Oingo Boingo - Graham Central Station, Phoenix, AZ, 9-14-1983

I continue to feel that Oingo Boingo are a very underrated band, and all too forgotten these days. One reason for this is because their best work was their first three albums, when they were very popular in Southern California but mostly unknown outside of it. They started to get more popular elsewhere after that, but they went into a slow decline as the band's singer and songwriter Danny Elfman refocused his attention on movie soundtracks (which he started doing in 1985).

I have long wanted to find an excellent concert bootleg to listen to from their early 1980s heyday. But the problem with Oingo Boingo is sound quality. Because they were a big band, they needed to be mixed properly with a very clear recording to make a concert listen worthwhile. I didn't find any worthy recording until a few days ago, when I stumbled on this one.

In short, the sound quality of this album is fantastic, as good as an official live album. After an Internet search, I concluded this is the only really excellent sounding (and soundboard) live bootleg from the band's first few years. The only downside is that it's incomplete. It's only 48 minutes long, and almost certainly isn't the full show, since it's missing some key songs the band played back then. But still, if you ever wanted to listen to Oingo Boingo live, give this a try.

By the way, the name of the concert venue needs a little explanation. Yes, it turns out the band played at a club in Phoenix called "Graham Central Station." This is confusing, because there was a popular funk band starting in the 1970s also using that name. I don't know if there's any connection, but I Googled it, and such a club did exist at the time, though it has closed since.

I found another concert from 1983 that has decent sound, though not as stellar as this Phoenix boot. It only had three full songs on it, however. I've included the two songs that weren't from the main show as bonus tracks.

01 Who Do You Want to Be (Oingo Boingo)
02 Private Life (Oingo Boingo)
03 Dead or Alive (Oingo Boingo)
04 Grey Matter (Oingo Boingo)
05 Insects (Oingo Boingo)
06 Wild Sex [In the Working Class] (Oingo Boingo)
07 Little Guns (Oingo Boingo)
08 What You See (Oingo Boingo)
09 Whole Day Off (Oingo Boingo)
10 Little Girls (Oingo Boingo)
11 On the Outside (Oingo Boingo)
12 Ain't This the Life (Oingo Boingo)
13 Only a Lad (Oingo Boingo)

Nothing Bad Ever Happens (Oingo Boingo)
Wake Up [It's 1984] (Oingo Boingo)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15264852/OingBo_1983_GrhamCentrlStationPhoenixAZ__9-14-1983_atse.zip.html

I wish I had a better photo for the cover art. This is from a 1983 concert, which is good. But it only shows three band members at a time when there were eight members in the band. It's really hard to get close to that many people in a single photo when they're spread all over the stage.