Columbia Halle; Berlin 7th February 2016

Taper : payasos

Rig : Sound Professionals SP-CMC-8 Cardioids > Sony RH1 (PCM-mode) > Hi-MD > Sonic Stage > wav > Audacity (level adjustments, trackmarking, some leveller for loud clapping) > TLH > flac level 8

Sound Quality : Audience - Sample Below

Length : 133.55

- acoustic opener -
01. Albion
02. Seven Deadly Sins
- main set -
03. intro
04. Barbarians
05. The Delaney
06. Heart Of The Matter
07. Horrorshow
08. Fame And Fortune
09. Boys In The Band
10. The Milkman's Horse
11. What Katie Did
12. Anthem For Doomed Youth
13. You're My Waterloo
14. The Man Who Would Be King
15. Gunga Din
16. Can't Stand Me Now > Blue Moon
17. Vertigo
18. Death On The Stairs
19. Heroes (David Bowie) > Time For Heroes
20. The Good Old Days
- encore -
21. encore intro
22. Music When The Lights Go Out
23. > Up The Bracket
24. What A Waster
25. > I Get Along
26. > Don't Look Back Into The Sun

Audio Sample :
The Libertines - The Milkman's Horse - Berlin 7th February 2016 [payasos]
http://www.filedropper.com/libertines-2016-02-07-columbiahalle-berlin-10

Peter Doherty - guitars, vocals
Carl Barât - guitars, piano, vocals
John Hassall - bass
Gary Powell - drums

Recorded 15 - 20 meters from the speakers on the left side of the stage, front row of the balcony.

We were early, to secure that location and it was worth it, well above the ecstatic crowd, virtually no chatter, no screaming girlies. I thought the sound was a bit on the high side, maybe a little too loud for the medium sized venue (and a little too loud for my mics, as I didn't use a battery box, regrettably), vocals a little drowned beneath the guitars, but listening to it nearly every word is understandable. As it was a loud show I had the levels rather low, lowered a couple of peaks and raised the overall levels by 5,8 dB, no equalizing. In contrast I had the levels too high during the pre opener acoustic set, which took me by surprise, had to get out the mics, missed about 30 or 60 seconds of the intro - here the louder part of the vocals are slightly clipped, lowered the levels by 3 dB to adjust it to the much much louder rest of the show. Changed the md during the encore break, joined that by a cross fade.

It was a great show. 40 minutes after the doors opened, with the venue filled to a third, the band appeared on stage and did 2 acoustic songs. To quote a review of the recent London show "no one comes to a Libertines’ gig to see an acoustic guitar". I would have taken more of that, but tastes differ. Whatever, it set the mood for the rest of the show and it shows that the mood of the band was great. The main set was driven by raw energy, very loud, held together by Powell & Hassall, Barât & Doherty not always in sync, sometimes a couple of notes out of tune, some false starts, maybe some false endings too.

The setlist was great, the right mixture of classic tunes and new songs which left nothing to desire, not a revival like the stadium reunion shows and it was visible from the very start, that the boys did enjoy themselves. Nice details like the snippets of Blue Moon or the Bowie tribute with the opening lines of Heroes. Or the beginning of Waterloo, when Doherty was not ready yet and the audience took over the vocals (not as impressive recorded from the balcony as it must have sounded below).

I had my doughts at Hyde Park, but it looks like the lads are back and able to stay for a while.