Live Road

[adam_777]

Sorry to bump an old thread, but in prep for the tour I've been on a Matt Good kick and decided to burn through some live stuff.  Has anyone listened to the Live Road stuff recently.  Man, I forgot how much these kicked ass.  For the quick mixing that was done they come across sounding very well balanced.  You get a good feel for the audience and its just a fantastic document of the tour.  The AOD was definitely a rocking tour after the slower more mellow LOES tour.  I'm still incredibly grateful Matt did this for us, and to Anthony for actually mixing most of them post show.  

[emmit643]

I loved the Arrows Tour. Back when my income was more modest, so I *only* (I put * cause i know I'm fortunate enough to have the luxury of multiple attendances when some people on here don't live close to places he tours) made it to 2 shows on the official tour. I had such a good time. Even at the stuffy old Grand Theatre in Kingston where they made us sit down the whole time (like ushers actually came and told you to sit down).

 

I really enjoyed listening to all the live road stuff too.

[foats]

I loved the live road series.  I am extremely optimistic about this upcoming tour after speaking with a few of you.  It seems that there will be a decent amount of shows recorded by members of the board (and some non members)    Great times ahead!

[Guest girl]

foats, does that mean you won't be attending a concert in February/March 2017? I was under the impression that you lived in the States.

Edited November 25, 2016 by girl

[foats]

I live in the States.  I am going to be out of the country for a decent ammt of February.  I will be back and want to go to Hamilton but it would be a 3 hr drive to Buffalo and another couple hours from there during a time where weather is unpredictable.   If I go to Hamilton it will be taped, but right now it looks like I will be missing this.  It seems like all the good bands skip over Pittsburgh and if they play Buffalo or anywhere close it always ends up being in the winter time.  I'l probably end up paypaling some $$$ for shirts/merch  etc. 

[Guest girl]

Cool. Yeah, 5 hours is a very long time to drive on the highway. I don't know if I could do that. I hope the highways are dry and clear of snow and ice during the tour.

[Manchalivin]

It would be awesome if we could get a DVD or bluray of a show from this tour. This would especially be a perfect time for it.

[adam_777]

I agree Manchalivin, I think this would be an ideal time to do something like that, especially since Matt had three night stands in Vancouver and Toronto.  He could pick one of those markets and use recordings from all three nights to devise this, similar to what a band like Led Zeppelin did for The Song Remains The Same which comprises performances from July 27th-29th 1973 at MSG.  Matt subscribes to what he calls "Live At Leeds" condition for live recordings, which is they can be mixed, but nothing corrected from a live performance, in otherwords its a warts and all release.  This condition could still be satisfied recording a live show in this way, he would just have three recordings to choose a best take of  in regards to the BM material.  As for the encores, he might only have one take of each, maybe two depending on how he does the encores, but if a particular song is deemed not up to snuff it could be left off.  After all, while each show may have a three song encore, over a span of three nights you may have 3-9 songs to choose from for a release.  

I know in the past Matt has said this is very expensive to do and would not be happening, but as years go by and technology improves maybe the costs of doing such a thing are more attainable.  He mentioned Warner is supportive of what he wants to do, perhaps they could use their deeper pockets to do something like this.  In a recent interview Matt said he wishes he could sell refrigerators with a BM sticker on them if he could, obviously feeling like attaching that label to something makes it valuable.  Well, my fridge is in good condition, but my DVD music collections has a major hole in it! 

I've even mentioned potentially crowd funding something like this in a means similar to what kickstarter.com does.  Many independent film makers are funding films and all kinds of other projects by pricing out the costs involved, setting a fundraising goal and then sourcing actual consumer interest.  The upshot of this is because it is done in advance, if the money is not raised, everyone just gets refunded and the project doesn't happen.  If the goal is reached it does.  Usually perks are offered, which in Matts case could be all kinds of things $25 donation could be say a copy of the DVD when released, $50 donation could be a dvd and a signed copy of the new EP $100 donation could be a copy of DVD and a Merch item like a shirt and so forth.  I think it could be a successful avenue to fund such a project that the fans clearly want without having financial risk to the artist involved.  

[mackie1023]

I live in the States. I am going to be out of the country for a decent ammt of February. I will be back and want to go to Hamilton but it would be a 3 hr drive to Buffalo and another couple hours from there during a time where weather is unpredictable. If I go to Hamilton it will be taped, but right now it looks like I will be missing this. It seems like all the good bands skip over Pittsburgh and if they play Buffalo or anywhere close it always ends up being in the winter time. I'l probably end up paypaling some $$$ for shirts/merch etc.

It has been mentioned to a venue owner / booking person that this tour is happening and the case has been pleaded to try to lure Matt to Buffalo. I doubt it would pan out but it happened during the AoD you so you never know.

[AnythingYouWant]

Wow, do I ever love this man's honesty and transparency.

[adam_777]

I appreciate you addressing the dvd question Matt. I know it gets asked alot and im glad you've said your intentions so guys like me can stop pestering about it. I do hope someday you are able to film a show.

 

As for the tour date complaints. I feel for those fans. Living on Vancouver island quite frankly I get spoiled when it comes to Matt Good. Although for most other artists who only come to Vancouver you can add $120 in ferry costs and another $120 for a hotel haha so in those situations I dint feel for people in a market like Chicago Dallas or LA. Music is a business and Matt's livelihood. It just doesnt make sense to tour probably, get sick and at the end have made nothing. Its a shitty situation. But it is what it is. Perhaps a 2017 edition of Live Road could help ease some of the pain for those not able to attend

[mackie1023]

Well we sure do love it when you are able to play Buffalo, but it's never anything I count on and can certainly understand the reasoning on those decisions. I always enjoy the little road trips through Ontario, and living up here again is a whole lot easier than flying in from across the country.

 

AoD was the only tour I missed, just couldnt swing it at the time, and it was cool to have the live road recordings to see what I missed.

[hoogie]

I totally understand not taping this tour.  Makes sense.

 

Hopefully at some point there will be a live DVD or another live CD.  Live Road and the Massey recordings are some of my favourites.  At least we can say there is demand for it, from us loyal fans anyways.

[Moonlight_Graham]

I totally understand not taping this tour.  Makes sense.

 

Hopefully at some point there will be a live DVD or another live CD.  Live Road and the Massey recordings are some of my favourites.  At least we can say there is demand for it, from us loyal fans anyways.

 

This might be the closest we'll get to a live DVD.  Close enough.  We can't get it in digital take-home format, but at least it's pro shot.

 

https://www.nearfantastica.com/bored/topic/13611-matthew-good-at-the-concert-hall-merged/page-5

 

 

Really enjoyed this song performance for this show.

[adam_777]

That Bravo show was a nice bonus at the end of the Vancouver tour, but having seen five shows on that tour, I gotta say I always felt that show did not do service to how good the band sounded on that tour.  I always thought the sound was very flat, the instruments had no life no crackle. If you want to see what I'm talking about compare this to the Massey Hall recording which was a similar band.  Of course the crowd at that taping seemed very subdued as well.  I thought the setlist was decent for it, but at the shows on that tour, I felt they were structured around Empty's Theme Park, which was this giant 10 minute song with some great jams from the band.  It fit into the setlist kind of how Midnight Rambler was the centerpiece of the 1969 Rolling Stones tour.  I'm glad this Bravo show exists, but to me it doesn't capture fully the things I love about a Matthew Good show.    

[hoogie]

I remember that special now.  I had it for ever on my PVR until it got corrupted. 

 

I agree about the sound quality for that recording.  The band sounded incredible on that tour, and it did not translate to that recording.  Still enjoyable though.

[Manchalivin]

Isn't there another pro shot MG video?

[adam_777]

A Canada Day show in Surrey is on youtube

[Jessafur]

A Canada Day show in Surrey is on youtube

Is that the one where Matt messes up the words to Last Parade? If it is its a great video other than that.

[Prairieboy]

That Bravo show was a nice bonus at the end of the Vancouver tour, but having seen five shows on that tour, I gotta say I always felt that show did not do service to how good the band sounded on that tour.  I always thought the sound was very flat, the instruments had no life no crackle. If you want to see what I'm talking about compare this to the Massey Hall recording which was a similar band.  Of course the crowd at that taping seemed very subdued as well.  I thought the setlist was decent for it, but at the shows on that tour, I felt they were structured around Empty's Theme Park, which was this giant 10 minute song with some great jams from the band.  It fit into the setlist kind of how Midnight Rambler was the centerpiece of the 1969 Rolling Stones tour.  I'm glad this Bravo show exists, but to me it doesn't capture fully the things I love about a Matthew Good show.

 

I couldn't agree more. Love love love MG but this Bravo recording just doesn't do it for me. If I were to introduce somebody new to MG - I wouldn't show them this show - they wouldn't understand what the fuss is all about. Rather - I'd show them any number of fan clips on YouTube.

[Moonlight_Graham]

That Bravo show was a nice bonus at the end of the Vancouver tour, but having seen five shows on that tour, I gotta say I always felt that show did not do service to how good the band sounded on that tour.  I always thought the sound was very flat, the instruments had no life no crackle. If you want to see what I'm talking about compare this to the Massey Hall recording which was a similar band.

 

I agree the sound for the TV show didn't capture the live sound very well at all.  No thickness to it at all.

 

No idea how they captured the sound there, but I also find when bands record straight from the soundboard/mixer the sound usually sucks too.  I much prefer a really good fan recording taken from the crowd at a good angle, because that can capture the natural reverb of the venue and the crowd.  Some pro live recording can do a great job of that too.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enm0_yS-L5w

[adam_777]

Audience recordings are always going to capture much more atmosphere than a straight up dry board mix.  The mix in that case is straight from what is pumped out of the PA which is optimized so it fills the venue with the best sound and seperation.  The natural reverberations of a venue are what help to resonate that sound and give it that thickness.  Most shows being mixed off the board these days though include ambient mics to capture some of this sound plus the audience.  At most concerts you'll see a pair of mics pointing out to the crowd for this purpose.  If you listen to Matt's Live Road recordings, those are taken from the board, but clearly have a nice warmth and thickness to them despite very minimal mixing.  So for a show like the Bravo show, there is no reason why it couldn't have sounded that way.  Television in general does a pretty poor job mixing concerts.  Back in 1969 Led Zeppelin grew so frustrated with it, they completely abandoned TV promotion as they were unable to record and present the bands sound anywhere near what the actual live sound was.  Anyone who caught the recent Tragically Hip final concert on CBC knows just how awful that mix sounded, particularly at the start of the show.  When I heard 50 Mission Cap, I immediately thought "Oh no, their final performance is going to be tarnished by poor television live audio mixing."  

As someone who was featured in several live tv concert broadcasts over the years, I'd like to hear Matt's impression's on the sound quality presented and why in many cases it simply doesn't do justice to the band's actual live sound? 

[foats]

A good representation of this is Pearl Jam.  A lot of their television performances sound horrible.  Go to a live show though and it's a totally different experience.  Weezer is another band who sounds pretty bad on tv.