De Dijk came together in 1981, when members of the Amsterdam band Stampei, among them singer Huub van der Lubbe, his brother Hans on bass and guitarist Nico Arzbach, carried on under a new name taken from the Zeedijk. Their very first concert took place on 1 October that year at Paradiso, opening for Raymond van het Groenewoud. Live '81 gathers six concert recordings from that first year that had never been released physically: Koud & eenzaam, Zoveel ik kan, Zo dichtbij, Knock out, and Bloedend hart in both a Dutch and a German version. What you hear is a young band running on soul, blues and stage energy, years before the first hits. This edition is a 12-inch maxi-single on yellow vinyl, released for Record Store Day.