[photo credit]
In or out of the music business, John Vanderslice is literally one of the nicest people I have ever met. His genuine gregarious charm translates well into his stage performance, and juxtaposes interestingly with the darker aspects of his lyrics. Last night at Mercury Lounge, all of these attributes were on display, as John performed a 90-minute set of his powerful songs, bantered often with the band and the crowd, and performed the final four encore songs un-amplified in the midst of the audience in the middle of the room.
While John has been on tour in support of Stephen Malkmus, his sets have been limited to forty minutes. Last night, we were treated to a complete show which included songs John said had not been played in years. While we expected a large bulk of the setlist would come from the brilliant Emerald City material, fans were treated to a complete Vanderslice catalog mix. The bonus treat was the four song encore. John and the band unplugged, left the stage, and entered a crowd circle in the middle of the floor. The short acoustic performance felt as if John was performing in a living room. In this setting, the personable nature of this terrific performer shined and the crowd were treated like friends.
This was a great evening for nyctaper before the show even began. In email, John invited me to the soundcheck to set up our equipment and meet the band. When I arrived, John greeted me in such a friendly manner that we immediately felt a kinship as the band practiced and worked through the material for the evening. Our equipment was set up in the ideal location and we have captured an outstanding recording of this special performance. The only issue is the amplification during the encore segment, where we captured equal amounts of crowd and performer — essentially capturing the moment in its truest form. Enjoy!
Deer Tick was also recorded and will be offered in the coming days.
This recording is now available to Download in FLAC and MP3 at Archive.org [HERE].
John Vanderslice
2008-03-30
Mercury Lounge
New York, NY USA
Digital Master Recording
Recorded from Front of Board
Neumann KM-150’s > Monster Cable > Apogee Mini-Me > digital coax > M-Audio Microtrack 24/96 > 24bit 48kHz wav > Soundforge 8.0 (level adjustments, downsample 16/44) > CD Wave 1.75 > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries) > flac
Many thanks to John for permission to record.
Recorded and Produced by nyctaper
2008-03-31
Setlist:
[Total time 1:28:28]
01 White Dove
02 You Were My Fiji
03 Tablespoon of Codeine
04 Exodus Damage
05 Angela
06 Up Above The Sea
07 The Tower
08 Dear Sarah Shu
09 Greyhound
10 Pale Horse
11 White Plains
12 They Won’t Let Me Run
13 Little Wing*
14 Numbered Lithograph
15 Kookaburra
16 Underneath The Leaves
17 Time Travel Is Lonely
18 [encore break]
19 Letter to the East Coast**
20 Time to Go**
21 Nikki oh Nikki**
22 Keep The Dream Alive**
[*Daniel solo — impression of Michael McDonald singing Hendrix]
[**All encore songs were performed unamplified in the middle of the crowd]
If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT John Vanderslice, visit his website, visit his myspace page, and purchase Emerald City directly from his website or from the Barsuk Records website.
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