Jason Isbell - Northcote Social Club, 17 April 2014

This is a pretty good recording of Jason Isbell's second night at the Northcote Social Club. I wasn't necessarilly expecting him to mix things up too much, but he played a few things that didn't make it into the setlist on the first night.

This recording is pretty good, if a little low at times, particularly when he's talking. I've tried to boost it as much as I could, but there comes a point where it adds so much static it sounds worse than leaving it. I should emphasise that this doesn't mean its a bad recording, and some people won't even notice it.

Streetlights
Stockholm
Flying Over Water
Danko/Manuel
Tour of Duty
Go it Alone
Dress Blues
Heart on a String
Decoration Day
Different Days
Songs That She Sang in the Shower
Cover Me Up
Relatively Easy
Live Oak
Alabama Pines
Travelling Alone
Codeine
Elephant
Outfit
Can't You Hear Me Knocking
Super 8

https://mega.co.nz/#F!0RVW1TAS!RAyQQmac5px2oWviZR0ang

Melody Pool - The Spotted Mallard, 30 March 2014

If you're looking for an incredibly talented local musician to look out for before they become big, you should probably check out this recording. Melody Pool sounds a lot like Joni Mitchell at times, but I think her songs, particularly the new ones, have a touch of grit that Mitchell's don't (for me at least, that's a good thing). The only reason I didn't give this a Highly Recommended is that I've got another show to put up that has much better sound quality, although this one is longer and includes some great covers, so it's really just a matter of which you prefer.

She doesn't have any shows coming up in Melbourne, but it's worthwhile keeping an eye on her website (http://www.melodypool.com.au/) because she plays here pretty regularly.

Xavier
Open Book
On the Morrow
All of the Love
Royal Queen (Mary)
Dancing in the Dark
Whipping Post
Substitute
Pretty Little End
River
Henry
Somebody You've Never Met Before
Lion on the Loose

Richard
Spellbound Ties
Carey's Song
Old Enough
Big Yellow Taxi
Mariachi Wind
How Much?

Rhiannon

https://mega.co.nz/#F!NYUWWJJJ!Q1y86mWsH580m-_jVK1DkQ

Queens of the Stone Age - Rod Laver Arena, 15 March 2014

The final show from the double double-header. QOTSA played past curfew, so this is pretty long. But there's a fair bit of noise during some songs, and overall I didn't find QOTSA to be as gripping as NIN.

https://mega.co.nz/#F!Qcc0gKCQ!Bo56zCuQ7HgzqgSuY4TKbg

Nine Inch Nails - Rod Laver Arena, 15 March 2014

Like I said earlier, the opening band for these double headers seemed to suffer from a bit of crowd apathy. On top of that, my seats were right at the back (although, unlike night one, they'd pulled the curtain across to the very back of the arena) which always results in being around talkers.

So overall, there are a lot of things that lead to this being a worse show/recording than night one. Having said that, it isn't awful, and the band mixes the setlist up a bit.

https://mega.co.nz/#F!pV0SXSYJ!U_VqhW9-Irh3vAtjWboeZA

Neil Finn - Hamer Hall, 12 March 2014

I've used the recent holidays to process quite a few recordings, which should mean I can ensure a steady flow of things to check out. This is Neil Finn's first Melbourne show promoting his new album (first under his name since 2001!). I didn't really enjoy most of the Dizzy Heights material, although like all of his solo albums, they seem to be growers. The older material was fun, and as always Neil was very engaging. The women next to me were fairly enthusiastic, which you can hear in the recording. Overall, it sounds pretty decent, but not outstanding. If you weren't there but want to check out his recent work I'm in the process of pulling together some of his promotional work for this album, so you might want to wait for that.

https://mega.co.nz/#F!pV0SXSYJ!U_VqhW9-Irh3vAtjWboeZA

Where to start...

When I started doing this I wanted some way of rating shows to give people an idea of whether they were worth downloading. I ended up giving everything a rating from 0 to 10. But really that's a pretty crap system - nothing gets a rating of less than 7, the ratings change over time (some of the early shows were rated particularly harshly), and it probably doesn't mean a hell of a lot to people. So from now on I won't be rating things. If I think it's a really good recording I'll give it a 'Highly Recommended' label (basically this will mean I think it's worth listening to if you weren't there/aren't a crazy fan that will listen to anything). I've already gone back and done this for all the old shows.

That will also help anyone that turns up here and doesn't know where to start. They might also want to check out the soundboard recordings, so I've added links to both of those in a new box up on the right.

Queens of the Stone Age - Rod Laver Arena, 14 March 2014

Not quite sure why, but QOTSA didn't grab me as much as NIN. They've got a bunch of great, enjoyable songs, but seemed to just lack a spark. They were better on night two, where the crowd were more enthusiastic and they could play past the curfew, but NIN were the highlight of the tour for me.

You Think I Ain't Worth a Dollar...
No One Knows
My God is the Sun
Burn the Witch
Smooth Sailing
Misfit Love
...Like Clockwork
In My Head
If I Had a Tail
Little Sister
The Vampyre of Time and Memory
I Sat By the Ocean
Make It Wit Chu
Better Living Through Chemistry
Go With the Flow
A Song for the Dead

https://mega.co.nz/#F!9VlhmYiS!Yk8gSjH22ZJ6S7vLFsNbYQ

Nine Inch Nails - Rod Laver Arena, 14 March 2014

I think a different recording of this is already circulating, but I'm pretty happy with the sound of this one. For me, NIN were the most impressive of the two bands, although whoever played last (NIN this night) seemed to get a much better response from the crowd.

If anyone wants any of the other sets, the QOTSA one will be up later this week and the second night sets hopefully won't be too much further behind.

Copy of A
Survivalism
Terrible Lie
March of the Pigs
Piggy
The Frail
The Wretched
The Warning
Come Back Haunted
All Time Low
The Big Come Down
Gave Up
Ice Age
BBB
Wish
The Hand That Feeds
Head Like a Hole
Hurt

https://mega.co.nz/#F!cBVXCLKA!F2qTj36ycwY6xxB4eD7zpg