Sunday, 3 April 2016

An absolutely brilliant graphic from Graham Smith

Southern Tales

Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit - Live in Melbourne
Melbourne Recital Centre (29/3/16)
Stockholm (Not recorded)
Palmetto Rose
Decoration Day
Something More Than Free
Alabama Pines
Traveling Alone
The Life You Chose
Different Days
Never Gonna Change
Cover Me Up
Relatively Easy
If It Takes a Lifetime
Speed Trap Town
24 Frames
Children of Children
* * *
Elephant
Codeine

Download

Croxton Hotel (1/4/16)
24 Frames
Flying Over Water
Something More Than Free
Decoration Day
Different Days
Hudson Commodore
The Life You Chose
Travelling Alone
Alabama Pines
Codeine
Palmetto Rose
Never Gonna Change
Cover Me Up (1:08:45)
If It Takes A Lifetime
Stockholm
* * *
Speed Trap Town
Children of Children

Download

NOTES:
(Tuesday)
I have to say that I have really been looking forward to this Jason Isbell gig at the Recital Centre for the past couple of months a venue that I've only been to once before for a Robert Henke/Monolake audiovisual performance. I was supposed to have been back here a couple of times this past month but Gira's gig was cancelled (after the Grimm clusterfuck) and I was just too sick to come and see Tweedy here last week.
Anyway arriving about 45 minutes before he is due on the stage and I go to buy a beer and the street level bar has run out. Oh well my pancreas will be happy. I do find this a bit ironic considering Isbell has become something of a pin-up boy for the 12-steppers amongst us. Check out the reaction after he sings the lines "But I sobered up and I swore off that stuff forever this time" from 'Cover Me Up' live from Austin City Limits

Isbell's sobriety has been good for us as well as for him
And then it's inside for the gig. I have a bit of an aversion to sitting down gigs at the best of times and this is the problem for me on the night. Sonically the room is outstanding but it's not loud at all and this combined with the enforced politeness of the audience made me wish that I had known about his pub gig at the time this gig was announced but at this point I have to give kudos to the woman air punching throughout the gig while sitting in front of me though. Straight after the gig has finished I'm buying a ticket for his pub gig in a couple of nights (or so I thought)
(Thursday)
The Croxton Hotel is only just up the road from me and it's another venue that I haven't been to since they started live music there again a couple of months ago. The hotel's reputation as a live venue back in the seventies is still legendary but for all the wrong reasons. Fights would break out every night

The first thing I notice is how different the crowd are tonight compared to Tuesdays and then the next thing I notice is that the security guys at the door are using those metal detector wands on everyone and all our bags are being searched (very?) thoroughly. WHAT THE FUCK! This is absolutely fucking ridiculous not to mention another of my civil liberties being eroded in front of my very eyes. And after that our tickets are not registering on the scanner and then it all makes sense. Never believe everything you read on the internet as it is actually this mob playing tonight

Makes complete sense now doesn't it?
Oh Jesse, Jesse, Jesse...
Of course what happened at The Bataclan was an absolute tragedy and while I totally understand that you are obviously suffering from PTSD and that fans losing their lives at a bloody rock gig makes my annoyance at the continuing loss of civil liberties pale in comparison but I really do have no time for your shite music nor right wing, NRA loving, hasbara, freedumb politics. You are on record as saying that if the audience had been armed the whole tragedy could have been averted and yet here you are searching everyone for, as the bouncer said on the way out, 'guns, knives and bombs'. Which leads me to another point...what exactly were the bouncers looking for when they were searching our bags? A black round thing with 'BOMB' written on it? Or perhaps orange sticks taped together with fuses at the top? I had my digital recorder in my bag which didn't even get a second glance and to be honest I know nothing about explosive devices but wouldn't an electronic device that size perhaps be more what a bomb could be contained in these days? But yes as the bouncer said on the Friday night it was all just done to keep his management happy.
(Friday)
So here we are back at the Croxton with not a security wand in sight and Jason and the band are on top form again. What is it with people talking throughout gigs these days though? The first time I asked the guy with the hat and his two female companions in front of me to try and keep it down I was polite. The second time not so much.
Which reminds me I must get these printed up