16_[banter- should have known] | 2020-02-20 | The Mountain Goats

1:21:38

SBD

Taper:

Anonymouse + LMGBTapes

Transferrer:

LMGBTapes

SHNID:

tmg2020-02-20.matrix

Source:

SBD [Brandon Eggleston] > pcm m10 + CA-14 Omnis (clipped to shirt below ears) > CA-Ugly Pre > pcm m10

Lineage:

WAV > Reaper (EQ, Mixing) > iZotope RX 7 (declick to remove my own loud claps) > Audacity (Tracking, Tagging, Amplify) > Flac 8

Taper Notes:

View NotesIt's 3:40AM on a Sunday and I'm finishing up another Mountain Goats livetape upload..
This set is the first of three shows John played at the Swedish American Hall in early 2020. Three of the best shows I've ever seen. I'd "taped" the previous time he played the venue but it was before I was really taping- sat an ipod touch beneath my seat and recorded the set. Came out terrible. Thankfully KB was also recording- his was actually worthy of release- https://archive.org/details/tmg2016-02-27/ (update: this recording has since been removed, dang, now it links to the matrix, which doesn't have same energy..)
Anyway, I mention this because in 2016, John had mentioned that he had intended to do a themed set, wherein he played one song from every release he'd ever done. He wasn't able to prepare it, though, as a virus had spread through his home shortly before the sets and caused priorities to shift. 
This time, however, he was clearly prepared, and it was a joy to hear. He had a theme for each night, and night 1's theme was "Beginnings". He played in a tshirt. He played sitting down. He talked with the audience far more than is usual as of late. He took requests. He played songs no one had ever heard (which weren't included here at his request). And he played a series of songs that were all in their own way about beginnings. 
The band's upcoming tour has been (not fully, officially, but almost certainly) postponed as of writing this due to the COVID-19 outbreak across the world. It has been just over a month since these shows, when it wasn't even on my radar as far as being a concern. It sucks when things change so dramatically and suddenly for the worse. I wish anyone reading this health, both mentally and physically, during these trying times. And I hope you enjoy.

extranote: Suffered some technical issues for Wild Sage - Alpha Incipiens. Loud droning noise in the right channel. Lowered the AUD capture and EQ'd the buzz frequencies out as much as possible for these ones, in case anyone is wondering why they sound a bit different.