The 1997 and 1998 Fleadh Festivals on Randall’s Island were the greatest live musical experiences of my life. I volunteered to work on the crew for Pierce Turner, and as a result was able to witness a plethora of great music from stage-side, including Patti Smith, Wilco (twice), Van Morrison, X, Shane McGowan, Suzanne Vega, Black ’47, John Prine, Steve Earle, Billy Bragg, Freedy Johnston, and a host of others.

I recorded several of the acts with a small set of core-sound microphones and a portable DAT. Of these recordings, this Richard Thompson is the best sounding and greatest performance. Thompson performed a solo acoustic set of numbers typical from this era, including his classics “Beeswing” and “1952 Vincent Black Lightning” with subtle power and poignancy.

This recording is no longer available at nyctaper. If you look around the web, you’ll likely find a copy.

Richard Thompson
1997-06-15
Fleadh Festival
Randall’s Island
New York, NY USA

Audience Master Recording
Recorded 20 feet in front of left PA speaker

Core Sound Cardiods > Sony D-7 DAT
DAT Master > Panasonic SV-3800 > digital coaxial > Audigy 2 ZS
Platinum > Soundforge > 16 bit 44.1 wav > CD Wave (tracking) >
Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries) > flac

Recorded and Produced by
https://www.nyctaper.com
nyctaper@nyctaper.com
2005-12-12

(Total Time 49:42)
Setlist:
01 Turning of the Tide
02 The Ghost of You Walks
03 I Feel So Good
04 Galway to Graceland
05 1952 Vincent Black Lightning
06 Lottery Land
07 Razor Dance
08 Beeswing
09 Hamlet
10 Wall of Death
11 Dimming of the Day
12 Keep That Wheel A-Turning

Information:
txt file

Verification:
md5 file

If you download this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT this outstanding artist and visit his website.

[photo credit]

The Fiery Furnaces performed their 8th and final NYC-area concert of 2007 on Saturday in Williamsburg. This was the 5th time nyctaper has seen and recorded the Furnaces this year — and this performance was the most consistently excellent of all. The band seemed to be having quite a bit of fun, and Eleanor was energetic, confident, and strong of voice. A fine detailed review can be found at the Fluxblog (here).

Fiery Furnaces will be touring in January and February with Super Furry Animals for a handful of dates. There are also as-yet-unofficial local dates in January with the Furnaces as headliners (January 17 at Maxwell’s has been confirmed).

This concert was recorded from the best location in this venue. Quality is outstanding. Enjoy!

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Fiery Furnaces
2007-12-08
Music Hall of Williamsburg
Brooklyn, NY USA

Digital Master Recording
Recorded from FOB
Dead Center 30 Feet from PA

DPA 4021’s > Marantz PMD-660 (Oade BCM) > 16bit 44.1 wav > Soundforge (set fades, level boost, slight eq) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries) > flac

Recorded and Produced by
nyctaper
2007-12-09

Setlist:
[Total Time 1:19:35]
01 The Philadelphia Grand Jury
02 Navy Nurse
03 My Egyptian Grammar
04 Evergreen
05 Duplexes of the Dead
06 More Automatic Husband
07 Ex-Guru
08 Black-hearted Boy
09 Bitter Tea
10 Right by Conquest
11 The Garfield El
12 A Candymaker’s Knife in My Handbag
13 Forty-Eight Twenty-Three Twenty-Second Street
14 Seven Silver Curses
15 Slavin’ Away
16 Don’t Dance Her Down
17 Single Again/Smelling Cigarettes/Single Again
18 Don’t Dance Her Down
19 Japanese Slippers
20 Widow City
21 Restorative Beer
22 Clear Signal From Cairo
23 [encore break]
24 Tropical Ice-Land
25 Police Sweater Blood Vow
26 Bright Blue Tie
27 Waiting to Know You
28 Blueberry Boat

If you download this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT Fiery Furnaces and visit their website

[photo credit]

MGMT has been selected to open concerts by two of my favorite bands in the last 2 months. Unfortunately, I missed their set opening for of Montreal at Roseland, but last night experienced this excellent new band at the Music Hall complimenting Fiery Furnaces. MGMT write smart psychedelic pop songs, with obvious older influences (Syd Barrett, Bowie), and some interesting contemporary comparisons (Flaming Lips, of Montreal). Their 45-minute set was well received by a sold-out crowd, and featured exclusively tracks from an upcoming release.

The MGMT debut album Oracular Spectacular is due for release on CD on January 22, 2008. Its currently available for purchase at I-Tunes. Fortunately, hard copies of the CD were available at the merch table last night (for only six dollars!). My Old Kentucky Blog had a nice feature on MGMT a couple of weeks ago (here), where you can also sample a few of the tracks from the album.

This concert was recorded from the ideal location, and the sound quality is excellent.
Fiery Furnaces were also recorded and will be posted soon.

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE] or [HERE].

MGMT
2007-12-08
Music Hall of Williamsburg
Brooklyn, NY USA

Digital Master Recording
Recorded from FOB
Dead Center 30 Feet from PA

DPA 4021’s > Marantz PMD-660 (Oade BCM) > 16bit 44.1 wav > Soundforge (set fades, level boost, slight eq) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries) > flac

Recorded and Produced by
nyctaper
2007-12-09

Setlist:
[Total Time 42:15]
01 The Handshake
02 Time to Pretend
03 Weekend Wars
04 Future Reflections
05 4th Dimensional Transition
06 Pieces of What
07 Electric Feel
08 Of Moons, Birds and Monsters
09 The Youth

If you download this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT MGMT and visit their MySpace page.

[photo credit]

Yo La Tengo‘s annual 8 Nights of Hanukkah concert series at Maxwell’s has been a joyous success once again this year. Thursday night was the third show, and featured an opening set by the legendary original dBs. But not to be outdone by their early-career mentors, Yo La Tengo performed an absolutely stunning set — Ira in particular was in rare form, shredding nearly every number with precision and intensity. The unique setlist contained a diverse spectrum of cover songs, which included an rare Dylan treat, Sun Ra, and Neil Diamond. The guests included three of the dBs, and also Jim James from My Morning Jacket.

All of these 8 shows are benefits for a particular charity each night. Thursday night was a benefit for Day One, an organization dedicated to the prevention of domestic violence among youth. If you download this recording, please donate (click here to donate) to this important program.

Once again we left Maxwell’s with the firm belief that this is perhaps the most fan-friendly venue in the entire Metropolitan area. The sound quality in the venue was superb, aided in large part by the talents of YLT’s soundboard technician. The concert experience was not impeded by aggressive security, venue politics, or seen-and-be-seen concert-goers. Of the 70 concerts that nyctaper has attended in 2007, this was the best time we’ve had.

The recording experience was also a pleasure. There were two tapers this night, and both of us were treated royally by the sound techs. I was able to attach my DPA microphones to a stand located inside of the soundboard booth, in the ideal location in this venue. The results are quite excellent. Enjoy!

Many thanks to many people: YLT, Maxwell’s, YLT’s sound crew, Chris, Neil, and Bob for the drinks and kind words about the site.

Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].

Yo La Tengo
2007-12-06
Maxwell’s
Hoboken, NJ USA

Digital Audience Master Recording
Recorded from Inside the Soundboard Booth
Dead Center, approximately 30 feet from the PA

DPA 4021’s > Marantz PMD-660 (Oade BCM) > 16bit 44.1 wav > Soundforge (set fades, level adjustment, edit close clapping, slight EQ) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries) > flac

Recorded and Produced by
nyctaper
2007-12-07

Setlist:
[Total Time 1:44:27]
01 Nuclear War
02 Five Cornered Drone
03 The Race Is On Again
04 Autumn Sweater
05 The Weakest Part
06 Mr. Tough
07 No Water
08 I Wanna Be Your Lover
09 Cast A Shadow
10 Don’t Have To Be So Sad
11 Tom Courtenay
12 Styles of the Times
13 Watch Out For Me, Ronnie
14 I Heard You Looking
15 [encore break]
16 Heart Full of Soul
17 The Question
18 Solitary Man
19 Secret Agent Man
20 Hard Luck Woman

If you download this recording PLEASE SUPPORT Yo La Tengo. Visit their excellent website.