Gillian Welch and David Rawlings
Hamer Hall, Arts Centre Melbourne
Melbourne, Australia
Tuesday 28 January 2025 (Night 1)

Recorded by eckythump, mastered by kiwichrisha (Chris Hartstonge)

Source: Nokia Lumia 930 (called Lumia Icon in North America) w/built-in HAAC mics > Audio Recorder Pro app > 16bit/44.1 KHz PCM/WAV
Encoding: MAGIX Audio Cleaning Lab > FLAC (Level 8)

Track List:

Set 1:
01 - Introduction
02 - Elvis Presley Blues
03 - Midnight Train
04 - Empty Trainload Of Sky
05 - Cumberland Gap
06 - Wayside / Back In Time
07 - Howdy Howdy
08 - The Way It Is
09 - North Country
10 - Ruby
11 - Caleb Meyer

Set 2:
12 - Introduction
13 - Lawman
14 - What We Had
15 - Hard Times
16 - Hashtag
17 - The Day The Mississippi Died
18 - The Way It Will Be
19 - Lazarus
20 - Red Clay Halo
encore
21 - The Monkey And The Engineer
22 - Look At Miss Ohio
23 - I'll Fly Away
encore
24 - Revelator
encore
25 - Midnight Bones
26 - Jackson

with Paul Kowert on double bass on select songs

Show Notes: It was early 2016 the last time Gillian Welch and David Rawlings graced our shores for what was a tour for the ages. They both have made their feelings known about flying, so it was with great excitement that BT and Love Police managed to convince them to tour Australia again 9 long years later. Originally 2 shows were announced for Sydney and 3 for Melbourne. Their popularity in this part of the world combined with pent up demand from wonderful memories of their last tour saw them quickly add a fourth Melbourne show once tickets went on sale, then a third Sydney show, then an incredible 5th Melbourne show at the 2,466 seat Hamer Hall, Melbourne's Sydney Opera House equivalent. This is despite the ticket prices increasing significantly since their last tour. What cost of living crisis? Needless to say, they have a huge fanbase in this part of the world and higher ticket prices weren't stopping them.

From the huge cheers the moment they stepped on stage, the room was full of love for the duo (and Paul Kowert on double bass, who rejoined them in Melbourne after missing their Sydney shows due to performing in Glasgow). 'We missed you!' exclaimed Gillian early in the show. From the reaction every song received, I think Melbourne missed them more. The new songs from the excellent Woodland album were as warmly received as the classics. Even the new songs performed tonight Lazarus and Midnight Bones were cheered like they were long lost favourites. 2 encores weren't enough, we wanted more, and they duly obliged, performing the as yet unreleased Midnight Bones, before closing with the classic Jackson to great fanfare. What a brilliant show! For many people in this audience (including yours truly), one show wasn't going to be enough, they'd be back for another 1 or 2 at least (or in the case of 2 of my friends, all 5 plus 2 in Sydney).

Recording Notes: Night 1 tickets were in hot demand, and the seats I scored were off to the right side of the stage, so I was not in the sound sweet spot for this one, but nonetheless it sounds very good, perhaps better than my ears heard it on the night. I had a loud clapper next to me which Chris has done a nice job to remove. A very nice recording. Enjoy!

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