La Edad de Oro (The Golden Age) was a television show produced by Televisión Española, the Spanish national television broadcaster, aired on TVE-2 between 1983 and 1985. The show presented concerts from various musicians. Including The Residents, who performed The Mole Show live on its June 21, 1983 episode.
This presentation was the first time The Residents ever held a concert for television broadcasting. And because footage of their previous live shows were not released until several years later, it is the first video footage of a musical performance by them to be made public.
Background[]
The program was a variety show focused on the Madrilenian counterculture scene of the early '80s, giving a platform to avant-garde artists from Spain and all over the world. It was most known for dedicating entire episodes to different live performers, who would then be interviewed by the show's presenter, Patricia Chamorro.
The Residents, who were in the middle of the european leg of The Mole Show tour, were booked for a live concert on the show. After almost a month of touring, and wIth this being their third concert in Madrid in a row, their whole crew was suffering of fatigue, with the narrator of the show, Penn Jilette, showing signs of illness the last few days before the broadcast.
Concert[]
The day of the concert, after a successful rehearsal, Jillette had to be sent to the hospital for what appeared to be a ruptured appendix. Thankfully, when The Residents visited him after the show, it ended up being just a scare. But this left them without a narrator, which would have meant that the complete dynamic of The Mole Show would not work.
With less than an hour to go, the group chose the stage manager of the tour as Jillette's replacement for the night as he was present at every single show so far, and also had some experience acting. Wearing the modified Groucho Marx glasses, he followed the narrator schtick up until the narration before "Song of the Wild", where he talks about Penn's delicate health state to the confused crowd. He does not appear on stage after that.
Nessie Lessons answering for The Residents during an interview with Patricia Chamorro.
At the start of the broadcast, Chamorro interviews The Residents, in their eyeball masks desguise, before the concert starts. Because they do not like to speak to the press, Nessie Lessons (who Chamorro calls by the name "Mara" during the entire show) acts as the group's spokesperson. A announcer translates Lessons' answers to spanish through a PA System.
During the intermission, people in the crowd are asked what do they think of The Residents, which praise for group, but also some criticism. Lessons gets asked a few more questions, after which she puts the red eyeball mask on Chamorro's head. As there is no narrator to do the confrontation before "Satisfaction" with, Lessons buys time for the group to prepare for the last bit of the show. The broadcast closes with a spanish flag being waved on stage.
Aftermath[]
Parts from the broadcast were used for the Mole Show / Whatever Happened To Vileness Fats? VHS, mixing them with footage from the first show of the tour and the special Uncle Sam Mole Show, and adding computer effects. An excerpt from the VHS was used for Video Voodoo and Twenty Twisted Questions. The unedited performances of "The Secret Seed", "The Observer" and "Satisfaction" were included in Live!...On the Outskirts.
La Edad de Oro would do a segment dedicated to Ralph Records music videos in its September 27, 1983 episode. The Third Reich n' Roll, Hello Skinny and One Minute Movies were shown, as well as MX-80's Why Are We Here?, Snakefinger's Man in the Dark Sedan, and Tuxedomoon's Jinx. (With the latter band also having previously performed live at the show.)
The show was cancelled in 1985. In 2005, a compilation series with the best of the show was briefly shown on TVE-2, and the performance of "Smack Your Lips (Clap Your Teeth)" was shown. The entire series, including The Residents' concert, is available to watch for free on Radiotelevisión Española's official website.
See also[]
Watch online[]
External links and references[]
- The Mole Show in The Residents historical
- La Edad de Oro in Radiotelevisión Española's official website
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The Mole Show (1982-1983) Set list |
