Kathleen Edwards- Garrick Centre September 29, 2012

When Kathleen Edwards postponed her show back in April I was sadly disappointed. I saw her at the Winnipeg Folk Festival a couple years back, but sitting in a large field far back from the stage isn't the experience I want to remember Kathleen Edwards by. A few weeks ago, there was a report that she suffered Anaphylactic shock from a wasp sting following a show in Windsor, but fortunately she recovered and didn't have to cancel or postpone any shows. Phew!

An opportunity to see her in a medium/small (indoor) venue, not as an opener, but as a headliner up-close is much more preferred. I probably have more live recordings from her than anyone else, except maybe Wilco and though I sound obsessed I don't feel a urgent need to see her live multiple multiple times. This show filled the bill, I stood dead centre on the floor with a good view of the stage and in the sweet spot for sound, so I was happy. Though I like to complain about the Garrick Centre as being a crappy venue, I must admit it has it's good points. The Garrick is a former movie theatre and it's hall is divided into two sections. The floor (closest to the stage) has had it's seats removed and since it was a theatre the floor slopes up away from the stage. If you can stand the feeling of leaning forward with your feet pushed to front of your shoes, you are treated to a good view because you are elevated on a incline. Beneficial for short people, like myself who have a hard time seeing when tall guys push their way in front of me. The second half of the venue is the seated area (think, movie theatre seating) with one aisle up the middle, usually for the older folks that don't want to stand or care to be close. The sound was better than other shows I've been to there, but it might have been my positioning and there were still signs of that boomy, "big hall sound" because the acoustics in this building are not suited for concerts.

Here are some other thoughts and observations about the concert (I do love point-form!):

• Interesting to see what type of crowd Kathleen Edwards draws. There seemed to be a lot of "white-hairs" in the crowd especially in the seated section. There wasn't any empty seats up there, while the floor was unusually sparse and not crowded. There was still a good number of college-age kids and middle-agers like me, but there were a lot of old people and the best way to describe it would be a "folk fest" type crowd...which is cool, of course!
• Before performing Human Touch (Bruce Springsteen cover) together, Jen Grant (opener) walked down the stairs from the back of the hall to the stage giving away copies of a book Kathleen had read and enjoyed called, Above All Things by Tanis Rideout. She got multiple copies from the writer and she was going to give some away during her shows, complete with a trivia question. Cross promotion...?
• Hockey Skates was performed with only Gord Tough and Jim Bryson on guitars. The trio is touring through the U.S. this month (including Fargo tonight).
• 8 of the 17 songs performed were from her latest album, Voyageur. Only one song from Back To Me (Back To Me) and four from Failer.
• During the first encore song, Sidecar, Kathleen and Jim Bryson performed unplugged with one mic for their vocals and 2 acoustic guitars. Though I wasn't standing too far from the stage, on the recording the sound is soft, so crank up the volume for that one song to hear it.

Overall the recording sounds fine and because I wasn't squeezed by people tightly around me, the crowd chatter isn't too bad. I took lots of photos, but as usual I took a lot of blurry ones so the clearest are the ones I'm posting. Generally Kathleen Edwards is cool with live taping so feel free to trade and share the show (NO selling!!). I'll probably post this on Dime soon, but I wanted to share it here first!
Enjoy!

KATHLEEN EDWARDS
Garrick Centre
Winnipeg, MB, Canada
September 29, 2012
Audience master

01. Empty Threat
02. Chameleon/Comedian
03. Asking For Flowers
04. I Make The Dough, You Get The Glory
05. House Full Of Empty Rooms
06. Goodnight, California
07. Going To Hell
08. Hockey Skates
09. Human Touch (w/Jen Grant)
10. Six O'Clock News
11. Back To Me
12. A Soft Place To Land
13. Change The Sheets
14. For The Record

Encore
15. Sidecar (w/Jim Bryson) "unplugged"
16. Mercury
17. 12 Bellevue

KATHLEEN EDWARDS- 2012-09-29 FLAC. rar

Sloan- Is That All I Get?...19 Years Later

 "It's very special night tonight because not only is it Patrick's birthday today, but 19 years ago on this very night, in this very room, I'm not even joking. We played and the show got made in a bootleg..." Chris Murphy announced before launching into the 4th song off Twice Removed, Coax Me. Yes, it was a special night especially if you're a Sloan fan that loved the album, Twice Removed because the band is touring across the country (and the U.S.) performing that album in it's entirety as well as a sampling from their other 9 albums. Since it seems to be trendy and in fashion to perform a whole record (more on that in future posts), the choice of Twice Removed is a clever and popular choice. Before the album was released in 1994, there was talk that their label, Geffen wanted the band to re-record the album citing creative differences in the sound of the record. As a result Geffen didn't promote the release and dropped the band, leaving Twice Removed unpromoted and unheard in many parts of the country. Similar to Wilco's, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot debacle, this album went on to become Sloan's most critically acclaimed record and after the commercial success of their next album, One Chord To Another, fans became aware of what a great record Twice Removed was.

Sloan played two sets, the first was the 12 songs from Twice Removed and the second set was the party set complete with smashing guitars, cake and a birthday singalong for Patrick Pentland's birthday. A couple days earlier on Facebook, the band sent out a request for used guitars (to smash) as a surprise for Patrick. Apparently during the show 19 years ago, Pentland smashed a guitar, so this time one by one band members smashed guitars (and a keytar) on the stage climaxing during their last song of the encore with Pentland destroying a green heavy metal-ish electric guitar (see the photos above and check the videos on the TDIT Facebook page).

Highlights include:

• The whole first set- What a great album, the songs flow nicely together in sequence and it's nice to hear deeper tracks that they might not perform much live. It's amazing how a band with 4 songwriters/singers can survive all these years without anyone leaving to do a solo album.
• Sound was somewhat decent considering the Pyramid always suffers from terrible sound. I stood close (just in front of the hanging PA speakers) and I had ringing in my ears days later. Towards the end of the show the sound seemed to get louder (and more painful) and during the last song the sound distorts even on my recording. I actually was surprised how good the recording came out considering.
• Epic show! The first and second sets added up to over 2 hours. This was my first Sloan show and I'll be back especially if they play One Chord To Another.

Lowlights include:

• "It's not the band I hate, it's their fans". Not all, but some are sure aggravating! The chatter around me was kept to a minimum and I didn't shoved around too much, but closer to the front some drunken idiots were tossed out for their efforts pushing and moving side to side, not up and down. Is anyone else annoyed with the amount of people that hold up their iPhones or Smartphones in the air to video and take photos? I don't mind when people put their arms in the air to take a couple of photos then go back to watching the show (I do this), but some fans had them waving in my face and the band's continually. At one point (during Unkind) Chris Murphy grabbed a girl's camera/phone or whatever that she kept shoving in his face and he finally batted it out of her hand to the ground. She was quickly escorted out. I've heard that at some shows people hold up their iPads to take photos and hi-def video...this is really getting out of hand!
• Did I mention my ears were ringing days later? Actually this is my own fault, standing too close. I think I'm getting too old for this. The price you pay to get some decent photos and a clear recording, but it was worth it!

 As I said earlier, the recording turned out better than I expected. The sound is balanced and the vocals are clearer than I remember. The recording sounds a little muffled in parts and that's from turning from being pushed or when I held my arms in the air over the mic to take photos. This would make a nice bootleg sequel to Is That All I Get (19 years later) in case the Sloan crew is interested, (but I'm sure they must have made a better recording). Let me know!
Enjoy!

SLOAN
Pyramid Cabaret
Winnipeg, MB, Canada
September 20, 2012
Audience Master

Set 1 (disc 1)- TWICE REMOVED
01. Penpals
02. I Hate My Generation
03. People Of The Sky
04. Coax Me
05. Bells On
06. Loosens
07. Worried Now
08. Shame Shame
09. Deeper Than Beauty
10. Snowsuit Sound
11. Before I Do
12. I Can Feel It

Set 2 (disc 2)
01. Everything You've Done Wrong
02. Who Taught You To Live Like That?
03. Rest Of My Life
04. Unkind
05. Beverly Terrace
06. Shadow Of Love
07. Emergency 911
08. She's Slowing Down Again
09. Something's Wrong
10. Traces
11. Fading Into Obscurity
12. Witch's Wand
13. Good In Everyone
14. The Other Man
15. Poor Boy
16. Money City Maniacs
17.
18. "Happy Birthday Patrick"
19. The Rest Of My Life
20. The Lines You Amend
21. If It Feels Good Do It

SLOAN- 2012-09-20 Winnipeg FLAC. rar (Disc 1)
SLOAN- 2012-09-20 Winnipeg FLAC. rar (Disc 2)

Ben Kweller- Live At The Hi-Fi, March 2, 2012

Photo by Katie Dutton

 Here's a great recording I found on Dime semi-recently from Ben Kweller during his Australian tour this past spring. This one is especially worth a listen because it was a FM broadcast so the sound quality and performance is amazing and the setlist is outstanding with songs from throughout his solo career, especially his earlier albums. The only downside is that the set is incomplete and edited down for radio which means there are at least 5 or 6 songs missing from the recording. Don't let this stop you, it's a nice sampling of Ben Kweller live in concert! If you're a fan, check out archive.com site for many more Ben Kweller live concert recordings.
Enjoy!

Ben Kweller
Hi Fi
Sydney, NSW, AUS
March 2, 2012
Source Info: FM>LPCM>WAV>FLAC [Sharp Tuner > Sony PCM-M10]
Mastering : Soundforge normalise > Audacity track split > Downsample to 16 bit.

Converter : Roman79

1. Mean to Me
2. I Need You Back,
3. The Rules,
4. My Apartment,
5. How Should it Be (Sha Sha),
6. Gossip,
7. Falling,
8. On My Way,
9. Sundress,
10. Jealous Girl,
11. Penny on the Train Track,
12. Commerce, TX,
13. Wasted and Ready.

BEN KWELLER- 2012-03-02, Sydney FM FLAC. rar

John K. Samson & The Provincial Band- Live At The West End Cultural Centre

John K returns to the bass for Propagandhi covers.

When tickets went on sale before Christmas for John K. Samson's concert, I anticipated the show would sell-out fast. Considering his band, the Weakerthans haven't played the city in over a year, fans of the band were probably anxious to hear new material from Samson, Weakerthans or not. Since last year, Samson has played some smaller solo gigs around the city, but this would be his first appearance in his hometown since releasing his first full length (not counting his first pre-Weakerthans solo tape) album, Provincial. Samson had earlier released two EP's, City Route 85 and Provincial Road 222, with 6 of the songs from those EP's re-recorded for the full length, as well as 6 new songs.

The show featured many tracks from the new disc, but still with about half the set dedicated to Weakerthans songs. If you've been to any recent Weakerthans shows (last 10 years or so) you might notice they don't perform many live covers. With a vast catalog of songs to choose from, they may feel it unnecessary to play other people's songs, so it was a bonus to hear John throw a couple of covers into the set. Technically, two of the songs were one's he wrote when he was in Propagandhi (Gifts and Anchorless) and Anchorless was re-recorded and appeared on the Weakerthans' first album. So, as I was saying it was refreshing to hear a cover, a Jawbreaker song, The Boat Dreams From The Hill, a band who Samson said he saw at the WECC "10 or 12 years ago" and was and still is a favourite band of his, definitely an influential band for Samson and the Weakerthans (note: Jawbreaker played the WECC in 1994, 18 years ago, did they play any other time here?). The show was even better than I anticipated, soft and slower songs showcased Samson's fine song craftsmanship and some upbeat, rockers with his band, The Provincial Band that kept it fun and interesting...great show!

I was pleased with the quality of the recording, a crisp, clear sounding document aided by a good sound mix (and acoustics) at the WECC. Because of the mixture of softer, slow songs with louder songs, I had to adjust the levels on the fly, something I don't like to do as it sometimes comes out sounding like the volume button is simply turned up and down, but I think it ended up sounding balanced and level. It's hot at the start of some louder songs, but overall it's a very satisfying listen. I was jammed packed in the middle of the crowd somewhat close to the stage and fortunately the crowd was polite with very little chatter intensely listening to every word, which is always good for tapers. So far, I haven't seen or heard any other recordings from this tour, so get this while you can!
Enjoy!!

JOHN K. SAMSON & THE PROVINCIAL BAND
West End Cultural Centre
Winnipeg, MB, Canada
March 27, 2012
Audience Master

Sony ECM-DS70P mic> Tascam DR-07> USB> 16 bit Wav>
Direct Wave MP3 splitter> FLAC> rar file

01. One Great City
02. Heart Of The Continent
03. Cruise Night
04. When I Write My Masters Thesis
05. Letter in Icelandic From The Ninette San
06. Tournament Of Hearts
07. Night Windows
08. Elegy For Gump Worsley
09. Pamphleteer
10. www.ipetitions.com/petition/rivertonrifle/
11. Longitudinal Centre
12. The Boat Dreams From The Hill (Jawbreaker cover)
13. The Last And
14. Highway 1 West
15. Left And Leaving
Encore 1
16. Plea From A Cat Named Virtute
17. Gifts (Propagandhi cover)
18. Anchorless (Propagandhi cover)
19. Reconstruction Site
Encore 2
20. The Reasons
21. Virtute The Cat Explains Her Departure (solo at front of stage-no PA)

Please DO NOT sell this recording or convert to mp3's (unless for personal use) without permission. Thanks.

JOHN K. SAMSON- 2012-03-27 Winnipeg FLAC. rar