Trivia Question for DU 'XTC' Fanatics.

During what song did Andy Partridge suffer a nervous breakdown and walk offstage, never to return?

(Note: XTC has done some TV appearances and 'unplugged' events, but the band has never played an entire live show since the day Andy walked off.)

So what song is it then?

But I'll guess, based on the time that it happened, that maybe it was "Senses Working Overtime"?

Just couldn't say what specific song. Splitting in the middle of "Mayor of Simpleton" would have been pretty cool, though.

http://www.geocities.com/popocalypse/musicxz.html
<snip>
Unfortunately, XTC's momentum was cut abruptly when Partridge suffered a nervous breakdown just before a tour scheduled to start in California. With success came increasingly larger audiences, and Partridge's stagefright before large crowds left him unable to play in public.
<snip>

But he did collapse in Paris
http://chalkhills.org/articles/TrouserPress8310.html
<snip>
Dietary problems played their part in his first collapse, in Paris. "I hadn't eaten for three days, and my not wanting to go in front of the public was getting worse and worse. I ran out on stage and after the first few chords of the first song I just collapsed. We cancelled the English tour. I went to see psychiatrists, doctors -- a hypnotist, even -- and went to America thinking I might be cured.

Black Sea tour!

...that XTC performed live, on-stage, as part of a tour?

It is the incident in Paris that I refer to. I've seen the video. He doesn't collapse in the video, he just unplugs and walks off. The rest of the band continues playing for a time, until they too, stop. Andy might have collapsed backstage, but it's not visible in the video.

<snip>
Then one night in Paris it came to a head. On March 18, 1982 the group ran on stage and fired in to "Respectable Street," a minor hit from the previous year. Less than a minute later it was all over. Partridge was a mess, staring vacantly around, unsure where he was. He bumped into the microphone, forgot his words, threw down his guitar and ran back off.
<snip>
http://www.optimismsflames.com/1R-32.html

I know they tried to play the Hollywood Palladium afterwards, which Andy avoided by being hospitalized.

Why do I remember such useless trivia?

The video shows Andy finishing one of the verses and then just dashing off the stage.

The other three keep playing the song, expecting Andy to come back, but he never did.

And he never has.

It must have been recent because I have never heard about Andy having a breakdown on stage.


I have a trivia question for you.

Julian Cope had to be committed after a concert one time. Where was it at and why was he committed?

Come to think about It Jules must have had more then one episode. It might have not been advertised but it was at the Ritz and it involved a staircase and someone going down it after an episode.