Rick’s comments about the 1988 tour and live album
"It may come as a surprise to some that the first part of 1988 was one of the most interesting periods in Supertramp's history. The band was able (for the first time) to visit Brazil and play two shows there, one in Rio and one in São Paulo. Rio, in fact, was the first show of our tour. Past tours had usually commenced with a series of smaller shows in out-of-the-way places that allowed us the opportunity to put the finishing touches on the production and to warm up the band. This time out we were not so lucky. We found ourselves preparing to play our first live gig in over a year to 75,000 impatient, screaming Brazilians. To make matters worse, the weather the day of the show consisted of torrential rains which rendered half of our equipment unusable. We finally got on stage at about midnight. After a disastrous start, with all kinds of buzzes and hums emitting from the P.A., we slowly pulled ourselves together and got through the show, albeit with egos bruised, telling ourselves that it was not smart to have a great gig at the beginning of a tour because the only place to go from there was down hill. So on we went to São Paulo where our second show went a lot smoother. We’d had a week between shows, a chance to see some of the country and were all feeling a bit better.
From the 90+degree sun of Brazil we moved north to the Canadian leg of the tour where the temperature flirted with the minus 40 degree mark the day we played in Winnipeg. A short break and it was over to Europe for the major portion of the tour. About half way through the European dates I began to realize that this was probably the tightest Supertramp band that I could remember. I suggested, as an experiment, that we record some of the shows using a simple 2-track tape recorder plugged directly into the mix board in the hall, as opposed to the more traditional 48-track mobile recording truck. We had no special producers and no additional engineers. As a result, this record is Supertramp in the raw as it were with very minimal tampering with the tapes. In an age of computerized recording this may go against the grain but over the years I've noticed that music recorded in this manner, be it jazz, Classical or whatever, gives me the most listening pleasure. Recording a band like us is not easy. We have masses of keyboards, guitars, drums, percussion and taped effects with levels of sounds that are constantly changing. I think, that what we've captured on tape here is a spirit which is new and different for Supertramp.
Included for the first time on any Supertramp album is outside material ('Hoochie Cooche...', 'Don't You Lie To Me'). These impromptu jams are my favourite part of the collection as they show the band letting off a little steam after the stricter arrangements of the original material. Also, of interest to long-time followers is Mark Hart's interpretation of 'Breakfast In America' and 'The Logical Song'. It's hard for me to imagine anybody else but Roger Hodgson pulling it off, but Mark did. I's also good to hear John Helliwell in his favorite environment (on stage) playing with great relish throughout. The order of solos in 'Hoochie Cooche' is John, Marty Walsh on guitar, Brad Cole on organ and Mark Hart on guitar. On 'Don't You Lie To Me', John, Mark Hart on guitar, and me on the piano."
-- Rick Davies, August 1988
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88' Tour 
The 1988 Tour Members
