Live at Harrah's, Lake Tahoe, 1978

Simon KC1950

Well-Known Member
A fantastic live concert has surfaced today after 42 years, Karen and Richard live in Lake Tahoe. It is audio only but is actually pretty good quality - the video description calls it a "soundboard" recording.

It is similar to the 1976 show with a new edition: for the first time we can hear "When I Fall In Love" live which rivals the studio version! The Musical arrangements are slightly different (improved IMO), Karen is far more confident and doesn't have that nasal sound she does in the '76 shows. This is also probably the wildest I've ever heard Karen, she was so entertaining in this right from the get go, dare I say diva-like? "We have all new songs that we want to play and sing for ya! And even much more important than that... I have all new clothes! You like it? 23 million dollars!"
The interactive "Sing" where she gets the audience to do the "La La La's" and she says "I think they heard you across the street - Helen Reddy's goin' "What was that?""
Set list:

1. There's A Kind Of Hush
2. When I Fall In Love
3. I Need To Be In Love
4. Close To You (Spike Jones)
5. Don't Be Afraid
6. Sing
7. Yesterday Once More
8. Close To You
9. For All We Know
10. Top Of The World
11. Ticket To Ride
12. Only Yesterday
13. I Won't Last A Day Without You
14. Superstar
15. Rainy Days And Mondays
16. Goodbye To Love
17. We've Only Just Begun

Would this have been the entire show at only 40 minutes?

 
I found this on the close to the carpenters group and i watched it and really enjoyed it. I like the live version of when i fall in love.
 
Nice to hear Karen so happy, and the applause toned down. Very typical Carpenters live event. Sped up abbreviated songs, but still fun after all these years. I’m surprised at no oldies medley though. Thank you for posting.
 
I heard this concert! It was in Las Vegas, though. One of their last. Same year-1978....
 
The concert was longer. It had Warsaw Concerto and Argentina and the Grease segment.
When I saw them, it was close enough to Christmas, so they did a one or two holiday songs. MCD ended, and Karen stretched out her hand to the side - and snowflakes fell onto it. Magical. At one point, I wrote about this on the Board, but my memory is foggy now. Sorry!
 
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Wow! What a tremendous find! They sound spot-on, as always, and Karen was more bubbly than ever. You can sure tell she was enjoying herself.

‘When I Fall In Love’ sounds incredible. I agree it rivals the studio version. The thing that really stood out for me is the way she plays with the melody on several songs and just brings them to another dimension. She was truly a vocal marvel. Flawless.
 
Wow! What a find and in spectacular quality? Karen was a ball of fire that night! I really love how we get to see her personality. What a true star. This really makes you wonder what else is out there with quality like this. When the copyrights expire will we see more? I didn’t even know they did When I Fall In Love in concert and the segue with INTBIL is fantastic. Hate the dated piano but man...what a treat! Thanks!
 
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The quality of this recording is incredible! Thank you for posting.

I wonder if this show was before or after they recorded the studio version of When I Fall In Love. The arrangement - save for some nice electric guitar on this live version - is virtually identical.

Would this have been the entire show at only 40 minutes?

I’ve often wondered that about all these 1976-1978 shows. None of the audio recordings we have - whether bootleg or official - ever seems to last more than 45 minutes. Surely shows in Vegas and Tahoe were closer to 90 minutes back then?
 
I think all that's missing here is the intro, grease medley, drum solo medley, Warsaw and possibly from this moment on or Argentina. Maybe something even different. A 1977 Lake Tahoe is an hour and 5 minutes. Quality isn't as good as this show tho.
 
I think all that's missing here is the intro, grease medley, drum solo medley, Warsaw and possibly from this moment on or Argentina. Maybe something even different. A 1977 Lake Tahoe is an hour and 5 minutes. Quality isn't as good as this show tho.


Remember in this at the start Karen says they've got some all new songs for them... it was plural. Only one new song "When I Fall In Love" was heard.
 
Could it be possible that this is one of the many live concerts that Richard had recorded? If so was it leaked? What does "Soundboard Recording" mean?
 
Wow, I love getting new live material. Especially bootlegs. Does anyone know the date for this show?


They were in Vegas in March... which was would pre-date "Space Encounters" for the recording of "When I Fall In Love" (depending on how close the recording/taping was from the May airing) so it could have been around them. They returned to Vegas for the MGM Grand in summer 1978 (after the Tonight Show appearance) so it could have also been around that time. These were their last US concert appearances (spare the one-off Long Beach Christmas concert they were featured in)


Maybe the Helen Reddy reference could point us in the right direction?
 
What does "Soundboard Recording" mean?

It means the recording was taken straight from the sound engineer’s mixing desk at the concert, rather than multitracks having been taken away and mixed in post production in a recording studio. In other words, these are recordings taken directly from the onstage mic and instrument feeds going to the soundboard and mixed in real time on the night. Soundboard recording is what Richard used to capture their concerts for his personal collection. This link helps explain the difference between these and audience (bootleg) recordings, where an audience member would record the sound coming from the audio-facing PA system on a personal device, which inevitably always sound much more crude because a) they’re often mono and b) they’re capturing ambient noise rather than the pure feed from the stage mics and instruments.

Bootleg Recordings: Soundboard versus Audience
 
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It means the recording was taken straight from the sound engineer’s mixing desk at the concert, rather than multitracks having been taken away and mixed in post production in a recording studio. In other words, these are recordings taken directly from the onstage mic and instrument feeds going to the soundboard and mixed in real time on the night. These soundboard recordings are what Richard used to capture their concerts for his personal collection. This link helps explain the difference between these and audience recordings, which record the audio through the audience-facing PA system, and which inevitably always sound much more crude.

Bootleg Recordings: Soundboard versus Audience
Thanks for the explanation - makes sense now :)
 
Wow! What a tremendous find! They sound spot-on, as always, and Karen was more bubbly than ever. You can sure tell she was enjoying herself.

‘When I Fall In Love’ sounds incredible. I agree it rivals the studio version. The thing that really stood out for me is the way she plays with the melody on several songs and just brings them to another dimension. She was truly a vocal marvel. Flawless.
Pure joy! Magical! Karen sounds fantastic and certainly is in her element interacting with the audience. It makes me realize what possibilities existed had she not left this earth way too soon. Thanks so much for posting this treasure for us to enjoy and cherish!
 
Am still amazed that they are playing a 750 seat venue (albeit a very nice one) at this stage in their career. Not sure how the promoter could make a profit especially since the Carpenters Las Vegas fee after 1976 was $135,000 per week and I'm guessing their appearances at Lake Tahoe would have been very similar. I do realize that casinos make up for their entertainment costs in other ways. Also wonder if the short shows (less than an hour) were driven by Richard's issues during this period which sadly turned out to be the end of up their live performances shortly after.
 
It's great to hear this, despite being in mono, you can hear how well the whole band perform, and a live orchestra played as well. Richard and Karen are on top form, they were so professional, and were still prepared to have a laugh. Karen projects an image of someone having a great time, she really was in her element performing up front, and did a fantastic job.
 
Remember they usually did 2 shows a night. A dinner show at 7 and a cocktail show at 11 or midnight, 6 days a week. Grueling, but they could hang out in their suite when not working. Take a service elevator to the venue to avoid the public. This definitely wasn’t a complete show. The oldies medley, Warsaw Concerto, Help—Guder medley, or drum solo all not there. I saw them in Tahoe 2 times, winters of 76&77. The shows were about 90 minutes.They dumped Jambalaya for There’s A Kind of Hush. 👍 The venue was the Sahara Tahoe, which isn’t there anymore. Name change I hope?
 
Here, you can hear how softly Karen sang, I guess because no reverb has been added. I’ve only listened to the first three songs but you can hear how the slower songs suit her. Great to hear a live ‘When I Fall in Love’. Thanks for posting, Simon.
 
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