The Decemberists
March 31, 2007
Brubaker Auditorium, Messiah College, Grantham, PA

Church Audio STC-11s > CA-9100 Preamp > iRiver h120 (16 bit/44.1 wav)
 
Transfer: wav file > usb wire > Sound Studio (Mac OS 10.3.9) > split files .aif (volume boost by +15 db, plus some mixing) > flac (xACT)

Location: about 20 rows back on the floor, center stage

01. Intro music
02. Shiny
03. The Island, Come and See, The Landlord's Daughter, You'll not Feel the Drowning
04. Banter (where are we tonight?)
05. July, July!
06. Banter (Slinky on stage)
07. The Crane Wife (pt.1 only)
08. The Bachelor and the Bride
09. Song for Myla Goldberg (slow version)
10. The Perfect Crime 1/(What Goes On by The Velvet Underground)/The Perfect Crime 2
11. O Valencia
12. A Cautionary Song (with the battle of Gettysburg)
13. Encore break
14. The Tain (I-VI)


Comments:
Easily the most "rocking" Decemberists show I've ever seen or heard.  Colin says early in the show that Chris Funk (the band's guitarist) made up the setlist for the show.  They played The Crane Wife part 1 only, which was interesting (and better than linking it with part 2).  We got to hear the live debut of a b-side from The Crane Wife, a song that is MUCH better live than the studio version: The Perfect Crime #1.  Also, an encore of The Tain was a nice surprise (though I would have liked one more album song to close the show).  The in-crowd entertainment was a re-enactment of the battle of Gettysburg instead of the Charge of the Light Brigade (especially nice to hear the guy behind me cheer loudly when Colin says the Confederates had won the battle).  A fan got up on stage during O Valencia to sing backup and play a percussive noise maker.  After the show I got to shake hands with John, the drummer, and say hi to Jenny, the keyboard/accordion player, as I walked through the building towards my car.  It was a great show.
Now, the sound in a college gym is terrible.  The mix was also a bit light on Colin's vocals in my opinion.  For some reason I ended up with a lot of static in the left channel, so a bunch of songs have the right channel doubled to avoid the digi-noise from the left mic.  There is more crowd than I'd like in the recording too, but that's what you're going to get when people talk and shout requests through the whole show.  Overall, with the volume boost I think it's a very solid recording for the given conditions.  Please share freely and only in lossless formats.
Questions/Comments:
subpop12@hotmail.com

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     5:05.16       53839088    -b-   --   ---xx   thedecemberists2007-03-31t02.flac
    13:21.29      141365416    -b-   --   ---xx   thedecemberists2007-03-31t03.flac
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     1:22.13       14495892    -b-   --   ---xx   thedecemberists2007-03-31t13.flac
    18:37.50      197156680    -b-   --   ---xx   thedecemberists2007-03-31t14.flac
    95:21.44     1009289448 B                     (totals for 14 files, 0.4910 overall compression ratio)