MAGENTA
The Globe,
Cardiff, Wales

31st March 2017

Lineage:
Church Audio CA-14 cardioids > CA-9200 > Edirol R-09HR (@24/96) > Cool Edit Pro 2 > CDWave > TLH
Recorded 35' back from front of balcony, in line with house left stack

Recording, transfer & artwork by boombox

1. Technical Problems
2. Trojan (Excerpt) *
3. Speechless
4. Gluttony
5. Legend *
6. Pearl
---- Suggested Disc Split ----
7. The Devil At The Crossroads
8. Anger
9. Colours *
10. Demons
11. Metamorphosis (Excerpt)
12. The Lizard King
13. Pride

* Premiere of new songs from 'We Are Legend' to be released 20th April 2017

Magenta are :
Christina Booth - vocals, percussion
Rob Reed - keyboards, backing vocals
Chris Fry - guitar, backing vocals
Dan Nelson - bass
Jonathon 'Jiffy' Griffiths - drums

boombox's notes april 2017:

Second time seeing Magenta in less than six months, but this was a very different affair from the acoustic gig in Pentyrch. First off, this gig was going to premiere songs from the new album, recorded by, shock horror, the same line-up as the live outfit. The new line-up also features Jiffy on drums, a veteran of Rob's 'Sanctuary' shows. Jiffy is something of a powerhouse - he really hits them hard - and this forced the band to lift their game and play one of the heaviest shows I've heard by them. Tina was clearly struggling with her IEMs at times and missed the odd note, but soldiered on, despite, amongst others, the ignorant barstewards on the stairs who talked incessantly and loudly and who she called out brilliantly during and after 'Pearl'. Rob's keys were everywhere, colouring the palate, but MVP on the night should perhaps go to Chris, who got so many spontaneous bouts of applause at the end of solos, he started to look embarassed! The setlist featured all three new songs and they sound pretty amazing - 'Legend', in particular, might just become one of my favourite Magenta songs. Aside from those, we also got a fair spread of songs from most of their albums except for Revolutions and Chameleon. Must also say something about support band, Kinky Wizzards, with Jiffy on drums: fans of later era King Crimson and Jeff Beck will really like them and their new album, launched on the night, is very good too.

As for the recording, Kinky Wizzards got the fillings pretty much rattling, so I went with the bass rolloff for Magenta - you may want to boost the bass, depending on your system. I also added a smidgeon of compression just to get the volume up. It all came out well considering just how loud the band were - some people complained that the band were drowning out Tina and there are definitely times when she is hard to hear. Yes, you hear the ignorant talkers off and on throughout the show, but it's still a pretty good listen. There is a 24 bit version too if requested and my raw files are as usual available to anyone who wants to attempt a remaster. Sorry the included photos aren't up to much - the lighting was terrible!

Enjoy!