Excellent sound. Thanks to ianmacd for sharing his recording, photos and commentary on the concert.
Original Info File:
RECORDING:
Type: Audience master, recorded from seat 2 (dead centre) of row 1,
approximately 12 metres from the PA.
Source: Factory-matched pair of Schoeps CCM 41V microphones (DINa mounted) ->
Marantz PMD661 recorder with Oade Concert Mod
(-18 dB gain/44.1 kHz/24 bit WAV)
Lineage: Audacity 2.0.3
* Amplified right channel by 0.6 dB.
* Applied variable amplification across recording for consistent
listening experience.
* Attenuated audience.
* Added fades.
* Split tracks.
* Converted to 16 bit.
-> FLAC (compression level 8) [libFLAC 1.2.1 20070917]
Taper: ianmacd
NOTES:
Venue: Check. Roman Amphitheatre in Fiesole, a small town located up in the
hills to the north-east of Florence, just 8 km from the city. The venue, built
in the first century BC, oozes atmosphere in a way that no indoor venue could
possibly emulate.
Weather. Check. There has been blazing sun all day and now a pleasant evening
breeze wafts through the amphitheatre. No sign of rain thus far.
Sound. Check. Those Romans knew a thing or two about acoustics; and the band
are mixed to perfection.
Performance. Well, that's where it all falls down. Apart from the substitution
of 'Black Sun' and 'Cantara' for 'Lamma Bada' and 'Now We Are Free' (a
definite improvement), the set-list remains essentially unchanged since the
first of the reunion concerts in August 2012.
The 2013 incarnation of Dead Can Dance is now a well-oiled machine, and
therein lies the problem. Machines perform repetitive work without emotion and
that is what I see before me on stage.
The band members are robotic in their consistency, the performance almost
automated in its flow. The overall sensation is one of a band merely going
through the motions, churning out a carbon-copy performance night after night.
Whilst the performance may lack emotion, the sound in the venue tonight is
spot on and both Lisa and Brendan are in fine voice. The alchemy that would
once occur on stage when these two got together, however, has been lost. Once
much more than the sum of their parts, the most we can now hope for is that
they break even.
What remains when the magic has flown is a well-rehearsed, mechanical delivery
of the songs, the next one being struck up before the applause from the
previous one has even started to abate.
I sit there for an hour and forty-four minutes and feel absolutely nothing,
other than a dull pain in my arse bone from sitting on a well-worn stone step.
The thin vinyl pad on top offers little solace.
Failing to be roused by what I am witnessing, I find myself bored; quite
literally bored; something I did not think was possible at a Dead Can Dance
concert.
The set is fifteen minutes shorter than it typically was in 2012 and its
climax comes as something of a merciful release for this listener. At least
I'm going to make the last number 7 bus back to Florence.
The recording itself is excellent, ironically one of the best I have ever
produced of the band. It easily trumps the rather mediocre hotchpotch 'In
Concert' album that recently appeared.
Even though I was seated in the centre of the front row (mine was literally
the first ticket to be sold the day they went on sale), which is normally not
ideal for recording, the PA was situated at ground level and at sufficient
distance to give me a direct line to it with my microphones. With most of the
audience seated behind me, my location could hardly have been better for
recording in this venue.
If you've been to fewer gigs on the 2012/2013 'Anastasis' tour than I have and
have not yet been pummelled to a gelatinous pulp by the set-list, you are in
for a treat. The sound quality of the recoding is outstanding and the new live
arrangement of 'Cantara', a song not heard live since 1996, is featured here.
The other gigs on this tour for which I have purchased tickets, booked
accommodation and bought flights and train tickets now seem a daunting
prospect. What's that they say about a fool and his money?
Still, my four day jaunt to Florence has been very enjoyable, with the concert
that formed the basis for the trip as its ironic low point.
I had hoped that the seven months between the band's last European gig in
Dublin in 2012 and their first that I would attend in 2013 would be long
enough for some of my lost enthusiasm for their live show to return. I had
also hoped for, but considered unlikely, a revision in the set-list.
Alas, Dublin seems like just last week and tonight's performance feels as if
it has been cloned from it. The substitution of two songs, the omission of
'Rising Of The Moon', and the absolutely magical setting do little to assuage
that feeling.
SET LIST:
01. [07:42] Children Of The Sun
02. [05:56] Agape
03. [06:21] Rakim
04. [08:16] Kiko
05. [06:18] Amnesia
06. [05:38] Sanvean
07. [05:07] Black Sun
08. [04:44] Nierika
09. [05:46] Opium
10. [06:40] The Host Of Seraphim
11. [00:37] [banter]
12. [04:33] Ime Prezakias
13. [05:02] Cantara
14. [06:35] All In Good Time
15. [02:33] [encore break]
16. [05:34] The Ubiquitous Mr. Lovegrove
17. [04:01] Dreams Made Flesh
18. [04:19] Song To The Siren
19. [00:41] [band introduction]
20. [07:26] Return Of The She-King
Total running time: 104:00
Fiesole
