Bonnaroo Day Four

This is the final set I was able to record as my batteries ran out half way through Band of Horses, can’t believe I made it this far. Andrew Bird wasn’t too shabby, not the amazing bonerific show that everyone who saw him at Sydney Festival made it out to be though.

Setlist
G Swirl
Masterswarm
Opposite Day
Fitz and Dizzyspells
Nervous Tic Motion of the Head to the Left
Fiery Crash
Oh No
Effigy
Anonanimal
Cataracts
Imitosis
Tables and Chairs
Fake Palindromes
Skin, is My
Why
Don’t Be Scared

Andrew Bird - Bonnaroo, Manchester, 14/06/2009 - 137.3mb - 1 hour 29 minutes

Bonnaroo Day Three

Finally getting to see Bon Iver makes up for missing him in January. Seeing him twice even more so. This set is excellent, the sound is spot on and has a guest appearnce by Elvis Perkins in Dreamland for a few songs, including a cover of a Yo La Tengo song. The sound is a lot better than the Sasquatch recording however the atmosphere didn’t even come close.

Setlist
Creature Fear
Skinny Love
Lump Sum
Blood Bank
Beach Baby
Brackett, WI
Flume
Feel Like Going Home
For Emma
Regarding Stacks
Wolves

Bon Iver - Bonnaroo, Manchester, 13/06/2009 - 95.5mb - 1 hour 4 minutes

THE BEST OF MONTREAL SHOW I HAVE SEEN. The only bummer? Atrocious sound and it really comes through on the recording, it’s completely burried in bass. But man, they were on fire at this show, just spazzing out on stage the entire time and having a blast. Also, they finally played the Past is a Grotesque Animal. Made my day. Not to be a dick but you really had to be there.

Setlist
Nonpareil of Favor
Bunny Ain’t No Kind of Rider
Id Engager
Rapture Rapes the Muses
The Party’s Crashing Us
Heimdalsgate Like a Promethean Curse
October is Eternal
A Sentence of Sorts in Konsvinger
Beware Our Nubile Miscreants
Girl Named Hello
For Our Elegant Caste
Touched Something’s Hollow
An Eluardian Instance
She’s A Rejecter
The Past is a Grotesque Animal

of Montreal - Bonnaroo, Manchester, 13/06/2009 - 109mb - 1 hour 11 minutes

It was alright I guess. Probably the worst Mars Volta show I’ve seen, but by no means a bad show. A few tech problems, such as Cedrics mic cutting out whenever he goes to belt it out, also Omar forgetting how to play Goliath. Sound turned out pretty well though. Also playing during the day (7:15 - 8:45pm in America is still day time) did them no favours.

Cedric also needs to not talk on stage. Ever.

Setlist
Goliath
Roulette Dares (The Haunt of)
Cotopaxi
Viscera Eyes
Luciformes
Drunkship of Lanterns
Wax Simulacra
Cygnus…. Vismund Cygnus

The Mars Volta - Bonnaroo, Manchester, 13/06/2009 - 131.4mb - 1 hour 23 minutes

What about me and my blue collar?

What you are looking at here is the only known recording of Bruce Springsteen at the E Street Band at Bonnaroo. Bonnaroo has an open taping policy, however Bruce asked that his set not be taped, and being Bruce the festival honoured this, I did not know this until after the set when I arrived at Nine Inch Nails and all the tapers seemed to be ecstatic that I was able to record all of Bruce Springsteen.

This set is AMAZING. I have never been in a crowd so huge in my life (85,000) and the atmosphere was perfect, just one big 3 hour sing-a-long. I was pretty far back but right on the barrier that went from the stage to the soundboard, turns out Bruce would walk down this path 4 or 5 times, and I sure as shit got to high five him. Also seeing Bruce walk through the crowd collecting signs off people for song requests was quite a moment.

The sounds a bit jumpy, the crowd is loud, whenever Bruce walks down the aisle I get bum rushed so the sound is affected, but over all I am very pleased with how this turned out. Absolutely killer set list as well. Bruce Springsteen is a mother fucking performing and an amazing entertainer. 80% of the set was drummed by Max Weinberg, the rest by his son Jay.

Setlist
Badlands
No Surrender
My Lucky Day
Outlaw Pete
Out in the Street
Working on a Dream
Seeds
Johnny 99
Youngstown
Raise Your Hand
Request Time
Santa Claus is Coming to Town
Growin’ Up
Thunder Road
Waiting on a Sunny Day
Promised Land
The River
Kingdom of Days
Radio Nowhere
Lonesome Day
The Rising
Born to Run
Encore
Hard Times
Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out
Land of Hope and Dreams
American Land
Rosalita
Glory Days
Dancing in the Dark

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band - Bonnaroo, Manchester, 13/06/2009 - 267.4mb - 2 hours 54 minutes

Nine Inch Nails’ last ever US show. If you believe they really are over.

Was an amazing show, setlist differs wildly from their Australian show and they play some awesome rarities. Can’t believe they did I’m Afraid of Ameircans. Playing from 1am until 3:30am was a perfect slot for them, they absolutely owned it and the crowd was incredibly packed.

Setlist
Home
Terrible Lie
Discipline
March of the Pigs
Piggy (Nothing Can Stop Me Now)
Metal
Reptile
The Becoming
I’m Afraid of Americans
Burn
Gave Up
La Mer
The Fragile
Banged and Blown Through
Non-Entity
Gone, Still
The Way Out is Through
Mr. Self Destruct
Survivalism
The Hand that Feeds
Head Like a Hole
Wish (featuring Dillinger Escape Plan)
Encore
Echoplex
The Good Soldier
Dead Souls
The Day the World Went Away
Encore
Hurt

Nine Inch Nails - Bonnaroo, Manchester, 13/06/2009 - 208.3mb - 2 hours 13 minutes

Bonnaroo Day Two

Portugal. The Man’s first ever acoustic set. I enjoyed this a lot more than the previous night. They were on a much much smaller stage and the atmosphere was just right, the first bit of sunshine we had gotten the festival when they came on. It of course being an acoustic set, the crowd is extremely loud compared to the music so this recording is peaksville when there is cheering. There’s a few new songs in this one as well.

Portugal. The Man - Bonnaroo, Manchester, 12/06/2009 - 41.4mb - 27 minutes

From the David Byrne Curated Staged.

I had never really listened to Dirty Projectors much before this set, but I have to say I’m quite the fan now. Was an el grande set. The crowd was pretty small but when they introduced David Byrne to perform Knotty Pine with them everyone went mental and it suddenly turned into the biggest crowd crush of the festival, was a great moment.

Setlist
Two Doves
Cannibal Resource
Remade Horizon
Ascending Melody
Fucked for Life
Gimmie Gimmie Gimmie
Thirsty and Miserable
Rise Above
Stillness is the Move
Useful Chamber
Temecula Sunrise
Knotty Pine (featuring David Byrne)

Dirty Projectors - Bonnaroo, Manchester, 12/06/2009 - 81.7mb - 52 minutes

A pretty damn good set. The sound is kinda messed up but I’m still pleased with it. The crowd was fucking atrocious, but ten times as huge, the stage was announced as being “At Capacity” for the Which Stage which means 30,000+ people. Crazy. Also it’s good to see that Animal Collective rotate set lists like a mother fucker. No where near as good as the Las Vegas show (Which I reccomend highly if you’re into Animal Collective, they also play 3 new songs in that set) but still a damn fine festival set.

Setlist
Lion in a Coma
My Girls
Summertime Clothes
Guys Eyes
Slippi
Comfy in Nautica
Daily Routine
Fireworks
Brother Sports

Animal Collective - Bonnaroo, Manchester, 12/06/2009 - 117.5mb - 1 hour 12 minutes

And with this, TV on the Radio become my most taped band. I put this show up there with the Metro one, was fucking great, takes a while for the sound to get right though. Also the first time I’ve seen them play Halfway Home and with good reason too. The song very suddenly changes tuning half way through and requires Dave Sitek and Kyp Malone to throw off their instruments and start playing new ones within a beat.

Setlist
Love Dog
The Wrong Way
Blues From Down Here
Halfway Home
Golden Age
Wolf Like Me
Crying
Dirtywhirl
Staring at the Sun
Red Dress
Shout Me Out
Dancing Choose
Family Tree
Young Liars
Satellite

TV on the Radio - Bonnaroo, Manchester, 12/06/2009 - 119.2mb - 1 hour 14 minutes

You heard me rave about David Byrnes show at the Opera House earlier this year, well this was just as good. Amazing set list, amazing performance, amazing stage show, and thankfully, it sounded great on tape. Do enjoy.

Seltist
Strange Overtones
I Zimbra
One Fine Day
Help Me Somebody
House in Motion
My Big Nurse
My Big Hands
Heaven
Life Is Long
Cross-Eyed and Painless
Born Under Punches
Once in a Lifetime
Life During Wartime
Feel My Stuff
Take Me to the River
The Great Curve
Encore
Air
Burning Down the House
Encore
Everything that Happens Will Happen Today

David Byrne - Bonnaroo, Manchester, 12/06/2009 - 158.4mb - 1 hour 40 minutes

Officially the most unsatisfying set ever. Only 45 minutes (Shortest set of any band at the festival that wasn’t on the Sonic Stage), all of it pure awesome but it felt like it was over in a flash. Considering how much they had to work with they spread the set list out pretty well. Also this crowd is very talkative, but the show was a fucking party while the rest of the festival was off pretending to be interested in Phish and their 6 hour sets.

Seltist
Lisztomania
Long Distance Call
Consolation Prizes
Napoleon Says
Lasso
Run Run Run
Armistice
Love Like a Sunset
Too Young
1901

Phoenix - Bonnaroo, Manchester, 12/06/2009 - 72mb - 47 minutes

Pretty standard Public Enemy fare. Recording is a bit jumpy during the first song and then sweet from there on out. Performing It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back from start to finish.

Public Enemy - Bonnaroo, Manchester, 12/06/2009 - 155mb - 1 hour 41 minutes

Bonnaroo Day One

First band of the first day of this amazing festival. Started at 7pm and I was only able to record MURS and Portugal. The Man before the monsoon/thunderstorm started which didn’t give up until 10am the next morning, so I didn’t get to record much on the first day but this set left me quite impressed, being a festival it sounds a bit flat (Most of the Bonnaroo recordings do) but still, here it is.

Setlist
Better Than the Best
H-U-S-T-L-E
VANS
Dreadlocks
Can It Be
Yesterday and Today
UNI
I Know
Walk Like a Man
3:16
Badman!
Silly Girl
Me and this Jawn
Break Up
Int’l Players Anthem (I Choose You)
Road is My Religion
Rok U
Murray’s Revenge
Boyz N the Hood
LA Show
Aaah
To Protect and Entertain Everything

MURS - Bonnaroo, Manchester, 11/06/2009 - 81.2mb - 51 minutes

First of two sets by Portugal. The Man. I was ultra pumped to see them, I had listened to them religiously in Year 10 and the only way I got to see them was by travelling to buttfuck Tennessee. To be honest, they kinda dissappointed. The sound in the tent was bad, it had just began to monsoon so everyone was piled into the tent and honestly, when these guys released their first album, they were criticised as being a crappy Mars Volta knock-off, it seems like everyones forgotten this except the band who are trying their hardest to be a crappy Mars Volta knock-off. Jamming on the song that got me into you in the first place to prove you have soul without playing a note from the original song was heart breaking. Still, I left satisfied at least.

Setlist
Church Mouth/One
Lay Me Back Down
And I
New Orleans
Bellies are Full
People Say
My Mind/How the Leopard Got its Spots
Horse Warming Party
1989/Our Way
AKA M80 the Wolf

Portugal. The Man - Bonnaroo, Manchester, 11/06/2009 - 92.5mb - 1 hour

Animal Collective

An amazing show in the weirdest venue I’ve ever been to with the strictest security I’ve seen. This was inside the Mandalay Bay Hotel and feature the highest stage I’ve ever seen and a whole bunch of crazy shit (advertisements) on the wall. Support was excellent (Grouper) but no one was paying attention. Also props to Animal Collective for crazy rotation of set lists, the only songs that stayed the same between shows were the MMP ones and Fireworks.

Also the stage set up Animal Collective use at the moment is pretty cool. They all have their tables of knobs and fiddlers draped in white cloth with lights put underneath them to light them all up, and then suspend a huge ball in the middle of the stage and shoot projections on to it. Also there’s a massive huge version of the Merriweather Post Pavilion album cover/wallpaper backdrop. They could really benefit from having a live drummer again. Oh and by playing the Purple Bottle 7 times.

Also happens to have the best sound of any of my Animal Collective recordings.

Setlist
Bleed
Also Frightened
My Girls
Lion in a Coma
Slippi
What Would I Want Sky
Guys Eyes
Fireworks
Daily Routine
Brother Sport
Encore
Comfy in Nautica
Summertime Clothes

Animal Collective - House of Blues, Las Vegas, 30/05/2009 - 135mb - 1 hour 36 minutes

Sasquatch! Festival Day Three

So the next morning starts with every packing all their shit up and then getting the hell to main stage with Deerhoof into Grizzly Bear and it’s the perfect combination. Deerhoof were beyond excellent and need to tour soon.

Had to get up pretty early to catch these guys after Memorial Day madness but it was worth it. They were bloody amazing, a good replacement for Japandroids considering they weren’t even on the schedule. They were also blessed by the main stages awesome sound.

If anyone could write up a set list it would be appreciated, I’ve yet to listen to Offend Maggie.

Deerhoof - Sasquatch!, Quincy, 25/05/2009 - 45.5mb - 32 minutes

Next up is Black Moth Super Rainbow who get points for being the ugliest band ever, but the music is so so good. They are followed closely by Bishop Allen and all the Kings of Leon fans come back out and everyone is bored. School of Seven Bells blow everyone away with general awesomness on the smallest stage there is and get a crowd double that of most other bands on the bigger stage.

Pow! Recording Number 100.

Pretty solid set. Nothing else much to say really. Gave me no particularly strong memories.

Setlist
Iamunderdisguise
Wired for Light
Conjur
Half Asleep
Face to Face on High Places
My Cabal
Sempiternal

School of Seven Bells - Sasquatch!, Quincy, 25/05/2009 - 58.5mb - 39 minutes

Gogol Bordello somehow manage to get the entire crowd (I really do mean the entire crowd) to mosh in 40 degree weather, I was up on the hill and it was the most amazing sight to behold. Turns out Fleet Foxes music perfectly matches the Gorge and they shit all over their performance at Coachella.

Fleet Foxes mountain music absolutely perfectly suits the Gorge. They fucked up the drums yet again though. But at least the recording survived this time. Also between these guys and Band of Horses, musicians with beards give the best banter.

Setlist
Sun Giant
Sun it Rises
Drops in the River
English House
White Winter Hymnal
Ragged House
Your Protector
New Song
New Song
He Doesn’t Know Why
Mykonos
Blue Ridge Mountain

Fleet Foxes - Sasquatch!, Quincy, 25/05/2009 - 76.4mb - 53 minutes

Beach House play on the same stage as School of Seven Bells and indulge us with their 10,000 technical problems, kinda pissed me off after what happened when they played Sydney and I had to spend the show sitting on a train without power, but I still thoroughly enjoyed.

I’ve had some pretty bad luck with Beach House, when they toured Australia in August last year, I got stuck on a broken down train on the way to the show. Finally 10 months later I get to see them and they are just having the craziest technical problems the entire show. But still they were absolutely amazing. I was pretty cut when I got home to find that the recording was corrupted, but I was able to recover all but the last one and a half songs (You Came to Me and Heart of Chambers).

I really want to see them properly one day, at their own show and without everything breaking.

Setlist
Apple Orchard (False Start)
Apple Orchard
Gila
Used to Be
Astronaut
New Song
Master of None
You Came to Me (Fade out)

Beach House - Sasquatch!, Quincy, 25/05/2009 - 53.8mb - 39 minutes

I walk over to Girl Talk and the crowd is ridiculous, at least 40,000 people and it’s kind of not interesting at all. I go to see Erykah Badu and all it is her band playing the same 4 bars over and over and over until they realise this is annoying everyone and play Lil Wayne for the next HOUR AND FIFTEEN MINUTES UNTIL SHE FINALLY ARRIVES. I piss off to Explosions in the Sky for the most perfect end to the festival imaginable. The set list is perfect and the crowd is awesome and what was probably the best weekend of my life is over and I smell like shit, I’m 18 shades darker than what I started out like and I have a visible layer of dirt over my entire body.

Setlist
Catastrophe and the Cure
Yasmin the Light
The Birth and Death of the Day
Your Hand in Mine
Greet Death (I think)
Welcome, Ghosts
The Only Moment We Were Alone

Explosions in the Sky - Sasquatch!, Quincy, 25/05/2009 - 91.1mb - 60 minutes

Any questions?

Sasquatch! Festival Day Two

Somehow I manage to sleep right through until 10am. Wake up, eat my awesome breakfast of 3 apples, 4 museli bars and a burrito, we build shade city and generally sit around cooking in the heat and being drunk. We go see the Walkmen who were about 10 times younger than I expected but awesome followed by Calexico who I must not get or something. St. Vincent is next, it’s hot, she’s hot, everyone’s happy.

Pretty sweet way to start the day. Regretted not recording her solo show at the Spiegeltent earlier in the year. Set gets hilariously messed up during Marry Me.

Also SWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON.

Setlist
Your Lips are Red
The Strangers
Now, Now
Actor out of Work
Marry Me
Black Rainbow
Just the Same, But Brand New
Marrow

St. Vincent - Sasquatch!, Quincy, 24/05/2009 - 66.2mb - 44 minutes

Aziz Ansari, now I haven’t seen that much stand up but he is STUPIDLY hilarious. I never wanted him to leave. Sat next to Dave Sitek while I watched him.

Had to run from there to see the Murder City Devils play the best show I have ever seen hands down. Spencer Moody is off his tits drunk, stumbling around and basically hurting everyone who gets in the way of his microphone stand, he spends 5 mins in between each song screaming his tits off about how he hates jocks, loves faggots, girls shouldn’t let men disrespect them and how we don’t know shit about Iggy and the Stooges, and then when they play a song it’s tight as. He continually makes out with the guitarist, jumps into the pit and makes out with whatever guy he can, chases the photographers in the pit around with his cock out and then runs back stage, takes this guys shirt off and starts sucking on his nipple. Turns out this guy is the dude from M83 when the camera finally gets a shot of him.

Cuts in during the first songs.

Setlist
I Want a Lot Now (So Come On)
Dancing Shoes
Somebody Else's Baby
Idle Hands
Bear Away
Dear Hearts
Midnight Service at the Mutter Museum
Get Off the Floor
It's In My Heart
Murder City Riot
Rum to Whiskey
I Drink the Wine
18 Wheels
Broken Glass

The Murder City Devils - Sasquatch!, Quincy, 24/05/2009 - 65.2mb - 45 minutes

Zach Galifianakis is in the Comedy Tent and not doing too well because someone is heckling him pretty bad and he’s not dealing with it very good. He does a song with Annie Clark though. I seee the Dodos, pretty much exactly the same as the last two times I saw them. I eat dinner, watch 3 songs of TV on the Radio and then go to watch M83. I don’t know what people where on about when they played the Metro because they were SO GOOD. Did not see it coming at all.

Amazing, starts off slow but turns into a pure party. Crowd was reaallly into it as well. Sound is a bit flat, this stage had terrible sound the entire weekend. Just imagine M83 on album, and then make it 10 times as epic.

Setlist
Graveyard Girl
Teen Angst
We Own the Sky
Kim and Jessie
Sitting
Skin of the Night
Don’t Save Us from the Flames
Run Into Flowers
A Guitar and a Heart
Coleurs

M83 - Sasquatch!, Quincy, 24/05/2009 - 80.7mb - 55 minutes

I run to the main stage, watch 5 songs of Nine Inch Nails and they do a Gary Numan cover. I fucking shit you not. A Gary Numan cover, I am so far away from the stage that by the time the sound travels to me the visual is like 3 seconds out of sync. It’s awesome. I go back and get a good spot for of Montreal. Dear Australia, you got jipped. Well over 40 extras, better suits, better choreography, and Kevin Barnes’ voice was like, 10x what it was in Australia, he’s doing all these crazy screams and everything is working out perfectly. They did a Prince cover but I didnt’ pay attention because someone standing two people over from me had a seizure so that was a bit more important.

Pretty big decision between this and Nine Inch Nails. But I think I made the right one because this blew me away. Only played 2 songs they hadn’t played at the Manning Bar but Kevin was so spot on for the entire show. of Montreal has only ever trashed their gear at the end of a set twice and I’ve been there both times, cliche but damn it’s exciting. Only started this time because Kevin thought Brian had smashed his when all he had done was dropped it. Also includes a Prince cover.

Setlist
Nonpareil of Favor
Bunny Ain’t No Kind of Rider
Sink the Seine
Cato as a Pun
Heimdalsgate Like a Promethean Curse
Teenage Unicorn Fisting
For Our Elegant Caste
Touched Something’s Hollow
An Eluardian Instance
Id Engager
The Party’s Crashing Us
Computer Blue
October is Eternal
A Sentence of Sorts in Kongsvinger
She’s a Rejector

of Montreal - Sasquatch!, Quincy, 24/05/2009 - 86.6mb - 58 minutes

Jane’s Addiction play and give the exactly as expected rock and roll show. Perry Ferrell still jumps around like a mad man. All of TV on the Radio are standing near by and ALL getting way into it and being over excited about seeing Jane’s Addiction, was awesome. Also Jane Says live is perfect.

I expected a rock and roll show, a fucking weird Perry and a shirtless Dave and that’s exactly what I got. Eric Avery knew this was all about him and was lapping it up. Sound is excellent as you’d expect from a headliner, the show suddenly takes 10 steps up when they bust out Jane Says. If you’ve got the 90 or so dollars, see them at the Hordern.

Also some one tell Perry Farrell that George/Quincy isn’t Seattle. This is tagged as "Sasquarch" so you may want to fix that.

Setlist
Three Days
Whores
Ain’t No Right
Pigs in Zen
Then She Did…
Mountain Song
Had a Dad
Been Caught Stealing
Ted, Just Admit it…
Ocean Size
Summertime Rolls
Encore
Stop!
Jane Says

Jane's Addiction - Sasquatch!, Quincy, 24/05/2009 - 120.9mb - 1 hour 24 minutes

We get back to the Campsite and by the time we get there its memorial day, so it’s this huge party, lots of fireworks, lots of awesome. Also everyone had this habit of someone, anywhere in the campsite would start cheering and it would slowly grow until the entire campsite was cheering, repeat every 30 minutes.

Sasquatch! Festival Day One

GETTING TO FESTIVAL STARTS HERE:

My bus was supposed to leave Vancouver at 5am, as I do not have an alarm clock I had to stay up all night and then walk 2 hours to get this bus, with my rucksack, bag, tent and a sign to try and hitch hike with when I get into Quincy, as it is a 6 hour walk away from Sasquatch and there is no public transport. So I get on the bus and it turns out that these busses don’t sell out, they only add more when one gets full. So three bus loads of people, 80% going to Sasquatch get on and head to Everett 4 hours away. We arrive in Everett where we meet up with all the people going to Quincy coming from Seattle, this now means we have seven bus loads of people. The next 4 hours of the bus ride and astonishingly beautiful. I knew Washington was full of mountains and shit, but I thought they would be off in the distance, we were weaving in between them constantly beside white rapid river and all this fancy shit it was AWESOME. We also went through “Germantown” which was supposed to be like “Ye Olde Europe” except with Subway and KFC written in script on their signs. So everyone on the bus finally starts talking to one another and we all realise that none of us have the slightest plan and are as clueless as to how to get to the festival as the next person. We pull into Quincy and the bus driver is like “So you guys all going to Sasquatch?” and the bus goes mental “Well I’ll tell you what, after this, I have no more passengers, so lets go see if I can go talk to the charter manager and see if we can’t take you all down to the festival” everyone goes mental again. “Oh by the way, I am the Charter Manager.” so we go to a grocery store, I buy like 30 apples, 20 bottles of water, a case of beer and 4 boxes of museli bars and we’re on our way. We get the sickest camping position about 40 tents without cars taking up one lot, this is all done by 3:30pm, we then get drunk, play frisbee, listens to music and be dickheads before everyone realises they’ve been up for ever and goes to sleep after being exhausted from 37 degree weather.

ACTUAL FESTIVAL SHIT BE HERE:

So it turns out it’s true. At 8am we’re all up and bored and burning in the sun. We go to the general store where it turns out you can buy cases of beer for reasonable prices and burritos and then cook them in the kitchen. We go into the festival site and go watch Owl City, worst decision ever. They are terrible. Adorable even. So we decide to go check out the main stage. We get to the top of the hill and everyone who has walked in has stopped there for some reason, turns out everyone is gawking at the most amazing scenery ever. Words cannot describe the Gorge. It’s stupidly beautiful. I suggest to everyone that we roll down the hill, so about 6 of us get in a line and roll down the hill. It’s awesome. Turns out security chased us screaming the entire way down and we get a stern lecture. Gaslight Anthem play on the main stage and they are nothing special. It is now something like 40 degrees and not a single cloud. I walk around, buy some 9USD food. Urgh. Then go to see Passion Pit and the crowd is huge. HUGE. And it’s full of “KinGs of nEOn” fans. Turns out Kings of Leon fans are a world wide plague. So when everyone finally pisses off I move in for King Khan and the Shrines and it is amazing. Lots of nudity, cheerleaders, jumping around, confetti and just general awesomness. One of the best shows I have ever seen.

Probably one of the highlights of Sasquatch! Festival. They had everything, horns, a dancer, costumes, flying dicks, a crazy crowd, 40 degree heat and a guest appearance from Mark Sultan. I get crowd surfed over (somehow in a crowd that had basically 0 density) and have one of my mics ripped off (in a way that convinces me its broken forever) but it’s fine but the sound conks out for about 2 or so minutes while I fix it.

King Khan and the Shrines - Sasquatch!, Quincy, 23/05/2009 - 63.7mb - 42 minutes

I go see Todd Barry in the Comedy Tent because that happens to be the ONLY piece of shade in the entire festival, turns out he’s funny. Next I watch the first 20 minutes of Animal Collective, they seriously have the worst projections ever but they were pretty good.

Dunno what happened but I only got 18 minutes of this set, the end of the set was probably the best I have ever seen them play the the Gorge setting was perfect for them. But here is what I got of them anyway.

Setlist
Summertime Clothes
My Girls
Essplode (Intro)

Animal Collective - Sasquatch!, Quincy, 23/05/2009 - 27.7mb - 18 minutes

I leave to see Tim and Eric but everyone raves on about how good the end of Animal Collective was, I guess I’ll find out on Saturday. Tim and Eric bombed. BOMBED BOMBED BOMBED. It was so fucking terrible. The first two sketches were hilarious, but then there’s costume changes and the DJ starts doing the worst stand up ever, then after 10mins they finally come back and the next skit goes nowhere, piss off again for another 10 mins, then they kick a plug and all the backing tracks stop and they are forced to improv. Turns out they can’t. I leave and watch Sun Kil Moon who is perfect. Back to the main stage to watch the Decemberists and they were pretty good, but too bad everyone was distracted by this couple who thought they were having secret cliff side sex but instead were being watched by 80,000 people and the band. Mos Def is next who is just fun as all hell and then Bon Iver. I don’t know if he played with a band when he did Sydney Fest but the two drummer set up is just great and his voice is never ever even close to being off.

I recorded this one way off centre as the crowd for him was huge, he played a perfect slot (Just as the sun had gone down he came on stage) and the atmosphere was amazing. Crowd participation is a lot better here than what was at Bonnaroo as well. He also happened to be 45 minutes late but that was Mos Def’s (who was awesome) fault. I would love to say that this was the best set of the weekend but it’s got some mighty tough competition, Sasquatch had way too many “moments”.

But yeah, taking part in Wolves (twice) is an amazing experience.

Setlist
Flume
Brackett, WI
Lump Sum
Wolves
Skinny Love
Mercury
Blood Bank
For Emma
Creature Fear

Bon Iver - Sasquatch!, Quincy, 23/05/2009 - 72.8mb - 49 minutes

Now there are no bands playing except for the main stage so I go watch Kings of Leon who actually didn’t suck. And by didn’t suck I mean were really good. Bummed they didn’t play King of the Rodeo though. So we walk the 30mins back to camp and everyone dies from exhaustion.

kINgs of NeoN. Recording cuts in during the first song and features a minute of me pushing through the crowd to get a spot and then features probably the best sound I got all weekend. Unforunately this one came with a lot of errors and cuts out during the last song as well, it’s also in a very low bitrate and I have no access to the .wav files so what’s here is all there will ever be.

They didn’t suck. I’ll give em that. But come on. King of the Rodeo guys. You know it’s your best song.

Setlist
Crawl (Fades in)
My Party
Be Somebody
Taper Jean Girl
Molly’s Chambers
Fans
Milk
Four Kicks
Charmer
Sex on Fire
The Bucket
Notion
On Call
Cold Desert
Use Somebody
Closer
Knocked Up
Manhattan
Black Thumbnail (Fades out)

Kings of Leon - Sasquatch!, Quincy, 23/05/2009 - 72mb - 1 hour 20 minutes (?)

The Horrors

I hope you aren’t hoping for any old songs. But yeah, they were quite excellent but the sound is pretty flat. Also you get to enjoy the constant sound of the girl in front of me texting the whole time. They played in between Magic Wands and the Kills. The Kills of course sucking beyond belief, pretty bummed they got such a short set.

Setlist
Mirror’s Image
Three Decades
Do You Remember
I Can’t Control Myself
Scarlet Fields
New Ice Age
Who Can Say
Sea Within a Sea

The Horrors - Wonder Ballroom, Portland, 17/05/2009 - 52.9mb - 37 minutes

The Vaselines

Pretty bloody amazing, also quite hilarious. They also had an unnannounced support which ended up being the Tydes first show in 5 years so that was pretty sweet. El Rey Theatre is such a nice venue as well. The Vaselines backing band was comprsied of a member of 1990s and two members of Belle and Sebastien. Also they look NOTHING like the cover of Enter the Vaselines. Yep.

Setlist
Son of a Gun
Monsterpussy
The Day I Was a Horse
Molly’s Lips
Oliver Twisted
New Song
Jesus Wants Me For a Sunbeam
Lovecraft
Bitch
New Song
Slushy
Let’s Get Ugly
No Hope
Sex Sux (Amen)
Dying For It
Encore
Rory Rides Me Raw
You Think You’re a Man
Dum-Dum

The Vaselines - El Rey Theatre, Los Angeles, 10/05/2009 - 100mb - 1 hour 11 minutes

Abe Vigoda

Supporting Spectrum out near Echopark in Los Angeles. Cuts in during the first song but apart from that a very solid set. Wish I had recorded the opening band (Called the Entrance Band fittingly enough) because they were really really good. If anyone can help with a setlist, would be appreciated.

Abe Vigoda - The Echo, Los Angeles, 08/05/2009 - 30 minutes - 45.4mb

McDowell Mountain Music Festival

I pretty much attended this just to see the Flaming Lips, it was only 20 bucks anyway. I saw a lot of awesome bands in the time in between but I didn't record much, I had better things to do.

When I saw Matisyahu at Splendour in the Grass in 2006, he played a “meh” set until King Without a Crown when he and his band suddenly became the most fun, loud and tighest machine on the planet. This time it was just meh the whole way.

Matisyahu - McDowell Mountain, Phoenix, 25/04/2009 - 1 hour 1 minutes - 87.9mb

The Flaming Lips were totally and completely amazing. People at home better have their tickets to this already. Confetti, Teletubbie suits (that don’t fit me), gongs, megaphones with smoke machines, awesome covers and huge screens. It was weird that 2 out of the 3 Yoshimi songs they played were basically turned into crowd sing-a-longs minus any instruments.

Wayne played a guitar with two necks, one of the necks being a Guitar Hero guitar, as well as a bugle, appropriate for ANZAC day. Drozd played another double necked guitar, but with one neck broken off. At one point a pink robot costume was thrown at the stage and the band took turns in wearing it.

I did catch a drum stick. Score again. Makes up for trying on a purple Teletubbie outfit and being told it doesn’t fit and to return to the crowd while d-bags like Johnny Knoxville and Steveo get to keep theirs.

Recording is in Mono.

Setlist
Intro
Race for the Prize
Lightning Strikes the Postman
Purple Rain (Partial)
Borderline
Fight Test
2009
The Process
Happy Birthday
Vein of Stars
Mountain Side
Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots Pt. 1
Pompeii Am Götterdämmerung
The W.A.N.D.
She Don’t Use Jelly
Encore
Do You Realise???

The Flaming Lips - McDowell Mountain, Phoenix, 25/04/2009 - 1 hour 34 minutes - 79mb

Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival Day Three

The day that contains all the reasons I went to Coachella. Cured all my technology problems (though the first two bands I taped of the day, No Age and Vivian Girls, fucked up, but that was my fault.)


The Night Marchers? JON REIS! Absolutely amazing. Very similar to Rocket From the Crypt and a few Drive Like Jehu elements to it. The crowd was absolutely tiny, but then again it was 1pm. It was so good to finally see John Reis in the flesh but it was weird to see that he recognised and personally welcomed half the crowd.

The Night Marchers - Coachella, Indio, 19/04/2009 - 53.2mb - 37 minutes

Fucked Up were one of many bands to start early, I missed the first song but it’s sweet from there on in. Crazy crazy crazy show. I don’t know what he did but he cracked his head open during the second song and spent the entire show bleeding on the crowd. Also played a Black Flag cover with No Age. Really enjoyed this one. Sound is real dodge at the start as I'm putting my mics on but it gets decent a little bit into it.

Fucked Up - Coachella, Indio, 18/04/2009 - 66.8mb - 44 minutes

Pretty regular Brian Jonestown Massacre fare, no rambling. Features Matt Hollywood and Joel Gion. Also Zia McCabe on Not If You Were the Last Dandy on Earth. Not a single word was spoken by Anton the entire time.

Setlist
Whoever You Are
Vacuum Boots
Got My Eye on You
Nevertheless
Servo
Not if You Were the Last Dandy on Earth
Anenome
Who?
That Girl Suicide
When Jokers Attack
Oh Lord
Satellite

Brian Jonestown Massacre - Coachella, Indio, 19/04/2009 - 72.9mb - 50 minutes

Antony and the Johnsons were absolutely beautiful. Lots of problems with the PA though. They came on stage 10 minutes early and only played for 30 minutes when they were supposed to play for 50 which was odd, but all of it was fantastic. Pretty sure the set got abandoned due to all the problems and for "trying something different"

The way the music is played live is completely different from what I ever would have expected.

Antony and the Johnsons - Coachella, Indio, 19/04/2009 - 47.6mb - 33 minutes

Man, Yeah Yeah Yeahs are popular in America. The crowd was huuuuuuuuuge and was the only time I encountered douchebags at Coachella, the rest of the time they were amazing.

Warning time though, this recording is pretty average. Only download if you really want to hear the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, if you’re all uppity about your quality turn away, about half way through I get bored and walk off to buy some water, and then I start pushing my way through the crowd to get a spot for My Bloody Valentine.

Setlist
Runaway
Dull Life
Gold Lion
Honey Bear
Black Tongue
Human Fly
Zero
Cheated Hearts
Skeletons
Soft Shock
Maps
Heads Will Roll
Y Control

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Coachella, Indio, 19/04/2009 - 83mb - 57 minutes

Absolutely bloody amazing. My Bloody Valentine along with the Cure are the two main reasons I came this festival. We were handed ear plugs on the way in, I knew it was going to be loud. They really eased us into it, the first minute or so was actually quite quiet, but then it took a huge step up, then another huge step, and then another huge step and then my ears hurt, they also turned all the speaker stacks on in stages as well, so the sound jumps around a bit in I Only Said. I peaked way to early, I went nuts when they played When You Sleep second. I couldn’t have been happier with this band than I was on Sunday.

And yes, there was 15 minutes of feedback.

Setlist
I Only Said
When You Sleep
You Never Should
Cigarette in Your Bed
Only Shallow
Thorn
Nothing Much to Lose
To Here Knows When
Slow
Soon
Feed Me With Your Kiss
You Made Me Realise

My Bloody Valentine - Coachella, Indio, 19/04/2009 - 100.9mb - 1 hour 10 minutes


The Cure? Only like my favourite band ever.

Absolutely perfect. Set starts off a bit slow but really picks up. I had several pant shitting moments, when they didn’t open with Plainsong I thought all hopes of hearing Disintegration were gone, I actually dropped my camera when they played the intro, I thought I was imagining things, and I finally got to hear Fire in Cairo.

They played 40 minutes past curfew and had the power cut on them, but they still continued to play with just the stage amps and monitors, I was close enough to be able to capture all this with my mics. The sing-a-long to these songs are probably the highlight of my show attending career. They even had a lady who stood on the wings of the stage facing the crowd that did sign language to every word of every song. So pleased with everything about this show. Pleased abot being fourth row. Pleased with the set list. Pleased with the atmosphere. Pleased with the best ending to a show I’ve ever experienced.

Setlist
Underneath the Stars
Prayers for Rain
A Strange Day
alt.end
The End of the World
Love Song
To Wish Impossible Things
Pictures of You
Lullaby
From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea
The Perfect Boy
Wrong Number
Push
In Between Days
Just Like Heaven
Primary
Shake Dog Shake
The Hungry Ghost
Disintegration
One Hundred Years
It’s Over
Encore
If Only Tonight We Could Sleep
The Kiss
Encore
At Night
M
Play for Today
A Forest
Encore
Three Imaginary Boys
Fire in Cairo
Power Out
Boys Don’t Cry
Jumping Someone Else’s Train
Grinding Halt (Intro)

The Cure - Coachella, Indio, 19/08/2009 - 246.6mb - 2 hours 50 minutes

Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival Day Two

Started my day with Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti, was pretty straight forward but very good. Ariel Pink is honestly a miniature person. This recording is in mono.

Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - Coachella, Indio, 18/04/2009 - 27.6mb - 36minutes


Finally got to see Liars, absolutely killer set and the day was just excessively hot by this point. Left channel screws up a little bit in the first minute or so and is then fine from then on in. Also in a long series of bands to come on stage 10 minutes early but I missed nothing, that’s just him sound checking as I turn my equipment on.

Setlist
To Hold You, Drum
Freak Out
New Song
A Visit From Drum
The Garden Was Crowded and Outside
New Song
Clear Island
New Song
Loose Nuts
Be Quiet Mt. Heart Attack!
Plaster Casts of Everything

Liars - Coachella, Indio, 18/04/2009 - 62mb - 42 minutes


TV on the Radio on the mainstage. Pretty solid performance, nothing on their Metro Show, shat all over Big Day Out. Features Katrina Ford on Wolf Like Me and Staring at the Sun. I also tagged it as the wrong date if you want to fix that.

Setlist
The Wrong Way
Golden Age
Crying
Wolf Like Me
Blues From Down Here
Young Liars
Red Dress
Dancing Choose
Staring at the Sun

TV on the Radio - Coachella, Indio, 18/04/2009 - 65.4mb - 45 minutes


I don't think Band of Horses really suit festivals, just every they've ever recorded is amazing so you miss out on so much no matter what. Really enjoyed this set.

Setlist
The Great Salt Lake
Is There a Ghost
Weed Party
The General Specific
Marry Song
No One’s Gonna Love You
The Funeral
Wicked Gil
New Song
Ode to LRC
New Song

Band of Horses - Coachella, Indio, 18/04/2009 - 70mb - 48 minutes

At this point I had a complete technological melt down, my iRiver kept pretending it was full, my camera just mysteriously died and basically there is no documentation for the rest of my night. If I knew what I knew now the full sets I did manage to get before running into the error would have still survived, but alas, no Fleet Foxes, Junior Boys, Glass Candy, Chemical Brothers, Turbonegro or Gang Gang Dance for you guys.

Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival Day One

I'm here! I'm fucken here!

I'll probably skip through all the hoo-haa bout how all amazing this was and skip all the bands I saw and didn't record, because who wants to hear me speak about those?


I’ve always been half-half on Los Campesinos! They make incredibly awesome music but have some of the most cringe worthy lyrics ever. They were the first band I saw at Coachella and they were all kinds of awesome. Gareth jumped into the crowd during a song and managed to try and gouge my eyes out. The entire band crowd surfed to the back of the tent during the last song and then walked off casually. I caught a drumstick and generally had an awesome time. I am no longer half-half on them. Probably like 90-10 now.

Setlist
Ways to Make it Through the Wall
The International Tweexcore Underground
Documented Minor Emotional Breakdown #1
My Year in Lists
Death to Los Campesinos!
Miserabilia
This is How You Spell “HAHAHA, We Destroyed the Hopes and Dreams of a Generation of Faux Romantics”
Knee Deep at ATP
Box Elder/You! Me! Dancing!
We are Beautiful, We are Doomed
Sweet Dreams, Sweet Cheeks

Los Campesinos! - Coachella, Indio, 17/04/2009 - 68.7mb - 47 minutes



Because I went totally AWOL at Laneway this year I missed Buraka Som Sistema and heard nothing but rave reviews the next day. They were intensely fun. Highlight being when they got the entire crowd to get down on the ground and then just go nuts on the count of 4. The sheer energy of this set actually comes through really well on the recording.

Buraka Som Sistema - Coachella, Indio, 17/04/2009 - 49.3mb - 35 minutes

How's this for an amateur mistake. Went and saw the wonderful Leonard Cohen, pressed record, didn't flick the hold switch on, dropped it back in my bag and hit the stop button accidentally about 8 minutes into the set. He was amazing though guys.

Finally see Morrissey in the flesh. Left quite disappointed. He just wasn’t into it at all, someone in the crowd said that he was probably bitter about always playing second billing but I don’t know about that. Made a lot of comments about meat and then pretended that he couldn’t sing Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others because he needed to gag over the smell of burning animal flesh.

And you can bet that he for sure as shit took his shirt off. Three times.

Setlist
This Charming Man
First of the Gang to Die
Black Cloud
Girlfriend in a Coma
Irih Blood, English Heart
How Can Anybody Possibly Know How I Feel?
When I Last Spoke to Carol
Some Girls are Bigger than Others
I’m Throwing My Arms Around Paris
Seasick, Yet Still Docked
The Loop
Sorry Doesn’t Help
Ask
Let Me Kiss You
How Soon is Now?

Morrissey - Coachella, Indio, 17/04/2009 - 85.7mb - 56 minutes

Paul bloody McCartney!

In the Top 5 shows I have ever seen. I cannot fault this performance in anyway. He dedicated My Love to Linda McCartney who died 11 years ago that day, the crowd was completely silent. The pops you hear during Live and Let Die are the sounds of the craziest pyro/fireworks show I’ve ever seen during a performance. He played everything I could of dreamed of hearing and more. The only thing that bummed me out was that he played A Day in the Life as part of a medley but it was a totally insigificant point within the entire performance. Just read the set list for proof of him playing ev.ry.thing.

Another problem with the performance that’s reflected in the recording is that as the set went on it kept getting louder and louder so it starts to distort a bit of the way into it. Not too bad though, kinda dissappointing though.

Setlist
Jet
Drive My Car
Only Mama Knows
Flaming Pie
Got to Get You Into My Life
Let Me Roll It/Foxy Lady
Honey Hush
Highway
The Long and Winding Road
My Love
Blackbird
Here Today
Dance Tonight
Calico Skies
Mrs. Vanderbilt
Eleanor Rigby
Sing the Changes
Band on the Run
Back in the USSR
Something
I Got a Feeling
Paperback Writer
A Day in the Life/Give Peace a Chance
Let it Be
Live and Let Die
Hey Jude
Encore
Birthday
Can’t Buy Me Love
Lady Madonna
I Saw Her Standing There
Encore
Yesterday
Helter Skelter
Get Back
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)
The End

Paul McCartney - Coachella, Indio, 17/04/2009 - 218mb - 2 hours 29 minutes