Execellent concert of the Pleasure Principle 2010 tour. Thanks to Mixter_ for sharing his wonderful recording.
Original Info file:
VG-
30th Anniversary!
lineage / equipment:
location: 10'- 12' from stage, dead center -> 6.5' h -> slave sound ultra stealth omni's -> custom bb with no bass roll-off -> edirol r09 (44.1/16) -> sandisk 16gb ultraII 15mb/s -> reader -> audition 3.0 -> moderate (+6.5 dB) level adjust
(no normalization) -> moderate eq (bass attenuate, treble boost, peak recovery) -> har-bal 2.3 (expansion, reduce bass rumble) -> cd wave editor (track split) -> tlh (flac level 8, etc...) -> DIME -> you -> sense of enjoyment -> sharing is caring -> support the artist (yes) -XX convert to mp3 (no!!!)
Please K.I.L.L. = Keep It LossLess! convert to mp3, a.m. or shortwave solely for personal use. don't pollute the trading pools; buy a bigger hard drive!
taper: mixter_
engineer: mixter_
performance:
the pleasure principle:
01. random
02. airlane
03. metal
04. engineers
05. films
06. tracks
07. m.e.
08. complex
09. observer
10. conversation
11. cars
extended set:
12. the fall
13. pure
14. down in the park
15. haunted
16. halo
17. jagged
18. are 'friends' electric?
19. i die: you die
20. zulu
21. a prayer for the unborn
the band:
gary numan = vox, synthesizers, guitar
richard beasley = drums, rhythm programming, percussion
david brooks = piano, synthesizers, keyboards
ade fenton = programming, synthesizers. keyboards
steve harris = guitar, keyboards
tim muddiman = bass
notes:
after an aborted attempt to play coachella, the el rey, and the legendary fillmore last april, gary was finally able to mount a 'proper' north american tour this fall with 16 schedule dates. the shows haven't been without incident however as gary regretfully had to cancel his atlanta appearance due to a severe bout with laryngitis. vip's to that show were treated to an instrumental rehearsal performance of "the pleasure principle" as well as their scheduled "meet and greet". all ticketholders still received a refund for the show. disappointing yes, but still very classy of gary and company.
numan fans and the press in the U.S. and Canada have been overwhelmingly positive in their support of these shows in spite of gary nursing his vocal chords. fans in D.C. were invited to help sing choruses for 'films', 'm.e.' and 'engineers'. by the time the tour arrived in new york, gary's vocals seemed to be on solid footing (much more so than the yankee's pennant race - sorry guys). in chicago, gary seemed a bit strained on 'metal' and 'engineers' but seemed back on track by 'films'. while some U.K. fans appeared somewhat bored during TPP09, U.S. and Canadian fans saw the band rocking so hard that ade impaled his forehead on his mic in toronto opening
a nasty gash. crowd-surfing during 'down in the park' in chicago was a FIRST for me. i didn't even see this happen last year during this performance at nine inch nails. fans here have been more responsive and appreciative as we see gary only a leap year basis.
as stated before, much attention to detail was spent reproducing the sound of the pleasure principle album. this included everything from very faithful synth patches and samples to the exclusion of guitars (this landmark album had NO guitars) to the occassional guest
appearance of nash the slash on violin (unfortunately not at this show). gary did change the running order of the album slightly and shed the 'cars' "holloween / psycho" inspired b-side 'asylum' to tighten the pace and to leave room for the telekon single 'i die: you die' to lead the encore set. this song resonated well with the n.i.n. faithful during gary's echoplex and wiltern invitations during 'wave goodbye'.
the el rey night one:
gary revealed earlier in the day during the soundcheck and meet & greet, that he and the family are trying to immigrate to the states.
great news for u.s. fans. this show was initially scheduled in april and expanded over two nights due to overwhelming demand. there was a buzz in the air as the venue filled to a capacity crowd before gary took stage. french e.b.m. act, motor took the stage for a interesting mix of phased synthesizers, military drum beats and shouts (not quite nitzer ebb). often the lyrics sung in english? french? were indiscernable over the noise. gary's newer material (i.e. stuff from pure, jagged and dead son rising) was just as well received as the "classics" from t.p.p., replicas and telekon. gary and company were tighter than their performance the week prior at the metro. no false-start on m.e. this time around. gary's voice was also at full strength, benefiting from 3 days of rest spread across the previous week.
this recording:
unfortunately a lot off chat between numbers. one individual offers to "suck gary's dick in exchange for playing keyboards". classy. also, there was a girl with "special needs", god bless her that clapped continuously through the 8 minutes of "conversation". then there was the chat-chat-chat during the show. fortunately, mostly between numbers. listen to the fucking lyrics; it's gary's conversation, not yours - save it for the ride home! the el rey crowds are gaining a pretty well-deserved reputation for being rude and uncivilized. two weeks prior at recoil someone kept shouting "fuck-you, alan" between numbers. apparently one fan hasn't reconciled his departure from depeche mode 18 years ago. vocals are more prominent than s.f. the setlist is identical to others on the tour except for n.y. where "bleed" was apparently played. there is a small mend during the encore break as i was forced to make a battery swap. the edit is nearly seemless and occurs during crowd noise. this one is very good minus due to the aforementioned doucheiness of select audience members. nevertheless, enjoy!
shoutouts:
my brother. hoping for a steadfast recovery.
my partner. thanks for letting me drag you half-way accross the country to stalk gary and hang out with "the numanoids"
thanks to an anonymous subversive who makes much of this possible. you know who you are. thanks.
thanks to all the other numan tapers/traders out there. thanks to Numanoid7 as always (keeper of the Numan flame) and Paramnesiac and BlueSkyIS for getting a jump on the North American Tour and my buddy klingklang for getting the underworld and massive attack shows that i sorely missed due to scheduling and funds.
most of all: thank-you gary! can't wait to see you finally immigrate to the states! been a fan for 30 years and counting! welcome back steve!
good to have you back on the bus!
a note on mastering:
i know to the purists out there it's considered bad form to tinker with the recording. i have my fans and my detracters. to me though most raw audience tapes suffer from too much bass, too little dynamic range and reveal more detail of the room than the performance. considerable
time was spent to even out the tonal balance and to mitigate a low 'minimoog' rumble that takes over many of the pleasure priciple songs. still, to each his own.
concertgoers:
support the artist. if you enjoy this show please purchase the official cd / dvd of TPP09 at Townsend Records... http://www.townsend-records.co.uk
for additional info on gary numan please visit: www.numan.co.uk and http://themachman.garynuman.info
to the mancunians -> get your tix to the numan + recoil double-bill now!
to the aussies / kiwis - > get ready to see an amazing performance of TPP11. i employ you to please tape these shows. this means YOU: noahwall and
gjfatty! TIA.
gratuitous propaganda:
a must for fans of: nine inch nails, depeche mode, kmfdm, ministry, revco, daf, skinny puppy, recoil, bauhaus, love and rockets, nitzer ebb, the sisters of mercy, human league etc...
feel free to post feedback / thanks.
peace,
Dead Link
