Ben Folds Five - 2012-06-02 - Mountain Jam, Hunter, NY

LSOE Tour 2013-07-21 - Bangor, ME

Ben Folds Five
2012-06-02
Mountain Jam, Hunter, NY
Audience recording, good quality
Avaialble in both Lossless (FLAC) and mp3 versions

Exclusive download hosted at nyctaper.com
 Recorded and produced by acidjack

Continuing on with artists I've recently seen live, here is the next performer from last summer's, 'Last Summer On Earth Tour', the one and only Ben Folds Five (I had intended to highlight these artists last summer, closer to the actual tour, but just never got around to it then, so here it is now). As most of you should know, Ben Folds Five initially broke up amicably back in 2000, allowing Ben to pursue a solo career and other projects (resulting in his multiple stellar solo albums), and Darren Jesse forming his own succesful indie band, Hotel Lights. The band first got back together for a one-off appearance and project in 2008, for the MySpace 'Front To Back' Series, performing their last album, The Unauthorized Biography of Rheinhold Messner in its entirety. In 2011, they also got back together briefly to record 3 new songs for Ben's 3-CD career retrospective album, The Best Imitation of Myself: A Retrospective. This reunion was so succesful that they decided to get back together to record a new album the following year. Thus, their new album, The Sound of the Life of the Mind, was released in September 2012, and an extensive tour followed. A new live album, Ben Folds Five Live, from that tour was released in Summer 2013. That same year (2013), BF5 joined up with Guster and the Barenaked Ladies as part of the Last Summer on Earth Tour (which was where I saw them). I had hoped to find a recording of BF5 from that recent tour, or at least the earlier Sound of the Life of the Mind Tour, but have not found any unofficial recordings to share. Of course, that tour is well represented on the recent official live album, which I heartily recommend. However, prior to these more recent shows, in June 2012, BF5 performed at the Mountain Jam Festival, which was their first full-scale live concert performance as BF5 since their break-up in 2000, and that performance is what I have to present today (and is the most recent available BF5 show I could find). Because this show was before they had finished recording the new album, it does not include any of their new material, but is still chock full of the old classic BF5 songs. However, this show is exclusively available through the NYCtaper website and as per their policy, they request that all downloads be made through their site, and not reposted elsewhere. So, I have honored their request and have only posted the link to their website, which is where the actual download links are located. But please, go there and enjoy this BF5 show.


Tracks [Total Time 1:23:43]
 01 Jackson Cannery [fades in]
 02 Theme from Dr. Pyser
 03 Fair
 04 [banter]
 05 Selfless, Cold and Composed
 06 Uncle Walter
 07 [banter]
 08 Where’s Summer B?
 09 Mess
 10 Battle of Who Could Care Less
 11 Brick
 12 [banter]
 13 Emaline
 14 Army
 15 Kate
 16 Alice Childress
 17 [banter]
 18 Song for the Dumped
 19 Narcolepsy
 20 [improv]
 21 Underground
 22 One Angry Dwarf and 200 Solemn Faces

Download (mp3 or FLAC) available exclusively through the NYCTaper website here

Pictures shown here are from the 2013 Last Summer On Earth Tour (07-21-2013, Bangor, ME, photos by BBKron), and not from the 2012 Mountain Jam Show

Guster - 2013-07-30 - Prospect Park, Brooklyn, NY

Guster 07-21-2013 - Bangor, ME photo by BBKron

Guster
2013-07-30
Prospect Park, Brooklyn, NY
Last show of the 'Last Summer On Earth' Tour 2013 (which also featured Ben Folds Five and Barenaked Ladies)
Audience recording (S.Bernstein - archives.org), Good sound quality
mp3 (VBR ~192 kbps) files (Lossless version available at archives.org)

Continuing with artists that I have seen live recently, here is Guster. I saw Guster last summer as part of the 'Last Summer On Earth Tour', which featured Guster, Ben Folds Five, and Barenaked Ladies in a great combination of bands I love for a sensational tour de force concert program. I have to admit, though, that it was primarily the pairing of BF5 and BNL (two of my, and my  whole family's, favorite bands) that I was most interested in. I was only vaguely aware of Guster at that time, having only heard a couple songs by them. But, in anticipation of the concert I began to look more seriuosly at them and their music, and was very impressed. There is a lot to like about Guster. First, some background. Guster is a Boston-area band, first formed back in the early nineties by Adam Gardner, Ryan Miller, and Brian Rosenworcel while they were students at Tufts University, and were primarily a local area band for several years (and their first 2 independently made albums, Parachute (1994) and Goldfly (1997)). They finally broke wider on the alternative rock scene in 1999 following their third album, Lost and Gone Forever, and the release of 'Fa Fa' as a single. Subsequent albums Keep It Together (2003), Ganging Up on the Sun (2006) and Easy Wonderful (2010) have continued to enhance their reputation as an excellent band. In 2013 they also released a live acoustic album. Their sound features bright vocal harmonies and melodies in a shimmering acoustic-rock style, with humor and warmth. Another aspect of their sound, particularly in the earlier days, was that percussionist Brian played most all of the percussion effects with his bare hands (bongos, congas, cymbals, other drums, etc.). In addition, they are one of the most fan-friendly bands around, offering much free music and access to fans, and they all really seem like just nice, regular guys. They have an open taping policy for their live shows, with the result being that literally hundreds of audience recordings from their live shows are available freely through the Live Music Archives (archive.org) website. In fact, right now, they are also offering a new official live album (recorded with a symphony orchestra) available for freee download through their website, see below. So, it is very easy to go abd check out their music and through all stages of their career. Anyway, since getting to know these guys and their music now, I can't believe that I wasn't a fan before this, as I like everything about them. So, if you haven't checked out or gotten to know Guster, please do so now. You'll be glad you did. Here I offer the last show from last year's Last Summer on Earth Tour, and since they performed only shortned 45 minute sets at these shows, I have also added on some bonus tracks that consist of some additional songs from their free LL Bean show a couple weeks later.

Tracklist:
1.  What You Wish For (cuts in)
2.  banter - Brooklyn bonafides
3.  Architects & Engineers
4.  Airport Song
5.  Manifest Destiny
6.  banter - last night of tour
7.  What You Call Love
8.  banter - pod of energy
9.  Come Downstairs And Say Hello
10. Do You Love Me
11. banter - tax deduction suit
12. Ramona
13. Satellite
14. Barrel Of A Gun *
15. banter - amazing summer
16. This Could All Be Yours

Bonus Tracks:
from 2013-08-10
L.L. Bean Discovery Park, Freeport, ME
(Free Outdoor Concert sponsored by LL Bean)
17. The Captain
18. Happier
19. Demons
20. Bad Bad World
21. Amsterdam
22. Hang On

* = w/Ed Robertson from Barenaked Ladies on vocals

mp3 - Guster_2013-07-30_Brooklyn NY.rar
New link (Updated 11/9/21)

Lossless versions of this show, as well as several dozen other Guster shows, are available through the
live music archives here

Also, new official Live Guster album 'Live with the [Redacted] Symphony' is now available for FREE download through the band's website (www.guster.com and noisetrade.com)

Guster 07-21-2013 - Bangor, ME photo by BBkron

John Hiatt & Lyle Lovett (solo acoustic) - 2010-02-01 - Zurich, Switzerland

John Hiatt & Lyle Lovett
An Acoustic Evening with (solo [&duo] acoustic performance)
2010-02-01
Volkshaus, Zurich, Switzerland
Audience recording (SRM), very good quality
Available in both lossless (FLAC) and mp3 (320 kbps) versions

A few weeks ago I had the extreme pleasure of seeing John Hiatt and Lyle Lovett perform live as part of their 'An Acoustic Evening with John Hiatt and Lyle Lovett' concert series, which they have been doing together occasionally,  on and off over the past couple decades (they mentioned as far back as 1989), and what a joy it was seeing and hearing these two old pros sit back and just play their music in such a casual, personal setting. It is just great to get to hear these guys in smaller venues (with better acoustics) for this more intimate acoustic show. They just come out on stage, each with their guitar, sit down, start having a friendly conversation, and then each in turn plays one of their songs, alternating between them with each song, sometimes commenting on or asking about each other's songs. With no advanced setlist or advanced preparation, they just play what they feel like playing, often being influenced or inspired to do a particular song based on what the other just played. It's like having them in your own living room just sitting there playing their masterful selections of songs. It was great. For the most part, they each just played their own songs, with not alot of duets or shared songs (Hiatt would sometimes join in with Lyle to provide some added lead or rhythm guitar, but Lyle generally just sat back and listened when John played his songs, adding some harmony vocals on only a few select songs). But, a great show it was, and although they each played several of my favorite songs by them, of course there were also many they did not get to, but also played several lesser known gems that they were inspired to bring out that night. If you get the chance to catch their show together, by all means do. Anyway, in honor of that show, here is a recording of John and Lyle together for a similar type show from a few years ago (I could not find any recordings of their current acoustic tour). It is very good quality for an audience recording, and also considering the acoustic nature of the show. This show features several of the same songs they perfomed at the show I saw, as well as several other different ones. Enjoy.

Tracklist
disc 1:
01) announcement
02) JH: Drive South
03) talk
04) LL: LA County
05) talk
06) JH: Memphis In The Meantime
07) talk
08) LL: I Will Rise Up
09) talk
10) JH: Walk On
11) talk
12) LL: Fiona
13) talk
14) JH: My Baby
15) LL: Nobody Knows Me
16) talk
17) JH: Crossing Muddy Waters
18) LL: Don't Cry A Tear For Me
19) JH: Like A Freight Train

disc 2:
01) talk
02) LL: She's No Lady
03) JH: Tennessee Plates
04) talk
05) LL: Natural Forces
06) JH: Thunderbird
07) talk
08) LL: If I Had A Boat
09) JH+LL: Thing Called Love
10) LL: My Baby Don't Tolerate
12) talk
13) JH+LL: Ain't No More Cane
ENCORE
14) JH: Have A Little Faith In Me
15) talk
16) LL: Step Inside This House

New Links! Updated 11/9/21
mp3 - JH&LL_2010-02-01_Zurich_mp3-disc1
          JH&LL_2010-02-01_Zurich_mp3-disc2

FLAC - JH&LL_2010-02-01_Zurich_FLAC-disc1
            JH&LL_2010-02-01_Zurich_FLAC-disc2