i’ve been quite fond of agnes obel for a few years now, and was sorry to miss her when she played in brussels while we were there (and, no surprise, she’s not coming to seoul on this tour). taper ian macdonald (ianmacd) uploaded a recent show of hers to dime, along with her opening act.
you don’t always see both the warm-up and main act seeded, and when you do, you might not care about one or the other act. but in this case i was curious…. who might open for agnes obel? i thought it was a good match (not always the case) and a pretty good recording. so, although it’s not jazz, here’s a very nice show by agnes obel.
i’ve included all of ianmacd’s comments in the posting below, even though they’re a bit long, as they might be of interest. (they’re in the d/l also, of course.)
http://www.agnesobel.com/
http://feralandstray.com/
http://www.erinlang.com/ (redirects to the feral & stray site)
feral & stray
(supporting agnes obel)
het concertgebouw
amsterdam, the netherlands
4 february 2014
01. [06:18] anchor
02. [03:22] threads
03. [00:48] [banter]
04. [05:05] quiet soul
05. [00:39] [banter]
06. [04:14] falling
07. [05:27] all the birds in the world
08. [00:58] [banter]
09. [04:15] safe and sound
total running time: 31:10
recording:
type: audience master, recorded from seat 30 of row 12, approximately 15 metres back from the suspended left-hand side pa stack.
source: schoeps ccm 41v microphones (dina mounted) -> marantz pmd661 recorder > audacity > flac
taper: ian macdonald (ianmacd)
notes:
feral & stray a.k.a. erin lang once again provides a fragile, almost whispered
opening set in support of agnes obel, this time in the illustrious setting of
amsterdam’s famed concertgebouw.
the quality of the recording is excellent, perhaps a little better than the
one of rotterdam from the previous night. the set-list is identical.
as always, samples are attached to the torrent to allow you to decide whether
this is something for you.
agnes obel
het concertgebouw
amsterdam, the netherlands
4 february 2014
01. [03:24] louretta
02. [04:02] philharmonics
03. [00:39] [banter/band introduction]
04. [04:06] beast
05. [05:29] fuel to fire
06. [06:43] on powdered ground
07. [03:11] chord left
08. [01:15] [banter]
09. [04:49] aventine
10. [00:31] [banter]
11. [05:24] dorian
12. [05:19] wallflower
13. [04:41] riverside
14. [00:21] [banter]
15. [05:15] run cried the crawling
16. [04:29] words are dead
17. [05:47] the curse
18. [02:00] [encore break]
19. [01:06] [banter]
20. [04:36] just so
21. [00:41] [banter]
22. [05:05] katie cruel
total running time: 79:05
recording:
type: audience master, recorded from seat 30 of row 12, approximately 15 metres back from the suspended left-hand side pa stack.
source: schoeps ccm 41v microphones (dina mounted) -> marantz pmd661 recorder > audacity > flac
taper: ian macdonald (ianmacd)
notes:
after rotterdam last night, i can relax in the knowledge that i have an
assigned seat for this evening’s show in the illustrious setting of the
capital’s concertgebouw.
it’s funny to think that it was just three and a bit years ago that the newly
discovered agnes was playing upstairs at the paradiso on an electric keyboard
to a standing crowd of 250 people.
her star was on the rise from the very beginning and she is now able to sell
out one of the most beautiful and prestigious venues in the city. the electric
keyboard is long gone, replaced by a much more befitting steinway grand piano.
if you live in the netherlands, belgium, france, germany or her native
denmark, you’d have to have been living in a bunker for the last four years
not to have heard of agnes obel.
despite debut album sales of 450,000 copies, however, she remains something of
an unknown quantity in much of the rest of europe and beyond. i remain
convinced that it can only be a matter of time before the rest of the world
wakes up to her subtle, understated songs and the enchantment of that fragile,
fluttering voice.
the main hall of the concertgebouw can house 1,674 people, although i note
that the lousy seats behind the stage were obviously not made available for
sale. nevertheless, there must easily be 1,500 people in attendance this
evening.
feral & stray a.k.a. erin lang once again provides a fragile, almost whispered
opening set, her banter full of hyperbole for the beautiful audience, the
“courageous, fearless women” with whom she is on tour, etc.
agnes follows and performs an almost identical set to the night before. the
differences arrive in the encore, where ‘brother sparrow’ and ‘smoke &
mirrors’ make way for ‘just so’ and ‘katie cruel’. it’s the first time i’ve
heard ‘just so’ on the aventine tour, and it’s good to hear it live again
after more than two years.
the concertgebouw is world-renowned for its superb acoustics, and that it is
deserving of that fame is a detail overwhelmingly proven this evening. the
sound in here tonight is beyond amazing. agnes herself remarks at one point,
“you really hear everything in here, i think.”
if i said the vocal harmonies in particular were impressive last night, the
clarity with which they can be appreciated tonight is simply jaw-dropping.
listening to the recording now through headphones, i have to remind myself
that it was made from the audience by some scruffy bloke, not streamed
directly from the radio. apart from a few winter sniffles from those around
me, there’s really very little to remind you that this is a covertly made
amateur recording.
truthfully, audience recordings don’t get much better than this. i sincerely
hope you enjoy it.
as always, samples are attached to the torrent to allow you to decide whether
this is something for you.
samples:
feral and stray – 02_thread.mp3
agnes obel – 01_louretta.mp3
downloads:
Agnes_Obel_2014-02-04_Concertgebouw_Amsterdam.zip
Feral_and_Stray_2014-02-04_Concertgebouw_Amsterdam.zip