As requested, the recording of the last european concert of DCD 2012 tour. Again a huge THANK YOU to ianmacd for taping and sharing his recording on DIME.
Original Info File:
RECORDING:
Type: Audience master, recorded from seat on right-hand side of 2nd row,
directly in front of Astrid Williamson and approximately 7 metres from
my dear friend, Mr. Brendan Perry.
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 2.0.2
* manually balanced left and right channels of tracks 1 and 2
* applied 2 dB of amplification to left channel of track 3 onwards
to balance channels (i.e. compensate for my location)
* applied varying degrees of amplification to both channels
simultaneously for consistency across recording
* attenuated applause, including sample-level edits to eliminate
clipping
* added fades
* split tracks
* converted to 16 bit
-> FLAC (compression level 8) [libFLAC 1.2.1 20070917]
Taper: ianmacd
NOTES:
9 gigs, 9 cities, 8 countries, 2 continents, 6 weeks and 17 recordings after
it began, my personal Dead Can Dance tour draws to a close in the capital city
of the Emerald Isle.
I tell my wife to think of it not so much as a very expensive six week period,
but more as a much more economically balanced seven year span, the previous
tour having been all the way back in 2005 (at which time, of course, I told
her that she should average that tour's expenditure out over the previous nine
year period).
To the best of my knowledge, this is the first time I have been present at
both the first and last gigs of a tour.
Six weeks ago, I sat in the atmospheric Roman Amphitheatre of the Lebanese
town of Zouk Mikael. It was a balmy 28°C when the band took to the stage, a
pleasant Mediterranean breeze wafting through the atmospheric auditorium.
Tonight, it's about 5°C outside this Irish theatre, named in yet another
triumph of commerce over good taste after the local utility company. It's
drizzling outside and touts prowl the plaza in front of the venue, informing
us that they "will buy any spare tickets" for this evening's sold-out show.
I've met up with Denes, who is not a well man. He tells me that he has spent
the day trawling around the city's museums and has been left decidedly
unimpressed. He was even sick in the toilets of one of them, presumably due to
ill health, rather than disgust at the museum's lacklustre collection.
Timo is here, too. We missed each other entirely in London, but there's time
for a chat before the gig and we make arrangements to meet up again
afterwards.
Doors are on the early side tonight, 18:30 to be precise. David Kuckhermann
isn't scheduled to come on until 19:45, so the early opening time is probably
just a ploy to maximise sales of alcohol.
Thankfully, the venue's crassness ends with its name. Inside the auditorium,
it's quite lovely, a fitting scene for the climax of the European tour.
I take up residence in the second row, on the right-hand side. Looking
straight ahead, it appears that I'm going to be gazing at Astrid Williamson
for much of the evening. Oh no! How will I endure this hardship?
On the other hand, Brendan will be standing just a few metres from me, too.
Perhaps our eyes will meet across a crowded room.
David Kuckhermann is as punctual as ever. He sounds fantastic this evening,
much louder than usual. Yes, I'm very close to the stage, but I have been
close at a couple of the other gigs, too, and he didn't sound this good then.
Kuckhermann plays a couple of bum notes during his set, the first mistakes
I've heard him make on the tour. He smiles to himself and makes a graceful
recovery each time. The man has worked hard on this tour, arguably harder than
anyone else, performing two sets a night to everyone else's one.
Dead Can Dance arrive on stage at 20:45, 'Children Of The Sun' getting the
show underway for the last time on the European continent.
'Anabasis' follows, of course, but this time, Brendan improvises the final
section on the bouzouki. It's a subtle change, but one that I hope signals
further spontaneity to come.
Alas, content-wise, there is little in this evening's performance to set it
apart from others on the tour, but it is rendered in fine fashion. As in
London, Brendan fumbles the bouzouki on the final section of 'Kiko', but we
can forgive him this minor mishap.
The band are visibly relaxed and in very good humour, regularly beaming smiles
across the stage to each other and into the audience. It probably comes as a
great relief to them to be finally able to go home to their friends and family
after six weeks on the road, a period that followed the North American leg by
little more than a week. These guys have been hard at it for the better part
of three months now.
The sound, too, is fabulous this evening, immeasurably better than the shrill
blur encountered in the Royal Albert Hall two days earlier. If this is how it
sounds on the right of the second row, it must sound absolutely pristine a few
rows further back, in the centre. It's a pity that I'm not recording from
there, but I really have no complaint with my location tonight. The sound is
great from here and my seat affords me an unbeatable view of the musicians.
The only major innovation tonight comes when Brendan introduces the band after
'Sanvean'. It isn't until he does so that the lack of an introduction on any
previous night of the tour becomes conspicuous.
Following the final strains of 'Rising Of The Moon', Lisa dedicates the
concert to her father and mentions a few of the Perry family by name,
including his wife and daughter.
The audience of the Dublin concert deserve a special mention as possibly the
most respectful of the tour, certainly the most pleasant that I have
encountered on my nine dates. They waited until the final note had rung out
before applauding and resisted the temptation to drown out the introduction to
the next song, no matter how fragile, upon recognising the song. I duly
applaud the applauders.
It must also be stated, however, that good audience behaviour was encouraged
and facilitated by sensible venue policy: no drinks in the auditorium. This
meant no people getting up and walking around to fetch drinks and no people
kicking over empty plastic beer glasses at the most inopportune moment. I
must therefore also applaud the venue's management for placing the integrity
of the performance above beverage sales.
It's ridiculous and crass that prestigious venues like the Royal Albert Hall
allow patrons to wander in and out of the auditorium to buy beer during the
performance. How long can it be before crisps and popcorn are also allowed
inside?
I dedicate this final recording of the tour to all fans of the band,
particularly those I met on this tour, those with whom I rekindled friendship
and those who have suffered unfair treatment by Brendan in recent times.
Most of all, though, I dedicate this recording to my wife, who has put up with
a lot of spousal absences these last six weeks, each one of which brought her
an increased workload in single-handedly dealing with the children and running
the home. And even on the days when I returned home, I often disappeared into
my office to master the previous night's gig. Thank you for your
understanding, my dear.
Finally, I dedicate this recording to my three children, who no longer have to
wonder why Papa keeps deserting them to spend time in the presence of a man
who can't stand him. I was never really able to devise an answer to that
question that a child could understand. Perhaps there simply is no good answer
to that question.
And what of the recording? It turned out very well. It's neither the best nor
the worst of the nine I have produced of this tour, but it's almost certainly
in the top half. I think it has a very nice sound and it is one I shall listen
to again.
As always, samples are provided to help you decide whether this is worth the
share ratio depletion for you.
The band now enjoy a month off before reconvening for three gigs in Mexico at
the end of November, followed by a gig in Chile and another in Argentina.
There was supposed to be a Central and South American tour, but it hasn't
really materialised and only the aforementioned two dates are currently
scheduled. It seems unlikely that more will be added at this late stage.
On the other hand, there is already talk of more European dates next summer.
I'll be looking forward to further announcements, but it's definitely time to
shake up that immutable set-list.
Enjoy!
SET LIST:
01. [07:40] Children Of The Sun
02. [06:37] Anabasis
03. [06:18] Rakim
04. [08:22] Kiko
05. [00:53] [banter]
06. [04:47] Lamma Bada
07. [06:04] Agape
08. [06:24] Amnesia
09. [05:38] Sanvean
10. [01:11] [band introduction]
11. [04:43] Nierika
12. [05:44] Opium
13. [06:37] The Host Of Seraphim
14. [00:52] [banter]
15. [04:52] Ime Prezakias
16. [05:32] Now We Are Free
17. [06:49] All In Good Time
18. [03:41] [encore break]
19. [05:39] The Ubiquitous Mr. Lovegrove
20. [04:13] Dreams Made Flesh
21. [02:51] [encore break]
22. [04:41] Song To The Siren
23. [07:00] Return Of The She-King
24. [01:28] [encore break]
25. [05:30] Rising Of The Moon
Total running time: 124:06
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Thank you very much for sharing !
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