[Photo by acidjack]
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart are one of the latter half of the last decade’s local success stories. They’re a band that has a hard-won and devoted following that hangs on every word, and rightly so. Their well-crafted and well-written songs of love, yearning and loss may stylistically reference an earlier era, but they make a timeless point. Lyrically, of course, these subjects never grow old, but musically, a tightly written, approachable indiepop song never does, either. Pains are the kind of band you root for – obviously nice people, talented, enthusiastic musicians, and a band that still has more to say. Following up on their eponymous debut, their new record, Belong, continues to display their abilities at songcraft, from the title track to other strong numbers like “Heart In Your Heartbreak” and “Strange”. While a lot of bands fail to make the transition from the smaller clubs – or even the mid-size venues like Bowery Ballroom – to the larger spaces like Webster Hall, Pains easily dominated the room with a dense sound and an enthusiastic, energized performance that balanced their new and old material equally. The band closed with their eponymous anthem, “The Pains of Being Pure At Heart”. The power of that signature chorus ringing out out through the cavernous old theater – “We will never die, no, no, we will never die” – was so powerful, it almost made you believe it. They couldn’t have asked for a better end to another national tour.
Because my usual spot in the venue was not available, I recorded this set from the right balcony close to the right speaker stack, giving more of an “upfront” sound than many recordings from this site, which offers excellent clarity but little sense of the room. Enjoy!
Thanks to Slumberland Records for allowing us to record this performance. Please support Slumberland and the band by purchasing Belong from the links below.
Stream “Heart In Your Heartbreak”:
[audio:http://www.nyctaper.com/P1411Pains2292/05 Heart In Your Heartbreak.mp3]
Direct download of MP3 files [HERE]
Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].
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The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
2011-05-06
Webster Hall
New York, NY USA
An acidjack master recording
Recorded and produced by acidjack for nyctaper.com
Equipment: DPA 4021>Oade M248>Sony PCM-M10 (24/44.1)
Position: Right balcony, about 20 ft from right stack
Mastering: 24bit/44.1kHz WAV>Audacity (set fades, tracking, EQ, downsample to 16bit)>FLAC ( level 8 )
Tracks [Total Time 56:29]
01 Belong
02 This Love is Fucking Right
03 A Teenager in Love
04 [banter]
05 Heart In Your Heartbreak
06 The Body
07 Heaven’s Gonna Happen Now
08 Stay Alive
09 My Terrible Friend
10 [banter]
11 Come Saturday
12 Young Adult Friction
13 [banter]
14 Strange
15 [encore break]>Contender
16 Everything With You
17 The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
If you download this recording from NYCTaper, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, visit their website, and purchase Belong directly from Slumberland Records [HERE].
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