Cocoanut Grove Ballroom, Santa Cruz - 4/11/2013

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toomilk
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Cocoanut Grove Ballroom, Santa Cruz - 4/11/2013

Post by toomilk »

Another solid show. Highlights:

-MEDICATION instead of Freedom.

-opener was Guy Blakeslee from Entrance. Did all Entrance songs.

-keyboardist played trumpet on Rated X.

-D Song again.

-back up vocals on Take Your Time (wasn't there in the previous shows).

-WWJ into a partial Take Good Care of It.

-sound was a little spotty (rarely could hear doggen), but very solid performance. They get better with each show.


The venue was really odd. An actual ballroom. It was on the second floor above an arcade "fun zone." It's at the end of an incredibly dismal boardwalk. Rollercoaster and Ferris wheel (the latter wasn't working). I wonder if Jason and Doggen road them together?

Awful crowd. Enthusiastic, but talking nonstop. I had to move around to find a spot where people weren't talking. Drunk bastards.


Let me just say this: i am biased. I think Santa Cruz is a fucking awful town. It should be burned to the ground with its inhabitants. Just horrid.

I did have a nice drive along the coast highway from San Francisco. You can't beat some of the views.
toomilk
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Re: Cocoanut Grove Ballroom, Santa Cruz - 4/11/2013

Post by toomilk »

toomilk
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Re: Cocoanut Grove Ballroom, Santa Cruz - 4/11/2013

Post by toomilk »

I also meant to mention that Jason has been extremely solid at all these shows. His voice has been on point for just about every song.

I noticed he is using in-ear monitors. I can't remember ever seeing him use them before, but it's definitely paying off.
perfectrx
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Re: Cocoanut Grove Ballroom, Santa Cruz - 4/11/2013

Post by perfectrx »

Accurate review, toomilk. It was a strange place to be. But the show was great and surprised me in a few spots. It was a little weird catching the groove with the new band, but after a few songs it felt right. Will check my documentation of it tomorrow.

That stretch of route 17 out of Santa Cruz is rough after almost 2 hours of Spz. White knuckles all the way.

side note.. maybe it will become normal after I've lived here for a while, but I am wildly amused by the blatant pot smoking at shows here. It was the same at Nick Cave the other night. That shit does not fly in NYC. And I most certainly would have crashed if I was partaking as well.
suskind
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Re: Cocoanut Grove Ballroom, Santa Cruz - 4/11/2013

Post by suskind »

toomilk's review precisely pointed out what I wanted to say. I was at the front again but no video this time. Jason did use in-ear monitors and he touched them once or twice.

Unlike at the Portland gig I couldn't hear Doggen except when he was using bottleneck and it bothered me.

The venue was indeed strange.. I didn't picture something like that when I saw photos on their website. Like a wedding reception style ballroom, the stage was very small, cornered and almost no level.

Also the crowd was very very noisy. Being enthusiastic is good, but talking loudly about how awesome it is that your friend told you the band was gonna play this song when the said band is trying to start a song is not cool.

All musicians were on fine form, I particularly liked the bass work on "D" song. Grooovy.. Wish the vocal was a bit higher in the mix though.

Perfect Miracle is immense.. Love that song. Reminds me of Let It Come Down album. I really wish I could go to the next shows. Hope everyone who will be there enjoy the gigs!
redcloud
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Re: Cocoanut Grove Ballroom, Santa Cruz - 4/11/2013

Post by redcloud »

"Medication"!? Very cool. Ironically, at Portland I asked toomilk if they had played "medication" on this tour? There were a couple times where I thought they were going to go into it in Portland.

Regarding the pot smoking. I think that is just the west coast. A healthy smell of cannabis was floating around the Wonder Ballroom too.
toomilk
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Re: Cocoanut Grove Ballroom, Santa Cruz - 4/11/2013

Post by toomilk »

My friend just told me he had his high school prom there. Hahahaha
angelsighs
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Re: Cocoanut Grove Ballroom, Santa Cruz - 4/11/2013

Post by angelsighs »

I actually kinda like venues with 'faded glamour' and kitsch value!

really enjoying your on the road reports Kevin, must be quite an adventure
pcpworldwide
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Re: Cocoanut Grove Ballroom, Santa Cruz - 4/11/2013

Post by pcpworldwide »

Thanks for the review, Toomilk, and for letting me know who the opening act was. I was standing up front waiting for Jason & Co. to take the stage... I thought Blakeslee was a roadie, testing the microphones, etc. before SPZ came on. I guess I'm too old and out of touch to know who he is, and I don't remember him being introduced. I was a bit annoyed when he started, as I came to see only one band, and was in no mood for an opening act. But I was taken aback by his performance, and did not head for the bar like some of the "date night" crowd around me did when he started. I was thinking to myself, this is very cool, but it had better not be cutting into SPZ's show time". I wonder if he'll be opening up for them in Joshua Tree?

I agree that Santa Cruz was an odd place for the show, but I think in a good way. I drove up from Los Angeles, because I knew it would be a great opportunity to see a world class band in a small venue from right up front. And as you said, they gave it their all and totally delivered the goods.

There were some annoying people talking, but it was easy enough to get up front, where the talkers couldn't be heard. If that show was in LA, there would have been hundreds of cell phone filming idiots, security up the A, $10 beers, and you would still have some annoying loudmouths to deal with. In the middle of the Santa Cruz gig, I left from being right up front, ran to the bar ($5 for a Lagunitas IPA!) and got back to my same spot up front in less than 2 minutes! That would never happen at the Wiltern!
Thanks again for all of the reviews. Can't wait for the Pappy & Harriet's gig!
dselevan2
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Re: Cocoanut Grove Ballroom, Santa Cruz - 4/11/2013

Post by dselevan2 »

Just spoke to Guy, and yes, he is playing tomorrow at around 9:00. I go to most of his shows and they are often very different and always really good! This will be a really fun show.
pcpworldwide
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Re: Cocoanut Grove Ballroom, Santa Cruz - 4/11/2013

Post by pcpworldwide »

Glad to hear he'll be playing. I picked up the "Prayer of Death" lp yesterday and will be cranking it on the way out to Joshua Tree today. Can't wait for the show tonight!
dselevan2
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Re: Cocoanut Grove Ballroom, Santa Cruz - 4/11/2013

Post by dselevan2 »

Rad! Got changed to 8pm!
toomilk
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Re: Cocoanut Grove Ballroom, Santa Cruz - 4/11/2013

Post by toomilk »

At this show there was a young artist selling a run of 50 11x17 posters for the event for $20. They looked like an old vacation postcard with Spiritualized in big letters. I purchased one and so did suskind.

I can't remember the artist's name, but she most likely still has some. I bought mine after the venue was cleared and I was #28. It's still on its way down to San Diego (I sent it to myself the morning after the show), so if someone else doesn't get the artist's name up before then, I'll post it.
suskind
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Re: Cocoanut Grove Ballroom, Santa Cruz - 4/11/2013

Post by suskind »

toomilk wrote:At this show there was a young artist selling a run of 50 11x17 posters for the event for $20. They looked like an old vacation postcard with Spiritualized in big letters. I purchased one and so did suskind.

I can't remember the artist's name, but she most likely still has some. I bought mine after the venue was cleared and I was #28. It's still on its way down to San Diego (I sent it to myself the morning after the show), so if someone else doesn't get the artist's name up before then, I'll post it.
Yeah I quite like that poster. The quality of both ink and paper is good too. It is signed by the artist (it says Jasmine June).

Image
Chris Barrus
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Re: Cocoanut Grove Ballroom, Santa Cruz - 4/11/2013

Post by Chris Barrus »

Great poster. Reminds me of old citrus crate packaging.
perfectrx
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Re: Cocoanut Grove Ballroom, Santa Cruz - 4/11/2013

Post by perfectrx »

This is my recording of the Santa Cruz show. It is not the finest documentation, but gets easier on the ears after a few listens. I didn't EQ anything, just normalized and cut it up. If anyone wants to take a shot at a fresh master - go for it.

I'm only going to leave this in the dropbox for a few days. Feel free to repost on a proper file sharing site.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/329 ... 4_11_1.zip
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/329 ... 4_11_2.zip
(copy files from _2 into _1, remove _1 from first directory name and all will look normal on your hard drive)

Thanks, all, for the updates along this tour. I hope more recordings of full shows turn up at some point. It would be great to get uncompressed versions of all of the YouTube clips for the DVD comp.

Side note.. Perhaps a sticky post that aggregates all of the dload links by date?? It's a minor bitch to manage, but would be a great resource. Make /gigs members-only or create a new topic for download links that is to limit/control the BS from the for-profit contingent. The vintage recordings are pretty well documented elsewhere, but the latest is here.
Goodnightgoodnight
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Re: Cocoanut Grove Ballroom, Santa Cruz - 4/11/2013

Post by Goodnightgoodnight »

I did that and only the files from the second one show up in the new archive? The first one claims 'unexpected end to archive' whenever I try and do things to it in Winrar.


What's there sounds great, thanks for recording it!
perfectrx
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Re: Cocoanut Grove Ballroom, Santa Cruz - 4/11/2013

Post by perfectrx »

Goodnightgoodnight wrote:I did that and only the files from the second one show up in the new archive? The first one claims 'unexpected end to archive' whenever I try and do things to it in Winrar.
Hmm... Not sure what the deal is. I tested the zips on mac and PC and all is good. Maybe just a hiccup on your dload?

Is anyone else having any issues?
moop
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Re: Cocoanut Grove Ballroom, Santa Cruz - 4/11/2013

Post by moop »

perfectrx wrote:Is anyone else having any issues?
worked fine for me. thanks very much - beautiful recording! i'm loving the looser sound/ more varied setlist on these gigs. It's great to hear how things evolve too. 'here it comes' is a great track, 'perfect miracle' is sounding loads better in it's new, even more woozy version (though not sure about the sort of atonal chord that's been added), and 'so long you pretty thing' sounds more like I thought it was going to on the album after the RAH gig. Am enjoying the new bass/drums - the whole band sounds great.
pcpworldwide
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Re: Cocoanut Grove Ballroom, Santa Cruz - 4/11/2013

Post by pcpworldwide »

It just downloaded perfectly for me. Thanks so much!
evan:)
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Re: Cocoanut Grove Ballroom, Santa Cruz - 4/11/2013

Post by evan:) »

nice one ...
toomilk
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Re: Cocoanut Grove Ballroom, Santa Cruz - 4/11/2013

Post by toomilk »

The artist's name is Yasamine June.

http://yasaminejune.blogspot.com/

Email her if you're interested in purchasing one.
suskind
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Re: Cocoanut Grove Ballroom, Santa Cruz - 4/11/2013

Post by suskind »

Oh I got it wrong. Sorry.

And thanks for the bootleg, much appreciated!!
ro
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Re: Cocoanut Grove Ballroom, Santa Cruz - 4/11/2013

Post by ro »

thank you so much for sharing this
catweazel
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Re: Cocoanut Grove Ballroom, Santa Cruz - 4/11/2013

Post by catweazel »

perfectrx wrote:This is my recording of the Santa Cruz show. It is not the finest documentation, but gets easier on the ears after a few listens. I didn't EQ anything, just normalized and cut it up. If anyone wants to take a shot at a fresh master - go for it.

I'm only going to leave this in the dropbox for a few days. Feel free to repost on a proper file sharing site.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/329 ... 4_11_1.zip
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/329 ... 4_11_2.zip
(copy files from _2 into _1, remove _1 from first directory name and all will look normal on your hard drive)

Thanks, all, for the updates along this tour. I hope more recordings of full shows turn up at some point. It would be great to get uncompressed versions of all of the YouTube clips for the DVD comp.

Side note.. Perhaps a sticky post that aggregates all of the dload links by date?? It's a minor bitch to manage, but would be a great resource. Make /gigs members-only or create a new topic for download links that is to limit/control the BS from the for-profit contingent. The vintage recordings are pretty well documented elsewhere, but the latest is here.

Is there any chance someone can re-upload this? I did download it partially a few days ago... the download conked out at around 70% and I kept meaning to go back and re-download it again.... I've been working some crazy long days at the moment and I kept delaying it.... now it's a dead link!

Would be most appreciated :)
BzaInSpace
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"Spiritualized meets Ginger Baker!"

Post by BzaInSpace »

perfectrx wrote:This is my recording of the Santa Cruz show. It is not the finest documentation, but gets easier on the ears after a few listens. I didn't EQ anything, just normalized and cut it up. If anyone wants to take a shot at a fresh master - go for it...
Firstly perfectrx thanks so much for both recording and sharing this show - I think it sounds excellent. The size and acoustics of this venue really suit this more straight-ahead rock 'n' roll incarnation of Spiritualized (Spiritualized USA?), unlike some of the recordings from bigger venues where you can almost hear the sound float around. Everything is really tight and dense and I really like it.

For my own purposes I've done some work on this - really just brought both channels up in balance which centres the bass and drums. Brought up the overall levels throughout without any brickwalling, and added slight touches of EQ in parts and very slight compression elsewhere. Basically it was just to sound good through a portable device which I listen through more than anything else. For this reason too each track was converted to 320kbps, which I realize might be anathema to some but...

Anyway. Really enjoyed listening to this - love how Kid Millions really drives a lot of this stuff. How he fits in all those fills on the likes of 'Hey Jane' - which seems to be running at twice the speed now! - is beyond me. He very much changes the feel of a lot of this stuff like 'Let It Flow'. I love Kev Bales' drumming but this is something very different. It's like Spiritualized meets Ginger Baker! 'Here It Comes' is a far more rockier thing now - great moment when the band kick in. 'I Think I'm In Love' is currently channeling some Country, weirdly closer to the Acoustic Mainlines versions than the electric live takes over the years maybe. 'Rated X' is just something else again, 10 minute version with a very elongated freeform intro and a particularly noisy outro. Excellent. And best of all is the new song 'D Song':

WOW! This is amazing - a really tight, pulsing hypnotic groove, only one chord but what a chord! Easily the most tranced-out, early-Velvets-channeling thing J has done in years. Cannot wait to hear a studio version of this but for now this is some amazing shit... 8)
O P 8
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Re: Cocoanut Grove Ballroom, Santa Cruz - 4/11/2013

Post by good dope/good fun »

Any chance of hearing the remastered version that you did, Bza?
perfectrx
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Re: Cocoanut Grove Ballroom, Santa Cruz - 4/11/2013

Post by perfectrx »

Thanks, Bza. Please feel free to share your version. It is really excellent to read your review - makes the effort to record and share completely worth it. Looking forward to hearing your tweaks.
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Re: Cocoanut Grove Ballroom, Santa Cruz - 4/11/2013

Post by simonkeeping »

Check this photo out from the Portland (If I've got my dates right?). For me it sums up the Spiritualized live experience perfectly.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bradstone/8680328268/
http://www.soundcloud.com/haarlemriots
toomilk
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Re: Cocoanut Grove Ballroom, Santa Cruz - 4/11/2013

Post by toomilk »

Poster
Poster
photo (1).JPG (94.35 KiB) Viewed 8525 times
Look what I got back from my flakey framer's today...
BzaInSpace
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Re: Cocoanut Grove Ballroom, Santa Cruz - 4/11/2013

Post by BzaInSpace »

Lovely!
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veiko
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Re: Cocoanut Grove Ballroom, Santa Cruz - 4/11/2013

Post by veiko »

Bza, a little bump here again.
As we can read many would like to hear your version or can someone post the original. Please.
But Bza you described your homework around refreshing the sound of the recording with such precise and thoughful words, then i can't just wait to hear your skills of mastering. Don't forget us.
perfectrx
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Re: Cocoanut Grove Ballroom, Santa Cruz - 4/11/2013

Post by perfectrx »

Flac version: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/525 ... 1_flac.zip

BzaInSpace MP3 version: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/525 ... 11_mp3.zip

These zips will be up for a week or so (9/23). Feel free to post on longer-lasting file sharing servers.

Also - thx ro for the appreciation of the 2008 Boston recording. I had gone to a bunch of those shows and that was the last one of that tour. I was back with old friends in the hometown, but was still hating most everyone around me. The music was great, but I was still feeling like none of those people were my people. I should have found you.
ro
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Re: Cocoanut Grove Ballroom, Santa Cruz - 4/11/2013

Post by ro »

perfectrx wrote:Also - thx ro for the appreciation of the 2008 Boston recording. I had gone to a bunch of those shows and that was the last one of that tour. I was back with old friends in the hometown, but was still hating most everyone around me. The music was great, but I was still feeling like none of those people were my people. I should have found you.
I can't begin to tell you how you just made my day
just had a crying jag about something, recovered, decided to visit forum and found yr lovely sentiment
(hate to get so personal online, sorry. but it does make a good story)

Boston can be such a weird, almost hostile vibe sometimes.
that's why I moved away :D Looks like you did too!
well, if yr ever back there for another spz gig*, pm me, and thanks a million.
ro.

*and if the really superb folks i met from this forum on thursday were also in attendace, should be extra great.
suskind
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Re: Cocoanut Grove Ballroom, Santa Cruz - 4/11/2013

Post by suskind »

simonkeeping wrote:Check this photo out from the Portland (If I've got my dates right?). For me it sums up the Spiritualized live experience perfectly.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bradstone/8680328268/
Amazing. Thanks for sharing.

toomilk, that poster in the frame looks great. I think I'll find a new frame for that!

Also thanks so much for sharing the lossless version. Last night after the Columbus gig when I mentioned I was at two other shows this year Spaceman said that Santa Cruz gig was "very good". I hadn't listened to the boot since the start of the summer and now I'm back listening to it incessantly.
msg452
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Re: Cocoanut Grove Ballroom, Santa Cruz - 4/11/2013

Post by msg452 »

perfectrx - I just missed the post for this show.
would you be able to repost the files for download? be much appreciated!
mywhitenoise
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Re: Cocoanut Grove Ballroom, Santa Cruz - 4/11/2013

Post by mywhitenoise »

perfectrx wrote:Flac version: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/525 ... 1_flac.zip

BzaInSpace MP3 version: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/525 ... 11_mp3.zip

These zips will be up for a week or so (9/23). Feel free to post on longer-lasting file sharing servers.

Also - thx ro for the appreciation of the 2008 Boston recording. I had gone to a bunch of those shows and that was the last one of that tour. I was back with old friends in the hometown, but was still hating most everyone around me. The music was great, but I was still feeling like none of those people were my people. I should have found you.
Would you be able to repost this show? I'm new here, but was front and center at this show!
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