[photo courtesy of Joshua Brasted]
I’m thinking a lot about New Orleans right now. Hurricane Isaac has landed just west of the City on literally the 7th anniversary of Katrina. As New Orleans braces for the worst and all of us hope that the pumps and levees hold in their first major test, its comforting to listen to one of the best young bands the city has to offer. Hurray For The Riff Raff are surging on the momentum of their new album (Look Out Mama), a string of superb shows and some pretty heady media attention. On Sunday, the band returned to Mercury Lounge as the headliner and very impressively packed the joint on a Sunday night late show in late August. While they’ve always impressed us, going all the way back to 2008, its fair to say that HFTRR has never been better. Alynda is singing with strength and confidence and the musicians are incredibly tight. The set was heavy on Mama material but also featured four new songs, a couple of older numbers, and some really neat covers. We are streaming the Jimmie Dale Gilmore (via Flatlanders) classic “Dallas” which not only cemented the band’s alt-country bona fides but also featured vocals with Alynda showing great range and passion. With our thoughts and hopes for the safety of New Orleans on this night, we’re also streaming Hurray For The Riff Raff’s tribute to the city, “St. Roch Blues”. HFTRR will return to do more shows in Europe this Fall before returning to NYC for a special show in mid-October. More details to follow on the NYC date!
I recorded this set with the Sennheiser cards positioned in front of the soundboard and mixed with an excellent board feed. The large crowd on this night was extremely into the band and there’s almost no chatter that isn’t part of the show. We mixed the mics and the board at 50/50 leading to a really nice room feel to an otherwise outstanding recording. Enjoy!
Stream “Dallas [Flatlanders cover]”:
Stream “St. Roch Blues”:
Direct download of complete show in MP3 files (HERE)
Direct download location of the FLAC files [HERE]
Note: All of the material on this site is offered with artist permission, free to fans, at our expense. The only thing we ask is that you download the material directly from this site, rather than re-posting the direct links or the files on other sites without our permission. Please respect our request.
Hurray For The Riff Raff
2012-08-26
Mercury Lounge
New York, NY USA
Digital Master Recording
Soundboard + Audience Matrix
Soundboard + Sennheiser MKH-8040s > Edirol R-44 (Oade Concert Mod) > 2 x 24bit 48kHz wav files > Soundforge (level adjustments, set fades, downsample) > CDWave 1.95 > (tracking) > TLH > flac (320 MP3 and Tagging via Foobar)
Recorded and Produced
by nyctaper
2012-08-27
Setlist:
[Total Time 1:07:37]
01 [introduction]
02 Little Black Star
03 Never Never Knew [new song]
04 Look Out Mama
05 Slow Walk
06 Dallas [Flatlanders]
07 End Of The Line
08 Junebug Waltz
09 Ode to John and Yoko
10 Small Town Heroes
11 What’s Wrong With Me
12 Lake Of Fire
13 Be My Baby [Ronettes]
14 Time Is On My Side (Irma Thomas)
15 [encore break]
16 The St. Roch Blues
17 Born To Win
If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Hurray For The Riff Raff, visit their website, and purchase Look Out Mama from the Euclid Records website [HERE].
Awesome recording of a great band- thanks for sharing!
Thank you for recording and sharing this amazing band … I recommend everyone check ’em out if they have a chance !! The samples sound superb !!
Just listening to the recording as I type.
The quality is astounding, as is the performance.
It could be released as a stand alone live album as it is.
I have the band playing in Glasgow (Scotland-UK) tonight and I may be able to get a recording done from the sound desk (with the bands permission of course).
If so then I will get a copy to you.
I hope you find this review of interest. Terrific gig in Glasgow, Scotland. Thank you.
http://www.americana-uk.com/latest-live-reviews