moe.
The Bayou
Washington, DC
4/5/1997

Original recording: SBD + 2xAKG414(onstage) -> Mackie 1202 mixer -> Behringer Composer pro MDX2200 2CH compressor/expander (set up in a ducking or voice over configuration) -> Tascam DAP1 (@16/48) -> DAT(m)

Transfer:  Sony R500->Sound Devices 722
Mastering in Soundforge Audio Studio 9.0d - volume normalization and 48->44.1 sample rate conversion with interpolation accuracy 4, anti-alias filter.  All file manipulation in Soundforge done at 24 bits, then dithered back to 16 bits using highpass triangular dither algorithm with high pass contour noise shaping.  Tracked in CDWav.

Set 1:
1.  tuning/banter - setlists written by the government 6 years ago, Spaz intro
2.  Spaz Medicine
3.  Nebraska
4.  Four %$
5.  tuning
6.  Brent Black
7.  banter - give it up for fuckin' Oteil, he does more by midnight than you do all day, Take The Skinheads Bowling tease
8.  Rebubula ->
9.  Yodelittle ->
10. Rebubula

Set 2:
1.  crowd/banter - happy birthday to Jennifer and Jessica Kelly
2.  It
3.  banter - relatively new tunes, Backwoods intro
4.  Backwoods
5.  Meat ->
6.  Californ IA ->
7.  Moth
8.  tuning/banter - no more toys in toyland
9.  Time Ed
10. Spine Of A Dog
11. thanks/encore break/anti-encore banter
12. She Sends Me ->
13. Feedback/One Of These Days (Pink Floyd) jam ->
14. Seat Of My Pants *
15. banter - spring ahead, fall back

% = w/Oteil Burbridge on 2nd bass and vocals
$ = "Don't Get Around Much Anymore" teases
* = trivia questions at the end of song:  Rob to Chuck: "Who wrote the Canterbury tales?"  Al to Chuck:  "What are the words to the song?"  Rob to Chuck:  "In the 5th episode of the original Star Trek who did Spock end up falling in love with?"

*** Note that there are serious problems with Rob's vocal mic through most of the 1st set (you can even hear it in the opening banter and it's REALLY REALLY bad during Nebraska).  I think it clears up about 45 minutes into the set, but it badly mars any vocals Rob was contributing before then, and also contributes some crackling noise during Brent Black.

Taper notes:
Yes, it's been many months gone by since I've issued an update to my ongoing BARN series -- Bonnaroo, Gathering Of The Vibes, moe.down, Phish Festival 8, a NYC Bonerama residency and lots and lots of other random gigs got in the way of my archival series.  A little down time has freed up some time for me to produce BARN8.

This was a truly amazing show, start to finish -- good song choices, loose, funny banter, a LONG show but not a lot of songs in the setlist (which means that there are lots of meaty jams).  The previous night was a show at Irving Plaza in New York City, which in itself was pretty amazing.  We had a few friends staying over, and by the time everyone started waking up, we had a brief conversation about how great the show was, how one friend had his car parked near our apartment, and made the snap decision to leave right then for the show that night in Washington, DC!  Off we went, making it down there just in time to get in line for the show.  Got my patch secured from Brendan up in the balcony (I generally prefer audience recordings to soundboards, but this was before I owned my own microphones and I don't recall there being any other tapers there), and we were in for an incredible night of music.  Things started off interestingly enough with Spaz Medicine and Nebraska, but then who appears onstage but Oteil Burbridge from (then) the Aquarirum Rescue Unit (this is well before he was drafted into the Allman Brothers).  It wasn't the first time I'd seen Oteil sit in with moe, and I knew how well the last one went, so I knew we were about to be in for a HUGE treat.  Oteil did not disappoint -- it was interesting to watch him at work.  He sat back for a few minutes, sort of absorbing the groove, and then wormed his way into the song (Four) slowly, until finally he completely jumped in and contributed some amazing bass playing and vocalizations (Four being the perfect song for this since it already has a space built in for Chuck's vocalizations).  This version of Four was nothing short of amazing -- could be one of the all time best versions, only marred by sound issues with Rob's microphone.  Oteil remained onstage for a KILLER Brent Black.  What could top the amazing jams we'd seen so far?  Well, how about a Yodelittle sandwiched in the middle of two slices of Rebubula?  Now that's a SOLID set with lots of music and very few songs played!  Set 2 lead off with It, much more jammed out and with better harmonies than I remember, including the now-lost Backwoods (with Al on lap steel, if I recall correctly), and another set with just a few songs but HUGE jams -- Meat, Moth, Time Ed, Spine Of Dog with a semi-rare CalifornIA thrown in for good measure.....nice combo!

So now that the show was over, it was pretty late, and since we'd come down on the spur of the moment we had no place to stay in DC.  And we were losing an hour of sleep ("Spring forward...").  And since everyone else was pretty drunk by that point, I wound up being the designated driver (as usual), but the car was a stick shift and I'd never driven a stick-shift before.  No better way to learn than by doing it!  ;-)  I distinctly remember seeing the sun rise over North Jersey on the way back.  That last half hour of the drive was pretty tough, but we made it back safe and sound.

You guys will love this show.  12+ years after the fact, it still stands out in my mind as one of the truly great ones!

-- Scott