HALLOWEEN IN SEATTLE

Friday night was spent with Nirvana on Halloween night in Seattle, Monday's Halloween Day was spent here in the office in Denver.  I received a surprise when I was given a Jack Jensen style painting that day in the office, a prop for a coworker who was trying to imitate me, but looked too much like Johnny Depp to be convincing, at least to me.  Even Jack Jensen was impressed by the quality of the artist's work.  "Everybody steals from Jack!"

But Friday night was spent somewhere very far away.  First up was a very good recording of Public Image Limited performing in Kings Hall in Manchester, UK on February 23, 1979.  This was less than a year since John Lydon pulled together some friends to form a new band after the Sex Pistols came to a sudden end at the beginning of 1978.  "We ain't that bad after one night's rehearsal."  "If that's your attitude we'll keep you fucking waiting."  The audience called out for Sex Pistols tunes.  This recording captures that evening beautifully.

Download it here:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=Z3QXHYWI

Next up late Friday was Nirvana performing at the Paramount Theater in Seattle, WA on October 31, 1991.  Excellent recording, a "JWB Remaster."  There are so many versions out there of this show that it's hard to say which one I've got, but its really, really good.  The quality of these bootleg recordings is phenomenal, equal to anything issued by the record companies.  I probably listened to this one before, but considering the fact it was nearly  Halloween I felt I had to try it on again.

"The level of excitement on this recording is audible. This is Nirvana's first big homecoming show after releasing Nevermind and their last American show before leaving for a European tour. It was recorded Halloween night 1991 one month after the release of Nevermind. At the end of "School" you can hear Krist Novoselic yelling at the audience for being too punk rock to dress up on Halloween."
"This show starts off with a very early cover of Jesus Wants Me for A Sunbeam(2 years before they performed it on Unplugged in New York.) They play most of the songs from Nevermind, a few from Bleach, and an early performance of "Rape Me" which wouldn't get released until In Utero."

Read it all here, along with this persons version of the show, a smaller sized file from the one I provide:
http://ahistoryofundergroundrecording.blogspot.com/2011/06/nirvana-live-at-paramount-theatre.html

Download it here:
http://www.filestube.com/d9mfFVeQl1wXKlz81tSWmJ/Nirvana-1991-10-31-Paramount-Theatre-Seattle-JWB-REMASTER.html

JACK'S MANNEQUIN DOES DENVER

Monday night, work ends and I jump on the bicycle and peddle to downtown Denver where I enjoy a dinner at a table overlooking Colfax Avenue, watching all the diverse people walk by, as though these oddities were put there to entertain me.  It is unusual to see such a varied collection of people, found no where else in the entire state of Colorado.

A short walk down the street to see Jack's Mannequin perform a show at the Ogden Theater.  They are an American pop rock band formed in 2004, originally hailing from Orange County, California. The band began as a side project of Andrew McMahon, the frontman for Something Corporate, and is composed of guitarist Bobby Anderson, bassist Mikey "The Kid" Wagner, and drummer Jay McMillan.  I liked their debut album, Everything In Transit enough to have bought it sometime after its release in 2005, added to my "must play" list on long road trips. It was a really good show with a very enthusiastic audience, most people being around/under 25 years of age, many women present swooning for Andrew. He was definitely the star of the show, putting his heart into every song they played.

“I love the energy in here,” McMahon acknowledged the crowd as the nearly packed house sang, danced and most of all cut loose during the 90-minute set. As the crowd hung on every note, the band went through a pretty standard set of hit songs from their three records. The crowd was at its best when the band played “The Mix Tape,” “Holiday for Real” and “Dark Blue” off their “Everything in Transit” record. The set provided very few surprises with regard to song selection, but the band kept their energy up as McMahon bounded all over the stage and jumped into the crowd a few times. “Swim” and “Glass Passenger” were the only slow-tempo songs from the set.

Read it all here:
http://www.heyreverb.com/2011/10/25/jacks-mannequin-ogden-theatre/

Out there on parade
Watch all the broken people
My cracks they don't see

Talking to themselves
Muttering as he takes a drag
Voices we can't hear

Cruising on Colfax

All the odd people strutting

He's just a step away

Download it here:
http://www.filefactory.com/file/1wfk4ap0uaw7/MP3%20JM%20Ogden%20Theater%20Denver%20CO%20October%2024%2C%202011.rar

I peddled all the way back to the office where I picked up the sleeping bag I had stashed nearby then rode a short distance where I found a darkened section of Cherry Creek beneath the cottonwood trees with a nice flat spot. I initially had difficulty going to sleep only because of the city noise, but I remembered my ear plugs and that solved the problem. It was a mild night so I was comfortably warm, bordering on hot. I'll probably do it again.

RUTS, ELECTRAFIXION, TELEVISION, BUNNYMEN, AMY

Friday night starts off with an excellent quality show by The Ruts, live at The Marquee Club in London on July 19, 1979. 

Download it here:

http://sharebee.com/f5799cb6

The main act late this evening was Electrafixion, an alternative rock band, formed by former Echo & the Bunnymen members Ian McCulloch and Will Sergeant in 1994, joined by bass guitarist Leon de Sylva and drummer Tony McGuigan.  They were at the La Route du Rock Festival in St. Malo France on August 14 in 1994, the day after my birthday.  It was broadcast over the radio because the announcer would come on periodically and speak in French, interuppting the flow of the show.

Download it here:
http://sharebee.com/9228be2b

Saturday night staterd off with Television, their second night at the Whisky A Go Go in Los Angeles, CA on April 14, 1977. 

Download it here:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=109FO28Q

Steve the Bunnymen bootleg archivest released a recording of his of a very recent show of theirs.  Echo and the Bunnymen at the London Palladium on September 26, 2011.  The band is tight and Ian is chatty with the audience who willing provides him with suggestions or comments that invariably bring on a witty reply.  At least when you can understand what he's saying, a difficulty for us folks over here in the states.  I still enjoyed the show of their clasic numbers, although I was stunned when they performed "The Fountain" from beginning to end.  I had commented to Will last May in Anaheim that Ian should do this, avoiding the usuals lame response when he beckons the audience to finish a line in the song, his way of gauging our interest in a particular number.

"If these whole-album playbacks are all about bloodless nostalgia, no one has told Ian McCulloch. During a lull in the title track of tonight's offering, Ocean Rain, he orders the bouncers to turf out a pair of chatty punters for disturbing the contemplative atmosphere."

"A jarring reminder, then, that Echo and the Bunnymen's frontman remains the bristling autodidact who brought swagger to an early-Eighties new-wave scene in Liverpool that already brimmed with characters. His band arguably reached their peak with the escapism and aching romance of this, their fourth album."

"Having already revisited Ocean Rain three years ago, and after recently playing earlier works Crocodiles and Heaven up Here, the band should now be about ready to disinter 1999's misfiring What Are You Going to Do with Your Life? Instead, they play two sets, opening with a mixed bag that takes in both ends of their career. Of more recent material, though, only a driving "Stormy Weather" can hold its own with an impassioned "Rescue", Macca's wracked vocal sounding better than his attempts at smooth crooning."

Read it all here:
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/reviews/echo-amp-the-bunnymen-london-palladium-2365487.html

Download it here:
http://www.fileserve.com/file/2X85EqY/EATB26SEP2011.zip
Thank you Steve!

Sunday night was spent with Amy on the overlook with the mountain view at sunset.  The show was from the Astoria in London, UK from February 19, 2007.

"Amy Winehouse- brilliant rock and roll star, a voice like gloopy syrup and an bunch of songs that makes you weep with pleasure. Her jazz-tastic 8 piece band brought the songs from ‘Back To Black’ to life- the Brit award winning singer played to a packed house, closing the set with a surprise cover of The Zutons ‘Valerie’."

And:

"Her eight-piece band are all suited and booted. Two jiving male backing vocalists keep up terrific dance moves to the right of the stage. A couple of brass players honk atmospherically on the left. The set is studded with red lampshades and ruched curtains, like some Prohibition-era jazz club. Winehouse arrives into this vintage set-up without fanfare and just opens her mouth and starts to sing."

"Her voice is a thing of wonder. Unlike all the ghastly, ululating soul manglers out there, Winehouse doesn't care about showing off her range. She just chews up syllables to suit her mood, reducing 'Addicted', her playful weed ode, to a kind of soulful Klingon tonight. Her rich, murky, weathered voice follows her instincts without effort or obvious manipulation. She is offhand, almost unpremeditated, crooning out 'Wake up Alone' in a waltz-time blur of words."

(http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2007/feb/25/popandrock.features3)

"Never the most salubrious of venues, the Astoria seems to have been transformed into a brothel for the night. Pearly-grey satin hangs in swags down the back of the stage, illuminated by red velvet lamps. It's a glorious setting for Amy Winehouse's impeccably suited backing band, who could have arrived here from the 1965 Motown UK tour. In fact, the only person who hasn't dressed up for the occasion is Winehouse herself. Beneath a vertiginous beehive she wears a greying T-shirt, faded jeans and trainers. Maxine Powell, head of Motown's finishing school, would be horrified."

"Still, Winehouse can afford to be blasé. It apparently requires no effort whatsoever to produce the seductive, furious vocals that last week won her the best solo female artist award at the Brits. Between songs, she scampers about the stage like a child; singing, she sounds decades older, reminiscent of Billie Holiday and Aretha Franklin, yet entirely herself."

(http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2007/feb/21/popandrock.amywinehouse)

Download it here:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=WJCZIG9I