[photo by Arnold Brower courtesy of MySpace Butthole Surfers Photo Album]
Our experience last night at the Butthole Surfers show at Warsaw in Brooklyn did not start off so well. After twenty minutes in an unnecessary line in the freezing cold, and the inevitable difficulty of explaining taping equipment to the Polish-speaking security guard at the door, we finally made it into the venue. Fortunately, when we set up in front of the board, we were met with open arms including an extremely nice welcome from the venue manager (who I believe was named Alan). Once we warmed up, the entire experience became positive. When the Buttholes bounded on stage and began their set in earnest, all was right in the world. The middle-aged alterna-punk crowd has not aged all that badly, and we were extremely happy to chat with a series of old school fans who approached the stand to chat about the old days. My Buttholes experience goes back to an amazing night at the old Peppermint Lounge in August of 1984, before I returned for senior year of college, and last night felt very much like that night 24 years ago.
The set itself was a furious run through the band’s career work, with a few old chestnuts thrown in from each of the early albums for the hardcore fans. As Gibby chatted amiably with the crowd, with good vibes spread around, all was forgotten from the July fiasco at Webster Hall. Ninety minutes and 24 songs later, the old punks left Warsaw to battle the cold — this time with a smile instead of a grimace.
We recorded from directly in front of the soundboard. The sound quality in the venue was quite good considering how difficult it is to maintain separation and avoid distortion with this music. As a result, we are pleasantly surprised at the high quality of this capture. Enjoy!
This recording is now available to download as FLAC or MP3 at Archive.org [HERE].
Butthole Surfers
2008-12-12
Warsaw
Brooklyn, NY USA
Digital Master Audience Recording
Recorded from Directly in Front of Soundboard
Neumann KM-150’s (AK-50 Hypercardiod Capsules) > Monster XLR Cables > Apogee Minime > digital coaxial > M-Audio Microtrack > 24bit 48kHz wav file > Soundforge (set fades, downsample 16/44, slight level boost) > CD Wave 1.95 (tracking) > Flac Frontend (level 7, align sector boundaries) > flac
Recorded and Produced
by nyctaper
2008-12-13
Setlist:
[Total Time 1:29:13]
01 [introduction]
02 22 Going On 23
03 100 Million People Dead
04 Fast
05 Moving to Florida
06 Creep in the Cellar
07 Suicide
08 Rocky
09 Pittsburgh to Lebanon
10 Bar-B-Q Pope
11 Cowboy Bob
12 1401 (The Colored F.B.I. Guy)
13 Edgar
14 Negro Observer
15 Bong Song
16 Hey
17 I Saw An X-Ray Of A Girl Passing Gas
18 Goofy’s Concern
19 Graveyard
20 Some Dispute Over T-Shirt Sales
21 To Partner
22 Tornado
23 Gary Floyd
24 [encore break]
25 Blindman
26 The Shah Sleeps in Lee Harvey’s Grave
If you email nyctaper for access to this recording, we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Butthole Surfers, visit their website, and purchase their official releases from the “Dry Goods” section of their website [here].
what a fantastic show…
the band sounded great, the moon was full, lots of friends both new and old…
it was pleasure to meet ya…
i can’t wait to hear this!!
Thanks for your recording, your review, and all of your work.
Many thanks for the great recording,i wasn’t there butt i might as well been listening to your recording,very nice
I was there! Sooooo looking forward to hearing this! Thanks for taping and sharing!
JB
What a perfect way to spend my 29th birthday. An absolutely phenomenal Butthole Surfers show, in a killer venue.
Thanks for the upload. Can’t wait to listen to it!
Thanks Dan!
I was hoping to record it too,but I started late from Michigan and hit a snow storm in PA.
It was a great show. The full moon didn’t hurt I’m sure, lots of wolves out (but fun wolves). During the 2nd half of the show a nice gentle sweaty mush pit started. Mush not mosh. Great times. As a bonus I got to hang with Gibby and Paul after for a little while.