYC Nov. 5 & 6, and Kendra quit Nov. 12. So, did Kendra give some
advance warning when they were in NYC she intended to quit a week later, to give the band
time to enlist her and David's friend Hope as replacement singer for the rest of the tour?
Or, did Kendra quit without warning on the 12th, & did the band end up back in NYC after
that gig, and then phoned Hope? A small detail that hasn't been explained yet.
From the JAMC gigs list, we see there were at least 16 North American gigs left on the tour
after Providence. Did Opal (with Hope) open for all or most of those shows? The JAMC tour
appears to have ended in the first week of December. Opal played this recorded Victoria, BC show
on Dec. 14, presumably after the JAMC tour, and in a small club, Harpo's, one too small for JAMC
to have played in 1987. What other gigs did Opal (with Hope) play in North America in late 1987?
There are some 1987 Opal (with Kendra) bootleg show recordings available, but this
Dec. 14 recording's the only one I've yet heard from Opal (with Hope) from North in 1987.
The only other Opal (with Hope) recordings I've heard are all from Opal's March - April,1988
European tour.
-Hermesacat/Bob B.