Wintercoats @ The Toff (2012-08-05)

It had been a while since I saw James play and this was his farewell show before he went and played a bunch of dates in Europe so I had to go to this. As always it was great and the kid just keeps getting better and better every show he plays. A couple of new songs in the mix was pretty great and the TLC cover killed it again.

This was recorded on the left wall in line with the soundboard.



Setlist:
1.  Unbearable Thinking
2.  In Translation
3.  Working On A Dream
4.  Spend This Day/And When We Collide
5.  Everyone Seems To Be In On Something
6.  Windmill
7.  No Scrubs (TLC Cover)

Length: 47:58

Sound Quality: B+

Download Here

Primal Scream @ Meredith Supernatural Amphitheatre, 08/12/2012

So, another year, another Meredith Music Festival over. What more can I say, really? It was in 2010 when my best friend and I first decided, "Hey, that festival sounds pretty good, let's go", and after that weekend finished, I knew that I wouldn't miss it again, ever (I'm pretty sure he was of the same opinion, but he didn't make it this year). Anyway, nostalgia over, let's get down to this year. So this is only my second Meredith with my recording gear, and well, let's be honest, I'm usually not really in a state to record anything much over the course of the weekend, and I'm usually hanging around my friends and having obnoxious inebriated conversations - the kind of thing you don't really want to show up on bootleg recordings. This year however, I drank almost my entire alcohol supply on the first night, and that meant I was in a much more coherent frame of mind on Saturday. Also, I was by myself for a lot of the night. And I thought, well, this is THE headlining set of the festival, might as well make sure it's captured. And wow, it was damn awesome. I don't think any band could have been more suited for this timeslot than these guys, motherfucking Primal Scream. As expected, there was a heap of Screamadelica tunes, and a good selection from the rest of their back catalogue. Swastika Eyes was my personal favourite though, being the first song I ever heard of theirs. When those sirens went off, I knew something awesome was about to happen, and when it was that song - FUCK YES. Oh, and who was that awesome bass player? Debbie from My Bloody Valentine! That scored major points with me. Bobby Gillespie is also a great frontman too, very entertaining to watch, and that loop pedal madness outro was crazy. Anyway, yeah, good set, reasonable recording, fair bit of crowd chat here and there, but what are you gonna do, it is Meredith after all. Enjoy, people. This was super fun to be a part of.

TRACK NAME CORRECTIONS NEED TO BE MADE AFTER DOWNLOADING:
2012 = 2013
(Unknown) Track Five = Burning Wheel
It's Alright, That's OK = It's Alright, It's OK


SETLIST:
2013
Swastika Eyes
Movin' On Up
Slip Inside This House
Burning Wheel
Damaged
It's Alright, It's OK
Shoot Speed/Kill Light
Loaded 
Come Together
Country Girl
Jailbird
Rocks 

DOWNLOAD MP3 HERE

Sigur Rós @ Harvest Festival, Werribee (2012-11-10)

Mostly went to Harvest because I thought it'd be cool to see Sigur Rós outdoors at a festival. It was, but didn't quite match their show at The Palais in 2006, which is still one of the best gigs I've been to. Still, a great performance! I got to Harvest really late due to work and didn't see any other full sets so this is all I ended up recording. Turned out well, enjoy!

Setlist:

1. Í Gær 
2. Ný Batterí 
3. Svefn-g-englar 
4. Sæglópur 
5. Hoppípolla 
6. Með Blóðnasir 
7. Olsen Olsen 
8. Festival 
9. Varúð 
10. Brennisteinn 
11. Popplagið 

Length: 1:25:26

Download:

MP3 (175MB)

FLAC (463MB)

The xx @ Forum Theatre, 18/07/2012

So this one's from a few months back, but as I was going through my folder of un-uploaded recordings, I thought, "Why not?" I've been really enjoying their second album Coexist which came out not long after this gig, and now I'll be able to put names to the songs easily, so yeah, here it is. Not really a lot to say about this gig, except that it was pretty damn good. The Forum was a perfect choice of venue for them, as it is for most bands. Anyway, here it is. All the songs from xx were played, as well as a few newies. Sound was awesome on the night, but I was a fair way back, just in front of the desk, so the recording sounds a bit distant, I guess. You'll definitely need to turn the volume up.

SETLIST:
Angels
Islands
Heart Skipped a Beat
Fiction
Basic Space
Infinity
VCR
Crystalised
Fantasy
Shelter
Reunion
Sunset
Night Time
Swept Away (partial)
----Encore----
Intro
Tides
Stars

DOWNLOAD MP3 HERE

Spoon @ Big Day Out Festival (2008-01-28)

The first of 3 Spoon shows I saw in the space of 4 days and probably my favorite. It was a festival set and as such, to the point. I was stupidly happy they opened with Beast and Dragon as that's the song that got me into them in the first place. The horns section was also awesome too and made the new songs kind of stand outs for me. These guys should come back here soon.

I recorded this from directly next to the soundboard. For a festival set it came out quite well.
Note: this picture is not mine but one I found on the net.



Setlist:
1. The Beast and Dragon, Adored
2. Don't You Evah
3. You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb
4. Stay Don't Go
5. Utilitarian
6. The Delicate Place
7. The Fitted Shirt
8. The Ghost of You Lingers
9. Finer Feelings
10. Don't Make Me A Target
11. I Turn My Camera On
12. I Summon You
13. The Underdog
14. Jonathon Fisk

Length: 48:37

Sound Quality: B-

Download Here

Wintercoats @ Bar Open (2010-07-29)

In comparison to the show I saw James play back in December this one dominates it. He has gotten much better live and the songs are of higher quality. He had a bit of trouble during Landscape The Heavens which caused him to have to restart the song a few times. I've edited this out to create a smoother sounding recording. That and it was my favorite of the set and I didn't want anyone who listened to this to think less of it.
I wish I could have stayed for the rest of the set. I hear he went on to play 2 or 3 more songs.



Setlist:
1. Cathedral
2. Unbearable Thinking
3. Landscape The Heavens
4. The Overture
5. A Sunday Smile (Beirut Cover)

Length: 28:04

Sound Quality: B+

Download Here

Wintercoats @ The Builders Arms (2010-12-04)

Each time I see James play he gets better and better. Since the last show I saw he's added a piano and a backup dude who plays xylophone. This set has a few new songs on it and a couple off the EP. It was good to see Windmill since I hadn't yet. It sounds really good sped up. Landscape The Heavens doesn't sound anything like it did at Bar Open though...?
I took photo's for a cover but they were all too dark so I just stole a pic from his myspace and blurred the shit out of it and did some photoshop stuff to make it look nice.

Setlist:
1. Unbearable Thinking
2. Cathedral
3. Landscape The Heavens
4. Melodies
5. Forest of Lovers
6. Windmill

Length: 32:18

Sound Quality: A-

Download Here

The Mountain Goats @ The Toff In Town (2012-05-09)

Since seeing The Mountain Goats twice at the end of 2008 I've been wanting to catch them again since. I missed the 2010 tour but I wouldn't miss them another time so I got myself a ticket to the smaller of the two Melbourne shows.
As expected the show was fantastic! Not only was it a hefty setlist but the selection of songs played were great. A bunch of new ones off Transcendental Youth which is shaping up to be a standout album from these guys. And a bunch of my favorite older ones by them. Really happy to have gotten You Were Cool and Fall of The Star High School Running Back, but it was more popular ones like Pigs That Ran Straightaway Into the Water, Triumph of and This Year that really pleased me despite them not being overly rare. Johns banter is always hilarious and this show was no exception. I especially liked the story about his son and scarface.

This was recorded from almost directly in front of the left speaker stack. The sound is very true to how it sounded on the night and is actually much clearer than I thought it would be.



Setlist:
1.  For Charles Bronson
2.  Old College Try
3.  Birth of Serpents
4.  Damn These Vampires
5.  Jeff Davis County Blues
6.  Counterfeit Florida Plates
7.  Hast Thou Considered The Tetrapod
8.  Hawaiian Feeling
9.  Fall of The Star High School Running Back
10. Woke Up New
11. You Were Cool
12. Transcendental Youth
13. The Diaz Brothers
14. White Cedar
15. Palmcorder Yajna
16. International Small Arms Traffic Blues
17. Night Light
18. Pigs That Ran Straightaway Into the Water, Triumph of
19. Love Love Love
20. Game Shows Touch Our Lives
21. You Or Your Memory
22. This Year
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
23. 1 Samuel 15:23
24. Quito
25. The Best Ever Death Metal Band In Denton

Length: 1:37:42

Sound Quality: B+

Download Here

Progfest, 08/09/2012 @ the Esplanade Hotel

Not much else to say about this event other than "fuck yes!" Tim Charles and his Welkin crew really delivered one of the best mini-festival local lineups in this city last year at this very venue, and when the 2012 lineup was announced, I knew there was no way I'd be missing out. I think from memory the only thing I recorded last year was Sydonia, and it turned out pretty much unpostable, so I was keen to get some more stuff this year!

Ne Obliviscaris
It's fair to say that for a significant number of attendees, their attention was squarely on Melbourne's melodic/progressive black metal heroes Ne Obliviscaris - I know mine was. What can I say about these guys that hasn't been said already? Since they (FINALLY) released Portal of I it's just been a stellar year for them, and this was the icing on the cake. I was a little surprised they didn't make any mention of Dan Presland being back behind the drumkit; he left just prior to the release of the album, and other than a low-key underage gig the night before, if I'm not wrong this would have been his first show back with NeO for nearly two years. Thought that might have warranted a bit more of a mention, but ah well, it was great to see, and hear, him back. Dude's an awesome drummer. Alas, the recording didn't turn out so well. And I left after I heard Xenoflux (my favourite song) because I was already missing way too much Jericco. But it was worth it to stick around for this awesomeness.

SETLIST:
And Plague Flowers the Kaleidoscope
Of the Leper Butterflies
Forget Not
Tapestry of the Starless Abstract
Xenoflux
Of Petrichor Weaves Black Noise (not recorded)
DOWNLOAD MP3 HERE

Other sets to come from A Lonely Crowd, Okera, Mushroom Giant, Chaos Divine and Jericco... I think? I was moving around a lot, kinda forgotten exactly what I recorded haha.

Godspeed You! Black Emperor @ Coachella Festival (2012-04-21)

This was something special. I never thought I'd get to see Godspeed play a show and even listening back to this recording I'm in disbelief. It was just perfect in every way. Come and play for me every other week please Godspeed ok?
Watching the band play in darkness and seeing the mountains behind them was really cool and while I am seeing them again in a few months I don't think it will compare to this show. I had also never heard Albanian prior so that was a welcome surprise in the set. I closed my eyes at one point during the start of World Police and when I opened them the set was finishing up. I just completely lost myself in the moment. Man.... this was just so good.

I recorded this set on the left side barrier (behind the VIP area bit) in line with the left speaker stack. I was actually really surprised there wasn't any soundbleed from the stages either side (SBTRKT and David Guetta) where I was standing. I'd been worried about that leading into the show.



Setlist:
1. Hope Drone
2. Albanian
3. Rockets Fall On Rocket Falls
4. World Police and Friendly Fire

Length: 56:28

Sound Quality: B+

Download Here