Saturday night internetting led me to video of a complete Mighty Mighty Bosstones set dated January of 1991, posted by YouTuber Skibs778. The sound and video aren’t perfect, but it’s good enough to enjoy what was not just an intimate gig, but one early on in the band’s career. One commenter claims “[t]he video was filmed with a Sony Video 8 camcorder at The Apocalypse Club that used to be on college street in Toronto.” Setlist.fm agrees if you go by the track list. I should note it’s not quite the complete set as song 7, a cover of Aerosmith’s “Sweet Emotion,” has been removed, probably at the request of their label.
The set is great. It captures a period during the Taang! Records era when they’d only released Devil’s Night Out (1990) and were still a year away from More Noise and Other Disturbances (1992). This makes for a set that’s considerably harder than more recent shows, in my humble opinion. The track list is below. What’s crazy is how tight they were so early on.
Speaking of Taang! Records, they’ve released “Devil’s Night Out” and “Where’d You Go” as a double LP. Interpunk is out of stock, but you might try your hand ordering it directly from the label.
1/18/91 Set List
1. Intro: ‘Simpsons’ theme/Devil’s Night Out
2. Dr. D
3. Haji
4. Guns and the Young
5. Where’d You Go?
6. He’s Back
7. Sweet Emotion [not performed]
8. The Cave
9. Awfully Quiet
10. Hope I Never Lose My Wallet
11. Drunks and Children
12. Howwhywuz, Howwhyam
13. Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love
14. What’s At Stake (Slapshot cover)
15. It Can’t Hurt
16. A Little Bit Ugly
17. Do Something Crazy
18. Cowboy Coffee