Remember The Albert? Day 2: Husker Du Live In Winnipeg 1984

Yes, you must remember the Albert? The iconic scuzzy punk rock club on Albert Street inside the Royal Albert Arms Hotel in the historic Exchange area of downtown Winnipeg is back! This club played host to many a crazy show throughout the 80's to well into the 2000's, but with much uncertainty about ownership and many unsuccessful attempts to re-open it finally relaunched as a music venue this past June.

I've written before about some the great bands I've seen pass through the Albert. I've recorded and posted a few, but I also saw bands such as Green Day before my taping days and if I was more in the loop at the time I could have seen Twin Cities bands, Soul Asylum and Husker Du in the mid 80's. The closest I came to seeing the Du at the Albert was Grant Hart's post Husker Du band, Nova Mob who played to a handful of dedicated fans there. My most vivid memory of the show is before the band started playing Hart was peering on the TV screens at the bar watching a music video of Bob Mould's band, Sugar and probably mumbled something sarcastic. Which was a perfect analogy of the two opposite directions each man's career went after the break up of Husker Du. Hart playing small venues in front of dozens of people versus Mould with videos on MTV touring theatre's and concert halls with Sugar or solo around the world.

I came upon this gem on Dime a while back, a live audience recording of Husker Du from early 1984 before the band broke it big (by alt-punk standards of the time) before the release of their classic double album, Zen Arcade. This album was the game changer for the band, though it was not commercially successful, it was the record that took Husker Du from hardcore punk to a more wide range melodic alt-rock punk sound. That album along with the following two records, New Day Rising and Flip Your Wig, I consider the perfect hat trick of LP's. This show previews many songs from Zen as well as songs from their previous discs Metal Circus and Everything Falls Apart. Highlights include some non-album songs, Eight Miles High, Drug Party, Statues and In a Free Land. I didn't record the show, but whoever did, did a decent job despite probably being tossed around by flying bodies in the jam packed Albert. A recording definitely worth a listen at least for historical purposes. This was a soon to be legendary band getting it's feet wet in Winnipeg, Canada in the middle of winter in 1984...doesn't get much better than that!
Enjoy!

Wow! an actual review in the newspaper. Thanks you Winnipeg Free Press!

#13yearsoftrouble

Please do NOT sell!
Do NOT trade this in lossy format.
Convert to lossy for personal use only.

HUSKER DU
Royal Albert Arms
Winnipeg, MB
January 21, 1984

01. Something I Learned Today
02. It's Not Funny Any More
03. From The Gut
04. Wheels
05. Everything Falls Apart
06. Sunshine Superman
07. What's Going On?
08. Diane
09. Masochism World
10. Bricklayer
11. Tired Of Doing Things
12. Data Control
13. Recurring Dreams
14. Chartered Trips
15. Broken Home, Broken Heart
16. Eight Miles High
17. Drug Party
18. In A Free Land
19. Target
20. Helter Skelter
 21. Statues

HUSKER DU- 1984-01-21 Royal Albert, Winnipeg, MB FLAC. rar