Elvis Costello: Big Tears

From the Santa Barbara Bowl in 1982, never before heard live recording

2:58 - stereo audience recording

Studio promotional photo: Elvis Costello and the Attractions

Many thanks to Joe Bonomo for asking how Elvis Costello’s performance of “Big Tears” sounds from the 1982 show I recorded. I am more than a little pleased to answer that question.

My recollection is that I was standing floor level for the show; the performers would have been a few feet above my eyeline. The same omni-directional Sony stereo mic that I used to record the Elvis Costello show had in the past, in the right position in the audience, done a good job recording other events. The Bowl, however is a 4.500 seat sandstone amphitheater and the design and materials ‘muddy’ the mid-range significantly in the recording, resulting in a ‘hollow’ or ‘boxy’ sound that’s tough to dial out with EQ. In person the audience acoustics are terrific, and several significant live albums were recorded there (Joni Mitchell, and Bob Marley come immediately to mind).

My lawn seat ticket stub; great unobstructed view of the band, but maybe not the best spot for the microphone; $13!

Being so close to the stage likely worked against this recording - the mic is picking up too much of the monitor mix for the musicians and not enough of the PA speakers, which would have been on the far edges of the stage. The recording sounds like the PA was ‘missed’ by the microphone.

The remastered original from 2021, Universal Music Group

In 1982 the Santa Barbara County Bowl was little more than a concrete pad - a big one, with an orchestra pit and small lawn area (where I was likely standing), and then 30 - or 40 rows of bench seats. It was built in the 1930’s as a Works Projects Administration (WPA) depression-era civic project. Dozens of laborers quarried the stone locally, and then cut and laid each block by hand - it’s a really remarkable ocean-view performance space.

The Santa Barbara County Bowl with the ocean in the background beyond the city, much as it would have appeared in 1982, prior to the multi-million dollar remodel completed in the 2010’s.

Today, thanks to the efforts of the Santa Barbara Bowl Foundation, and the bowl’s longtime manager, Sam Scranton (don’t miss the Sam Scranton Terrace if you visit!), the place has been turned into a world-class concert venue. Over $30 million in inflation-adjusted dollars donated by the community built a new state of the art band shell with modern sound reinforcement and lighting installations, updated artist’s green room facilities, new restrooms, and new seating.

I’m planning to digitize a few other bowl shows soon, and I’ll be interested to see if the mic position changes the quality of the recordings. For a comparison, the Lou Reed show I recorded in a similar amphitheater setting in Nice, France sounds much less hollow. For that show I think I was standing in front of the mixing board in the center of the venue, and the PA is delivering a decent mix.

If anyone has any other digitization requests from the Santa Barbara Elvis Costello show, here’s the set list as a reminder.

SET LIST

Green Shirt

Accident’s Will Happen

Pigeon English

Hand in Hand

Shabby Doll

Big Tears

Watch Your Step

On the Beat

One in Every Home

Watching the Detectives

Long Honeymoon

Town Cryer

Kid About It

Temptation

Unknown cover [?]

You Belong to Me

New Lace Sleeves

Allison

Radio Radio

Pump it Up

1^st Encore

Imperial Bedroom

Tears Before Bedtime

Backstabbers (O’Jays cover) medley into

King Horse

Big Sister’s Clothes

2^nd Encore

All These Songs (Allen Toussaint cover)

Mystery Dance

Shipbuilding

What’s So Funny About Peace Love and Understanding (Nick Lowe)