loading . . . The Turtles - ChicagoFest, Soldier Field, Chicago, IL, 8-19-1983 The Turtles had two main singers, Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan. As I write this in September 2025, Volman died several days ago. Specifically, he died on September 6, 2025, at the age of 78. His passing made me think of posting something from the Turtles. But I didn't have anything worth posting. However, in the wake of his passing, I came across this Turtles concert from 1983.
I get the impression that the Turtles didn't tour much in their 1960s heyday. At least, I've never come across any live recordings from them back then, other than some videos of them performing a few songs on TV shows. That probably related to the terrible record company they signed with, White Whale Records. As just one example of their awfulness, in the middle of their big success in the 60s, the company tried to get Volman and Kaylan to fire all the other band members and just replace them with studio musicians, to save money. They refused. The Turtles was the company's only big act. Not long after that band broke up at the end of the 60s, the company went bankrupt.
The contract Volman and Kaylan signed was so bad that the two of them were not allowed to record under their own legal, personal names without giving the company a cut of the profits. So in the early 1970s, they reemerged as the duo Flo and Eddie. This bizarre situation continued for many years, long after the company went bankrupt. It was only in 1983 that they were legally allowed to tour and record under the name the Turtles again. They celebrated with a tour that includes this concert.
In addition to performing their hits as the Turtles and Flo and Eddie, they were known for playing unusual covers in concerts. That's the case here. They did parody imitations of Bruce Springsteen and the Doors, as well as "The Pied Piper," which was a hit by Crispian St. Peters in 1966. A couple of other covers here, "Like a Rolling Stone" and "Eve of Destruction," were put on albums by the Turtles in the 1960s, though they didn't have hits with them.
Everything here is unreleased. It's from an FM broadcast or soundboard, so the sound quality is excellent.
This album is 51 minutes long.
01 You Baby (Turtles)
02 talk (Turtles)
03 Like a Rolling Stone (Turtles)
04 Keep It Warm (Turtles)
05 talk (Turtles)
06 Nikki Hoi - Limbo Rock (Turtles)
07 talk (Turtles)
08 You Might Need Somebody (Turtles)
09 Let Me Be (Turtles)
10 Eve of Destruction (Turtles)
11 She's My Girl (Turtles)
12 The Pied Piper - Jungleland (Turtles)
13 talk (Turtles)
15 You Showed Me - Light My Fire (Turtles)
16 Eleanor (Turtles)
17 Happy Together Intro (Turtles)
18 Happy Together (Turtles)
https://pixeldrain.com/u/yp8L3UBS
alternate:
https://bestfile.io/en/0XcyiYtyXYfgMwo/file
The cover photo is from a Turtles concert in Chicago in 1983, remarkably enough, but it's not this one. Instead, it's from the Park West in May 1983. The photo shows Mark Volman on the left and Howard Kaylan on the right (with the beard). In the original photo they were farther apart, but I used Photoshop to move Kaylan closer so they could both appear larger in the cropped image. https://albumsthatshouldexist.blogspot.com/2025/09/the-turtles-chicagofest-soldier-field.html
