James Blake @ The Music Hall of Williamsburg (12.11.2012)

In September, James Blake announced that he would debut new material from his upcoming album at a few intimate shows.  We last saw James Blake at the Bowery Ballroom in May 2011, not long after his first full length LP came out.  Though we were treated to 1 new song during that set (Enough Thunder), I was definitely excited to hear the direction he was headed in for his next major release. After playing three shows in England, he made his way to New York to play two more shows.  Tickets sold out almost immediately for the first show at the Music Hall of Williamsburg so a second show was added at the Bowery Ballroom for the following night.  I attended his first New York show of this small tour at the Music Hall of Williamsburg.

James Blake was again accompanied on stage by Ben Assiter on drums and Rob McAndrews on guitar, sampler, and what appeared to be a Moog Taurus.  They played together the entire time until the end of the encore when they left James and his keyboard, in all their glory, to perform A Case of You.  The three of them were really interesting to watch on stage.  They didn't interact much with one another verbally but a strong musical chemistry was definitely present. James was also extremely charismatic during the banter sections.  He seemed to enjoy interacting with the crowd and much of the set's down time was spent laughing at what audience members were saying to him in between songs.
     James played a combination of songs from his singles, self-titled lp, the Enough Thunder EP, and unheard songs from his upcoming album (which he told the crowd was just about finished! No title at the moment).  Of the older songs, I was particularly excited to hear A Case of You and CMYK because I missed out on seeing those last time he played New York.  I thoroughly enjoyed all of the new songs but the last one he played (titled Retrograde) was absolutely mind blowing upon first listen.  Sound wise, the bass was overwhelming to say the least, and not in a good way.  The sound became crunchy and rattled during certain songs, but that is more likely attributed to the sound system at the Music Hall. In my opinion, the bass sounds even better on the recording than it did live!

I recorded the show from the center balcony.  There was a lot of chatter around me but fortunately very little is present in the recording.  Otherwise the results are fantastic.  The titles for the new songs are from an official set list (photo below courtesy of Normal Mag/Kennyysun).  Enjoy!

                                               

                                          

Download the live recording HERE (password = twosails)

Set List:
1. Air & Lack Thereof
2. I Never Learnt To Share
3. Banter
4. We Are Going Down T'Pub
5. Lindisfarne
6. Limit To Your Love
7. Banter
8. CMYK
9. Our Love Comesback
10. Klavierwerke
11. Every Day I Ran
12. Overgrown
13. banter
14. The Wilhelm Scream
15. Encore
16. Anti-War Dub
17. Retrograde
18. A Case of You