On some level, it has to be quite disconcerting to play a room the size of Maxwell’s and have literally every single person in the room singing along with every classic song. At Maxwell’s Tuesday night, Chris Difford seemed relaxed and slightly amused at the fan participation, and indeed borrowed the crowd to help him through some of the harder Squeeze vocals normally assigned to Glen Tilbrook’s tenor. Difford’s new album The Last Temptation of Chris features several strong numbers that were performed, including the poignant “Battersea Boys”, but the intimate setting was most powerful during the crowd’s many singalongs.
There is a story behind my permission to record this show. My initial email to Chris was during the Squeeze tour last year, and he wondered whether I meant taping “like the deadhead way”. Later, when I explained the interactive and promotional aspects of the site, he was for the idea. So thanks to Mr. Difford and to the Maxwell’s crew. The recording is a fine mix of the very boisterous audience and the very well-mixed soundboard. Enjoy!
Direct download of MP3 files (HERE)
Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].
Chris Difford
2008-05-13
Maxwell’s
Hoboken, NJ USA
Digital Master Recording
Soundboard/Audience Matrix
Soundboard + Front of Board Neumann KM-150s > Edirol UA-5 (Oade Digimod) > digital coaxial > M-Audio Microtrack 24/96 > 16bit 44.1kHz wav file > Soundforge (set fades, slight level boost, no EQ) > CD Wave 1.95 > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries) > flac
Recorded and Produced by
nyctaper
2008-05-14
Setlist:
[total time 1:06:04]
01 [introduction]
02 Slap and Tickle
03 Cool For Cats
04 Fat As A Fiddle
05 Battersea Boys
06 My Mother’s Handbag
07 Take Me I’m Yours
08 Lamas Fayre
09 Tempted
10 Cowboys are My Weakness
11 Never Coming Back
12 Slaughtered, Gutted and Heartbroken
13 Up The Junction
14 Is That Love?
15 Black Coffee in Bed
16 Goodbye Girl
If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Chris Difford, visit his website, visit his MySpace page, and purchase The Last Temptation of Chris directly from the links at his website.
hey! there is a lot of good to be said about the deadhead way…
thanks for this Difford show
hehe, I don’t think Chris meant it in a negative way, I think he was just trying to grasp what I was talking about. I certainly didn’t post it in a negative way, having actually taped the Grateful Dead on about a dozen occasions.
The funny thing about that comment of his and then this concert is the story he tells in the middle of Cool For Cats. It gives me an even greater chuckle to think about his initial comment, that he could look right out into the audience at my mics and then to tell an entire story about opening for the Dead in Jamaica. Great stuff!
Saw Chris the night after this show, in Toms River. Great performance! I downloaded the MP3’s here, and also bought his CD at the Toms River, NJ show and got his autograph. Thanks for making the live recording available!