[photo by neil d] [higher resolution photos (HERE) and (HERE)]

Our Intrepid Correspondent Reports:

The weather report was for a high of 80 with a 50% chance of thunderstorms — so of course the day turned out to be hot and muggy with almost no rain to speak of. I arrived at 12:45 for 2 pm doors, expecting a huge crowd wanting to get there early for the Feelies. Instead, I was maybe the 50th person on line, and got a prime spot about 30 feet from the stage, right in front of the stage-right speakers.

The Feelies were just great – I’d never seen them live before except on video, but it didn’t seem like they’d missed a beat after their 16-year layoff. Watching Dave Weckerman play whatever bit of percussion he was responsible for at any moment (a tambourine, a maraca) as if it took every fiber of his being was especially great fun. Ira Kaplan was about ten feet directly in front of us, rocking out for the entire Feelies set.

Sonic Youth were excellent as well, with a set heavy on songs from Daydream Nation. (Hey Joni, Silver Rocket… several others, I forget which right now.) Kim Gordon looks amazing for a 55-year-old. Anyway, you can hear the SY set on WFMU’s site, if you haven’t already.

Afterwards, we sat on the Battery Park lawn finishing our picnic food and watching the eight billion fireflies, then headed over to the East River for the fireworks. The fireworks themselves were great, though, so hard to complain about any part of the day.

A regular nyctaper reader pointed us to his ebay auction for a Feelies rarity — the limited edition promotional Away EP autographed by all of the Feelies. All proceeds from this auction will be donated to the charity of choice of the winning bidder!

The Recording:
As our recorder noted to me, the stacks were very bass heavy, and as a result quite a bit of EQ was applied in post-production. This is a clear upfront recording which is subject only to the limitations of the sound system and the outdoor conditions. Enjoy!

Direct download of MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

The Feelies
2008-07-04
Battery Park
New York, NY USA

Digital Audience Master Recording
Recorded 30 Feet from Right PA Stacks

CoreSound Binaurals > MM-EBM-1 battery box > Sony MZ-NH900 > Audiophile 2496 > Sound Studio > 16bit 44kHz wav file > Soundforge 8.0 (set fades, level adjustments, EQ) > CD Wave (tracking) > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries) > flac

Recorded by neil d
Produced by nyctaper
2008-07-06

Setlist
[total time 46:22]
01 [introduction]
02 On The Roof
03 The High Road
04 Nobody Knows
05 Let’s Go
06 Higher Ground
07 Away
08 Time is Right
09 Slipping (Into Something)
10 Doin’ It Again
11 Raised Eyebrows
12 Crazy Rhythms
13 [encore break]
14 Outdoor Miner (Wire)
15 Fa Ce-La

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT The Feelies and visit their official MySpace page, and purchase their official releases at various commercial outlets. They are working on new songs. Purchase their new CD when it is released!

[photo by Ryan Muir]

In our critical post about Dan Deacon‘s set from this concert, the comments suggested that somehow we did not understand the concept of fun. The truth is that we understand the difference between foolishness and the Tom Tom Club‘s “fun natural fun”. The set that immediately followed Deacon’s nonsense was the return of Tom Tom Club to NYC, the place where 30 years earlier Tina Weymouth and Chris Franz had literally been the rhythm section for one of the most influential bands in the history of modern music. The stark contrast and upgrade in musical quality when Tom Tom Club took the stage helped elucidate the fact that Tina and Chris’s “other band” has had its own profound musical influence.

In their hour-long set at McCarren Pool last week, Tom Tom Club performed their best known songs with two interesting covers, a goofy 70s Brit-dance hit and one of the staples of The Talking Heads repertoire. The obvious highlight was “Genius of Love“, a song with an earworm melody that has worked its way into the lexicon of music and is perhaps the most sampled song in music today.

We recorded from the same location as the Devo set, but there was more wind during this set which can be heard primarily in the stage microphones. We avoided much of the gusts and as a result while there is some phasing on this recording, it has exceptionally clarity considering the outdoor conditions. Enjoy!

Direct download of MP3 files (HERE)

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Tom Tom Club
2008-06-26
McCarren Park Pool
Brooklyn, NY USA

Digital Master Audience Recording
Recorded from FOB Dead Center
50 Feet from Stage

DPA 4021s > Marantz PMD-660 (Oade BCM Mod) > 16bit 44.1kHz wav > Soundforge (level adjustments, slight EQ, set fades) > CDWave 1.95 > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries)> flac

Many Thanks to Chris and Tina for permission to record this performance!

Recorded and Produced
by nyctaper
2008-07-03

Setlist
[total time 59:14]
01 Suboceana
02 Punk Lolita
03 L’Elephant
04 She’s Dangerous
05 Time To Bounce
06 The Man With the 4-Way Hips
07 [band introductions]
08 Genius of Love
09 You Sexy Thing (Hot Chocolate)
10 Wordy Rappinghood
11 Take Me To The River

If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Tom Tom Club, visit their website, where you can purchase their official releases at the Tom Tom Club Store.