Jeff Buckley
9 December 1996
SPoT Coffee, Buffalo, NY

AUD > ?Gens > CD > EAC > FLAC

Set List:
---------
01 Wild is the Wind (Nina Simone)
02 Chat
03 Lover, You Should've Come Over
04 Dink's Song (trad. Arr. Bob Dylan)
05 Chat & tuning
06 Vancouver
07 Mojo Pin
08 Yard of Blonde Girls
09 Alive (Drugstore)
10 Sky Is A Landfill
11 Grace

TT: 0:56:55

Jeff Buckley - Guitars & Vocals

Sadly, Jeff's performing career did not end with a bang, but rather with a series of damp squibs, at least based upon the recorded evidence. 1996 found him a bit lost. Without a band, at least until Matt Johnson could be replaced. Without much in the way of new songs to show for two intense years of touring. A bit lost and directionless, he tried a few methods to re-discover the mojo that had first driven him from LA to NYC. First he joined his friend Nathan (Shudder To Think) Larson's side project "Mind Science of the Mind", as pick-up bass player for a handful of shows in May. In August he played a solo gig at Kasbah in the City. The following month he showed up for an unannounced gig at Sin-� just before it closed its doors in Manhattan.

Then in December, he set off for a series of solo shows - occasionally joined by Gary Lucas, apparently, though no recorded evidence of that collaboration exists. Dubbed the "Phantom Solo Tour" ("2 guys in a car with a guitar"), he played very small venues - usually coffee shops like Sin-� - north as far as Boston, with additional stops in Cleveland, Philly and DC.

He performed under hilarious aliases to conceal his identity, thinking, perhaps, that he could call up that improvisatory energy he exuded so consistently at Sin-�. In Massachusetts, he was "The Crack Robots" and "Possessed By Elves"; "Critics Club" in Philly; "Martha & The Nicotines" and "A Puppet Show Called Julio"in DC; "Topless America" in Baltimore; "Smack Robotic" in Cleveland. In Buffalo, NY at the tiny SPoT Coffee, he played as "Father Demo", and it is under that name that this show has circulated for years.

Frankly, there is no other way to describe this show than sad. It's not a great recording - it could use some serious sonic work beyond my meagre abilities. It is recorded at low levels and the hiss can be off-putting at times. Jeff seems scattered and unfocussed, and the tiny, confused crowd doesn't help: barely acknowledging the songs as they end. It's a truly heartbreaking listen for anyone who loves Jeff as much as I do.

The only saving grace to the whole affair are the songs which, to no-one's surprise, are lovely. We get the only known recording of "Wild Is The Wind" the Dmitri Tiomkin gem made famous first by Nina Simone, and then later by David Bowie. We get a rare outing of "Dink's Song", two of the newer songs get a try-out, both pretty tentative and a third, "Vancouver" appears on its own, this time with basic lyrics for the first time. And we get an odd cover, Drugstore's "Alive". But the strongest moments are the Grace showcases, and all three are delivered strongly to an unconvinced crowd.

I received this in a trade many years ago. It was sourced originally by Buckley uber-fan eclect and circulates in a few very similar versions, including a remaster which I no longer have. I re-tracked it for this upload, and with the usual housekeeping, I present it to you. It's a sad but unique record of a great artists waning days.

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Text file updated, compiled & copy-edited by lovesick alien 2024-10-10
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