Andrew Bird – Hideout Block Party 2011

I must admit that I’m a relative newcomer to the “hideout” scene. I saw my first show there a few months ago, and found the relatively high hipster quotient to be balanced by the good music, comfortable room, great bartenders, lively front patio, and industrial neighborhood. Anyway, this post is about the Hideout Block Party, which didn’t take place inside The Hideout, but across the street in a parking lot that is usually the home of a fleet of big blue Chicago garbage trucks. On this beautiful sunny Saturday, it was the home of thousands of Chicago music fans enjoying one of the last great festivals of the year.

I captured most of the day’s events and will hopefully be posting the rest of the sets over the next few weeks. But, this being the inaugural post here at plarpco.com I guess I should give a little background of my recording methods. Even in venues that allow taping and for artists that support it, I prefer to record in stealth mode. I’m more comfortable this way. And, it offers me the ability to capture some events that are normally off limits.The recording might suffer as a result of my methods, but above all else, I want to enjoy the experience. Taping is just a bonus.

Andrew Bird (photo by Sarah @ howsmyliving.com)

I’m pretty sure that Andrew is taper friendly, but I’m not certain of the venue’s stance on recording, especially at this kind of festival. I knew I would be recording on the sly, but this being my first recording of an outdoor show, I wasn’t sure what to expect. And as you can hear, this recording has a few issues. First of all, mic placement wasn’t optimal, so it sounds a bit muffled. Also, there is some phasing as my neighbors and I moved around. Also, it was a reasonably windy night, so expect some low-end rumble. And finally, by this point in the evening, most of the people surrounding me were drunk, high, or (strangely enough) bored, so unfortunately there is a lot of crowd noise. I had a screamer off to my right, and at one point between songs she completely overloaded my mics, and so I snipped that out. There was one rough mic hit as people moved through the crowd, so I cut that noise as well. You might notice the cuts, or you might not, but nothing vital was lost.

As for the show, this was my first experience seeing Andrew Bird, and most of the other artists at the festival. I’m not terribly familiar with his material, but I found his live show to be compelling and sonically satisfying. For those of you that didn’t attend or didn’t read a great review of the show, the performance art group opera-matic participated in the opening number. As you listen, imagine a huge whale, constructed of wire-framing with colors projected onto its cloth skin, swimming through the crowd, its whale song mixing with the music. It was beautiful. Or, if you’d prefer to not use your imagination and actually see it, check the video.

This isn’t a perfect recording, but I think it’s a start. Hopefully you’ll be able to see past the shortcomings and enjoy the music as I did. Just a couple of notes on my method of posting. Each track below is a link to a FLAC file. This is a lossless file-format which should allow you to convert back to WAV and encode however you like. After the track list, there is a link to the info.txt file, a FLAC fingerprint file, and a zip of the entire show in MP3 format. You can stream an MP3 sample below as well.

Thanks to Sarah @ howsmyliving.com for the photo and the set list, and big thanks to my buddy Jason @ haterhigh.com for his knowledge, support, and encouragement. But, most of all, thanks to Andrew Bird, his guests, and the crew at The Hideout for a great night. Remember, these artists deserve your dollars. If you enjoy this show, please buy their records, tickets, and merch, and convince your friends to do the same.

01. Instrumental +
02. Dark Matter
03. A Nervous Tic Motion of the Head to the Left
04. Banter
05. Effigy
06. Bein’ Green
07. Plasticities
08. Band Intros/Banter
09. La Cigarra ^
10. Fitz and the Dizzy Spells
11. Banter
12. Give It Away *
13. Banter
14. The Lusitania
15. Breeding Desperation
16. Crown Salesman (Alpha Consumer cover)
17. I on I
18. Banter
19. Danse Caribbe
20. Fatal Shores *
21. Band Intros
22. Tables and Chairs
–Encore–
23. So Much Wine (Handsome Family cover) *

+ with whale/effects from opera-matic
^ featuring Paloma Carrasco on vocals, Colin Bunn on guitar
* with Nora O’Connor

info.txt | FLAC fingerprint | MP3 archive

MP3 sample – Plasticities

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Tags: 2011, Andrew Bird, Downloads, Hideout Block Party, The Hideout