Ryan Adams - Forum Theatre, 19 July 2015

As promised, here's Ryan Adams first Melbourne show. I'd heard a few bad things about the band, but they're actually pretty solid. Sets don't vary much on this tour, but there are still a couple of seldom played tracks like My Baby Don't Understand Me [note: the fact you're sleeping with someone doesn't make them a great songwriter] and Sweet Illusions.

The other highlight is a fantastic slapdown of a drunk guy who yells out too much:

I'm going to break your fucking nose, and it's gonna hurt. Shut the fuck up. Just try it. Just try to have an experience where you shut the fuck up and let something happen to you. I know my music appeals to a lot of single people, but dude you don't have to put a sign on your forehead, cause clearly nobody tolerates you. So just fucking chill man. You're ok. It's ok. Just let it happen. It'll be amazing. You never know you might learn something.

Ouch.

Gimme Something Good
Let it Ride
Stay with Me
Dirty Rain
This House is Not for Sale
Dear Chicago
Magnolia Mountain
To Be Young
Peaceful Valley
Kim
Oh My Sweet Carolina (w/ Jenny Lewis)
When the Stars Go Blue
Shakedown on 9th St
My Baby Don't Understand Me
New York, New York
Improv
I See Monsters
Sweet Illusions
La Cienga Just Smiled
Trouble
Nobody Girl

Come Pick Me Up

FLAC

MP3

Jenny Lewis - The Forum, 19 & 20 July 2015

Sooooo, a few weeks after saying there was a bunch of stuff on the way I'm finally putting some of it up. Here's both of Jenny Lewis' sets opening for Ryan Adams. I was a bit annoyed she didn't end up doing a headline show in Melbourne, even more so after seeing these two sets, because she's amazing. The new songs are great, a few choice cuts from here previous albums, and a couple of Rilo Kiley tracks; her voice is amazing, the band are all phenomenal. Hopefully she'll be back soon (Laneway?).

The recording quality of the first night isn't as good as the second (which sounds great), so if you didn't attend these and just want the best sounding of the two go for that one.

FYI - I recorded both Ryan Adams sets and will put them up soon, but there are other recordings circulating if you're desperate.

Night 1

Silver Lining
Head Underwater
The Moneymaker
The Next Messiah
Just One of the Guys
Rise Up with Fists!!
She's Not Me
Portions for Foxes
Acid Tongue

Night 2

Silver Lining
Head Underwater
The Moneymaker
The Next Messiah
Withs Arms Outstretched
Just One of the Guys
You Are What You Love
She's Not Me
Portions for Foxes
A Better Son/Daughter
Acid Tongue

Franz Ferdinand - Forum Theatre, 14 November 2013

Another show by a Harvest refugee. I think a lot of people (me included) didn't think Franz Ferdinand deserved to have second billing for Harvest, but this show demonstrated that they can put on one hell of a show. The new material is really good and of course the older songs got a great reception. There's a bit of talking, particularly during the encore, but overall this is still a pretty decent recording.

Bullet
The Dark of the Matinee
No You Girls
Evil Eye
Do You Want To
Walk Away
Stand on the Horizon
Can't Stop Feeling
Brief Encounters
Darts of Pleasure
The Fallen
Take Me Out
Ulysses
This Fire
Love Illumination
Goodbye Lovers & Friends

Right Time
Michael
Treason! Animals
Jacqueline
Outsiders

https://mega.co.nz/#F!gE8XzJLC!IshBSRaBpSJZJ4QNRF88dg

Superchunk - Forum Theatre, 15 and 16 November 2013

Neutral Milk Hotel's tour pulled together a pretty great group of Harvest outcasts. Personally, I didn't know Superchunk's stuff going into this show, but I was really impressed. Unfortunately, the recording of the first night's show has pretty much constant talking from a few people right next to me. Thankfully, the second night was a lot better, which resulted in a better recording. It was also nice to see them vary their sets between the two nights, and the consistent quality really shows the depth of their material.

15 November 2013

Throwing Things
FOH
Learned to Surf
Seed Toss
Detroit Has a Skyline
Void
So Convinced
Kicked In
Water Wings
Me & You & Jackie Mittoo
Digging for Something
Slack Motherfucker
Hyper Enough

16 November 2013

Driveway to Driveway
FOH
Me & You & Jackie Mittoo
Animated Airplanes Over Germany
Punch Me Harder
Out of the Sun
Hello Hawk
Iron On
Nu Bruises
Like a Fool
Digging for Something
Slack Motherfucker
Precision Auto

Cat Power - 7 March 2013, The Forum

I'm not sure if my experience is representative, but both times I've seen Cat Power it's been an awkward performance, not bad, just awkward. This time kicked off with the lights coming down and Bob Dylan's Shelter from the Storm blaring out. After five minutes the song finished, and still no band. A few minutes later the band came out and stood round. Eventually they started to play and a minute or two after that Chan Marshall appeared. It was an odd start.

The first couple of songs didn't help matters either - Sea of Love is an odd choice for early in the set, and this version of The Greatest doesn't compare favourably with the original. Fortunately, her new album Sun is great, and the show hit its stride once she played the first track off that album (it might also be that she is more excited about playing the new material). A few awkward mumbled comments to the audience were met with bemusement, but didn't stop the crowd enjoying themselves. Unfortunately, all the momentum was lost when she left the stage after Nothin' But Time. The band started playing the intro to I Don't Blame You. And kept at it for the next 11 minutes while everyone waited for Marshall's return. Eventually she made it back, saying she had felt dizzy. It would be unfair to criticise her for feeling unwell (and it didn't effect her performance), but it was a break that klled all the energy that had been built up.

Mick Turner from Dirty Three made an appearance for Metal Heart and a nice fusing of the Velvet Underground's Oh! Sweet Nuthin' and Rowland S. Howard's Shivers. The show ended with Peace and Love, and Ruin, which worked well as an end to the set. Chan Marshall seems to have joined the growing group of artists who don't bother with an encore (personally I'm a fan of them), but this show could really have benefited from one. She did come out a few minutes after leaving the stage to indicate the venue wouldn't let her play an encore, although it's hard to tell if this was an excuse or not (Okkervil River ran into the same problem though - shows at the Forum hardly end late, so it's annoying if band are prevented from playing for another 5 or 10 minutes).

I've had a few problems with distortion of late, so I've reduced the input when recording, this works well most of the time (the only problem is during the louder bits of Angelitos Negros), but means there can be a bit of static during quiet sections. I've done my best to remove the static, so hopefully this approach will deliver some good quality recordings. This time I think it worked well.

Sea of Love
The Greatest
Cherokee
Silent Machine
Manhattan
Human Being
King Rides By
Angelitos Negros
Always on My Own
3, 6, 9
Nothin' But Time
I Don't Blame You
Metal Heart (with Mick Turner)
Oh! Sweet Nuthin'/Shivers (with Mick Turner)
Do Ya
Peace and Love
Ruin

http://www.mediafire.com/?3ht641i6n408g

Laura Marling - 2 February 2012, The Forum

This show delivered a lot of surprises from what I had expected (admittedly my expectations were based on pretty limited knowlege).  The first surprise was the crowd - overwhelmingly girls in their early 20's.  Nothing wrong with that (and as someone pointed out to me, there is a lot of worse bands they could be into), but it isn't the normal crowd I see and it wasn't something I expected.  Also worth noting that the crowd were incredibly into the show, clapping enthusiastically after the first couple of notes of each song, and frequently singing along (fortunately they did this relatively quietly and in key, so it actually had a really nice effect).  The second surprise was that Laura Marling is much more Joni Mitchell than Neko Case.  I personally prefer Case to Marling, but that didn't stop me enjoying the show.  The highlight for hardcore fans seems to have been the relatively rare cover of Ryan Adam's Winding Wheel.  Personally I felt it was a little underdone (as she noted after the song).  For a casual fan (like me) her regular set was good enough to make this a very enjoyable show.
Soundwise, Marling is very softly spoken which made it hard to get her frequent talking to the crowd at a volume that is easily audible, without adding a lot of background hum.  End the end I opted for audible, and minimised the hum as much as possible, although it was impossible to eliminate it.  With the benefit of hindsight I'd set the gain a bit higher, but going into the show I had no idea if that would produce a listenable recording or not.  Anyway, after much delay here it is.

I Was Just a Card
The Muse
Ghost
Don't Ask Me Why
Salinas
Goodbye England (Covered in Snow)
Failure
My Winding Wheel (Night Terror was listed on the setlist as an alternative song for this spot)
New Song (the setlist listed this as 'New Song')
Flicker & Fail
Night After Night
My Friends
Sophia
Alas, I Cannot Swim
Rambling Man
All My Rage

http://www.mediafire.com/?qq6koj7jdd4gg

PS: I know a lot of people are hanging out for the Ryan Adams show.  I'm about halfway through doing it, and will have it up by the weekend at the latest (hopefully earlier).  So far it sounds good, although it has the same issue as this show in terms of trying to make some of the quiet sections easily audible, without having too much hum.  So far it sounds like it'll still be a very good listen.

PPS: I think the problem is that I've been recording with too little gain, which hasn't had a noticeable effect for louder shows but is very noticeable for these two.  Easy to fix for future recordings, but proving very difficult to fix for Ryan Adams.  Right now I'm getting heartily sick of the constant background buzz which I can't seem to get rid of.  My current solution is to try to minimise it as much as I can without making the recording sound too artificial, and recommend that you don't use headphones to listen.  Taking that approach the recording seems good, and I'm still planning on getting it up in the next few days.

Battles - 28 January 2012, The Forum

This was one of those shows that just didn't work.  It probably didn't help that I'd flown back to town that afternoon, or that I don't really know their new album.  But I think even if it hadn't been for those things this would have been a lacklustre show.  The band were energetic and everything was played competently, for whatever reason this show didn't really have a spark.  Perhaps the new material simply isn't up to it (the crowd certainly went nuts when Atlas was played, and I personally only enjoyed 2 or 3 of the new tracks).  I can't put my finger on it, but this just wasn't that much fun.

Others might have different opinions (e.g. http://www.fanmaderecordings.blogspot.com.au/2012/02/battles-forum-theatre-28012012.html).  If you enjoyed it and want to hear it again, here it is.

Africastle
Sweetie & Shag/Dominican Fade
Atlas
Wall Street
Tonto
Ice Cream
Inchworm
My Machines
Future

Sundome

 http://www.mediafire.com/?4frc6421n6xzw

Okkervil River - Lighting Design

OK, so compared to having a decent recording of the whole show this isn't much, but it is kind of interesting.  As usual after the show I tried to grab a copy of the setlist.  This time the guy handed me a handful of papers, which was weird.  Having a look through them I realised he had given me the lighting design notes, as well as the setlist.  This might be interesting for Okkervil River trainspotters (or lighting design geeks I guess), for others - not so much.

A couple of interesting things to note - don't expect to see any purples, magentas, light blues or light yellows on this tour.  Expect to hear So Come Back I Am Waiting at every show.  The numbering for the setlist is all over the place.  I assume this is because they have a list of songs with lighting instructions and cut and paste them for the setlist.  Based on the numbering I suspect they have 31+ songs worked up for the tour (including covers).  From the two shows they've played that I've seen setlists for (no Meeniyan setlist) they've only played 18 different songs, so there is some room for variation in the upcoming sets (although the numbering also suggests the first five songs are fixed, and the first seven or eight won't see much variation).

Anyway, still feeling bad about the recording fail, but the second OR treat is much better than this one.

Fail: Okkervil River - 14 October 2011 at the Forum

Don't get me wrong, Okkervil River were great, but recording wise I messed up a bit.  Forgot to check the batteries pre-show, with the result that I missed the end of the show, which was the best bit.  I haven't had a proper listen to it yet, but hopefully there is something worth putting up.  In the meantime, the setlist:

Wake and Be Fine
For Real
Rider
Black
Piratess
A Girl in Port
Song of Our So-Called Best Friend
We Need a Myth
The Valley
No Key, No Plan
So Come Back, I Am Waiting
John Allyn Smith Sails
Your Past Life as a Blast
Our Life is Not a Movie or Maybe
Lost Coastlines (Not Recorded)

Hometown Farewell Kiss (Triffids Cover) (Not Recorded)
Westfall (Not Recorded)
Unless It's Kicks (Not Recorded)

At the end of the show Will Sheff came back out on stage, but none of the microphones were working.  He something shouted to the crowd (which I didn't hear) and left.  A slightly strange end to a very good show.

Update: apparently he said that they wanted to play another encore but the venue said they couldn't.  So on behalf of everyone that attended - FUCK YOU FORUM.


Apologies about the problems with the recording.  There will be (fingers crossed) a couple of small treats for hardcore Okkervil River fans in the next few days.