ELVIS COSTELLO & THE IMPOSTERS
House Of Blues at Showboat
Atlantic City, NJ
2007-12-31

Yes, the above date is correct. This concert did not take place last night, but ONE YEAR AGO last night. I encountered a few technical difficulties and I've been hoping that another source would surface that could be used to repair my recording. Since (to my knowledge) no other sources have surfaced (could I have been the only person recording at this show?), it's time to unleash this bad boy on the world. Sorry to have held it hostage for so long.

Sound Quality: A/A-

DISC 1
01. I Hope You're Happy Now [very beg.-cut]
02. Tear Off Your Own Head (It's A Doll Revolution)
03. Uncomplicated
04. Waiting For The End Of The World
05. Radio, Radio
06. Either Side Of The Same Town
07. Clown Strike
08. Human Hands
09. (I Don't Want To Go To) Chelsea
10. Brilliant Mistake
11. Beaten To The Punch - including Some Other Guy
12. The Imposter
13. I Can't Stand Up For Falling Down
14. High Fidelity
15. Man Out Of Time

DISC 2
01. intro
02. The Sharpest Thorn
03. 13 Steps Lead Down
04. ENCORE BREAK
05. Alison
06. Lipstick Vogue
07. American Gangster Time
08. Beyond Belief
09. Clubland - including Insensatez
10. Mystery Dance
11. Pump It Up
12. (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love And Understanding?


Lineage: Church Audio STC-9000 Stereo Cardioid mics > Church Audio STC-9000 mic preamp > Edirol R-09 recorder [16bit, 48kHz] > R8Brain [sample rate conversion to 44.1kHz] > Sound Forge v9.0e > CD Architect v5.2c > EAC > Trader's Little Helper (flac level 5).

Recorded and transferred by rockcat

Shared on DIME on 2009-01-01


Comments:

The "Get Happy' grouping of songs was definitely a highlight of this show for me...especially the rarely played "Beaten To The Punch". I can't say that Elvis really seemed to be having a great time. Perhaps this wasn't where he wanted to spend his New Year's Eve, or perhaps he was put off by the percentage of attendees who weren't even paying attention to his performance (thankfully, the fans closest to me were fairly well-behaved). His acknowledgment of the New Year was little more than him saying "Happy New Year everybody" (during "The Sharpest Thorn" - although in his defense, this song couldn't be more appropriate, as it's set on New Year's Eve). There was no countdown to midnight. My last time seeing Elvis on New Year's Eve was 1981-12-31 (26 years ago), which was the longest show he had ever played to date. It would be very hard to top that one. Nevertheless, I did enjoy this show...short, but sweet, and to the point.


Technical difficulties:

I was in a good spot - directly in front of the PA, close to the stage, with good sightlines. Unfortunately, this also meant that there was A LOT of security around me. As the lights went down, I started my R09 recorder and flipped on the "hold" switch. As I went to slip the R09 into my waist pack, I noticed that it had stopped recording. I quickly pulled it back out, released the "hold" then hit record and "hold" again. I shoved it back into the waist pack, then glanced at it to set my levels as the first song began. To my dismay, the recorder had shut off again! I pulled it back out and repeated the above sequence. Thankfully, this time the record mode held. Mind you, all this fiddling wasn't exactly easy with several security guards staring right at me. It also made it very difficult to set and check levels. I was really running on instinct (thankfully, my instincts are pretty good). Because the recorder created new .wav files each time I restarted it, I don't know exactly how long it was off (it wasn't more than a few seconds). Therefore, I just shortened the "down time" to 1 sec. gaps. When the 1st song finally kicks in, it's a bit jarring, but it's smooth sailing thereafter. There was one other problem. The +10db gain switch on the mic preamp kept switching off and back on again throughout the show (I now tape it in place). Again, the heavy security kept me from keeping an eye on my levels. I used Sound Forge to normalize and CD Architect to balance the levels. It was a nightmare, but I'm fairly satisfied with the results (I tend to be over-critical, so I'm probably the only one who would still notice any of the volume fluctuations...only because I know where they are).

I've included a .jpg of the poster from the show if anyone wants to make some artwork.

Enjoy!