Cocteau Twins HOLV Live 1990 w Soundboard Synch 

I saw them in this tour - Mazzy Star opened for them. It was like a dream!

this is my first stop when they invent time travel

I L O V E C O C T E A U T W I N S

I'm in that good part of RU-vid again.

my life will always be incomplete because I never was able to see them live.

I am the person who remastered the audio for the Detroit show. Thank for this, it was a cool idea and it worked well. Nice job!

if an alien race invaded and told me they were going to destroy earth unless they showed me why humanity was worth saving, i'd make them listen to cocteau twins

She's like a heavenly, ethereal, singing goddess dolphin x

This band was, is, and will always be the most beautiful gift to us mortals.

I miss the night I was at this show…CHERRY COLORED FUNK…remember people around me crying …just beautiful… the best..,

They were unbelievable in concert. Here's my story: So far, this is the best audio recorded, live performance on RU-vid. All three members suffered from extreme forms of "stage-fright", which were almost debilitating at times, so, Robin and Simon always looked down at their guitar strings or around the room, almost as if they were lost children at a market. Elizabeth's coping technique was equally famous, where she would stare at one light above the audience, to avoid eye-contact and nervously swivel her body ---- Oh... my God, those icy-blue eyes... !!! Contrary to many bad websites with poor and incomplete research on all those RU-vid mini-documentaries; they, are very wrong --- it was Elizabeth Fraser who coined the term "Dream-Pop", back in 83' with the release of "Treasure". Although, they were never very animated or expressive on stage; this derived from the severe panic-attacks and overall anxiety all three members suffered do to their extreme stage-fright. So, for those who discount them aa not a "live concert band" or "boring", it's because of their stage-fright: The Cocteau Twins did not, jump around like a group of ridiculous, lemur monkeys on holiday. That lush Cocteau sound, made live audiences become; intoxicated, mesmerized, and as hypnotized, as if, floating around on a "stoner's high". When the band began in the 80's their iconic stand-still bodies, combined along with a heavily controlled Post-punk sound due to Robin and Simon's abilities. They're stand-still performances, while focusing on their guitar strings -- certainly gave the audience's the impression they were looking at their shoes. If you add Elizabeth's almost stoic frame as well - you get "Shoe gazing". Their combined disadvantages' stemming from extreme stage-fright, is, what many thought was a handicap, became very emblematic. So much so, countless bands have adopted the Cocteau Twins stylized, "Wall of sound" technique and "Shoegaze" development, into another music artform. People often say, "Who are the Cocteau Twins, what did they ever do?", I'll say, "You hear it everyday". As the years went by I never saw a single large live performance, where they would always have between 4 - 7 additional guitar plays in perfect timing. This also included that one anonymous guitar player, who was assigned to pluck 2 - 3 notes, every so often; but he had better be absolutely in timing. That in itself was completely impressive: You'd know this if you tried to play a guitar among multiple guitars. Yet they, were always famous for the "beat-box" and the "backing-track" server, which usually had some spot on stage. They were refreshingly and completely honest, because of Robin's demand for perfection, which required Simon's seemingly, endless patience Even with the improved sound editing ["thank you, 'CocteauBuff' "], these recorded live performances never capture their "real" sound. They would pick venues, which had really good acoustics, so that, their sound would bounce off the walls in such a way, so those Heavenly reverberations, cascades, and echoes could fill every corner. On their "Milk and Kisses" tour, they selected an all concrete, 1927 Hollywood "Movie Place" one of only a handful of these relics from a bygone age, when old Hollywood still rolled out the red-carpet for anyone who could afford a ticket. However, these Movie Places -- Were Indeed Palaces. Movie goers dawned their best clothes: Women were glamour's in mink-coats and sparkling diamond, emerald, ruby, sapphire, and all manner of refinement; Men slipped into their tuxedo's and they wore hats and canes; People were driven by exotic cars like, Rolls Royce, Packard, Pace Arrow, and Duesenberg; Cocktail's with your cigars and cigarettes, were a necessity, especially when you needed to be seen and heard; This was the perfect location for Cocteau Twins concert, which echoed history's past "Dream Worlds" and the Native American People have a belief -- Our "Dream World's" are as real, as the waking world; except, there are infinite possibilities and many realities -- the first people on Earth to theorize a multi-verse. I was living in Los Angeles, California attending University, unraveling the mysteries of science and art. The Mayan Theatre, is an all concrete superstructure with 5 dance floors; but, it's aesthetic was in an Art-Deco, Mayan conglomeration, who main hall stands at 30 meters high. On the center-stage back wall was an ever changing kaleidoscope of psychedelic splay of light, but between each Mayan-faced totem column, splayed sheets of "Milk and Kisses" light saffron-orange colored silk. They lingered onstage and the applause was deafening. The poor, under 21 year-old crowd were relegated to the upper galleries. An always nervous Elizabeth, was looking down at the floor, took the microphone in hand. I noticed earlier the "super-server", that performed the same tasks, as the old "beat-box", "backing track", and "Oomingmak" all in one (yes, there really is such a thing, as an "Oomingmak"), it's lights flashing red, green and orange -- in complete silence, then, that first guitar strum... !!! An explosion of mellifluent sounds, as industrial size fans blew upwards and the lights focused also upwards, literally caused a wave washed flurry of silk banners fled into the heights towards an enormous, Meso-American, Mayan-revival Aztec calendar. A supreme example or extremely ornate, cast-in-place concrete mega trope. The sound is simply unexplainable: Those sumptuous euphoric reverberations, bounced of the concrete structure, in fact, the structure magnified them, even more; The beat literally went through your body, which is a strange feeling, but so transcendent; Those Heavenly vocals by Elizabeth are indescribable, in a live performance, as she could quiver, rise, fall, run a full scale with a luscious purr, explode, and break her voice with unbelievable accuracy; and I was one of those people who were, all to often disappointed with live concerts. Not many other bands were exceptional, live; unless, I when attending the Cocteau Twins. I'm only illustrating, just one time, not-to-mention the other times. Earlier, my girlfriend (now wife) had sprinted to reserve a front row spot; security guards and elite drink servers took drink orders as, "the Voice of God" splendiferously uttered her one word --- "Now". Those eyes that smile, continuously glistened and sparkled, as she always did to avert panic, she'd pick out one distant light, somewhere in the upper galleries and gently sway her tiny frame, back and forth as another nervous idiosyncrasy she showed. Robin and Simon to her left but behind her, they were barely kissed with light and again, both men intently starring down at every string precisely plucking away; in both, their nervous attention fixed away, but for the occasional "look-see" around each other -- Simon's "Mona Lisa" smile, peeked around after a job, well done. Looking back, was an ocean of faces, with thousands of worshipping eyes, transfixed, gazing, and attempting to assimilate everything around us: fluttering silk walls, effortlessly changing angles, from pink, orange and red, which was literally happening, no pun intended; an evolving yet ever-changing milieu of colors, behind them all; some of the devotees were sitting on the shoulders of their boyfriends, swaying with Elizabeth; and most importantly nobody was, just watching a concert -- No, "we" were immersed in a total and complete "Dream World", as surreal as, life ever can get without drugs. Elizabeth, had said she really enjoyed the Los Angeles crowd, because we emphasized with the bands anxieties, so she relaxed at mid-concert, she introduced a gaggle of guitar players, to her right -- I counted seven extra guitar players and these men, didn't just stand around idle waiting to play in a particular song: No... !!!, No... !!! Each performer had a purpose, thanks to Robin's Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Even though, she had a heavy Scottish-brogue it was still great to hear her talk, as someone (me) had convinced (paid) a guard to place, two-dozen red roses at her feet. She said enthusiastically: "You're all so spoiled rotten. I can't believe how many people in LA, just relax and let us, see the city or go out to eat without interruption. You know, we're not really famous, you know, but we love it... !!! Especially, from you love" -- pointing at me. They finished all to soon. Everyone, respected the occasion, as if, it were an Easter-morning, sunrise sermon almost as if, we standing in the center of Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris. We "Super-fans" knew their next performance was in San Francisco, California as we seemed to caravan Northward on a 612 kilometer trek to the decadent Orpheum Theatre after a brief respite in a high-rise hotel. You truly, had to be a special "human-being" to understand them and their music. If you're here, listening to the Cocteau Twins in a dais -- Well Then -- I welcome you as a friend. After 38+ years of Cocteau dedication, I seem to psychically understand the quality of person -- you are.. !!! If the newbie fans have questions and want "real" answers, just ask anyone who been a "Super-fan" of the Cocteau Twins for 25 years or more. You will get "honest" answers. ---- Ciao

Heavenly voice to heal human's souls @ Earth! Just a Gift of Grace!

What in the world were 4AD thinking by never properly filming a live concert of Cocteau Twins? It's unfathomable to me how clueless they could be.

Saw this tour when I was 17 here in Los Angeles at the Wiltern Theater and let me just say, it's still the best concert I've ever been to.

when she says thank you after every song..... thank YOU liz

I hope God gives us credit for this.

Robin Guthrie is amazing!

That setlist is killer.

fourty thousends guitars and a drum machine.Liz Frazier her Lovely voice on top of that.

Orange Appled comes on around 25:50.... Oh my gosh I'm crying Liz is singing SOOOO perfectly. I can't handle it... this band just blows my mind!

I can see Elizabeth's point about having to strain her voice to overcome the "wall of sound." But she still manages to sound great, as do the others.

Heaven or Las Vegas is the PERFECT blend of super femininity and a mega masculine wall of sound, curbed and constrained to compliment Elizabeth. The product of men and women coming together is just pure heaven. Ultra groovy and head nodding material with that dreamy, light and soft touch. Magic.

30 some years later and I am still moved on an emotional scale unmatched by any other musical group.

THE most underrated band of all time. Cocteau Twins are amazing and Liz, you make me cry with that voice of yours.

Pink Orange Red is the most beautiful song I have ever heard. It should be sent out into space for the whole universe to hear. If there is a heaven the music will be by Liz Frazer and the Cocteau twins

this makes me so happy my heart could burst

Those guitars sound massive. Beautiful.

My top 10 ​1. 8:21- My Love Paramour 2. 54:31- Whales Tales 3. 49:34- Pink Orange Red 4. 15:38- Pitch the Baby 5. 1:38- Blue Bell Knoll 6. 39:07- Cherry Coloured Funk 7. 18:51- Crushed 8. 4:45- From the Flagstones 9. 35:04- Aikea Guinea 10. 25:28- Orange Appled

omg cherry coloured funk is outrageous.......

this is my depressed youth encapsulated in my soundtrack of the time. thank you.

she's kind of angel, isn't she?

I love it. Its complete gibberish and I want everything to do with it.

holy shit the audio quality is impressive

I was blessed to have a mom who drove me (16 years old then) to the palladium to see them. I was so excited I took a tape recorder and recorded it. Still cherish that tape, but this audio is excellent. Thank you so much to all parties who put this together. That was a magical night.

Simon's bass line in "Pitch the Baby" kicks; solid bass player. Great classic mid-driven tone as well, cuts through the mix.

I was at the Detroit show where this soundtrack came from. I just remember it being a wall of sound coming from them. it was incredible.

A sound I heard once 30 years ago and have never forgotten.

I was there- I cried with joy when she came out singing blue bell knoll in her way. She and this band have gotten me through all sorts of trials and tribulations.

This version of "My Love Paramour" is bananas! Listen to that sound! Robin Guthrie is some kind of mad genius! This was the first time I ever saw my favorite band live. 1990, San Diego. Still the best show I've ever attended. Unforgettable!

My eyes fill with tears every time I listen to the Cocteau Twins

Blue Bell Knoll starts the show, and then Liz takes us to the deep deep past. What a setlist.

the vocals are even more incomprehensible live, I love it

cico buff is pure magic

15:46 when all the guitars kick in on Pitch the baby

28:27 Wolf in the Breast just melts my heart...

I saw them 3 times, this tour. I remember she backed off on a few vocal parts, or sang an octave lower partially in some songs. Watching this now, I realise how difficult it is to hit these notes so perfectly live, without too much reverb. I think it would affect her own vibrato. Bravo. The band was cued in to when she would restart a phrase mid-song. So cool.

Ohhhhhh the lovely, lovely memories. I saw them in St. Louis for this tour, it was one of the most beautiful musical experiences of my life. I hope that when I'm older and pleasantly confused, in my wheelchair in the nursing home that this is one of those things I can remember.

Okay. I can't comprehend how Robin could totally transform a song like Flagstones with the tone washes he would use live. Utterly gobsmacked with this version. Best. Ever.

I saw this Tour here in Chicago at the Riviera Theater. I'll never forget them walking on to the stage and Elizabeth sticking her tongue out at Robin and him just laughing it off......priceless

You have no idea how grateful I am right now.

I was there that very night and the night after. Having seen hundreds of gigs - those two are the greatest I ever saw. Simply nothing else I've seen since has ever compared to this extraordinary wall of sound and babbled vocals. Even now, 32+ years later, it puts the hairs on my neck up. Thanks to whoever put this up! And thanks to Liz + Robin!

Holy crap they nail the album sound live! I am floored...

such pain healed by such music

Simply an amazing show. The guitars filled the air like butter!!

This version of My Love Paramour is drop dead gorgeous

What a great band they were! Nobody else like them, absolutely unique.

OMG!!! Gorgeous! I saw this show. The same tour, same setlist. In the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. April, 1991.

Saw them in 93 in NYC,4 calendar cafe was awesome!!and she's so unpretentious you can't help but love Elizabeth!!

Every time I listen to her it feels like the first time. Her vocals are impressive and unique. She expresses so much when singing, you can kind of tell what she's saying even if you don't get the lyrics.

not a bad sound for a band with no mortal drummer. some of the best drum machine programming I've heard. Great band. missed them when they came to Montreal in 1990. thanks for posting

This sounds amazing! I've noticed that she is a well trained singer, with world influences. i hear Hindu, Arab-Hispanic feel, Gaelic and she probably used a pinch of her own salt and pepper to create a unique sound of her own. and the others are top notch musicians. what a legendary band!

A line up of 4 people playing guitars and yet it doesn't offend my senses in any way at all...that's a true mark of class, endeavor and quality...

I love this music so so much it breaks my heart to know that I'll never see them live. It's almost like having lived through their love and breakup which I know nothing about. Their sound is gushing with emotion.

The old, out-of-focus, low-quality video is kinda perfect.

Looking back on it these guys were the best thing going at the time. What other band cannot be covered, simulated, borrowed from, recreated in anything but tiny bits? How can you start a genre and end it at the same time? They did it. Looking back on it it is also not just the sound of the voice but how creative she is and how every syllable has a different "spin" on it. For that reason, she's up there with the true greats in my book like Edith Piaf and Ella Fitzgerald. The bedding Robin provided her was unbelievable pairing, sort of like Smiths, X, etc. Also she sounds better on the live stuff than the records. It seems like she matured somewhat in her artistry or something. And imagine such a shy person getting up there and singing like that! Not easy but she looks so at home with herself here. Thanks for posting this is invaluable!!

I have listened to this, probably a hundred times since finding it.....so much nuance and extension of emotion. I have listened to this band constantly since hearing them for the first time on cassette on the way to see The Cure live at the Greek Theater(1986?). What a treasure they have bee for me. Thank You for this!

Liz is my favorite singer and Robin is my 2nd favorite guitarist just slightly behind Jimi Hendrix.

Also, after never playing Frou Frou Foxes live, Elizabeth Fraser finally performed it live in 2012 (at the Bath, England show) to a sizeable crowd. Think about it, after 30+ years, only about 350 of us have been able to hear that beautifully stunning song live. I remastered that show and I would urge anyone to track it down, it was intense and beautiful. Great work on this project - Was just riding my bike listening to a copy I have of this show.

I will hold the life changing magic of seeing this at the Paramount, Seattle in my heart forever.

Great job,the sound was spectacular. For me, Cocteau is one of the greatest bands of all time.

This contains the most beautiful version of Aikea Guinea that I've heard.

That 'Crushed'..............wow.

I´ve literally just discover their music and I feel like the luckiest human on earth, I´m just purely connected to their sound, I don´t know why it took me so long, what I would give to see Liz Fraser perform live again

日本公演を観ました！素晴らしいライブでした！

In 2020, listening this heaven sounds... I don't know if smile or cry...

never seen a live video before. watching Liz stim while giving an out-of-this-world vocal performance is so satisfying and seems to confirm what i felt ever since i first listened to FCC :D it's like watching Thom Yorke dance to Idioteque but even better

Orange Appled live (25:30) is such a stunner!!! imo way better than the studio recording (which is pretty uncommon with CT haha)

her voice is like a diamond

What a heavenly voice!

I watch this often, and Dials never fails to give me chills. I'm imagining being in the crowd, the stage is dark, and we are all so excited as we see them fill the stage one by one, Liz last

CT are still one of my top fave bands, following them since Garlands. Robin is father of shoegaze and dreampop. Listening to this fantastic and emotional music makes one negative thing to me - understanding that I am old. But my memories and mind are still fresh like then. Thank you CT for great music that inspired and influenced many of later bands.

This is amazing. I cherish my vintage copy of 'Echoes In A Shallow Bay' on vinyl that I got from some random record store. Wish I owned more of their stuff...

Ah, I saw this tour in Bristol. Simply enormous.

I am in heaven! Thank you so so much for this!!!! 😂

Very impressive. Your remastered material/transfer is immaculate. I've seen them twice and this brings back many fond memories indeed. Thank you so much for sharing the love.

Saw this, the Heaven or Las Vegas tour, in 1990 in actual Las Vegas, at the Aladdin theater of all places. It was as if magic, synchronicity, and all good things converged in one moment and everything was perfect. GRATEFUL!!!

Pure Heaven! I Saw them Performing this Tour in San Diego ,CA. Gracias !!!!!!!!

It's amazing how she "flubs" her vocals through the entire set of songs, and still sounds great.

The guitar on From the Flagstones gives me goosebumps.

Finally ! THANK YOU ETERNALLY ! Saw this show in Berkeley & San Francisco, CA. Robin was getting PISSED all us horny puppy-eyed dudes were bringin tons of flowers upstage to his Wifey !

This what I save for a rainy day

Cant believe l found this. Thankyou so much! From Scotland. Salute to the band. Always felt they should have been more recognised here, maybe because they didnt really fit into any catagories , and of course the Scots arent the most accepting nation, especially of there own kind but mostly back then. Not a confident nation, even though we are brave, and l think that reflects n Elizabeths voice. Love Love Love them.

Eran en vivo realmente una banda muy potente El sonido es realmente hermoso, sublime

Best band ever. First time I listened CT was on a audio cassette of a friend: Garlands. I was just beginning my studies at the university. It was love at first hearing. My first CT vinyl was Treasure. Since then I bought every CT records and still listen to them often. Saw them twice live in Portugal. But the live venues weren't that good to be honest. The acoustics were awful, nothing close to this concert. But was good to see all those fans at the venue and the feel of sharing a secret: the pleasure of loving CT music. Anyway it's a long lasting relationship. Thanks for posting this video.

Saw them in 1991 at the Orpheum in Vancouver w/ Galaxie 500.

Opera Singer + Amazing Band = Cocteau Twins

Saw them in San Francisco on this tour at the grand and majestic Warfield Theater.

Heaven or las vegas é um dos discos mais importantes da minha vida! Amoooooo!

Truly fantastic they are! I hear colours when I listen to the songs. F F F in midsummer is an astounding song. I haven’t heard anything like it in over 40 years. The live versions of Orange Appled are superb. There’s a video on here of rare footage in a German studio of them doing OA and it’s incredible! Definitely worth checking 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

This really is an amazing show. I thought the HOLV era was a peak for the band. "A Kissed Out Red Floatboat" is a great song - not sure what ep it is on. I went through about a 8 year period where I listened to mostly Cocteau Twins and Stereolab - had to take a break but still nice to listen to.