1996-11-01 | Percy Hill

View NotesI traveled up to Ithaca, about an hour away, figuring to get there a bit early to hang with the guys before. I was fully aware of the "hurry and wait" that is a part of the touring scene, so they were bound to have some time to kill. Anyway, I arrive an hour or so before the show, enter the venue - no band. I ask the bouncer, "where's the band?". I'm told that the band hasn't arrived yet. What? It's like 9:00 and they're playing in an hour? The guy says they're on their way. Literally a few minutes later, two vans pull into the lot and it's mayhem from there. The previous night was a big Halloween show for the band, so part of the day was spend returning things around Durham and such. So much for the hurry up and wait...it's just hurry up. All hands on deck as everything gets unloaded quickly. Once the stage is set, there's no soundcheck or anything. It's just tune up and play. It takes a couple tunes for Sean to work out the bugs, but that didn't seem to bother the band so much. Give the show a listen and I'm sure you'll agree.

A couple tracks were used on Double Feature, but to my ears, I like the sound quality of this show better than the tracks used from the Paradise. This is a very warm recording as soundboards go, with everything in good balance. It still amazes me that they didn't soundcheck or warm up at all before the show.

I hadn't listened to this show in probably 10 years, but played it last week before sending them of to get uploaded. Listening to this show reminded me of just how good the 6-piece band was. With a four-piece rhythm section and two primary soloists, each and every solo had depth behind it. I remember being absolutely blown away seeing and hearing Jon Hawes' solo in Broken Window when I was at the show. It comes through wonderfully on the tapes, too. What starts out as just him slowly adds other members creating a sonic menagerie. Where in later Percy shows, Nate's prowess was more of a basis for the sound (not a criticism), it takes until Got Something to Show for him to really get funky. That's not to say he was laying back prior that. It was just more subtle...part of being a larger group.

I'm really psyched that Nate was able to help bring these to the Archive. I'd moved on from analog tapes, to DAT, to CD's, to MP3. But three computers later, I didn't have an adequate soundcard, or spare time to get this uploaded. I kept these around hoping that someone could help me out. Thank you Nate. And thanks to Sean Doucette for doing an old school "blanks and postage" for me 16 years ago. When I got these in the mail in 1996, I forgot that I was expecting them. What a gift. This is one of my favorite Percy Hill shows that I attended and/or had on tape. Enjoy everyone.

Mush