Wilco - 28 March 2013, Hamer Hall

Wilco's second night in Melbourne was an improvement on the first in lots of ways - because the band knew there was a strict 11pm curfew, they could structure the set better, and made a conscious effort to fit in as much as they could (they still dropped New Madrid from the written setlist; hearing that would have blown my mind). The band also played a few rarer tunes compared to the first night. Lastly, any set that opens Art of Almost/I Might/Misunderstood is going to be tough to beat.

The band very rarely has an off  night but tonight (and pretty much the whole tour in fact) Nels Cline was in particularly great form. Jeff commented after he tore apart Impossible Germany; in typical self-effacing fashion Nels pointed out he messed up one of his pedals at the end.

The recording quality of this night was better than the first. It still sounds a bit rough when Jeff talks to the crowd, but the songs are generally good.

MP3 Download

WAV Download

The Drones - 21 March 2013, Vector Arena, Auckland

 Originally these guys were only scheduled to open for Neil Young at his winery shows, but he was so impressed with them he asked them to open for the rest of the tour. Good choice, these guys put on a great show and did a good job of warming up the small number of people that were there for them. Its a tough job to put on a great show to a handful of punters in a cavernous venue, but they gave it one hell of a go, and won over a lot of new fans.

The sound for this is really good. It sounds a bit like what it was - an enormous, but mostly empty, arena, but its clear and the crowd is pretty attentative. Only a short set, but worth it for Drones fans.

Sittin' on the Edge of the Bed Cryin'
The Minotaur
How to See Through the Fog
River of Tears
Shark Fin Blues
I Do Not Ever Want to Change

http://www.mediafire.com/?ivhhezseszo4m

Cloud Nothings - 5 February 2013, Ding Dong Lounge

As promised, here's Cloud Nothing's Melbourne sideshow. The show was a bit of a letdown in that as soon as the band left the stage the venue's DJ started to play. The guys at the sounddesk were waving at him furiously to get him to stop playing so the band could do their encore, but by the time he got the message 80% of the crowd had left. What they did play was hit and miss, some really great stuff (Cut You is a great song), but a few that didn't sound so great (Fall In). Part of the problem was the volume of the show, plus the fact his voice was pretty rough initially). So overall, only an average show, but here it is for those that want it.

Fall In
Seperation
Cut You
Stay Useless
Wasted Days
No Sentiment
Unknown new song
Our Plans
No Future/No Past

https://mega.co.nz/#F!8R1h2KYZ!IWwA2HjfqY0QPaSmBrDwcg

Deer Tick - 9 February 2013, Northcote Social Club

Another old one. This was a double header with Two Gallants, who I'll put up soon. This show is a bit mixed. On one hand they're a really good band, but on the other the singer's voice was pretty shot. Overall, they're a band whose songs don't sound too bad with ragged busted up vocals, but still, it would've been nice if he hadn't had vocal problems (having said that, there is only one or two songs where its really noticeable, the rest of the time they sound great). Regardless, there probably aren't too many recordings of these guys, and the sound quality here is really nice, so hopefully a few people will enjoy this.

The Bump
Easy
Make Believe
Born Zero
Baltimore Blues No. 1
Main St
Walkin' Out the Door
Twenty Miles
Clownin' Around
Now It's Your Turn
Passing Through [Leonard Cohen Cover]
12 Bar Blues [NRBQ Cover]
Christ Jesus
Smith Hill
Down in a Hole [Alice in Chains cover] (snippet)
Art Isn't Real (Sin City)
These Old Shoes
Mange/Let's All Go to the Bar

http://www.mediafire.com/?i0bsbgnbc9izt

Violent Soho - 5 February 2013, Ding Dong Loung

I've got a few oldish recordings that I'll try to put up when I get a chance. This is Violent Soho's set opening for Cloud Nothings' Laneways sideshow. I don't know too much about these guys, but their set was pretty good. The trap for a band like this is every song sounding the same, but they seem to be mixing things up a bit.

The band was phenomenally loud, I'd set the recording levels pretty low, but there is still a bit of ocassional distortion, nothing too bad though. I've also got Cloud Nothings set (ruined by the venue's DJ), I'll put that up when I get a chance.

http://www.mediafire.com/?akrxb3mar7wiq

Wilco - 30 March 2013, Bluesfest

This was the first of Wilco's two appearances at Bluesfest. I was expecting a very hits focussed set, but they played a few songs that wouldn't have been familiar to casual fans and lots from The Whole Love. It was a pretty good set and they managed to attract a large audience (Bluesfest is largely a classic rock festival - headliners were Robert Plant and Paul Simon - so there were plenty who didn't know Wilco). The crowd was mostly good, but I got stuck next to the people who claim (loudly) to be massive Wilco fans, and then proceed to spend most of the set talking (loudly) about what huge fans they are, before leaving part way through. Fortunately, it was a fairly noisy crowd so in the recording they aren't as annoying as they were at the time.

The recording quality is decent enough. The set was in a tent, so the acoustics aren't fantastic, but not awful either.

https://mega.co.nz/#F!wUkA1TRA!N_luwVc7rG85Tnc4ArMl8w

Wilco - 2 and 3 April 2013, Sydney Opera House

Wilco's first night in Sydney was very short because of an apparent miscommunication about when the set had to end. To make up for this (and the cameras that were required to film the second night - although I can't see how that hampered the show) the band have offered ticket holders downloads of both shows. It seems that these are already circulating freely, so I'm assuming it's OK to put these up.

April 2: http://t.opsp.in/i0xug
April 3: http://t.opsp.in/i0xuh

The second night was also on youtube, although it doesn't seem to be available right now, hopefully because they're sorting out the fact it's horribly out of sync. [Update: yup, someone has fixed it up - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HHW217cpKA]

Bruce Springsteen - 26 March 2013, Rod Laver Arena

The second night of Springsteen was just as good as the first. He does a great job of mixing up his sets, while still playing enough hits to please the casual fan (it helps when you have a truckload of hits to choose from).

Sound for this one isn't quite as good as the first night. Mainly because of some annoying girls who keep screaming out 'PONY BOY'. It's only occassional and not too prominent, so doesn't kill the set.  The MP3 link will come soon hopefully.

MP3 Download

WAV Download

Wilco - 27 March 2013, Hamer Hall

ABC Radio Recording

These guys are one of my absolute favourite bands, so I was incredibly excited to see them again after nearly three years. It certainly doesn't hurt that their current album is on a par with the best they've ever released.

There has been a lot of discussion among fans about using One Sunday Morning as an opener, its long and mellow, which some people said wasn't a great start to shows. I'd always thought it was a good opening choice, but I can see that they mean now. Still, its such a great song and it might  be hard to fit into the set elsewhere.

Particular highlights were the wonderful acoustic version of Spiders (Kidsmoke), both the tracks off A.M., and of course all the new material. The only downside was that the band had planned on playing substantially longer, but were caught out by Hamer Hall's strict 11pm curfew on weeknights. That resulted in seven or so songs being dropped.

Sound quality is pretty good. The dynamic range is pretty huge when you go from One Sunday Morning to A Shot in the Arm, so there is a tiny bit of static, but hopefully it isn't too noticeable. Having listened to this again I find the static really annoying. I tried to redo the whole thing, but it only results in a slight improvement and the whole thing sounds incredibly processed. I tried bumping up the input volume for one the other nights and ended up with a bit of distortion, so I'm thinking Wilco is just a hard band to record.

One Sunday Morning
Poor Places
Art of Almost
I Might
Sunken Treasure
Spiders (Kidsmoke)
Impossible Germany
Born Alone
Laminated Cat
Radio Cure
Handshake Drugs
Shouldn't Be Ashamed
Jesus., etc
Whole Love
Box Full of Letters
I'm Always in Love
Heavy Metal Drummer
Dawned on Me
A Shot in the Arm

The Late Greats
Walken
I'm the Man Who Loves You

https://mega.co.nz/#F!xcdRlbTK!I7CCv3ViCaQw2PhvTAasNQ

WAV Download

Update: ABC radio recorded this and streamed it on the website. This is my rip and processing of the stream. It's soundboard quality and is a much better listen than my recording. I'll leave my one's up, but for most people, this will be the one to get:

ABC Radio Recording

More Mediafire Problems

So I've been having a few problems with Mediafire of late. Just generally doing dumb and annoying things that make it harder to distribute stuff. Their latest move is to reduce the amount of space I have (without paying) from 100GB down to 10GB. Unfortunately that means rather than running out of space in five years or so, I have pretty much no space left to upload anything. I could get some more space by posting things on facebook, tweeting about mediafire, or paying. But given their general shittyness I'd rather just look elsewhere. Unfortunately that will mean a short delay in posting while I figure out what the best alternative is (any suggestions are welcome).

FYI: obviously WAV files take up a lot more space; the thing that took me to the limit was the Neil Young show in WAV, so if you want that make to check the original post.

Wilco - 26 March 2013, RRR Radio

The day before they played in Melbourne Wilco went into RRR radio station for an interview and short set. This was ripped from the high quality streaming audio and then cleaned up a bit (mainly removing a bit of light background static).

Interview
Dawned on Me
Sunken Treasure
Born Alone
Sky Blue Sky
Whole Love
I Might

http://www.mediafire.com/?fj52h682z850b