flac

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watch tech notes for source-info

The Asteroids Galaxy Tour
Le Poisson Rouge
Greenwich Village
New York, NY, USA
March 22, 2009--Sunday

Taper: Lou <loucap81@hotmail.com>
Location: Floor, General Admission, standing at the foot of the soundboard, center stage view, approx. 60 feet from stage

Lineage: SP-CMC-2 (AT831's with low sensitivity mod) > SP-SPSB-8 (95 Hz bass roll off) > Edirol R-09 > WAV @ 24 bit/48 Khz > CDWave > FLAC(level 8)
Raw master recording

Quality: A-
File Size: 563 MB, FLAC

Total Time: 50:03

1. Hero 4:33
2. Lady Jesus 4:46
3. Push The Envelope 4:26
4. The Sun Ain't Shining No More 3:52
5. Inner City Blues 5:21
6. Crazy 3:45
7. Satellite 4:19
8. Around The Bend 4:48
9. Bad Fever 4:54
10. The Golden Age 5:17
11. Sunshine Coolin' 4:01

Notes:
I discovered this band in February 2009 via the radio and YouTube, and I quickly became addicted. I haven't found any torrents at all of them, just YouTube videos, so I guess this is the first liberated, lossless full concert recording.

I stood with my back leaning against the soundboard the entire night and I pulled off a very warm recording. The bass could be reduced a little, but as is, it's not offensive. The sound quality starts off soft for the first few songs and gets better. Likewise the vocals are too far back in the mix for the first few songs, but that gets corrected as the show goes on. Being that I stood practically motionless with the Edirol's functions on hold, it's the mix, not the recorder that is the cause for the changing sound. I thought about tinkering with the volume but decided that stuff like that usually does more harm than good, and just went with the raw recording for distribution. If someone who knows what they're doing wants to work on it be my guest.

The other flaw to mention is that I had talkers around me until about halfway during "Satellite" whent they finally disbursed. I will never understand why people go a concert and spend the entire time waiting for beer and talking. I don't even know how you can hear anything with the music being as loud as it is but whatever. Fortunately their presence is minimalized thanks to the cardioid mics.

Oh yeah, there's also an anomaly at 2:02 of "The Golden Age" that sounds like a digital error, but I believe it was a crackle in the stage microphone because the rest of the music keeps going smoothly. Whatever it is, it's on the master.

Now to a substantive review. This concert was well worth the journey from Philadelphia. This is as close as they're going to get to me until the fall 2009 at the earliest, and I had to seize the opportunity, even if it meant pulling a 180 mile round trip stunt on a work night. I was completely blown away. The YouTube videos, nor this recording, do not close to giving the live performance justice. I was worried about the fatigue factor given that the band had performed two shows the day before in Austin, TX, but I don't think that affected them one bit. The performance was damn near flawless, save a flub in the horn section from 0:36-0:39 on "Bad Fever." The bottom line is that their live performance is powerful, potent and better than advertised. If you live in Toronto, Chicago, Los Angeles or San Francisco, you need to check them out this week. I doubt the price will set you back, as I paid a mere $11.50 including fees. When they finally do a full-out US tour, I'm hoping I can catch multiple shows.

FFP file and shntool results included. I was not issued a hard ticket for this show, just a wristband.

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I also taped the opening act, Heloise And The Savoir Faire. They didn't wow me, but if someone really wants that, I'll put it up.

For another person's review of this show, check out:
http://www.papermag.com/blogs/2009/03/the_asteroids_galaxy_tour.php

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