John McLaughlin and the 4th Dimension
The Blue Note
New York City
2013-06-19 Early Show

1-Guitar Love 12:30
2-Little Miss Valley 10:27
3-Intros 2:44
4-Abbaji 7:09
5-The Fine Line 8:11
6-Guitar/Keys Duo (Senor C.S) 3:19
7-Riff Raff 8:56
8-Light at the Edge of the World 6:50
9-Echoes from Then 7:54


Lineage-Roland Edirol R-05 Audience Capture to WAV; Audacity for splitting and WAV to Flac> TLH>DIME


John McLaughlin-Guitar
Gary Husband-keyboards and drums
Etienne M'Bappe-bass
Ranjit Barot-drums

Early show of 2nd of 3 nights at the Blue Note. First NY appearance by McLaughlin since 2009. Recording came out very well, but pretty bass drum and bass guitar heavy, although it's all clear and very listenable. If you're a sub-woofer fan, you'll be in heaven, otherwise you might want to EQ it a bit. Probably came out this way because these things were prominent in the live mix, and the Edirol had to reside under the table for the evening due to the "policing" by the Blue Note staff. Some unfortunate chatter from a nearby Argentinian father and 2 sons (one of whom either texted or played games on his phone through the entire show). They shouldn't be too much of a deterrant if you like this band.
One peculiar thing is that John broke a string literally about a minute into Guitar Love. He had to go up to his dressing room to change the string (that's on the 2nd floor at the Blue Note). No apparent roadie to do it or spare back-up guitar ready to go. He was off the stage for about 5 minutes, so extended synth and bass solos took up that time during the opening song. John was a trouper and laughed it off by saying that hadn't happened to him in 25 years. He was using a wireless set-up and I think his volume and/or tone on his control moved a bit during the string changing. This led to a thinner than usual tone for him on Guitar Love and into Little Miss.
Things progressed well from there, and the playing by all was stellar throughout. Some excellent double drumming in spots. The solo at the end of Riff Raff is Husband alone. Only regret is that this was separate admission early and late shows with a pretty high ticket price. Hope to hear additional recordings with any other tunes they're playing on this tour from other venues or nights at the Blue Note.
Please support John and all of the 4th Dimension by buying all commercially available releases.