Have been watching it on and off on YouTube over the the last couple of years. I must admit that it is not too my taste, and it is over 40 years since I first saw Roy at Les Cousins. The guitars sound awful and the usual Harper wit and repartee is absent, perhaps it was edited out. Roy himself does sound very down and a bit po-faced if I can say that. All the same I am surprised that it hasn't reappeared on DVD over the years. Is it because Roy doesn't like it himself and has similar feelings to mine that he was caught on an off night ? Certainly it can't be compared to the excellent "Behind The Door" DVD but is better than the truly awful "Roy Harper In Your Living Room" that can also be found on YouTube.
I actually like it for that reason, I love the dark mood & atmosphere of the Dominion gig, one I regrettably missed..
i wasn't there but roy has said time and time that it was so freezing cold in there that night that it casued him to be tense and distracted...
Fellow.... Fellow buskers...... that reminds me so much. It's hard enough keeping the strings down on the fretboard, let alone if they are freezing cold! Double trouble. It requires perserverence which Roy has always had in ample regard. He might have crashed sometimes in his life, but the Genghis fights back remarkedly. andi
I pretty much taught myself the guitar with this video, watching the chords, finger movements e.t.c. as for the sound I think this was the period Roy sounded the best. Used to send shivers down me when he struck that 89 Chet Atkins SST dropped to DADGAD for Once and the power of that 83 Washburn Spirit D1 in Drop D for Short and Sweet. As a lad a dreamed of owning them, still do ha ha. Roy offered me the Gibson after a gig we did at Telfords in Cheshire but I was only young and couldn't afford it. I think I was quite drunk and just remember some conversation I had with him about him giving me the rights to Bullinamingvase (not my finest hour). So for those reasons Once (Album and Vid) had a major place in my childhood. LIYLR I avoid completely and I agree that Beyond The Door is a fantastic. But it's Once for me.
