MF - Hilversum, Holland 20.01.1984 (FM & SBD)

MERCYFUL FATE - Countdown Cafe, St. Annahoeve, Hilversum, HOL 20/1/'84

I just found this in my archives so we can keep the flood alive! This beauty was originally shared here on the Dime ages ago by a forgotten source though finalcommand fits into the lineage so a thanks to him! Here's a copy of the original info file which gives an interesting history of the boot:

This is the famous show that MF did for Dutch radio program Countdown Cafe. During January '84 Countdown Cafe broadcasted 30 minutes of a metal band playing live, every friday evening. Other bands that featured that month were Raven, Dutch band Horizon, Crimson Glory, and others. Of course, I taped every broadcast. The MF show was by far the best concert that they aired. In fact, it was so incredibly good that I played the tape over and over again for many months after. Fate played like never before, King sung better than ever, the (small) studio crowd went nuts, and the sound mix was just amazingly heavy...

Unsurprisingly, this recording soon ended up on a bootleg LP ('Werewolves in Hilversum') and later on some CD's. The radio broadcast was cut off right after 'Into the Coven'. Later I read that MF kept on playing for at least 15 minutes or so, but I could never find any recordings of the full show. So I assumed that nobody in the audience had brought a tape recorder that evening....

Last year I finally discovered somebody who had the *full* MF show on his list! His name: FinalCommand!! Obviously, I immediately set up a trade for this gem. When it fell on my door mat, I crammed the CD in my player....and nearly passed out! I had expected some half-assed distorted audience recording, but this turned out to be the full, (almost) uncut soundboard tape! The sound quality is only a litle less than that of my master FM recording of the first 30 minutes. So what I did is I took the first 30 minutes of my master tape and put the final 15 minutes of the FinalCommand recording after it. I Took out most of the tape hiss, balanced out the sound, and here you have the result...

There's a fade out at the end of 'Doomed by the Living Dead', but that's also on my copy.

Anyway, a big 'thank you' to FinalCommand for providing the awsome 3 extra songs! As a touching extra, you'll hear the voice of the late and great Dutch DJ Alfred LaGarde announcing Mercyful Fate to the stage in fake Danish...

Enjoy the show!

Source:
Cassettes -> DAT -> WAV -> CoolEdit -> FLAC -> MP3

Tracklist:

1. Intro
2. Black Masses
3. Curse Of The Pharaoh
4. Evil
5. Gipsy
6. Into The Coven
7. The Oath *
8. Doomed By The Living Dead *
9. Corpse Without Soul *

* never broadcasted!

DL