John Hiatt & The Combo
Count Basie Theatre
Red Bank, NJ
Oct. 19, 2011
Master AUD recording


**mp3 samples provided (as always) in the Comments section**



The Commish notes (and sort of reviews):

Although John Hiatt easily makes my Top 10 favorites list, it had been over 15 years since I last saw him perform in concert. So my main man Sammy and I decided to catch him at the Copunt Basie since we were able to get a pair of seats very close to the stage in the left side orchestra.

It was my first time in the Count Basie and though it's a beautiful theater, I thought the sound was kind of boomy. But then again, my view may be somewhat distorted by the fact that I've been seeing a lot of bands in small clubs in recent years and have grown accustomed to the tighter sound that comes with smaller rooms.

Nonetheless, Sammy and I were in agreement after the show that although the show was good, it certainly could have been better. Both of us felt that Hiatt and the band were holding back for most of the night and only truly opened things up on a few numbers (e.g., especially Riding With The King, but also Feels Like Rain, Slow Turning, and Memphis In The Meantime).

Again, I'm a big Hiatt fan...I own most of the guy's albums...but was slightly let down by this show. Although it's a good show and the songs are performed quite competently, some things I didn't care for were:

* One of the two guitar techs also sang backup vocals on some songs; when he wasn't helping on vocals, you could see him tuning guitars onstage (at the back of the stage) during many songs. This seemed VERY weird to Sammy and me. Couldn't Hiatt hire someone to tune his guitar OFFSTAGE? Seeing the guy tuning guitars onstage during the songs was very distracting...and strange.

* The songs on the new album didn't impress either of us. I did enjoy "Detroit Made", but the other new songs in this show (especially "Down Around My Place") didn't seem to meet the typically high standards we expect from Hiatt songs. Kind of boring, truth be told.

* Again, the sound in the theater was kind of boomy...not as tight as we would have liked.

* Sammy and I were bitterly disappointed that "Paper Thin", a favorite of ours, didn't make this show's setlist despite being played at other stops. Same for "The Open Road." Instead, we got "The Tiki Bar Is Open" which is far inferior (in my opinion). However, I was delighted to hear "Dust Down A Country Road."


So to wrap it up, we had a GOOD time at the show but had hoped for a great show. I think my Zoom recorder did an admirable job capturing the show from my shirt pocket. There are a few instances where you may here the guy talking behind us (you know, That Guy...the one guy that has to offer a running commentary during every show with immensely insightful comments like "Oh, this is a GREAT song!" to his buddy--and That Guy ALWAYS sits near YOU) or the nice-but-somewhat-overenthusiastic clapper sitting next to me. But oevrall, I think the recording is pretty true to the sound we heard at the show. Check the samples to judge with you own ears.



Setlist:
101. Thank You Girl
102. Detroit Made
103. Dust Down A Country Road
104. The Tiki Bar Is Open
105. Crossing Muddy Waters
106. Cry Love
107. Band intros
108. Down Around My Place
109. Thing Called Love
110. Adios To California
111. Damn This Town

201. Feels Like Rain
202. Perfectly Good Guitar
203. Drive South
204. Slow Turning
205. Tennessee Plates
206. Memphis In The Meantime
207. Encore break
208. Have A Little Faith In Me
209. Riding With The King

Running time: Approx. 120 minutes


Lineage:
Zoom H2 (120 degree mic pattern) > WAV (onto SD card) > Nero wave editor (trim & fade end tracks) > Audacity (pan 30% to right) > Nero wave editor (+14dB initial volume increase) > Cool Edit Pro (+4dB addl volume increase, hard limited to -0.1dB) > Nero wave editor (addl volume boosts to certain between-song banter) > FLAC Frontend (sb-aligned) > FLAC


The band:
John Hiatt – guitar, vocals
Nathan Geary – bass
Kenneth Blevins – drums
Doug Lancio – guitar
Brandon Young - backing vocals, guitar tuning


Please support John Hiatt...buy his CDs (if you don't own them already), go to his shows


If you decide to download this show, won't you please consider posting a comment on the show's board? It only takes a moment, and believe me, it takes A LOT longer to prepare/upload a show for others to enjoy than it does to download and run.


Recorded by and uploaded on DIME
by TheCommish
January 2011