Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds
Boch Center (formerly Citi Wang Theatre)
Boston, MA US
June 10, 2017 (2017-06-10)

source: AT831 (SP­-CMC­-2) > SP­-SPSB-11 > sony PCM­-M10 (wav, 24/48)
taper: cavetrade
location: center-right (stage), Orch row DD (about 10-12 rows from stage)
Mastering (ZH): volume adjustments, normalization to -0.1dB (Adobe Audition)
Editing audience noise/tracking (inez) Izotope Rx and Audacity > downsample to 16/44.1

Editor comments:

I am really thrilled to get this gem of a show to you, folks, because of how different it was from much of the tour. This gig really stands out for me for two reasons, and I’m gonna explain why.
The show was held at the Boch (formerly Citi Wang) Theatre. The front of the floor is an all-reserved orchestra pit with about 100 seats in it. Inside the pit, they do not enforce ‘sitting’, and nearly all of us promptly crowded the area by the stage… The problem is: you could fit three times as many people in that damn pit, so the area behind us was filled with empty - abandoned - chairs, yet, under no circumstances, security would let people from orchestra in!! Some fire code, or the maximum weight on the floor… whatever the reasons are - but it meant that the pit crowd was only 3-4 rows of standing people deep, and right during Magneto, Nick realized that he could not do his usual body surfing there. We all wished we could clone ourselves to fill the damn space!! Nick’s frustration was clear during his apologies for a ‘bizarre set-up’ after Magneto and that his thing is ‘about touching people!’… - you will hear it all.
Now, this is when I saw THIS MAN basically rework the energy of the place in front of my very eyes. He could not do his usual acrobatics, but what he - perhaps as a result - put into the voice and into the delivery was just shattering. The old heavy hitters like FHTE and Tupelo burst out of him in an almost physical sense. He still managed that ‘touching thing’ beyond what’s planned or acceptable ;)! There were two middle-age dudes who remained comfortably seated in the center of the precious pit 2nd row for 3 songs - with their stupid phone aiming to take pictures while being ‘entertained’. Their comfort rubbed Nick the wrong way instantly, and in the middle of Higgs Boson Blues, he suddenly jumped over the deserted 1st row of chairs and landed - full on - in their lap screaming HBB lines!! You should have seen their terrified faces!!! He did not let these two off the hook till the end - the impromptu line re. ‘VIP tickets in their hand’ during Stagger Lee was directed at them; I think he actually managed to drag one of them on stage in the end. They will remember this show for a very long time Lol
I got my fingers clasped for a full verse of Distant Sky sung directly into my face - this may have been the first time I actually got this song. It was not one of my favorites among others on Skeleton Tree.
Finally - during Stagger Lee, Nick basically demanded (you will hear ‘excuse me Sir! … Sir, let her in’) that some people from Orchestra be let into the pit and they started flooding the stage. And completing this total melting of the barrier between the artist and his audience, Nick wandered into the crowd during Push The Sky Away and then returned followed by more and more people climbing up the stage. It was probably close to a 100 by the time it ended… We have seen this happen again later in the tour, but I think the dynamics first settled in during this Boston gig, which started as a confusing mess-of-a-setup and has grown into one of the most musically and artistically intense shows of the run.


On to the tape: this was recorded by my dear friend Cavetrade - who is probably responsible for 50% of my early Nick collection - but has never recorded a show in her life! Her seats were in Orch DD - 4th row, behind the pit - so 10-12 rows of actual distance from the stage. Relative to the pit, the location definitely seemed ‘safer’ for taping and she kindly agreed to handle my gear ;) We had our ‘two girls in a bathroom stall’ wiring session, and off she went :) The recording truly delivers - the sound balance and everything, in my view (as well as that of our friend ZH who mastered it) is ‘right up there’. My disclosures though: I failed to explain that the green light on Sony M10 is ‘optional’ - my friend understood that she HAD to have it on, so she set the levels up to reach it during quiet songs. And as we know - the volume fluctuation during Nick gigs is measured in orders of magnitude, meaning if you are green during quiet songs, you will be solidly in the red for Tupelo, for example. My friend was paying close attention and turned things down to stay green. So later ZH kindly agreed to master the tape and normalized these few level fluctuations. But the recording IS a bit hot in a few places. Man it was loud :) And… - as I said, I feel that this show was very special and want my first-time-taper friend to have the best record of her work possible - so I put some time into removing whatever audience noises I found distracting. I get it, Jack The Ripper is NOT a recital :) and Nick invites and demands audience participation and we all obey! But on the other hand, if you get the same unsolicited ‘wooohoooo’ from the same person nearby 5 times in 10 minutes - you can no longer UNhear the bitch :) - so I had to just get rid of her throughout - Lol !!

Anyways - I really hope you enjoy this record of a striking and atypical Nick performance!! I am forever grateful to Cavetrade for taping - it was a special day for her too :) I know several people were asking about Boston - so sorry for the delays, we needed to do this right.

inez


SETLIST

01. Intro
02. Anthrocene
03. Jesus Alone
04. Magneto (followed by Nick trying to sort out a bizarre venue set-up)
05. Higgs Boson Blues
06. From Her to Eternity
07. Tupelo
08. Jubilee Street
09. Into My Arms
10. God Is in the House (with some fee-styling lyrics)
11. Girl in Amber
12. I Need You
13. Red Right Hand
14. The Mercy Seat
15. Distant Sky
16. Skeleton Tree

17. encore break
18. The Weeping Song
19. Jack the Ripper
20. Stagger Lee
21. Push the Sky Away

total time: 2 h 21 min 40 sec

seeded to dime: June 14th, 2017

**Please support the artists!! Buy their official releases and go see them live**
**Please do not share in lossy formats and never sell!!**