Editing Stiff Records (section)

==The Stiffs Tours==

[[File:BE STIFF TOUR 78 Kensington Olympia.jpg|thumb|Part of the train that was used on the Be Stiff Route 78 Tour]]

Robinson and Riviera had arranged package tours ‒ such as the 1975 ''Naughty Rhythms'' tour ‒ for acts they managed before forming Stiff. The first tour, known as the ''Live Stiffs Tour'' or ''5 Live Stiffs'' (3 October – 5 November 1977), comprised five bands: [[Elvis Costello]] and The Attractions, [[Ian Dury]] and the Blockheads, [[Wreckless Eric]] and The New Rockets, [[Nick Lowe]]'s Last Chicken in the Shop, and [[Larry Wallis]]'s Psychedelic Rowdies. Having signed all the named artists as individuals, bands had to be formed in order to tour: these were largely based on the session musicians used for the artists' solo records. There were 18 musicians on the tour, several doubling up, e.g. Dury playing drums for Wreckless Eric while the last two "bands" had the same line up (Nick Lowe, Larry Wallis, [[Dave Edmunds]], [[Terry Williams (drummer)|Terry Williams]], [[Pete Thomas (drummer)|Pete Thomas]] and Penny Tobin).

The original idea was that the running order would rotate each night, but Dury and Costello were clearly the strongest acts. Costello played mostly new material and cover versions, rather than numbers from his recently released album ''[[My Aim is True]]'', so the gigs usually ended with most of the artists on stage performing Dury's "[[Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll]]". A live album entitled ''[[Live Stiffs Live]]'' and a video of the tour were produced, but the tour only covered the UK.<ref>{{cite book | first=Richard | last=Balls | year=2000 | title=Sex & Drugs & Rock'n'Roll: The Life of Ian Dury | edition=1st | publisher=Omnibus Press | location=London, England | pages=176–184 | isbn=0-7119-8644-4}}</ref>

After the departure of Riviera, Robinson arranged a second tour, the ''Be Stiff'' or the ''Be Stiff Route 78'' tour, from October to November 1978 (UK), again comprising five acts; Wreckless Eric, [[Lene Lovich]], [[Jona Lewie]], [[Mickey Jupp]], and [[Rachel Sweet]]. The mainland section of the UK tour was undertaken by train and the Irish section by coach, and then continued on to the USA without Jupp, who was afraid of flying. The artists contributed to an EP with cover versions of the Devo song, and early Stiff single, "[[Be Stiff]]".<ref>{{cite book | first=Richard | last=Balls | year=2000 | title=Sex & Drugs & Rock'n'Roll: The Life of Ian Dury | edition=1st | publisher=Omnibus Press | location=London, England | pages=208–209 | isbn=0-7119-8644-4}}</ref>

The final tour, the ''Son of Stiff Tour 1980'', comprised [[Ten Pole Tudor]], [[Any Trouble]], Dirty Looks, [[Joe Carrasco|Joe "King" Carrasco and the Crowns]], and The Equators. Undertaken by bus, this European tour was not successful.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/the-spirit-of-stiff-records-lives-on-773546.html | title=The spirit of Stiff Records lives on – Features – Music | newspaper=The Independent | date=25 January 2008 | access-date=7 December 2012}}</ref> The tour led to a 12" EP ''Son of Stiff Tour 1980'' (SON 1)<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.discogs.com/Various-The-Son-Of-Stiff-Tour-1980/release/919995 | title=Various – The Son Of Stiff Tour 1980 (Vinyl) at Discogs | publisher=Discogs | access-date=7 December 2012}}</ref> and a short movie directed by Jeff Baynes. The movie has not been released for sale, but was shown on BBC4 in September 2006.<ref>[http://bbc.ask-adders.com/program-details/son+of+stiff+tour+movie/20060917002500/] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120215100638/http://bbc.ask-adders.com/program-details/son+of+stiff+tour+movie/20060917002500/|date=15 February 2012}}</ref>