Soundgarden - Festival Hall, 24 February 2015

Soundgarden's last headlining show in Melbourne was ruined by the awful sound at Sidney Myer. And while Festival Hall isn't the greatest of venues (by a long stretch), the sound was good and the band put on a great show.

Without an opening act and a scheduled set of nearly three hours, I was hoping that the band might be planning on doing something interesting. In the end they came on stage 45 minutes late, but when the eventually made it they were on fire. The set featured a lot of Superunknown songs, with a few from all their other albums thrown into the mix.

The recording is really good, there's a tiny bit of noise from people around me and from when I've moved as people walk back and forth from the bar, but other than that this sounds great.

Flower
Kickstand
Outshined
Attrition
Room a Thousand Years Wide
Jesus Christ Pose
Like Suicide
Superunknown
Mailman
Black Hole Sun
Spoonman
Hunted Down
Ty Cobb
Fell on Black Days
My Wave
The Day I Tried to Live
Been Away Too Long
Pretty Noose
Birth Ritual
A Thousand Days Before
Rusty Cage

Limo Wreck
Slaves & Bulldozers

FLAC

MP3

Manic Street Preachers - Festival Hall, 28 June 2013

I've got to kick this off by admitting I'm not a huge fan of the Manics - I know their most famous songs, but not much more. I went along because my girlfriend is a massive fan and has never seen them before. Going in I was a bit unsure about this show, it had been organised so the band could go to a couple of the Lions rugby games. On one hand that meant it was going to be a greatest hits set, which suited me as a casual fan. But on the other it might mean the performance wouldn't be too great - they haven't played for quite a while and don't have much else scheduled for the year. In the end the band was impressively tight, and played a greatest hits set with a couple of rarities thrown in for the hardcore.

The crowd was packed with Lions fans (particularly Welsh ones), which explains the fairly frequent chanting. The sound for this is only OK - Festivall Hall is a pretty mediocre venue for sound and there is a bit of distortion at a couple of points. That said, the recording is very listenable.

Motorcycle Emptiness
Your Love Alone is Not Enough
You Stole the Sun From My Heart
Ocean Spray
Australia
Suicide is Painless (Theme from MASH)
(It's Not War) Just the End of Love
La Tristesse Durera (Scream to a Sigh)
Revol
Everything Must Go
Send Away the Tigers
A Design for Live
The Everlasting
Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You
You Love Us
Little Baby Nothing
Tsunami
Motown Junk
If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next

https://mega.co.nz/#F!0JkWwDDC!TqydQEfTwCw4hbY_WWEL1Q

Lanie Lane - 25 July 2012

The Jack White show has been up for a while, but as well as recording that
show I caught the opening act - Lanie Lane. She was presumably selected to open
because she's signed to White's label and has had him produce a couple of tracks.
That's worth noting because although there has been a pretty consistent country
thread running through White's music, it isn't one that most of his fans (particularly
the more casual ones, would have focused on). That meant that Lanie Lane's set really
failed to capture the interest of most of those who were there. It didn't really help
that here attempts at banter were (possibly consciously) a bit embarrassing.
Nonetheless, there were a few good songs in the set including No Sound,and a cover of
the Black Keys' Gold on the Ceiling. However, the rest of the set was mediocre. She clearly
has a gimmick that she thinks either believes in or thinks she can build a club-show career
on, but it doesn't really do much for me.

Jungle Man
Like Me Meaner
Betty Baby
Gold on the Ceiling
My Man
No Sound
What Do I Do?
Don't Cry
Oh Well, That's What You Get for Falling in Love with a Cowboy
Bang Bang
Ain't Hungry

http://www.mediafire.com/?na5rb0881qg8k

Jack White - 25 July 2012

There’s enormous love for Jack White, which isn’t really surprising given what he’s achieved with the White Stripes, Racounteurs, Dead Weather, his various production and promotion roles, and now his solo career. Having said all that, I’ve got to say that I’m not a big fan of his solo album. It has about half a dozen songs that I like, and a bunch of stuff that is perfectly fine, but a bit dull.

And that pretty much drives my opinion of this show. While most people loved it, I thought it dragged through the middle when he played some of the lesser tracks from his solo album and a couple of covers that were of similar quality. Having said all that, a set is always going to be pretty good when it features a countrified Hotel Yorba, Top Yourself (let down by an odd, and very long and rambling, but apparently true, intro), Steady as she Goes, Ball and Biscuit, My Doorbell, Carolina Drama, and the obligatory Seven Nation Army.

There seems to be something about middle-aged people who seldom go to shows that requires them to talk inanely throughout. I got stuck next to a few of them unfortunately, so theres a bit of talking on this. In an odd way, given that their chatter is pretty much incessant, its easier to treat it as background noise, than if they only broke in occasionally.

[Oops, that was embarassing. I forgot I'd set this to go up automatically, with the intention of adding some details later].

http://www.mediafire.com/?8bduqe2ics8cx