This was a wonderful
gig in a tiny hall at Manchester University's Students Union building, commonly
known as Academy 3. At a guess, I'd say it held maybe 250 people, every one of
whom can't have failed to have gone home knowing that they had just witnessed
one of the best singer/songwriters, of any generation, plying his trade.
I'd looked forward
to this gig for months. It's rare that we get to witness these very talents
anywhere near the North West of England (he still hasn't been back over 3 years
later), so I was there early, eager to secure a likely-looking spot in an unknown
venue, fully knowing that I probably wouldn't get another chance to record his wonderful music
again any time soon.
As it turned out, I
chose well, standing immediately in front of the soundboard, but afterwards I
wished that I'd stood closer to the small stage so that I'd had a better view
of the great man himself.
As for the
recording, I was so mesmerised that I inadvertently forgot to unplug the
remote from my iRiver. This led to a slight ticking sound on some of the
quieter parts of the recording (a known iRiver problem - sorry!). In my opinion though, it doesn't detract from
the performance.
The original start
of Opposite Day was disrupted by an equipment failure. I've tracked this
separately so that you can skip through to when the band restart the song. Part way through, a
member of the audience shouts out for Andrew to play Dr Stringz. Although it
was not in the scheduled setlist, he duly obliged in its usual spot, immediately before Fake Palindromes. Whether this was actually scheduled to be
played or not, we will never know!
For someone who has
been totally enamoured by Andrew Bird's outstanding work for the last few
years, it amazes me that he is not one of the most well-known musicians on the
planet. He certainly doesn't deserve to be merely
the world's best kept secret! If you've never listened to him before, do
yourself a favour and search him out. You may well just change your
music-listening life.
Enjoy!
552MB
RAR archive, FLAC format
176MB RAR archive,
variable bit rate MP3s (min. 245 kbps)
Setlist:
01. Swirly Intro
02. Darkmatter
03. Masterswarm
04. _equipment
failure!_
05. Opposite Day
06. Natural Disaster
07. Oh No
08. Effigy
09. Trials &
Tribulations
10. Fitz &
Dizzyspells
11. Cold Blooded Old
Times
12. Anonanimal
13. Imitosis
14. Cataracts
15. Skin Is, My
16. Dr Stringz
17. Fake Palindromes
18. _encore
break_
19. Why?
20. Tables &
Chairs
