The first time I've seen or heard this and it's a spectacular version, the band really leaning into playing to a huge audience, and Tom Hingley in fine voice.
Rewind eight months to November 1989 and it was a different experience for me, watching the band on stage in the cosy confines of the Bierkeller in Bristol. Inspiral Carpets were good, but comparing my (admittedly faded) memory of the gig and seeing this clip, it's fair to say that they were better served by the leap in venue and audience size.
Weakness wasn't included in the 1989 setlist, appearing at the tail end of 1990 as the second of four new songs on the Island Head E.P. I didn't buy it at the time - again, I thought Inspiral Carpets were good, but wasn't driven to buy their records as soon as they came out.
Instead, I first heard Weakness due to it's inclusion on Tonal Evidence (usa), a Mute label compilation released in - surprise, surprise - the United States of America in 1991. I bought a secondhand CD that had wound up in the racks at Replay record shop in Bristol.
As the compilation spans both Mute and its offshoots, it's a great mix of artists as the tracklisting will testify. And they've even left off their biggest money maker artist, Depeche Mode...!
Weakness remains one of my personal favourites in the Inspiral Carpets canon, and it's good to hear that the band were doing the song justice in a live setting. I must check out the rest of the concert, if it's online, and get around to posting a Dubhed selection of their 1989 Bristol show.
Most other people's 3 R's would have been different but in those days mine were Rival, Revolver and Replay records...
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