The Pretenders
NBC The Source NBC 81-11
broadcast dates: December 11-12-13, 1981
Recorded at:
Santa Monica Civic Auditorium
Santa Monica, CA
September 4, 1981
01 John McGhan - NBC The Source 81-11 Intro
02 Pretenders - The Wait
03 Pretenders - The Adulteress
04 Pretenders - Message Of Love
05 Pretenders - Talk Of The Town
06 Commercial - Levi's
07 Pretenders - Stop Your Sobbing
08 Pretenders - Private Life
09 Pretenders - Kid
10 Commercial - Levi's
11 Pretenders - Up The Neck
12 Commercial - Levi's
13 Pretenders - Brass In Pocket
14 Pretenders - Mystery Achievement
15 John McGhan - NBC The Source 81-11 Outro
This concert was originally a live satellite broadcast by Starfleet Blair. I've included the original print ad for the satellite broadcast, but this is NOT sourced from that broadcast. The ad does not mention NBC's The Source program.
In December 1981, NBC The Source did a syndicated rebroadcast of ten of the tracks. That's this version.
The next year in 1982, there was a promotional release entitled 'Pretenders Live At The Santa Monica Civic.' This was part of the U.S. promo-only LP series 'The Warner Bros. Music Show' issued as WBMS #121. While the disc label had the red "Bugs Bunny" disc label common to this series, it had a different "Starfleet Blair" album cover. This version has 13 tracks, adding "Louie, Louie," "Birds of Paradise," "Bad Boys Get Spanked," "Day After Day" and "Higher and Higher" and dropping "Brass In Pocket" and "Mystery Achievement."
In 2021, the 40th anniversary 2-cd re-released of Pretenders II officially released 15 tracks from the Santa Monica concert. This adds "The English Roses"...but note that it does NOT include "Mystery Achievement"
There is 3-cd version, however, that had EIGHTEEN tracks from Santa Monica.
So, go buy that one. This version is digitized from vinyl, and is incomplete, so come on, go get the full concert. It'll sound LOTS better.
Originally booked for two nights Monday Aug. 31 and Tuesday Sept. 1, shows were added on Thursday and Friday Sept. 4. But that wasn't enough for the Los Angeles market...they added ANOTHER show at Perkins' Palace in Pasadena, twenty-five miles to the east of Santa Monica. That's five shows in a single market, which shows how big the Pretenders were in 1981.