Tangerine Dream
2023-09-19
The Vermont Hollywood
Hollywood, CA

SOURCE:
SP-CMC-8 (w/Mods) > Sony PCM-A10 > Sandisk Mini-SD Card (32gb - Class 10)

TRANSFER:
.WAV (24 Bit) > Adobe Audition 2023 CC (normalize/amplify/tracking/dithering/downsampling) > .WAV (16 Bit) > Trader's Little Helper > FLAC (Level 6)

SETLIST:

01. (Synthesizer history intro)
02. Intro
03. (Improv)
04. Los Santos City Map
05. Continuum
06. Love on A Real Train
07. Raum
08. No Happy Endings
09. Betrayal (Sorcerer Theme)
10. Rare Bird
11. Portico
12. Choronzon
13. Logos Velvet
14. Tangram, Set I
15. Cloudburst Flight
16. You're Always On Time
17. White Eagle
18. Phaedra

--- ENCORE BREAK ---

19. (encore break)
20. Session (in C minor)
21. Outro

NOTES:

Getting to see (and record) Tangerine Dream twice in the same year? Who would have thought? Certainly not me, if you had asked me a year ago, but you never know what the tide will bring, so I suggest just rolling with it. After I saw them at SXSW back in March, they mentioned at the end of the show that they were planning a proper US tour for the fall, and as soon as the tour dates hit, I immediately went and grabbed a pair of tickets.

The LA date was at this new (?) venue in Hollywood called the Vermont (right off of, yup you guessed it, Vermont street), and while it didn't blow me away, I also won't say it was terrible. It was a little swank and a tad bourgeoisie, but that's to be expected with anything opening up these days I think, especially in Hollywood. I'm not a big fan of how they have their screens set up. Instead of a screen behind the stage, they have giant screens both to the left and right of the stage (like you'd see at some giant amphitheatre), which makes it a pain if you wanna watch both the band and see the visuals. I much prefer the visuals behind the band, though I will admit, the visuals this time around, for the show, didn't do it for me. They were nothing like the visuals they had going on at SXSW. Definitely a disappointment there.

Sound though? I was really impressed with the sound. I thought it sounded great. Thorsten mentioned they were testing the sound in the room earlier in the day and found that it sounded best in the key of C minor. So he mentioned that because of that discovery, they were going to play their "session" encore in said key. I'll take his word for it.

I also wanna tell a quick story about the merch guy/table, because wow, what a shit show. I get in the venue and head to the merch area to grab my Dad a shirt (he's always begging me to buy him a concert tee from all the shows I go to and mail it to him, so I try to every now and then - and given he was the one who introduced me to Tangerine Dream back in the early 90's with the Sorcerer soundtrack - I really wanted to get him a shirt here). Well I get to the table and all the shirts are just thrown into piles and not very organized, but whatever no biggie. Then the dude running the merch table starts complaining that he has no help. Now granted, there were two other people sitting behind the table, but I'm not sure what their job was or what they were supposed to be doing. They definitely weren't helping him though. They were too engaged in some texting drama with one of their friends.

Anyway the merch guy asks us in line if we could help him out and fold up the t-shirts and lay them out on the table so people could see them. Yeah....right....Then he starts explaining that he ate some bad food this morning and might have food poisoning and feels like shit, and that he hates living on a bus, and then starts talking about how his day and his life are a mess and how someone yesterday called him a fucking tool and it hurt his feelings and how he just can't do anything right. Then to top it all off, he mentions that he's had trouble getting the card reader working all day and it won't work, so he can't take any orders. I mean the guy just wouldn't stop. I thought he was going to walk off and go hang himself, it was that bad and negative. Eventually I just had to walk away and leave. Sorry Dad, no shirt.

Anyway, back to the show. It was standing room only, except for a few VIP seats up stairs, and some seats right in front of the stage, which I'm guessing was ADA? I dunno. Whatever the case, I had a really good spot almost dead center in the room, but naturally there were some talkers to the right of me, some dudes a tad younger than me probably, who were, imho, a little too loud in their cheering and laughing DURING songs. God that shit annoys me, but that's LA for you.

Overall, I thought the show and setlist were great. Played everything I wanted to hear except "Stratosfear". I had my fingers crossed for that one, given they didn't play it at SXSW, but once again I missed out. I thought the session encore was pretty cool. I'm guessing it's all improv, and different each night. Some nights I've read they had special guests like Steve Roach come out and play with them (such as he did in San Diego - which my friend recorded and put up on YouTube for those interested) and other times they would have loops of Werner Herzog speaking playing over their session, but we didn't get any of that here in LA. Still, it was a half hour of cool spacey music and a great way to top off an incredible show. I do think the SXSW show was better (more hype, better visuals), but I'm happy to have seen (and recorded) them a second time. No complaints here.

I also think the recording came out great. I included the opening monologue about synthesizer history that some lady came out on stage and talked about (more like read off a piece of paper). It wasn't anything groundbreaking, just talking about how Tangerine Dream were "pioneers" with the synthesizer and its continued use into the future. Pretty basic stuff honestly. But I included it here for those interested. I then cut out some waiting periods before the band finally took the stage. They had some cool jungle/rain/thunderstorm ambience playing on the screens and over the speakers while we waited (you can hear a little bit of it before they take the stage). I really like that effect, and wish more bands would incorporate funky shit like that.

Check out my site:

https://www.themojavetent.com
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https://www.twitter.com/livecoachella

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