There's really no point in me rambling on about how great "In The Aeroplane Over The Sea" is, everyone with ears agrees that its great. The Silver Jews lyric "All my favourite singers couldn't sing" has never been more true than in the case of Jeff Mangum, in a way at least. His voice is awesome but he wouldn't get through the first round of Pop Idol that's for sure. He does some awesome wailing on this recording!
This is the LAST EVER Neutral Milk Hotel gig, it's not the full band it's mainly just Jeff with a bit from Laura Carter. The gig was advertised as "World of Wild Beards Incorporated" but is all NMH songs and a John Lennon cover. The sound quality is excellent so get downloading...
February 4, 2001 King's Arms, Auckland, New Zealand
01. Two-Headed Boy 02. I Love How You Love Me 03. Song Against Sex 04. King of Carrot Flowers Pt. 1 05. King of Carrot Flowers Pts. 2 & 3 06. Everything Is 07. Gardenhead / Leave Me Alone 08. Ghost 09. Oh Comely 10. Engine 11. In The Aeroplane Over The Sea 12. World of Wild Beards explanation 13. Mother (John Lennon cover)
Well, I was gonna upload this but did a quick search and someone else already has it on their blog so I'll just link you to there. Richard & Linda Thompson recorded a bunch of albums together back in the olden days, my two faves are "I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight" and "Shoot Out The Lights", for some reason I can't really get into their other albums...
This bootleg is from the "Shoot Out..." sessions recorded by Gerry Rafferty and later discarded by the duo. It's a must have for any Thompson fans but if you aren't familiar with their work then first slap yourself in the face then get the two albums I mentioned above before downloading this.
I'm gonna be shooting photos for Pitchfork at The Green Man Festival this year, Richard is playing and I can't wait to see him, more than anyone else on the bill. Richard Thompson also did the music for the Werner Herzog Documentary called "Grizzly Man", there is an awesome doc on the DVD of the recording sessions where you get to see Thompson at work, it kicks ass.
1. Don't Renege on Our Love 2. Back Street Slide 3. Walking on a Wire 4. The Wrong Heartbeat 5. Shoot Out the Lights 6. For Shame of Doing Wrong 7. I'm a Dreamer 8. Modern Woman 9. Just the Motion 10. Wall of Death 11. Lucky in Life 12. How Many Times Do You Have to Fall? 13. Poor Will and the Jolly Hangman 14. Wall of Death 15. Sword Dance/Young Black Cow 16. I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight
Ooooooooooooh! A Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band Live at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff - 14.05.08 recording for you, aren't you the lucky one???
You have no idea how excited I was about this gig, for, like, months, 'n', shit, the day before I was bubbling like that pink slime in one of the Ghostbusters films, it was insane, I've not been so excited since that one time when. The day of the gig I was gonna catch the 13:30 train up there and queue to make sure I got near the front but instead I bought a bottle of vodka, two cartons of orange juice and a plastic picnic cup and met up with 'the boys' to make the pilgrimage to smelly Cardiff.
We got up there and the city was heaving with Boss fans, at least I think they were, it was hard to tell with the amount of light being reflected off all the old dudes heads... We headed to Wetherspoons where I polished off what was left of my vodka then battling the immense pain in my chest rushed to the toilet and sicked it all back up again. We got wind of a special "Born in the USA" cocktail at a place across town, word on the street was that it was layered red, white and blue and a must have on this special day. As you can see from the photo below it wasn't red, white and blue at all, it was pissy yellow but fortunately it tasted a little bit like heaven so not all was lost.
Following that I had a "Sex and the City" (I think) before we left and I bought up another bottle of vodka, do you see what's happening here? I was so excited I was inadvertently getting absolutely hammertimed!
After hiding my recorder and vodka in my pants (I assume I did this cause they weren't in my bag when the security checked) we got to the stadium about 7ish. I bought 2 bottles of pop and left the gang to buy myself one of the awesome "Tramps like us baby we were born to run" t-shirts, split from the pack, hammered and with no idea what was going on I was now alone, this was the beginning of the end.
I don't remember Bruce and co taking to the stage or leaving the stage or much in between, I have a faint recollection of part of Thunder Road but that's it. MAN, I AM SO PISSED OFF! At some point I realised I'd lost my hat and I think that was the last straw, the other straws being the tens of thousands of pathetic middle aged losers standing around stroking their bloody chins. If The Boss has preached any message of the years it's not to sit back and rot but to get off your arse and make something of your life, being surrounded by so many so called "fans" that have neglected to heed the word of their 55 quid a ticket hero pushed me over the edge. I remember going for a piss and just looking out over all the people and just losing the will to live so I sat in one of the seats on the side and just started crying.
It's a horrible thing to be surrounded by something like 60 THOUSAND people and feeling so alone that there is nothing worth living for, I think I started texting desperately at this point (sorry to whoever got one or many!) and then just put my head in my hands and wept, I don't know how long this lasted but I'm pretty sure it was a long, long time. This depression is doing it's best to kick my ass but I have a secret weapon, and I'll be going to the doctor on Monday for a prescription. I once managed 3 months without meds and this time I've managed the massive, wait for it, ONE MONTH before losing it completely. Bruce's music has never been about rocking out to me anyway, its about sadness and misery and whether I remember any of it or not that night I was extremely sad and really fucking miserable.
That's enough about me, just check out this setlist! I'm so pissed (pardon the pun) that I don't remember it cause it's just incredible! I have put an asterisk next to all the ones I'd have killed to hear. The download links are at the end, note that it is split into 2 separate downloads due to its size so download both parts from different links to save yourself time.
01. Intro 02. From Small Things (Big Things One Day Come) 03. 10th Avenue Freeze-Out 04. Radio Nowhere 05. No Surrender * 06. Lonesome Day 07. Promised Land * 08. Danny Story 09. Blinded By The light * 10. Magic 11. Atlantic City * 12. The River * 13. Gypsy Biker 14. Darlington County * 15. Because The Night * 16. She's The One 17. Livin In The Future 18. Mary's Place 19. Working On The Highway * 20. Devils Arcade 21. The Rising * 22. Last To Die 23. Long Walk Home 24. Badlands * 25. Outro 26. Intro 27. Jungleland * 28. Tribute To Tim Russert 29. Thunder Road * 30. Born To Run * 31. Rosalita * 32. American land 33. Applause & Thank You
(I DON'T KNOW WHO RECORDED THIS, SOMETHING WENT TITS UP WITH MY RECORDER AND NOTHING WAS ON THE CARD, I FOUND THIS ON SOULSEEK, IF ITS YOURS AND YOU WANT ME TO REMOVE IT THEN CHILLAX YO)
Remember to buy stuff from Amazon using the links below cause I get a cut and I need a cut, I promise I won't spend it on vodka, my lesson has been learned!
I usually have some kind of sexy story to accompany my downloads but I don't think I have any exciting Leonard Cohen stories, Lenny isn't the sexiest man around after all. This is a really cool bootleg from 1988 at the Philharmonie, Köln. I think it's a soundboard, the quality is top notch and you get a real sense of the venue too from the acoustics. A lot of the songs feature an extra bit of 80's pazazz in the form of synths and a bit of cheese, but don't worry it great!
Ooh! I remembered a sexy story! I have got a Songs of Love and Hate book containing all the sheet music, if anyone wants me to scan and upload the pages hit me in the comments, make sure you are logged in and not anon. cause I won't be able to contact you otherwise! (UPDATE, I'VE UPLOADED IT: CLICK HERE)
Now for the recording, here's the setlist:
1. Bird On The Wire
2. Hey, That's No Way To Say Goodbye
3. Who By Fire
4. Ain't No Cure For Love
5. Dance Me To The End Of Love
6. The Law
7. Heart With No Companion
8. I'm Your Man
9. Coming Back To You
10. First We Take Manhattan
11. Avalanche - solo
12. Chelsea Hotel #2 - solo
13. The Stranger Song - solo
14. Tower Of Song
15. I Can't Forget
16. One Of Us Cannot Be Wrong
17. Everybody Knows
18. Hallelujah
19. Suzanne
20. Sisters Of Mercy
21. There Is A War 22. Introductions
23. Take This Waltz
24. Passin' Through
25. I Tried To Leave You
26. The Law
27. The Law
28. Bird On The Wire
29. First We Take Manhattan
-MISSING SONGS-
30. Avalanche
31. Tower Of Song (instrumental)
As always I've uploaded with sharebee.com so you have four download options, this is a big download that I've had to split into two parts, you can download each part from a different site, do that or you'll be waiting all day...
Come one, come all to the Casiotone for the Painfully Alone MEGAPOST! I've got all bases covered here: an interview to read, photos to look at and a live recording to listen to, dare I say that this is the best CFTPA blog post in the history of geekery?
First up is an e-mail interview with the man himself, Mr. Owen Ashworth...
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THE PRETENTIOUS QUESTION If I was going to compare your early albums to a film movement I would say they were kind of like Dogme 95, very much a small operation, constrained by a self imposed set of aesthetic guidelines. What film movement would you compare your more recent, wider sound to and why?
I cannot answer this question honestly and still feel okay about myself.
THE PITCHFORK QUESTION (THE TWOHEADEDBOY QUESTION) Actually, I don't know enough big, silly words to create a question that requires a dictionary to decipher. If you had two heads, what kind of personality would your conjoined twin have?
I would hope that he would be a pretty cool guy who was interested in seeing the same films and wanted to sleep when I wanted to sleep. Oh my God I completely assumed that my conjoined twin would be a dude. How chauvinistic.
THE PERSONAL QUESTION There is a kind of sombre, almost moribund thing going on in a lot of your songs, although they aren't really depressing they have that feeling about them. Have you experienced depression and do you use your music as a way to get it out?
I have certainly experienced depression, although I wouldn't consider myself to be a depressed person. I'm not convinced that depression is a driving force behind my songwriting, though. My mom listened to a lot of Willie Nelson and Otis Redding and stuff when I was growing up, and I think my tastes formed very early. I have always just preferred sad songs. Those were always the kinds of songs that I was interested in writing because those were always the kinds of songs that I was interested in listening to.
THE "WHO ARE YOUR INFLUENCES?" QUESTION Your music doesn't really sound like anyone else's to me, are you influenced by other bands or by something else entirely? (Sub-questions) - Who are your all time favourite bands? - Any new bands you really like?
I think the Stax Records house band, MGs, are maybe my favorite band ever. Also, the band that backed up Neil Young on Harvest. I think they were called the Stray Gators. I would love to own both of those bands like baseball franchises.
The Sly & The Family Stone albums There's a Riot Goin' On and Fresh, The Geto Boys' "Mind Playing Tricks On Me," The Magnetic Fields' early albums, Vince Guaraldi's music for the Peanuts Christmas Special, The Carter Family, Smog, Willie Nelson, Otis Redding, Young Marble Giants, Suicide, The Shangri-La's, and Bruce Springsteen have been huge inspirations at different times.
The Donkeys from San Diego are like the MGs and the Stray Gators of the 21st century. Like baby stray gator mg's.
THE BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN QUESTION I love your cover of Philadelphia, in fact, I like it more than the original. I find The Boss is a good way to distinguish between true music lovers and people that are in it for the looks, you have passed the true music lover test with flying colours! What are your favourite Springsteen albums / songs and what would you say to get people to realise that he is the man?
I actually really like a lot of the new album, Magic. I think "Girls In Their Summer Clothes" is particularly lovely. The three classic Springsteen tapes that have been played and played and warped over time in my car stereo are Born In the USA, Nebraska, and a greatest hits collection that I bought used at an Anacortes book store for $2 five years ago. It seems like Nebraska is always the record that converts the non-believers. The low-tech production values are less jarring to jaded "punk" sensibilities. I've heard a few people ask "Wait, are all of his songs this good?" after listening to Nebraska for the first time.
THE QUESTION OUT OF NOWHERE What motivates you to maintain such a killer beard? Is it a psychologic mask against the modern world? Is it for the chicks? Is it just to keep your chin warm?
I find it much easier to have a beard than to not have a beard. It actually requires work to not have a beard. I'm following the path of least resistance.
THE TECH GEEK QUESTION I'm a Mac geek, other people are guitar geeks, some, God forbid, are even mobile phone geeks. What is your favourite equipment? (computer, software, instruments, pens, paper) (Sub question) Can you play a bunch of instruments, or are you a keyboard and computer specialist?
I like my Korg EM-1 drum machine a lot. It's great for writing and sketching out ideas. All of the drum machine sounding sounds on Etiquette came from that machine. I use a lot of Korg stuff, actually. I have two different Korg samplers that I bounce sounds between. Lately everything has been going through a Fender Twin Reverb amp.
I've played bass and drums in other bands, but I mostly stick to keyboards these days. I don't really use computers to make music. I prefer keyboards and modules and amps.
THE LAST QUESTION ABOUT UPCOMING RELEASES (HOPEFULLY CONTAINING SOME EXCLUSIVE, NEVER BEFORE READ INFO) What are you working on at the mo? Can we expect a new album any time soon and if so, will you be expanding your use of analogue instrumentation even further? Any new song titles you'd like to tease us with?
I just finished working on the music for Laurel Nakadate's movie Stay The Same Never Change. That kept me really busy for a long time. I'll be away on tours for the next few months, but when I get home, I'll get back to work on the next album, which is about half done. I consider it bad luck to discuss the specifics of creative projects before they are finished. I generally don't even like playing new songs live before the records are finished. I'm keeping all of the song titles to myself for now. I can tell you that there will be some pianos and drums and organs as well as some electronics and samples. So, far, this is my favorite sounding Casiotone record.
~
Sooooooooo, after walking around in the rain for well over 30 mins I found the magical hidden venue that is Tommy's Bar in Cardiff, the place to be for dweebs, scruffs, indie kids, nerds, Lisa and her buds and me tonight (actually last night and a few hours ago). I'll get the boring stuff out of the way: there was always the chance that I'd miss the last train home and I did, a million thanks go out to Lisa for giving me an old style very comfy blanket and some "middle-class squash", a rare taste of the high life for me! There were some good support bands, especially The Voluntary Butler Scheme which is one guy who played guitar, uke, kazoo, keyboard, drum, cymbal, tambourine and bells all by himself, check him out...
Watching Owen at work was a real treat, I'd assumed that he made his music with a computer but he's all about the knobs, knobs and buttons and sliders, it was amazing. There are a bunch of live videos on youtube but it's really not the same, I know nothing about making music but one can't help but be knocked over by seeing a dude twiddling and pressing and sliding things resulting in all these incredible electronic noises that sound just like the albums, I tell you he doesn't keep still for a second, he was sweating like a pig (sorry Miss Piggy) by the middle of the set. He was joined on stage by Jenny Herbinson for a good few songs, Scattered Pearls wouldn't have been the same without her, that's fo sho. I won't ramble on about the songs cause you can listen to them and make your own mind up, lets just say that he played all the ones I wanted and even threw in Graceland at the end when someone asked for it, what a bloody thoroughly good chap!
I thought I'd taken some killer shots but they aren't all that really, deffo worth checking out though (click photo to go forward, hover over the bottom to see thumbnails)...
~
The recording is pretty bloody good, the sound is great, the songs are great, everything is great, the setlist is great, great.
Cold White Christmas
Nashville Parthenon
White On White
Streets Of Philadelphia
Scattered Pearls
White Corolla
Ice Cream Truck
Old Panda Days
Love Connection
Casiotone For The Painfully Alone In A Green Cotton Sweater
Bobby Malone Moves Home
New Years Kiss
Young Shields
Calloused Fingers Won't Make You Strong, Edith Wong
THE FALL! THE FALL! THE FALL-AH! BOOTLEG! BOOTLEG! BOOTLEG-AH! DOWNLOAD! DOWNLOAD! DOWNLOAD-AH! I got into The Fall completely by accident, I had a couple of albums on my iPod and during a bus trip of madness set the thing to random and Powder Keg came on, a few weeks later they played Newcastle and I went to see them, that night Mark E. Smith slipped on the ice and broke his hip (or leg or something), not one to be easily beaten he played the rest of the tour in a wheelchair. That was a few years ago, since then they have become possibly my favourite "band" (see...). After a rumoured gig in Swansea that never materialised and a cancelled gig in Cardiff I finally got to see them again a few days ago. Ive pretty much listened to them for about 42hrs a day every day for a couple of months waiting for the potentially diabolical live performance (also I e-mailed their manager and he said I could probably shoot some promo photos of them, but that didn't happen so we won't mention it again, WILL WE?!).
The gig was pretty cool, I think I was waaaaaay to excited for it to live up to my expectations. There isn't really much I can say, its The Fall innit, MES was his usual self, twiddling knobs, dismantling drum kits, pressing keys, getting tangled up in mic cables, rummaging through papers, completely ignoring the audience, facing the back wall, everything that we love about the guy. I was front row, slap bang middle of the stage and for much of the gig was close enough to actually bite Mark right on the winky, but that would've been really flipping mental. The highlight was when he pulled his mic cable which made a mic stand fall over and hit me right in the throat, the low point was when the bloody Sunday curfew prevented them from playing Blindness, a song I've REALLY wanted to hear live for a couple of years! They did play Wings which made up for it I suppose...
I went backstage and met MES after the gig and asked him to sign my Fall lyric book, I asked him to put "I'm better than them and I think I'm the best", he didn't seem to know it was one of his lyrics and instead put "from Alan's friends", he was pretty mean, his wife seemed very nice though.
Sounds like hick wap huh? Sounds like a load of mick wap ha? Over. Over. Over. Over.
Buy The Fall albums on Amazon, the Boxing Duck! gets a percentage of whatever you spend so get your hands in your pockets!
In celebration of the release of the new album by The Magnetic Fields called Distortion today I have a present for you. For free you can download a full gig they played in Manchester a few years back.
I was gonna write a bit of a thing about how my life completely changed during "All the Umbrellas in London" but I'm way to flucking depressed today to make the effort. Earlier I was thinking how I've kind of talked about being all depressed 'n' shit on this blog along with posting cool music and I thought that its a good thing and I'd use this as a sort of 'dear diary, i hate myself, check out the song' kind of thing, but I'm too depressed to do it today, typical.
For you I have the 30.10.04 show from The Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. They were on for 1hr45mins and I cried for 1hr15mins and my life was changed forever during that time as I said.
Here's the tracklisting: I Was Born I Don't Believe In The Sun A Chicken With It's Head Cut Off I Looked All Over Town Come Back From San Francisco I Don't Really Love You Anymore All The Umbrellas In London If You Don't Cry Born On A Train I Wish I Had An Evil Twin I Don't Believe You Suddenly There Is A Tidal Wave All My Little Words Strange Powers I Thought You My Boyfriend A Pretty Girl Is Like... Swinging London Smoke And Mirrors The Book Of Love Reno Dakota If There's Such A Thing As Love Papa Was A Rodeo All I Want To Know It's Only Time Yeah! Oh Yeah! I Die
I warn you that you can hear the MD recorder spinning for a second a few times and that I've chopped it down to just the songs cause they talk for ages between songs and it was too quiet to hear on the recording.
I also have another recording from when the 2nd 6ths album came out which has some guest singers on and the two night full run through of 69 Love Songs at The Lyric. If you wan't me to upload them leave a comment.
Buy The Magnetic Fields albums on Amazon, the Boxing Duck! gets a percentage of whatever you spend so get your hands in your pockets!
A good way to get people to your music blog is by putting cool buzz words like photos, download, bootleg, exclusive, MP3, Rapidshare and free in the first paragraph. Adding the name of a hip-to-the-groove musician such as Jens Lekman helps too as does the venue name, a venue such as Sacred Trinity Church in Salford, Manchester, the date isn't going to do any harm either: 27th November 2007.
I've started going to gigs in Manchester cause London is a dirty shithole, I'm not sure that it's such a good idea cause both times I've been I've been robbed. The first time some bastard swiped my dirty socks out of my shoes as I slept in the hostel and this time some German dude pre-stole my flimsy pillow before I got back from the gig. I told reception, hoping for a new pillow from a cupboard, but they insisted on coming up to the room with a torch to find out exactly who the thief was! I'm lucky my throat wasn't slashed as I slept, luckily the spineless Germans just pretended to be asleep as he shone his torch right in their faces and then packed up and left without a word in the morning.
The gig was obviously radical, there's not much you can complain about when one of your favourite singers is playing in a tiny church with no stage and you are literally two feet away from them; however, I'm an awkward bastard and I do have something to complain about. There was this dude sat off to my left that kept looking at me all the way through, he pissed me right off, he had one of those rubbish faces that you just wanna bash, you know the kind, it's pretentious, hamster-like and on top sits shit hair like that of Arnold Rimmer. Forget putting your arms around me, I could've put my hands around his neck and flung him right through the stained glass window. You know who you are and if you are reading this get the hell of my blog and don't come back, prick. I hate these stuck up music snob wannabes, the place was crawling with weenie, indie kids in their grandad's piss-stained jumpers and crap shoes. Music ain't about corduroys you crazee kids, and it ain't about vinyl either, its about songs, songs, songs, songs, songs, songs, songs, songs, songs, songs. One day soon the useless NHS will actually hook me up with the psychotheraphy they've been promising me for 3 years and then I may be able to forgive you idiots. Maybe. Not.
It was all dark in the place, with it being a house of God and all that, Holy Communion obviously isn't bringing in enough beans to cough up for some lights so I had to shoot on 32-bloody-hundred. The photos below suck ass, if you wanna see better pixtures of other stuff then click on the link for the whole set and go see my other flickr sets.
As I am such a generous bootlegger may I present to you a recording of the full gig in the much better than vinyl format known as MP3. Here is the setlist:
You in my Arms Sipping on the Sweet Nectar A Postcard To Nina It Was a Strange Time in My Life You Are the Light (By Which I Travel Into This and That) I Saw Her at the Anti War Demonstration Kanske Är Jag Kär I Dig A Sweet Summers Night On Hammer Hill The Cold Swedish Winter Shirin I Am Leaving You Because I Don't Love You The Opposite of Hallelujah Friday Night at the Drive-In Bingo Black Cab Pocketful Of Money A Little Lost Tram #7 To Heaven
Use any of the download links below to get your grubby little mitts on this super duper bootleg:
Stephin Merritt is one of the great loves of my life, he has produced consistently incredible music for over 15 years. As well has his own name he has recorded under the monikers The Magnetic Fields, The 6ths, Future Bible Heroes and The Gothic Archies, all of which are awesome (leave FBH till last though! :-s). People throw the word 'genius' around willy-nillily, I'm not one of those idiots, I reserve the term for dudes that kick some serious ass, if you like to listen to the saddest, catchiest, most perfectly formed pop songs on earth then Stephin is gonna open a can of whoop-ass on yo ass. Seriously, this guy is a genius, his music is a work of genius; when I met my girlfriend I made her a compilation of his music and labelled the cd "Stephin Merritt: Gay Genius", she listened to it and told me that she cried her eyes out all the way through and refuses to listen to him and always insists that I turn him off, thats the kind of genius we are dealing with!
He recently recorded a song called 'A Man of a Million Faces' in two days for NPR, from their site: "The challenge: Write and record a song — in two days. (We provide the studio and the inspiration.)". Go to NPR's website now to watch a 10 minute video of Stephin writing and recording the song from start to end, yessssssss.
To make sure your ears don't feel left out here's an MP3 for y'all too, back in my deepest, darkest, most disgusting pit of depression I cried more tears to this song that you have had hot dinners, get a box of tissues now y'hear?
When I was in school I was a bit of a 'wigga', I was all over the latest Biggie Smalls album like a big fat rash, maaaaan that was a good summer listening to The Pharcyde and reading The Hobbit at the same time. When I was 17 I started listening to more respectable music and by 18 it's safe to say that my days were spent listening to Joy Division and Nick Cave and my nights were spent listening to Joy Division and Nick Cave. I got to see Nick live in Liverpool on one of his solo tours, it was pretty flipping cool, if only I'd heard The Birthday Party before then I would have appreciated piano versions of Wild World and Dead Joe a lot more. In 2001 And No More Shall We Part came out, I thought it was pretty sucky, but seeing as I now loved The Birthday Party and every other album by 'ol Nick I went to see him three times in a single week, pretty obsessive behavior, I booked my tickets, one for Manchester and two for Brixton Academy.
The first London gig was good, the second was even better but neither was as awesome as Manchester a few days before. Although I was now twenty Joy Division was still high on my list of fave bands so when in Manchester I went to visit Ian Curtis' grave, it was pretty special. I got to The Academy and there was no queue so decided to hang out round the back by the tour buses, I got a glimpse of Blixa getting into a taxi and nearly had a heart attack, then spotted Warren Ellis, he looked like a tramp. Ages later Thomas Wydler came out of the bus, he looked in the reflective glass and combed his hair, he was meticulous, he then turned to walk, took a massive sniff and gobbed all over the pavement, it was soooo cool! Me and a few other obsessives went over and asked him if Nick was in the bus, in his strong German accent he said "vait and you vill see". A bit later the door opened and he came out, Jesus Christ walked out of the navy coloured tour bus and I jumped to my feet and practically ran at him (smoooooth!). It was a weird experience, he signed a piece of paper for me then even posed for a picture, I put my arm on his shoulder pad and felt a little bit gay for a moment. I couldn't believe how small he seemed, I was convinced he was the same height and build as me, not the imposing beast I'd read about for years. When I got the photos back it was obvious that I'd clearly lost my mind as his head is as big a small car and I look like a six year old next to him. I look disgusting, all smiley and vile, and no that is not a bloody tie, its a reflector on my coat!
The day couldn't really get much better but if you've ever seen Nick live you'd know that it did get better, the gig that night is probably the best gig I've ever been to. He was on top venomous form, he flew about the stage like a bat, towered over the crowd like a spindly, dead tree and he even pointed at me (at least I'm going to believe it was me). The set was a healthy mix of old stuff and tracks off the new album, I actually left that night loving the new songs, I can't believe I ever doubted And No More Shall We Part cause its great; I will never feel the same way about anything after Nocturama though cause that stuff is just wack. I recorded the show that night, it's no soundboard quality but it really captures energy and essence of the night, The Mercy Seat was just out of this world, building up to a crescendo (is that the word?) that had me thinking my ears would explode in two fountains of hot blood. The other standouts for me were Oh My Lord, Red Right Hand, John Finn's Wife and The Curse of Millhaven.
Check out the setlist then have a listen to a sample track or just go ahead and download the whole bootleg in a zip file. (Please note that I took this off the minidisc years ago and have cut out the chat and clapping between songs cause I wasn't interested in that shit back then)
Manchester Academy, Manchester, 02/05/2001 As I Sat Sadly By Her Side Oh My Lord (MP3) The Boatman Calls Red Right Hand We Came Along This Road Henry Lee Do You Love Me? God Is In The House Hallelujah Fifteen Feet Of Pure White Snow John Finn's Wife The Weeping Song The Mercy Seat And No More Shall We Part The Ship Song The Curse Of Millhaven
Download all songs: Zip (no need to sign up for free membership!)
p.s Back in 2001 I set up a trade for this recording with someone on a Nick Cave forum, you sent me my tapes but I never sent yours, this was due to depression taking my life, job and internet connection for the first time, I still have your tapes if you want them :-p
(Update: adding DIG, LAZARUS, DIG!!! download in words only to come up in searches, pretty sneaky! If you are actually looking to download the 2008 album you'll have to look elsewhere).
Buy Nick Cave albums on Amazon, the Boxing Duck! gets a percentage of whatever you spend so get your hands in your pockets!
Before the gig I was taken Daniel's dressing room, pretty quickly I noticed that he was really quiet compared to the supports who were also in the room, they were all having a good time and Daniel was just sat, hunched, chain smoking and drinking coke, he didn't even lift his head.
After the supports left to go on stage I said hello to him and said that his brother said I could take some photos and he just went "uh-huh", didn't look up, I asked him how ATP went and he said "uh-huh", I asked if he minded me taking some photos and he said "uh-huh", not once lifting his head. I gave him a set of comic badges I'd bought for him with "pow" and "zapp" and stuff on them, he said he really liked them and right away just zoned out again. I snapped one pic of his reflection in the mirror and left him to his thoughts.
I spoke to his brother upstairs who said he was ok during soundcheck but had just gone out of it. He said that he ended up playing both days at ATP and an outdoor show as well and that he'd had a really good time. He said he'd probably be in better spirits after the gig so I decided to leave him to it until then.
During the gig he was on top form, he was joking, smiling and seemed really happy. I went backstage right after the gig and he was sat back in his chair same as earlier smoking and drinking coke again, he was pretty untalkative to the supports (who played with him on most of the set), then he went outside for a smoke and was out there a good 10mins, he came back in, hunched into his chair and continued smoking.
Badly Drawn Boy (Daniel had no idea who he was) came in to the dressing room, I can't remember why but daniel said he wanted to get on a major label again and record in the big studios, and that he wanted to be famous, within the next 10 mins BDB bragged about being "the most famous musician from Manchester", being "a millionaire", recording a big budget video in london the next day and (laughably) said "I'm the best songwriter I know". He was 'joking' about all this stuff of course but he very obviously believed what he was saying! A very insensitive choice of things to talk about if you ask me. Daniel seemed to sit silently for AGES before answering people at times, there was this great example where BDB asked him if he wanted to release an EP on his label, there must have been a 30sec pause before Daniel looked up, really animated, and went into this big thing about how in movies and comics you can do things that would be dangerous in real life and thats why he likes them so much, then he just slumped down again. BDB was all "I play shows and I say my fave musicians are Bobby Conn, Wesley Willis and Daniel Johnston and nobody knows who they are" obviously pulling out the most obscure dudes he knew to appear cool, so I said to him "but you're a big Springsteen fan, people have heard of him". Daniel said he was a big fan too and that he'd seen him 3 times, BDB of course was better than that, he'd seen him 30 times and actually played with him 5 weeks ago. He was such a twit! His girlfriend made him leave and on the way out the door he went "ahhhhh" like he'd just met a disabled child in a hospital. That really annoyed me cause Daniel very probably heard.
By this point I thought Daniel had had enough hassle for one night so i asked him to do me a drawing and right away he came alive, he asked me what I'd been up to, I said that I'd just been working to which he replied "working is a real drag, I havent worked since 1986, I used to work in Mcdonalds" he gave me my drawing and right away zoned out again. I packed up my gear and said that I liked his full band, studio recorded albums and the direction he was moving in but all I got was "uh-huh" so I said my goodbyes and went on my merry way...
It was not the great meeting with a musical genius that I was hoping for BUT it was certainly a really intimate peak into his life and something I will never forget.
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The first London gig was good, the second was even better but neither was as awesome as Manchester a few days before. Although I was now twenty Joy Division was still high on my list of fave bands so when in Manchester I went to visit 
The day couldn't really get much better but if you've ever seen Nick live you'd know that it did get better, the gig that night is probably the best gig I've ever been to. He was on top venomous form, he flew about the stage like a bat, towered over the crowd like a spindly, dead tree and he even pointed at me (at least I'm going to believe it was me). The set was a healthy mix of old stuff and tracks off the new album, I actually left that night loving the new songs, I can't believe I ever doubted And No More Shall We Part cause its great; I will never feel the same way about anything after Nocturama though cause that stuff is just wack. I recorded the show that night, it's no soundboard quality but it really captures energy and essence of the night, The Mercy Seat was just out of this world, building up to a crescendo (is that the word?) that had me thinking my ears would explode in two fountains of hot blood. The other standouts for me were Oh My Lord, Red Right Hand, John Finn's Wife and The Curse of Millhaven.
After the supports left to go on stage I said hello to him and said that his brother said I could take some photos and he just went "uh-huh", didn't look up, I asked him how ATP went and he said "uh-huh", I asked if he minded me taking some photos and he said "uh-huh", not once lifting his head. I gave him a set of comic badges I'd bought for him with "pow" and "zapp" and stuff on them, he said he really liked them and right away just zoned out again. I snapped one pic of his reflection in the mirror and left him to his thoughts.
I spoke to his brother upstairs who said he was ok during soundcheck but had just gone out of it. He said that he ended up playing both days at ATP and an outdoor show as well and that he'd had a really good time. He said he'd probably be in better spirits after the gig so I decided to leave him to it until then.
"I play shows and I say my fave musicians are Bobby Conn, Wesley Willis and Daniel Johnston and nobody knows who they are" obviously pulling out the most obscure dudes he knew to appear cool, so I said to him "but you're a big Springsteen fan, people have heard of him". Daniel said he was a big fan too and that he'd seen him 3 times, BDB of course was better than that, he'd seen him 30 times and actually played with him 5 weeks ago. He was such a twit! His girlfriend made him leave and on the way out the door he went "ahhhhh" like he'd just met a disabled child in a hospital. That really annoyed me cause Daniel very probably heard.
