Releases: Toyah Live At Drury Lane – CD+DVD/Double Vinyl
To the delight of fans old and new, comes the long-awaited ‘Toyah Live At Drury Lane’ – Toyah’s legendary Christmas Eve 1981 concert released on 12 May 2023 by Cherry Red Records.
Toyah the band were invited by the BBC to play a special live concert on 24 December 1981 for broadcast live on BBC2 for The Old Grey Whistle Test Christmas Special. Simultaneously the concert was broadcast in stereo on BBC Radio 1. Previously, the concert footage was only ever available on a BBC VHS video cassette in 1982.
Following a year of top ten hit singles in 1981 plus the Gold-selling album Anthem, the band closed out the year with this fantastically energetic and celebratory concert. The band line-up for this concert saw Toyah Willcox (vocals), Joel Bogen (guitar), the late Phil Spalding (bass) and Adrian Lee (keyboards) joined by acclaimed drummer Simon Phillips. The much-loved Christmas Eve 1981 concert was watched by an astonishing 12 million viewers on BBC 2 television.
The 2LP and CD contains all 13 songs as performed at the momentous concert at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, as broadcast live on BBC 1 for Toyah In Concert.
The DVD contains all 13 songs as performed at the momentous concert at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, with two songs from the broadcast reinstated following their cut from a 1982 VHS video release Good Morning Universe.
Exclusive to the CD in this package are 3 bonus audio tracks recorded live in Milan on the band’s Winter Tour, which culminated in the Drury Lane concerts on 23/24 December 1981. These three rarely performed tracks are Stand Proud, Urban Tribesmen and Pop Star and come from a previously unreleased sound desk concert recording, courtesy of Joel Bogen.
The 24-page colour booklet includes an introduction by Toyah to the concert and new sleevenotes by Craig Astley, Toyah’s archivist who compiled this release.
Brand new artwork includes photography of Toyah’s iconic stage entrance for the gig, 20ft above the band and audience. Rare and previously unseen photographs of the band’s Drury Lane concert the day before (23 Dec 1981) from the Safari Records archive also illustrate the CD booklet.
• Pre-Order Toyah Live At Drury Lane on CD+DVD, and semi-transparent pink vinyl at Cherry Red (The editions with postcards sold out almost immediately!). Read the news/press release and album page/full tracklist/Release Gallery at toyahwillcox.com. Watch Toyah announce the release on today’s Toyah At Home.
