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The Trees 1980 Acoustic Intros

By-Tor X-1

By-Tor X-1

Archivist
Staff member
Some time ago, I went through all available 1980 recordings in attempt to make a clear note of when The Trees was first given an extended acoustic guitar intro, because on some 1980 tapes this can be heard. However, I learned that there doesn't seem to be any set point where it was added and retained from then on, rather this intro appears at random on some nights, while not on others. To further the randomness, it's not even always the same arrangements, and some intros are longer than others, while some are barely there. These 1980 intros are all nearly complete improvisation. I figured I should publicly share these notes for anyone else who may be interested in this niche topic.

These intros are not "Broon's Bane" that we all know of from 1981-1983. While there is a very early embryonic version of what became that arrangement, which I'm calling "Proto Broon", the most common intro to be heard is the same theme that has now become more well known due to the Permanent Waves 40th Anniversary boxset, which used The Trees from London (June 5), so for these notes I'm calling it "40th Version".
  • Proto Broon: London (June 6), Leicester (June 21)
  • 40th Version: New York City (May 8), New Haven (May 20), Buffalo (May 21), London (June 5), Leeds (June 15)
  • Short 40th Version: Birmingham (June 20), Baton Rouge (Sept 16), Largo (Sept 26), Allentown (Sept 30)
  • Other Versions: Hershey (May 13), London (June 4)
  • Short Other Versions: Seattle (March 19), Toledo (April 24), London (June 7), Glasgow (June 11), Manchester (June 17)
  • Super Short (probably doesn't count): Fort Worth (February 2)

I almost put Montreal (January 21) in the last category, but I really don't think it counts. I did not note shows that had either nothing, or just a few sounds like Alex was testing tuning, testing the mic, or a quick noodling. It really is completely random each night for what he does, and if he does anything, but I'd say Seattle (March 19) is the first with an inkling of something to clearly note, while Hershey (May 13) is the first "substantial" intro. Also to keep in mind, 1980 has a lot of dates with no known recordings, so all of this is based only on what we have to analyze.
 
I love this kind of nerdery - thank you! It might be intresting to also note how Broon’s Bane may have changed subtly through the 81-83 tours.

I know it’s off topic, but I’m equally obsessive about tracking changes to Neil’s solos throughout a tour. On some tours, maybe most, his solos don’t really change throughout the run. But it evolved quite a bit during the MP tour, and a little during the PoW tour. Probably the biggest change was when they relocated the solo from Red Lenses to YYZ towards the end of the GuP tour, requiring Neil to change the arrangement of his solo completely.
 
I've coincidentally been attempting to add more hyper-specific notes about arrangement differences of songs to all the tour setlist guides on this site, though some things like these 1980 Trees intros and Neil's drum solos are hard to detail down in a few simple words. I do think we could go further and make a similar guide to this one for 81-83 Broon's Bane changes, and one for overall drum solo evolution. In my mind I'd always see how Neil's drum solos all kept elements from tour-to-tour and slowly evolved, which would be cool to lay out somehow. Something like this I find hard to put into clear words though. Perhaps someone like @Grommet2112 or @Vapoo2112 may find it easier to articulate drum parts into some sort of guide? I don't have the knowledge of proper drum terminology.
 
Well, I am a drummer myself - I’m this guy, in case you didn’t know:



I’d be happy to try to put some names to the different sections of the drum solos, and maybe come up with a timeline of what went where and when.
 
I actually did do something like this on my own with the reggae part they added to A Passage to Bangkok half way through the hemispheres tour. It's a noticeable arrangement change that has a pretty interesting transformation from night to night. It's been a while since I've checked but im pretty sure Neil starts playing the drum pattern more and more differently in that part, until a very unique little jam forms, not full reggae break down. This continues for a bit till they go to Europe. By then, it's in its final form heard all the way till the end of the PeW tour. Notably this is the arrangement heard on Exit Stage Left as well as the live versions on Hemispheres 40th boxset and PeW 40th boxset/2112 5.1
 
Grommet2112 said:
I actually did do something like this on my own with the reggae part they added to A Passage to Bangkok half way through the hemispheres tour. It's a noticeable arrangement change that has a pretty interesting transformation from night to night. It's been a while since I've checked but im pretty sure Neil starts playing the drum pattern more and more differently in that part, until a very unique little jam forms, not full reggae break down. This continues for a bit till they go to Europe. By then, it's in its final form heard all the way till the end of the PeW tour. Notably this is the arrangement heard on Exit Stage Left as well as the live versions on Hemispheres 40th boxset and PeW 40th boxset/2112 5.1
Click to expand...
@Grommet2112 Is this posted here somewhere?
 
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