Patti Smith

Paradiso
Amsterdam
The Netherlands

7th July 2012 (2012-07-07)


RECORDING:

Type: Audience master, recorded 3 metres back from the left-hand side PA stack.

Source: Factory-matched pair of Schoeps CCM 41V microphones (DINa mounted) ->
Marantz PMD661 recorder with Oade Concert Mod
(-18 dB gain/44.1 kHz/24 bit WAV)

Lineage: Audacity 2.0.0
* variable amplification for consistency of volume across recording
* added fades
* split tracks
* converted to 16 bit
-> FLAC (compression level 8) [libFLAC 1.2.1 20070917]

Taper: Ian Macdonald (ianmacd)


SET LIST:

01. [06:07] Dancing Barefoot
02. [04:57] Redondo Beach
03. [04:52] Distant Fingers
04. [03:55] April Fool
05. [04:55] Fuji-san
06. [04:22] This Is The Girl
07. [00:42] [banter]
08. [05:23] Ghost Dance
09. [01:31] [banter]
10. [08:01] Beneath The Southern Cross
11. [00:24] [banter]
12. [06:31] Night Time/(We Ain't Got) Nothin' Yet/Born To Lose/Pushin' Too Hard (Medley)
13. [06:31] Maria
14. [08:43] Nine
15. [04:48] Pissing In A River
16. [04:21] Because The Night
17. [05:56] Peaceable Kingdom
18. [07:37] Gloria
19. [01:35] [encore break]
20. [01:53] [banter]
21. [03:14] Banga
22. [06:18] People Have The Power
23. [11:10] Rock 'N' Roll Nigger

Total running time: 113:45

NOTES:

This was the most physically uncomfortable gig I've been to in a long while,
and that includes last week's three Heaton Park gigs, which involved hours of
standing, braving the rain and a 6½ km walk back to the hotel each night.

In fact, some rain would have been most welcome at this gig, which was
absolutely sweltering. It was oppressive enough outside on the street, but
inside the sold-out Paradiso, one could barely draw breath.

Add to that a fever, no time to grab a meal ahead of the gig and the inability
to remove layers of taper's armour once inside, and you have a recipe for
extreme discomfort.

Thankfully, Patti was in blinding form and took my mind off these details for
the better part of two hours. There were a couple of moments halfway through
that I did feel physically sick, but these thankfully passed without incident.

I can't write volumes about this gig, because my perception was dulled and I
therefore haven't committed as much to memory as I normally would have. For
this reason alone, I'm glad to have taped the occasion, because I can now
relive the evening in the comfort of my own home.

And so can you, dear listener.

Patti's set obviously drew heavily on her new record, 'Banga', but there were
plenty of crowd-pleasers in there, too, such as the opener, 'Dancing
Barefoot', 'Because The Night', 'Rock 'N' Roll Nigger', 'Gloria' and others.

As far as the crowd were concerned, Patti could do no wrong. Every song, old
or new, was greeted enthusiastically. This enthusiasm is perfectly captured by
the recording, which sounds like it might be a misleading taper euphemism for
'there's a lot of annoying audience noise', but that's not what I mean.

Patti played for close to two hours. Ordinarily, my attitude would be 'the
longer, the better', but on this particular occasion, I was dying inside and
could not wait to get out of the building, into the fresh air, and make a
beeline for the Wok To Walk for a much needed noodle boost.

The recording is amazing. Tapers tend to hear their own recordings with silk
ears, but once you've listened to the samples, you may find you agree with me.
This is undoubtedly amongst my best work.

Listening to the gig now, it sounds like something I might have recorded from
the radio. I cannot believe the clarity these new CCM 41V microphones are
capable of and am absolutely blown away by them. They're not the easiest of
microphones to use for stealthy recordings, but are more than worth the extra
effort.

As always, samples are included.