For good or bad, Brooklyn Bowl is the perfect venue for a Les Claypool show in NYC. First, the good. The superior sound system at The Bowl presented all the intricacies of the band — bass, electric cello, xylophone, drums — with superb clarity. Every plucked and slapped note on Claypool’s bass was pristine. The venue’s odd juxtaposition of music and sport also provided Les with comedic fodder. Finally, the room seemed to be the perfect size for this crowd. While the show was sold out, it was also not so packed as to be uncomfortable. Then, there was the bad. Brooklyn Bowl has an outstanding beer selection, primarily from their neighbors the Brooklyn Brewery and Red Hook’s craft beer wizards at Six Point. The potency of some of these fine beers though was too much for a good portion of the crowd. The end result was puddles of beer and broken glass on the floor and some seriously strange behavior (somewhat noticeable on the recording). Les actually stopped playing in the middle of “Duchess” to chide “Mr. Bald Headed Guy” who was harassing women up front. However, the set itself was a seriously outstanding Claypool show, which touched on his Primus work and his various solo incarnations. “Makalaster > Pachyderm > Makalaster” was an extended exercise in true collaborative improvisation, and the “One Better” medley featured Les at his best. Ever the cut-up, he introduced the Rush cover encore as a “Sly and the Family Stone tune” that takes him back to the “Oakland soul” citing as his “only true source of information” — Wikipedia.
I recorded this set with the Neumann microphones pointed directly up at the stacks at about 30 feet from the stage. The sound quality in the venue was superb and this recording reflects that quality, along with the boisterous crowd. Enjoy!
Stream Les Claypool’s cover of “The Spirit Of Radio” (Rush) Live at Brooklyn Bowl:
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/C1006Claypool2110/14%20LesClaypool2010-06-08_nyctaper_t14.mp3]
Direct download of MP3 files (HERE)
Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].
Les Claypool
2010-06-08
Brooklyn Bowl
Brooklyn, NY USA
Digital Master Recording
Recorded Upfront 30 Feet from Stage
Neumann KM-150s > Edirol R-44 (Oade Concert Mod) > 24bit 48kHz wav file > Soundforge (level adjustments, set fades) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries) > flac
Recorded and Produced by nyctaper
2010-06-09
Setlist:
[Total Time 1:45:04]
01 Highball with the Devil
02 Duchess And The Proverbial Mind Spread
03 Amanitas
04 David Makalaster I
05 Southbound Pachyderm
06 David Makalaster I
07 Red State Girl
08 Precipitation
09 Jam/Drums
10 Booneville Stomp
11 One Better / The Awakening / One Better
12 Riddles Are Abound Tonight
13 [encore break]
14 The Spirit Of Radio (Rush)
If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Les Claypool, visit his website, and purchase his official releases directly from Club Bastardo [HERE].
Thanks for posting this up! Twas a great show!