Made my way to Rochester this past weekend to see Ryan Adams & The Cardinals play at the Auditorium. A very nice venue, in a very sketchy town. An armed security guard in the Wendy’s (the only place we could find to eat dinner at) was a first. Anyways, after eating we headed to the venue. Our seats were perfect. Dead centre, about halfway back just before the balcony overhang started. Though we didnt use our seats that much since everyone was standing. Ryan and crew got things started around 9pm and played for almost 90 minutes before taking a 10 minute intermission. They came back on stage and played for another 30 minutes. We were waiting for an encore but i guess because of the 11pm curfew it didnt happen. All in all, it was a great show and well worth the drive from Toronto. Looking forward to a hometown show next year.

Setlist: (117:23)
Set I:
01 Cobwebs
02 Two
03 Come Pick Me Up
04 Magick
05 Wonderwall (Oasis)
06 Fix It
07 The Sun Also Sets
08 Off Broadway
09 Peaceful Valley
10 Bartering Lines
11 Goodnight Rose
12 Go Easy
13 Dear John
14 Mockingbird
15 Natural Ghost
16 Freeway To The Canyon

Set II:
17 Crossed-Out Name
18 Let It Ride
19 Please Do Not Let Me Go
20 Everybody Knows
21 When The Stars Go Blue
22 What Sin
23 I See Monsters

Some pictures are located here.

Download: 16-bit | 24-bit | Live Music Archive

Links: website | myspace | fan site | live music archive

Tags: Live Music Archive, Recording, rochester, Ryan Adams

I made my way to the Music Hall last week to catch the Final Fantasy show. Opening the show was Nico Muhly, Sam Amidon, Doveman, and Nadia Sirota. They all took turns doing eachothers’ songs and played for alot longer than i had expected. Around 90 minutes. After them was Owen Pallett aka Final Fantasy. He played for about an hour doing a mixture of old songs and some news ones that are on his two new EPs coming out this fall.

Another review, some pictures, and a few more tracks from the show can be found at Bootlog

Setlist:
01 ?
02 The Lamb Sells Condos
03 The Man With No Ankles
04 Cockatrice
05 The Butcher
06 Flare Gun
07 ?
08 ?
09 Many Lives > 49 MP
10 He Poos Clouds
11 This Is The Dream Of Win & Regine
12 Lewis Takes Off His Shirt

Encore:
13 Hey Dad
14 Song Song Song

Links:
Nico Muhly: website | myspace
Sam Amidon: website | myspace
Doveman: website | myspace
Nadia Sirota: website | myspace
Final Fantasy: website | myspace

Tags: doveman, final fantasy, music hall, nadia sirota, nico muhly, owen, pallett, Recording, sam amidon

My Morning Jacket were in town the other night to play at the Kool Haus. Unfortunately. Anyways, the show was pretty good from start to finish. The Besnard Lakes got things going around 9pm and played for about 40 minutes. MMJ took the stage around 10pm and played for just over 2.5 hours.

Setlists
The Besnard Lakes:
01 Ride The Rails
02 Devastation
03 For Agent 13
04 On Bedord And Grand
05 Disaster
06 And You Lied To Me

My Morning Jacket:
01 Evil Urges
02 Im Amazed
03 Off The Record
04 What A Wonderful Man
05 Gideon
06 Highly Suspicious
07 Thank You Too!
08 Lowdown
09 Touch Me Im Going To Scream Pt. 1
10 Librarian
11 Sec Walkin
12 Golden
13 Two Halves
14 The Way That He Sings
15 Lay Low
16 Aluminum Park
17 Remnants
18 Smokin From Shootin
19 Touch Me Im Going To Scream Pt. 2 > Good Intentions
20 encore break

Encore:
21 Wordless Chorus
22 Steam Engine
23 One Big Holiday
24 Run Thru
25 Anytime

Downloads
The Besnard Lakes: 16-bit | 24-bit
My Morning Jacket: 16-bit | 24-bit | Live Music Archive

Stream via the LMA

Links
The Besnard Lakes: website | myspace
My Morning Jacket: website | myspace | live music archive

Tags: audio, besnard lakes, kool haus, my morning jacket, Recording

Kathleen Edwards played the Phoenix last week. She’s on tour in support of her new album, “Asking For Flowers“. Opening the show around 8pm was Justin Rutledge. He played for about 45 minutes and then Kathleen started around 9:15pm. She played for over 95 minutes. The show was really good. As well as the sound in the venue.

Justin Rutledge:
01 Robins Tune
02 The Wire
03 St. Peter
04 Come Summertime
05 Greenwich Time
06 Everyones In Love
07 Too Sober To Sleep
08 Does It Make You Rain

Download: 16-bit | 24-bit

Links: website | myspace

Kathleen Edwards:
01 Mercury
02 In State
03 What Are You Waiting For?
04 Asking For Flowers
05 Run
06 Oil Mans War
07 banter
08 I Make The Dough, You Get The Glory
09 12 Bellevue
10 Alicia Ross
11 I Cant Give You Up
12 Summerlong
13 Six O’clock News
14 Copied Keys
15 Oh Canada
16 The Cheapest Key
17 encore break

Encore:
18 banter
19 Good Things
20 Goodnight, California
21 Back To Me

Download: 16-bit | 24-bit
Links: website | myspace | fan site | canoe.org

Tags: audio, justin rutledge, kathleen edwards, live, phoenix, Recording

Drive-By Truckers were in town lastnight to play a show at the Opera House in support of their new record “Brighter Than Creations Dark“. Opening up the show were The Whigs who were back in town after their last gig at the Horseshoe. The show started around 9pm with The Whigs playing for about 40 minutes. As with the last show, i thought they were pretty good. The Truckers started around 10:15pm and played until 12:45am. They started off kind of slow with more mellow tunes mixed in, but the last 90 minutes were pure rock n’ roll. Im sure everyone there would agree that it was an amazing show.

The Whigs:
01 Like A Vibration
02 Technology
03 Already Young
04 Nothing Is Easy
05 Violet Furs
06 I Never Want To Go Home
07 Sleep Sunshine
08 Hot Bed
09 Right Hand On My Heart
10 Need You Need You
11 Half The World Away

Drive-By Truckers:
01 The Living Bubba
02 A Ghost To Most
03 Two Daughters And A Beautiful Wife
04 Daddy Needs A Drink
05 3 Dimes Down
06 Im Sorry Houston
07 Sink Hole
08 Uncle Frank
09 Puttin’ People On The Moon
10 Self Destructive Zones
11 The Company I Keep
12 Hell No, I Aint Happy
13 Checkout Time In Vegas
14 You And Your Crystal Meth
15 Goode’s Field Road
16 Women Without Whiskey
17 The Opening Act
18 Where The Devil Dont Stay
19 Lookout Mountain
20 crowd noise

Encore:
21 banter
22 Zip City
23 18 Wheels Of Love
24 Shut Up And Get On The Plane
25 Let There Be Rock
26 Buttholeville > State Trooper > Buttholeville

Downloads:
The Whigs: 16-bit | 24-bit
Drive-By Truckers: Live Music Archive | 16-bit | 24-bit

Links:
The Whigs: website | myspace
Drive-By Truckers: website | myspace | live music archive

Tags: archive.org, downloads, drive-by truckers, live audio, lma, opera house, the whigs

I made it out to the Chart Canadian Music Week showcase Thursday night. Immaculate Machine, Dog Day, Katie Stelmanis, Plants & Animals, and The Acorn, Sun Parlour Players, and Oh No Forest Fires were all on the bill. 7 bands for $9, cant beat that. I didnt stay for the last two acts as it was already 1am and had work in the morning. I really enjoyed all 5 performances. Im not sure if the show was soldout, but it was pretty packed. The room sounded great too. Go checkout these fine Canadian artists when they hit your city. You wont be disappointed.

I was planning on recording the 5 bands i was there for, but my battery didnt charge properly so i only taped 3 of them. Really regretting not taping Katie Stelmanis.

Immaculate Machine
01 Wo Xiang Tanbai
02 C’mon Sea Legs
03 Broken Ship
04 Wont Be Pretty
05 Nothing Ever Happens In My Town
06 Small Talk
07 No Such Thing As The Future

Plants & Animals
01 New Kind Of Love
02 Good Friend
03 Faerie Dance
04 Bye Bye Bye
05 Lola Who?
06 Guru > Sinnerman > Guru

The Acorn
01 ?
02 Crooked Legs
03 Brokered Heart
04 Dents (Glory Pt. 1)
05 Antenna
06 Feral Chile
07 Low Gravity
08 The Flood Pt. 1

Links:
Immaculate Machine: website | myspace
Dog Day: website | myspace
Katie Stelmanis: website | myspace
Plants & Animals: website | myspace
The Acorn: website | myspace
Sun Parlour Players: website | myspace
Oh No Forest Fires: website | myspace

Support the artists and purchase a cd or two. And if you like what you heard above, buy a ticket to the show.

Tags: Chart, CMW, Dog Day, Horseshoe, Immaculte Machine, Katie Stelmanis, Oh No Forest Fires, Plants & Animals, Recording, Sun Parlour Players, The Acorn

The Whigs from Athens, GA were in town last night doing a show at the Horseshoe. They hit the stage around 10:20pm and played for about 45 minutes. There was a pretty good crowd turn out for them even with them being the opener. Their new album “Mission Control” was released yesterday (Feb. 5) in Canada. The band has lots of energy and they sound great live. They’ll be back in town on March 19 opening up for the Drive-By Truckers at the Opera House.

Setlist:
01 Intro
02 Like A Vibration
03 Technology
04 Already Young
05 Sweet Sunshine
06 Hot Bed
07 Right Hand On My Heart
08 Violet Furs
09 Half The World Away
10 Nothing Is Easy
11 Need You Need You

Download: thewhigs2008-02-05.mc930.sd702.flac16.zip

http://www.thewhigs.com
http://www.myspace.com/thewhigs

Tags: horseshoe tavern, live audio, the whigs

I think im done with shows for 2007 so i thought id post a list of my favourite shows this past year. You may notice that for a few shows on the list they are back to back shows. I decided to consider them as one since it was the same performers even though it was a different experience.

01 Beirut - 2007-10-02 The Music Hall - Toronto, ON
This show ended up being number one for a few reasons. First and foremost the overall atmosphere during the entire show was great. The band was in a great mood, the crowd was great which at times is rare for TO, and the music sounded very good all night. Not to mention that the band allowed fans onstage during ‘Bradenburg’.

Setlist, audio samples, and original writeup are here.

Download:
beirut2007-10-02.mc930.flac16.zip
Live Music Archive:
http://www.archive.org/details/Beirut (you’ll find other great Beirut recordings here aswell)

02 Queens of the Stoneage - 2007-10-15 Sony Centre - Toronto, ON
Queens were on fire, the venue sounds absolutely perfect, and i had dead front centre balcony seats. perfect for taping. The crowd was loud and appreciative. And one of my favourite bands were opening, The Black Angels.

Setlists, audio samples, and original writeup here.

Download:
tba2007-10-15.mc930.flac16.zip
qotsa2007-10-15.mc930.flac16.zip
Live Music Archive:
http://www.archive.org/details/TheBlackAngels (my other TO show recording is up here as well as many others)

03 Neil Young - 2007-11-26 & 2007-11-27 Massey Hall - Toronto, ON
Neil Young at Massey Hall. All there is to say. I torrented the show a few weeks back, but here it is to download for anyone who wants to check it out.

Setlists, audio samples, and original writeup are here.

Download:
pegiyoung2007-11-26.akgck1x.sd702.flac16.zip
neilyoung2007-11-26.akgck1x.sd702.flac16.zip

04 Great Lake Swimmers - 2007-04-14 Church of the Redeemer - Toronto, ON
Both the early and late shows were wonderful. The band sounded great in this beautiful venue. I havent posted these recordings so now’s your chance to grab both shows.

Setlists, audio samples, and original write up are here.

Download:
gls2007-04-14.early.akg463.flac16.zip
gls2007-04-14.late.akg463.flac16.zip

05 Okkervil River - 2007-09-26 Lee’s Palace - Toronto, ON
This was another really fun show. The crowd on the otherhand, probably gave the musicians a reason to skip TO the next time around. The venue was over crowded and extremely hot. The hottest ive ever felt it at Lee’s. Their performace though made up for those to shortcomings.

Setlist and original write up here.

06 The Tragically Hip - 2007-03-09 & 2007-03-10 Town Ballroom - Buffalo, NY
If i had to pick between these two shows, id have to pick the March 10th show. Why? The main reason being because I got to hear Fiddlers’ Green” green played live. Both shows were great though. The Hip played the new songs off “World Container” mixed with some older favourites which were different each night.

Setlists and original write up are here.

You’ll find all sorts of Hip audio and video to download at thehiptracker.com.

07 Wolfmother - 2007-03-06 Kool Haus - Toronto, ON
Wolfmother were on fire. They jammed on a few songs and ended with Andrew giving away his pedals to the crowd. The show was loud, but sounded pretty good in the Kool Haus. Id definitely see these guys again.

Setlist, audio samples, and original write up are here.

Download:
wolfmother2007-03-06.spcmc8.flac16.zip

08 Built To Spill - 2007-07-11 Lee’s Palace - Toronto, ON
Last but not least, Built To Spill played two excellent shows here this past summer. It was their first and second ever perforamances here.
They sounded great and so did the venue. The crowd was pretty good on this night which was cool.

Setlist, audio samples, and original write up here.

Neil Young at Massey Hall. I dont need to say much more than that. I wasnt going to miss the opportunity to see one of my favourite artists perform at one of Toronto’s best venues. I was lucky enough to get some really good floor tickets for both Monday and Tuesday night. I didnt try for the third show, but it would have been nice to make it a memorable 3 for 3 run. I hadnt seen Neil Young live before, so I wasnt sure what to expect. And, after two shows, it really is something every fan should try and witness atleast once in their lifetime. The hundreds of live recordings and live cd’s like Unplugged and Live at Massey Hall 1971 can only go so far to give you an idea of what it is like seeing Neil with your own eyes. You dont get to see the foot tapping, leg swinging, or the meandering around on the stage. And you certainly dont get to see Neil’s expressions as he sings or his hands and fingers make music with his guitars. I was mesmerized by him. Staring at him during the acoustic set while plucked the strings of the guitars and banjo and while he touched the keys on the pianos. And then while he was rocking out on the electric guitar or jamming during “No Hidden Path”. It was truly two great experiences that i am happy to have been apart of.

Pegi Young Night 1:
01 ?
02 ?
03 When The Wild Life Betrays Me (Will Jennings / Jimmy Buffett / Michael Utley)
04 Heterosexual Masses
05 Sometimes
06 Sometimes Like a River
07 ?
08 Love Like Water *
09 Number Nine Train (Tarheel Slim)

* with Larry Craig on sitar

Neil Young Night 1:
Acoustic Set:
01 From Hank to Hendrix
02 Ambulance Blues
03 Sad Movies
04 A Man Needs A Maid
05 No One Seems To Know
06 Harvest
07 Journey Through The Past
08 Mellow My Mind
09 Love Art Blues
10 Cowgirl In The Sand
11 Old Man

Electric Set:
01 The Loner
02 Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
03 Dirty Old Man
04 Spirit Road
05 Bad Fog Of Loneliness
06 Winterlong
07 Oh, Lonesome Me
08 The Believer
09 No Hidden Path

Encore:
10 Cinnamon Girl
11 Like A Hurricane

Pegi Young Night 2:
I cant remember the exact setlist, but it probably was the same as Night 1.

Neil Young Night 2:
Acoustic Set:
01 From Hank To Hendrix
02 Ambulance Blues
03 Sad Movies
04 A Man Needs A Maid
05 Try
06 No One Seems To Know
07 Harvest
08 After The Gold Rush
09 Mellow My Mind
10 Love Art Blues
11 Heart Of Gold
12 Cowgirl In The Sand

Electric Set:
01 The Loner
02 Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
03 Dirty Old Man
04 Spirit Road
05 Bad Fog Of Loneliness
06 Winterlong
07 Oh, Lonesome Me
08 The Believer
09 No Hidden Path

Encore:
10 Cinnamon Girl
11 Cortez The Killer

Links:
http://www.pegiyoung.com
http://www.neilyoung.com
http://www.sugarmtn.org

Wintersleep and tour mates The Wooden Stars were in Toronto last Friday night for a show at the Mod Club. Wintersleep are touring in support of their excellent new album “Welcome to the Night Sky“. The show was an early one with the doors opening at 8pm and The Wooden Stars promptly taking the stage at 8:20pm. I was completely unfamiliar with them but from what i saw and heard, they are a pretty good band. Go check them out when you can. A few minutes later Wintersleep took the stage to an almost full Mod Club. The show was sold out, but there was a rush of people into the venue around 9:45pm or so. They must not have realised it was an early show. Anyways, the show was great and im looking forward to seeing them again. They played for 70 minutes with the show ending just after 10pm. Great for us early morning risers.

Setlist:
01 Drunk On Aluminium
02 Archaeologists
03 Caliber
04 Jaws Of Life
05 Dead Letter & The Infinite Yes
06 Weighty Ghost
07 Murderer
08 Search Party
09 Orca
10 Astronaut
11 Miasmal Smoke & The Yellow Bellied Freaks
12 Oblivion

Encore:
13 Danse Macabre

Trevor Connell has some really good pictures of both bands here: http://www.trevorconnellphotography.blogspot.com.

The Wooden Stars:
http://www.thewoodenstars.com
http://www.myspace.com/thewoodenstars

Wintersleep:
http://www.wintersleep.com
http://www.myspace.com/wintersleep