THE WATERBOYS
FONDA THEATRE
LOS ANGELES, CA, USA
13 MAY 2015

Line up:
Mike Scott (vocals, guitar, piano)
Steve Wickham (electric fiddle, violin)
Paul Brown (hammond organ, keyboards)
David Hood (bass)
Ralph Salmins (drums)
Zach Ernst (guitar)

CD 1331:

01 - Introduction
02 - Destinies Entwined
03 - Still A Freak
04 - A Girl Called Johnny
05 - November Tale
06 - We Will Not Be Lovers
07 - Nearest Thing To Hip
08 - Rosalind (You Married The Wrong Guy)
09 - Glastonbury Song
10 - Medicine Bow

CD 1332:

01 - The Girl Who Slept For Scotland
02 - I Can See Elvis
03 - Song Of Wandering Aengus
04 - Don't Bang The Drum
05 - The Whole Of The Moon
06 - Long Strange Golden Road
07 - encore break
08 - Purple Rain
09 - Fisherman's Blues

Taper:
mixter_
Equipment:
at933's (4.7k dt mod) cards -> naiant pipsqueak pre (+4dB)
-> edirol r09 (24/48) -> san disk extreme plus 32gb class 10 - 80mb/s
Mastering:
reader -> audition 3.0 (moderate level adjust - +6dB l / +8dB r - fades - normalization - de-clap process) ->
har-bal 2.3 (slight e.q.) -> audition 3.0 (dither to 16/44.1) -> cd wave editor (track split) -> tlh (flac level 8, etc...)

Tapers note:
Mike Scott and the rest of the Boys return to Los Angeles in support of their excellent new "Modern Blues"; an album hailed by critics and fans alike as perhaps their best over the past 25 years. Mike seems to be very proud of the album as evidenced by the inclusion of eight of the nine songs in tonight's performance. Reception from this evening's capacity croud of 1200 or so Angelinos appeared at moments to be restrained or perhaps more aptly reverent. Even Mike enthuses that he gives this audience very high marks for their respect. It seemed that almost every one in attendance was content and even eager to hang off of every word and note that was delivered, even when it was delivered while tuning. At one point during the show, Neil is seen struggling with the connection to Mike's Fender amp. In turn, Mike says that he's going to do something, he's never done before and proceeds to play "Medicine Bow" at the piano instead. This incarnation of the Boys is a stellar lineup; anchored and bouyed by a rhythm section including the legendary Muscle Shoals session man and producer David Hood on bass and famed Van Morrison drummer, Ralph Salmins. It almost goes without saying that longtime Waterboy, Steve Wickham plays a mean fiddle. Check out the leads on "Still A Freak" and "Purple Rain". Memphis soulman and Ann Peebles' keyboardist, "Brother" Paul Brown adds flair and panache in his Hammond playing as well as wis zoot suited purple broad-striped attire. Austin native and Black Joe Lewis and The Honeybears ex-axe-man, Zach Ernst keeps everything finely knit together with his solid guitar work. He allows the performances of Scott, Wickham and Brown to shine through.

I arrived early enough to secure a spot on an elevated platform at the venue's left side about 10' from the rail. Settings were dialed as I had my head buried into the left hand lower ceiling stack. The crowd was reverent and respectful throughout. No whooping, shouting or hollering. In fact it was only when Mike "chided" the audience for not doing so, did the shot calling begin. As such what little audience noise there was is remote and distant. One clapper that was 12 feet to my right can be heard between songs and during some of the 4/4 moments like during "A Girl Called Johnny" and "The Whole Of The Moon". Mike's vocals are extremely clear and very much in front of the mix. A hat tip to the FOH engineer for doing a fantastic job. The performance borders on the sublime at times and I was fortunate enough to get a good spot and hit record. I've tried to extract every bit of detail from the recording as I possible could with my modest skills and limited resources.

"Beautiful Note" was listed as an encore selection from the band's set list. This would have presented a complete live performance of "Modern Blues". Hopefully, it will be played later in the tour.