[photo courtesy of Chris from Music Snobbery]
Redemption is sweet, especially when it follows several years of intense struggle. On Tuesday, the New York Times published an article and interview with Nicole Atkins called “Musical Survivor Hustles for a Second Chance“, which describes her travails since she separated from Columbia Records. But the title is misleading. Nicole is not seeking a “second chance”, but rather with the release of Mondo Amore (Razor & Tie) this week, the ability to make the albums she envisions and to control her own fate. At the sold-out and breakout Bowery Ballroom show last night, Nicole Atkins proved that she is indeed up to the task and very much in control. As the nine-piece band bounded on stage, Nicole’s delayed entrance wasn’t so much for dramatic effect as to indicate who was in charge. As she led the band through a set that consisted of every track on the new album, a few songs from her first album, and some eclectic covers, Nicole proved that ultimately it all boils down to that voice — a magical instrument that bursts forth in every song with abundant character and melody. The highlights of the set included the set-closing thoroughly powerful “The Tower” in which her voice soared, and which is an early contender for performance of the year. The show concluded with a quiet and soulful performance of 2007’s “Neptune City”, a song which likely feels as if it was recorded in a different lifetime for Nicole, but which carries so much more redemptive meaning now.
I recorded this set with the four microphone rig from the balcony rail and the sound quality is excellent. Enjoy!
Stream “The Tower”:
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/N1906NicoleAtkins1020/23.%20The%20Tower.mp3]
Stream “Neptune City”:
[audio:https://www.nyctaper.com/N1906NicoleAtkins1020/26.%20Neptune%20City.mp3]
This Recording is now available for Download in FLAC and MP3 at Archive.org [HERE].
Nicole Atkins
2011-02-09
Bowery Ballroom
New York, NY USA
Four-Track Digital Master Recording
Recorded Balcony Railing
Neumann KM-150s + DPA 4021’s > Edirol R-44 (Oade Concert Mod) > 2x 24bit 48kHz wav files > Soundforge (level adjustments, mixdown, set fades) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries) > flac
Recorded and Produced by nyctaper
2011-02-10
Setlist:
[Total Time 1:27:56]
01 Introduction
02 Heavy Boots
03 Maybe Tonight
04 Brooklyn’s on Fire!
05 The Way It Is
06 Cry Cry Cry
07 [banter]
08 My Baby Don’t Lie
09 [banter2]
10 You Were The Devil
11 You Come To Me
12 Hotel Plaster
13 Monterey Honey
14 Vultures
15 [banter3]
16 Vitamin C [Can]
17 Party’s Over
18 [banter4]
19 War Is Hell
20 This Is For Love
21 [band introductions]
22 Oh Well [Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac]
23 The Tower
24 [encore break]
25 See and Don’t See [Marie Queenie Lyons]
26 Neptune City
If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Nicole Atkins, visit her website, and purchase her new album Mondo Amore from her website [HERE].
Wow. Great recording. Thanks so much
Great show, voice on instrumemtally sound, go get the world girl. keep that drummer