Today’s “Treasure From The Collector’s Slum” is a very personal and very exciting download, which has been made available courtesy of Ian. You see, back in the year 2001, one week after my graduation from High School, Ian, our friend Bret and I decided we were going to see Grandaddy and Coldplay (don’t say anything! Don’t say anything!) at Radio City Music Hall. I had been trying my hand at recording live shows for a year or so, and I decided I would try my best to record both bands that evening.
On the NJ Transit train into Manhattan, Ian spent time trying to roll a joint in the bathroom, and he spent a long enough amount of time in there that he missed the ticket taker coming by and taking our money. He thought he had devised some brilliant plan to travel the rails for free, but he found out a few hours later that buying a one-way ticket back to Jersey cost pretty much the same amount as a two-way ticket had cost us original. In fact, it might have cost him more? I don’t remember exactly, but Bret and I had a good laugh at his expense.
I had never heard Grandaddy before that night, and (obviously) they were way more memorable than Coldplay. I remember there was a large screen on stage that was displaying random images. Jason Lytle was stationed behind a large keyboard, trucker hat pulled down over his eyes, with a guitar slung around his neck. They opened with a b-side, “First Movement /Message Sent id#5646766,” which I almost instantly decided was their best tune. A few days later I went out hunting for the song, and finally found it on a “Crystal Lake” import CD single. It was also around that that time that I heard The Sophtware Slump for the first time, and it remains one of my favorite “indie” records.
Coldplay, of course, sounded like one would imagine Coldplay sounding: drenched in reverb, someone distant, and way more boring than Grandaddy. This was their Parachutes tour, and their set featured some songs from what would be their next album. I think the newer songs sounded better than the older ones. Ian was high and sort of falling asleep during their set, or at the very least beginning to slouch a lot more. Once their set ended and Ian got nailed at the train station with an expensive ticket home, the night was complete.
My recording came out pretty well, you can tell I was far back from the stage but it’s not distorted or too tinny or anything. Maybe I’d grade it a B? You decide, here’s Grandaddy’s set for your to download. As far as I know, only three people in the entire world have ever heard this album — Some guy I traded bootlegs with once on the Internet back in ’01, Ian, and myself. I lost my copy many years ago, but luckily Ian kept his. Enjoy!
Oh, and if anyone in Grandaddy or Big Cat UK or V2 is reading this, I’m still looking for a copy of Under The Western Freeway on vinyl. Drop me a line, okay?
Grandaddy
June 28th, 2001
Radio City Music Hall; New York, NY
MediaFire Download Link
Tracklist:
01. Intro
02. First Movement/Message Sent id#5646766
03. Hewlett’s Daughter
04. Our Dying Brain
05. Levitz / You Are My Sunshine / Instrumental / Chartensgrafs
06. Crystal Lake
07. AM 180
08. He’s Simple, He’s Dumb, He’s The Pilot
09. So You’ll Aim Towards The Sky
