– The Go-Go’s – Live at Hakano Plaza, Tokyo – June 19, 1982 –

Not exactly Christmas, but it’s still festive – A concert tonight by The Go-Go’s, recorded live at Hakano Plaza in Tokyo on June 19th, 1982.

Christened by the press as America’s Sweethearts, the Go-Go’s had a meteoric climb in the early 1980s. With a string of self-penned hits and a huge fan following worldwide, the Go-Go’s were practically a household word, and certainly were one of the first breakthrough bands to take big advantage of MTV. In short, they were everywhere, seemingly all the time. The Go-Go’s were on almost constant rotation on radio and they went from girl-group Punk Band to Arena headliners in a very short time. They had the distinction of being the first all-female band to write and play all their own material as well as the first all-Female band to top the Billboard charts. Not bad for a bunch of kids who got together only a few years earlier, in 1978.

Tonight’s concert captures them right at the peak of their popularity, playing to a sold-out venue and a screaming crowd. Most of the material they play is from their debut album Beauty And The Beat.

It was high-energy all around. And if you don’t remember them, or never heard them in the first place – this is what you were missing.

Play loud. Goes well with trimming the tree, in lieu of Christmas Music.

And Speaking Of Christmas . . .Past Daily is trudging along and we’re always looking for your help. We don’t run ads so we need contributors to keep us up and running. Costs even more now than it did this time last year. But we’re still offering you the best of what’s in the archive – yes, this is all from our Collection (except the sessions and concerts – gotta give credit where credit is due – BBC 6 Music and Radio X in London and RNE In Madrid are essential sources of finding new music) but everything is the result of yours truly digging into boxes, climbing over shelves, falling into dumpsters. It’s history, it’s important and it’s yours if you want it. All you have to do, if you’re up for it, is subscribe via Patreon (that little box at the bottom of this post) – click on it and you’ll be taken to their site where you can subscribe to Past Daily, let them know how much you want to donate – or check us out for free, test drive our site as it were and decide to become part of the Past Daily experience. Simple, painless and we’ll love you for it. Do it if you can and you’ll be able to download your own copy of all our posts and new ones as they appear. Kind of cool, don’t you think? But you have to become a Patron in order to do it. Think about it – no pressure – honest – really . . no pressure. But there’s this landlord . . . .