bradley's almanac - a boston music blog

boston area shows of note:

friday, july 25th

comedian joel mchale

(from the soup)

@ the wilbur theatre

saturday, july 26th

bon iver

bowerbirds

@ the museum of fine arts

sunday, july 27th

the new collisions (debut)

red quiet

melt

@ tt the bears

sunday, july 27th

sunfold

antiques

@ the middle east upstairs

wednesday, july 30th

we are scientists

@ the middle east downstairs

wednesday, july 30th

earlimart

@ the middle east upstairs

wednesday, july 30th

spiritualized

the dirtbombs

@ the wilbur theatre

thursday, july 31st

the police

elvis costello & the impersonators

@ the tweeter center

friday & saturday

august 1st & 2nd

eddie vedder

liam finn

solo @ the opera house

saturday, august 2nd

wolf parade

@ the paradise

monday, august 4th

coldplay

@ the garden

tuesday, august 5th

(and every tuesday this month)

neil cleary's 'doozy'

a guest-packed 4-show residency

@ the lizard lounge

wednesday, august 6th

neil halstead (slowdive/mojave 3)

rogue wave

jack johnson

@ the tweeter center

saturday, august 9th

margot & the nuclear so and so's

@ the middle east

saturday, august 9th

melvins

@ the paradise

sunday, august 10th

ho-ag

six finger satellite

the in-out

certainly, sir

@ great scott

tuesday, august 12th

thao nguyen with

the get down stay down

david schultz & the skyline

pepi ginsberg

@ tt the bears

tuesday, august 12th

(and every tuesday this month)

neil cleary's 'doozy'

a guest-packed 4-show residency

@ the lizard lounge

wednesday, august 13th

radiohead

grizzly bear

@ the tweeter center

thursday, august 14th

grizzly bear

violens

outside in the courtyard

@ the museum of fine arts

friday, august 15th

the ex

getachew mekuria

debo band

@ the middle east downstairs

saturday, august 16th

+/- (plus minus)

broken river prophet (cd release!)

animal hospital

ba-na-nas

free kickass cupcakes from 9-10pm!

@ the middle east upstairs

tuesday, august 19th

(and every tuesday this month)

neil cleary's 'doozy'

a guest-packed 4-show residency

@ the lizard lounge

wednesday, august 20th

human league, belinda carlisle, abc,

flock of seagulls, naked eyes

@ the bank of america pavilion

thursday, august 21st

yndi halda

caspian

irepress

@ tt the bears

friday, august 22nd

obits (ex-hot snakes/rftc)

@ the middle east

saturday, august 23rd

amo joy!

franklin bruno

(from nothing painted blue)

one happy island (ep release!)

@ the lily pad

saturday, august 23rd

newbury comics / unnatural axe

30th anniversary bash

the meatmen, queers, nasties,

unnatural axe, sleazies

@ the middle east down

tuesday, august 26th

the final installment of...

neil cleary's 'doozy'

a guest-packed august residency

@ the lizard lounge

wednesday, august 27th

liz phair performing

'exile in guyville'

@ the paradise

wednesday, august 27th

xiu xiu

prurient

@ the paradise

monday, september 1st

the juan maclean

@ the middle east downstairs

friday, september 5th

silver jews

@ the middle east downstairs

saturday, september 6th

my morning jacket

@ the bank of america pavilion

sunday, september 7th

ryan adams & the cardinals

@ the bank of america pavilion

tuesday, september 9th

paul weller

@ the berklee performance center

saturday, september 13th

wfnx disorientation 2008

the kooks, flogging molly,

alkaline trio, rogue wave,

and more to be announced

@ bank of america pavilion

monday, september 15th

james

@ the paradise

tuesday, september 16th

a place to bury strangers

@ the paradise

thursday, september 18th

the walkmen

@ the middle east downstairs

friday, september 19th

sigur ros

@ the bank of america pavilion

friday, september 19th to

sunday, september 21st

all tomorrow's parties

with my bloody valentine, low

built to spill, mogwai, shellac,

polvo, yo la tengo, lilys, autolux

dinosaur jr, mercury rev, & more

@ the catskills in nyc

monday, september 22nd

mogwai

fuck buttons

@ the wilbur theatre

tuesday, september 23rd

writer dennis lehane

(release day for 'the given day')

@ the coolidge corner theatre

wednesday, september 24th

low

@ the museum of fine arts boston

saturday, september 27th

built to spill

performing 'perfect from now on'

dinosaur jr.

meat puppets

@ the orpheum

sunday, september 28th

the bird and the bee

willoughby

@ great scott

thursday, september 30th

boston spaceships

(gbv's robert pollard)

big dipper

@ the paradise

sunday, october 5th

pinback

@ the paradise

monday, october 6th

the wedding present

@ the middle east downstairs

monday, october 6th

stereolab

monade

@ the paradise

wednesday, october 8th

wire

@ the middle east downstairs

sunday, october 12th

the residents

@ showcase live, foxboro

sunday, october 12th

the notwist

@ the roxy

tuesday, october 14th

cold war kids

@ the paradise

friday, october 17th

jonathan richman

with drummer tommy larkin

@ the somerville theatre

saturday, october 18th

ra ra riot

walter meego

the morning benders

@ the middle east

tuesday & wednesday

october 21st & 22nd

billy bragg

@ the somerville theatre

wednesday, october 22nd

lyle lovett & john hiatt

(acoustic, on stage together)

@ the orpheum

thursday, october 30th

of montreal

@ the orpheum

saturday, november 1st

henry rollins (spoken word)

@ the orpheum

monday, november 3rd

coldplay

@ the td banknorth garden

visit tourfilter for more shows

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Mp3s: The Clientele at the MFA Boston

London-based quartet the Clientele finished up their recent month-long North American tour with a show at Boston's Museum of Fine Arts, and it was absolutely gorgeous. It had been far too long since I'd seen them, at JP's Milky Way bowling alley in 1999, when they were a trio and playing their very first batch of U.S. shows.

While those reverb-washed early singles (collected on 2000's essential "Suburban Light") really grabbed me, I admittedly, and inexplicably, lost track of the band in the years since. The recent arrival of their "God Save The Clientele" album (as always, on Merge) remedied that, and loving the setting of the MFA's Remis Auditorium, I was compelled to finally see them again.

While the set leaned heavily on the new album, a few old favorites were greeted with applause, and the TV-themed encore brought us covers of tracks by both Television ("The Fire", off their sophomore 1978 "Adventure" album) and the Television Personalities ("A Picture Of Dorian Gray", from their 1981 debut, "And Don't The Kids Just Love It"). FYI, that Television cover will be available in studio form on a 7" release for the track "Bookshop Casanova", which will also include another unreleased track. Look for that in September, when the UK edition of "God Save The Clientele" gets released.

The addition of keyboardist/violinist Mel Draisey last year has certainly helped the Clientele flesh out their live sound, giving them a way to at least partially incorporate the gorgeous string arrangements provided by their studio collaborator, French songwriter Louis Philippe. And on this final night of the band's road trip, we got a special treat that even further rounded out some of the songs: Louis Philippe himself joined the band on stage for a few numbers in the middle of the set. Not sure if this was a regular occurrence on this particular trip, or if he made a special trip to Boston, but it made an already magical night even more so.

Here's the night, in Mp3 form. Don't miss the Clientele when they return to the U.S. this fall for a tour with Peter Bjorn and John (Boston: September 7th at Avalon), and be sure to pick up some of their work from Merge.

The Clientele

Live at the Museum of Fine Arts
in Boston, Massachusetts
on Saturday, June 9th, 2007

01. Since K Got Over Me
02. We Could Walk Together
03. I Hope I Know You
04. The Queen Of Seville
05. These Days Nothing But Sunshine
06. Winter On Victoria Street
07. Somebody Changed
08. Louis Philippe intro
09. Here Comes The Phantom
10. band introductions
11. From Brighton Beach To Santa Monica
12. Bookshop Casanova
13. Dreams Of Leaving
14. My Own Face Inside The Trees
15. Reflections After Jane
16. Saturday

encore...
17. The Fire (Television cover)
18. A Picture Of Dorian Gray (Television Personalities cover)
19. (I Want You) More Than Ever

Some Clientele links...

Their official site, Wikipedia entry, MySpace page , and the band's Merge Records page.

Audio: Mp3s - I recently dug out and converted a cassette containing a 4-song session the band recorded for MIT radio station WMBR in 1999, so here it is: "Five Day Morning", "Fear Of Falling", "Joseph Cornell", and "Driving South".

More Audio: Mp3 - "Bookshop Casanova", from "God Save The Clientele". Listen to a 2005 appearance the band did for KEXP. Stream a couple songs from each of their discs by visiting the band's discography page and clicking the album covers. Over at Epitonic, you can download Mp3s of the tracks "Emptily through Holloway", "Reflections After Jane", "Joseph Cornell", and "Five Day Morning".

Video: Try a Clientele YouTube search, and word from their official site is that we'll see the first video from the new album soon. Check out video from when the band played a few songs at 89.3 The Current recently, as well as an appearance for Yahoo Music.

Another of my photos from the show can be found here.

Listen to all 'Nac-hosted tracks on the Hype Machine.

the fine print... If anyone has an issue with these Mp3s being made available, just let me know (my contact info in the 'nac faq). Live sets recorded with a Sony ECM-719 mic and a Sony MZ-RH10 minidisc, converted to .wav and then edited to 192kbps Mp3s. Files are made available for a limited time, and are not reposted once removed.

Labels: livemp3s