Hey, you little trendites. Yeah, yeah, the ghost of me lingers. School is brutal this term and brock has thankfully picked up my slack and kept the site going. Many thanks to him.

Last month, in the midst of many smaller club shows, My girlfriend and I took a one day trip with some friends to Albany to catch the Elvis Costello/Bob Dylan show. Amos Lee actually opened the show, but after hearing him several times on a Dylan tour in ‘05, I knew to stay away for fear of falling asleep.

Let me start off by saying that Dylan was just shit that night. I have seen the old man over 20 times now, so I have grounds to say that. Of all those shows, he has only disappointed on a couple of nights, but they have all been recently. Back in ‘02, when my Dylan tour days started, he was on fire. Back then he really fed off his amazing band, which consisted of Larry Campbell, Charlie Sexton, Tony Garnier and George Receli. That was his best touring band since.. The Band! However, they parted ways very shortly after their peak when Charlie Sexton left at the end of ‘03. This move would change the sound of the band, but he was replaced by the innovative Freddy Koella, who added a lot himself. However, after Larry Campbell in ‘05 no one man could replace him, so Bob brought in three new members (including Don Herron of BR5-49). Somewhere in the middle of these changes, the band lost its spark. Right now, Bob and the boys get by mostly on autopilot, which is very sad. So, I vowed not to spend any more money on Bob for a while, especially shows across the border. Then I heard that Elvis Costello was playing a solo acoustic opening set. Well, that changed everything.

I saw Costello at the Calgary Folk Festival in ‘03. He was on tour with Steve Nieve (on piano), and aside from Steve, this was solo acoustic as well. It was a very good show with a lot of emphasis put on his current release, North. Despite him being slightly upstaged by bluegrass greats Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder, the crowd gave him the respect he deserved. After that taste I needed more Elvis. Albany, here I come.

Elvis really soaked up the loving crowd that night, often coming out to the end of the stage with open arms and a massive grin. This show was to be my first attempt at recording using a minidisc recorder, but I plugged the microphone into the wrong port and got nothing (making The National show the night after my first recording). Though, I messed it up, my friend had my back and recorded it as well.

Here’s what he got with his lovely little Edirol R-09:

1. (The Angles Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes
2. Blue Chair
3. Either Side of the Same Town
4. The River in Reverse
5. Oliver’s Army
6. Down Among the Wine and Spirits
7. Sulphur to Sugar Cane
8. Veronica
9. Radio Sweetheart
10. What So Funny About Peace, Love and Understanding?
11. The Scarlet Tide

If you want this show in FLAC format, you can download it here.

Watch 

I found these on YouTube.  Thanks to upst8!

(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes

Either Side of the Same Town

Down Among the Wine and Spirits

(Note: Be sure to check out our new Photo Gallery. If you have pictures of any of the shows we talk about, please send them in to us.)

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