Better late than never!
Nick Lowe is a performer I had on my "must-see live" before I die list for a long while and had almost gave up hope thinking my only opportunity to see him might include a long car ride or flight to another city. Imagine my surprise when it was announced he would partake on a short tour of Canada with fellow song-smith, Ron Sexsmith. It's funny because I over-heard a guy seated a row behind me telling someone he drove in for the concert from Minneapolis and he had see Lowe many time previously, ha imagine that, Winnipeg has something worth visiting for!
Anyways, both sets were solo acoustic, which meant it wasn't going to be a rowdy earplugs show or standing throughout. Ron Sexsmith played a solid set with songs from his long (though not nearly as long as Nick!) and respectable career and it's interesting how many songs he's had covered by other artists, Emmylou Harris, Feist, and Nick Lowe to just name a few he played. I've seen Sexsmith before and though he isn't the most exciting performer, he is sincere and he writes some pretty nice songs. Nick was his usual charming self, an interesting and funny storyteller and a pure joy to listen to. I have joined the ranks of the "easy listening" crowd with their polite applause, cushy seats and opportunity for a night out, I felt right at home with an audience where I'm not the oldest in the room. Lowe's set was fairly quiet (you can hear a pin drop during songs), but things started to get more upbeat when Nick brought Ron onto the stage to join him for the latter section of the show for the last five songs. The highlights for me, were the older "hits", Cruel To Be Kind, I Knew The Bride and the show closer, What's So Funny 'Bout (Peace, Love and Understanding) with Ron playing some surprisingly tasty leads on guitar. A thoroughly low-key concert, I'm glad I bought a ticket for. Since I'm been trying to live on a low budget (except my stupidly expensive Jets tickets!), I'm more selective on concerts I can afford or want to pay for. I feel kind bad I missed the Violent Femmes last month, but my rationale for buying Nick Lowe over VFs is because I haven't seen him (I saw the VFs once) and tickets were reasonably priced. Interesting to note, I actually bought a first row in the middle (balcony) seat the day after tickets went on sale. There were lots of empty seats in the first balcony, only the first three rows were filled and some scattered in the lower-priced upper section. Clearly, this wasn't a top draw as there was a 25% off sale in the weeks leading up to the show.
The opportunity to tape (record) the show was too good to pass up. Getting through security was a breeze, as there was no airport style-metal detectors, bag checks, wanding or pat-downs, as it was anticipated to be tame crowd. My seats were perfect, unobstructed view and no one in front of me to block the sound. Extra bonus was that the couple to the left of me didn't return after the intermission, so I was able to get some extra armrest action and no worries about them talking. Talking was to the minimum, so it was ideal. I always worry that security would get excited with audio recorders, but seriously, so many people pull out their phones constantly taking photos and recording videos. In fact three seats over from me someone recorded almost the whole show on their phone. There was a ledge in front of us, but they still had to lean it and hold it sturdy for over an hour. That's more work than I'd be committed to. Good for them, hope the video turned out good. The sound quality is pretty decent, my only regret was I should have set the volume levels higher, as it was a quiet show, so of course the audience applause is so much louder than the music. I considered boosting the volume with Audacity, but I didn't want the crowd to clip too loudly or use compression which might have altered the sound. The first song is too quiet, but I increased the levels for the rest of the recording and sounds nice. I didn't record Ron's opening set because of a post from one of his earlier shows that got removed by the request of someone from his camp (if you want to hear that show, PM me), so I don't need the potential hassle. Anyways, enough technical jargon...listen to the concert!
Enjoy!
Please do NOT sell or profit from this recording!
Do NOT convert to lossy formats, except for personal use.
Please share!
NICK LOWE
Burton Cummings Theatre
Winnipeg, MB, Canada
June 15, 2024
AUD Master
Sony ECM-DS70P mic> Tascam DR-07> SD card > 16 bit Wav>
Direct Wave MP3 splitter> FLAC
01. Stoplight Roses
02. 12 Step Program
03. Long Limbed Girl
04. Lately I've Let Things Slide
05. I Live On A Battlefield
06. Rome Wasn't Built In A Day
07. Lay It On Me Baby
08. Heartbreaker (Bee Gees cover)
09. Somebody Cares For Me
10. Love Starvation
11. The Beast In Me
12. Trombone
13. Indian Queens
14. Without Love
15. Where's My Everything? *
16. Cruel To Be Kind *
17. I Knew The Bride (When She Used To Rock 'n' Roll) *
Encore
18. My Baby's Gone (Louvin Brothers cover) *
19. (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love And Understanding *
* With Ron Sexsmith
Burton Cummings Theatre
Winnipeg, MB, Canada
June 15, 2024
AUD Master
Sony ECM-DS70P mic> Tascam DR-07> SD card > 16 bit Wav>
Direct Wave MP3 splitter> FLAC
01. Stoplight Roses
02. 12 Step Program
03. Long Limbed Girl
04. Lately I've Let Things Slide
05. I Live On A Battlefield
06. Rome Wasn't Built In A Day
07. Lay It On Me Baby
08. Heartbreaker (Bee Gees cover)
09. Somebody Cares For Me
10. Love Starvation
11. The Beast In Me
12. Trombone
13. Indian Queens
14. Without Love
15. Where's My Everything? *
16. Cruel To Be Kind *
17. I Knew The Bride (When She Used To Rock 'n' Roll) *
Encore
18. My Baby's Gone (Louvin Brothers cover) *
19. (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love And Understanding *
* With Ron Sexsmith
