Bob's Nerdy Webpage - Jonathan Richman 2001 to now...

Belle and Sebastian shows, Wiltern Theatre, Los Angeles, CA, 5th & 6th September 2001 - 1 CD - Excellent

Jonathan toured with Belle and Sebastian throughout their West Coast Tour as support act (surely some mistake here!). Have read some of the reports about the shows and regularly Jonathan was reported as having 'virtually stolen the show' from Belle.

Manchester University, 17^th October 2001 - 1 CD - Excellent - or DVD - Poor

This is a really good recording and definitely deserves to be classed as Excellent!

WFUV, Words and Music from Studio-A 11th November 2002 (INTERVIEW) - Good

Another interview from the same date as the WFUV one above (and also about 30 minutes long). Both this and the WFUV one fit on the same CD nicely

KFOG Morning Show, San Francisco, 4th December 2002 - 1 CD Excellent (INTERVIEW)

A short studio interview, at about 10 minutes long, with a rapid fire performance of the following four songs...

Copied straight from the taper. Most of the show's here, there's just a couple of songs that are missing because of some background noise.

Some background info to the show... apparently Jonathans guitar had got broken during the flight over so somebody lent him a couple of guitars on the night, and a few songs near the end are played with electric guitar. I've had to take guess at the title of the very last song, it seems to have only been played on this particular tour, and even then just a few times.

A pretty good show but sometimes the microphone picks up too much of the near distance sounds, for example clapping, and then loses the recording level for a few seconds afterwards.

Camina y ven pa’ la loma (by Ciro Rodríguez) a Cuban song, mainly in Spanish, but with the occasional line in English... 'soon you'll be gone, and the world will lose another sweetheart'

A super sounding show and a pretty long concert. Jonathan does quite a few French songs tonight, as well as a French version of 'Not in my Name'.

This is one of the few recordings we have that includes 'Not in my Name', a short verse on the pending American/British attack on Iraq, he didn't choose to do it when we saw him in Liverpool a week later.

We recorded this one ourselves from a great position, in the centre and about 15 feet out from the stage. The recording came out nicely and Jonathan plays quite a few new songs.

He also has a really funny new section mid way through 'Let her go into the darkness', involving four languages, great stuff!

Another great sounding Italian show, and straight from the taper too... It's a fairly short set though, of maybe only 50 minutes, but a very good recording, and it also gives a good example of Jonathan's multi language abilities...

A fault with the recording here, which means that a few songs are spoilt by a loud and annoying crackle throughout. I've marked the songs affected (****). All the others are okay.

Ace sounding show with plenty of new songs too, I'm not yet sure of the titles so I've had to take a bit of a guess for now. The new songs sound great by the way!

The first of two recordings that we made ourselves during the Spring 2004 tour, the other one was at the next night's show, 'Night and Day Cafe', Manchester: both nights were excellent and featured a clutch of new songs, some of which, hopefully, will find their way on to Jonathan's next official CD.

Tonight's show is in a small pub-type venue with a pretty tightly packed audience, well pretty tightly packed where we were anyway, of probably about 150 people, tops. There's a little bit of conversation picked up on this one, but not too much, and it sounds fine.

Tonight's highlight is a great sounding 'Let her go into the Darkness' with the full boyfriend/girlfriend argument done in all five languages... English, Spanish, French, Italian, and Hebrew... great fun!

A bit of special show for me too, coz it's the first one that I could take my daughter to: she's now just old enough to start going to see shows, so I was really pleased to be able to take her to a Jonathan one, and Yes, she had a great time too! her words afterwards were... 'I enjoyed it loads...take me again!!'

Another of our own recordings, done from right near the front of stage...came out pretty good too... another small pub-type venue, but a little larger than the night before.

Another great show from the UK spring tour... and the last recording of a run of four successive nights from different cities.

You can clearly hear, across the four nights, a couple of new songs being developed and worked on... 'Older Girl' and 'For drama we have the seasons'.

A radio interview completely in Spanish, something like 30 minutes long - including three songs performed live in the studio...

Sala Capitol, Santiago de Compostela, Spain, 23rd April 2004 - 1 Tape - Good

The sound for the first 30 seconds is a bit off but from there on the recording sharpens up and the sound is pretty good for the rest of the night. Like I said it's a pretty long one this - at about one and three quarter hours and with several encores... Jonathan has has said in the past how much he enjoys playing to Spanish audiences.. this is a good example why... the rapport's great here!

I received a few short extracts from this one a while back - just 3 or 4 songs in total and of pretty poor quality really; the taper wasn't happy with it either - and had been hoping that someday a better recording would turn up?

Well, it now turns out that there was someone else there taping, and he got the full show.

An absolutely spot on recording with extremely crisp and clear sound, right up there with Caesars Tampa 92 for sound quality and one of the best sounding shows we have.

Teatre Lloseta, Palma, Mallorca, Spain, 25th September 2004 - 1 Tape - Very Good

A pretty short concert from the Island of Mallorca - at about an hour long only. Not a bad recording though.

Not a good recording here, too much background noise and its a bit muffled as well.

The Sound check from before the show. It's about 20 minutes long (and on the same tape as Vitoria, Spain, 2003.)

Centro Cultural Caja Segovia, Segovia, Spain, 1st October 2004 - 1 Tape - Very Good

A good show this one, Jonathan's quite talkative and speaking mainly in Spanish throughout the evening.

Jonathan & Tommy did three consecutive nights at the Jazz Cafe this is the 2nd one and the whole concert's here. The recording from the following night is incomplete.

This was a pretty long and stand out show from all accounts, and most of it's here, but not all unfortunately... so the recording cuts out maybe 20 minutes before the end, even so it's a pretty good recording.

This show and the ones directly below and above it were recorded by the same taper... they're all high quality recordings, each of them but, of the three, this one sounds the best, to my ears anyway. The atmosphere is just better somehow, so the performance has moved up a notch...

Well 'El Joven se Estremece', and 'Joy over Sorrow' are both sounding terrific tonight...

Tsunami Benefit, Great American Music Hall, San Francisco, 28th January 2005 - 1 CD - Excellent

Very short interview, only 4 minutes long, on the same CD as Radio 3, Spain recording of 27th October 2006, after the interview there's time for just one song...

Recorded by ourselves, but from too far away this time... a great show on the night that just wasn't done justice by the recording...

Her mystery not of high heels and eye shadow
He Gave Us the Wine To Taste It
Egyptian Reggae
Ice Cream Man
I Was Dancing In The Lesbian Bar
Les Etoiles
Partners In Crime (?)
In Che Mondo Viviamo
Springtime In New York
Old World
Give Paris One More Chance
Vincent van Gogh
Surrender

Chiusa la festa, chiusa la sera (?) (in Italian, translates as 'ends the party, ends the night?')

Bajando, bajando por ceniza y mineral (?) a new Spanish song, which may be titled 'Bajo la tierra, en el subsuelo' - Under the earth, in the subsoil.

A Spanish radio recording of the 'Circulo de Bellas Artes' one above, which lasts for something like 50 minutes, so fewer song are here - the show ends straight after My baby love, love, loves me' - there are a few seconds at the beginning where just one channel plays, and occasionally the music is interrupted by the presenter speaking mid-song, but other than this the recording is just excellent.

Chiusa la festa, chiusa la sera (?) New song in Italian... 'ends the party, ends the night'.

Pretty chaotic (and fun) show with two guest artists singing and playing guitars: Kiko Veneno and Muchachito Bombo Infierno. The show had three sets.

Jonathan's in a really good mood tonight, still on an up from the last nights show. Its a fun recording too, with lots of people singing along... especially on the Spanish language songs.

Her Mystery Not Of High Heels
Egyptian Reggae
El joven se estremece
Springtime In New York
In Che Mondo Viviamo
Stupenda e Misera Cittá (?) - New song, mostly in Italian
Old World
Let Her Go Into The Darkness
Celestial
He Gave Us The Wine To Taste
Pablo Picasso
Les Amoureux (?) New Song in French
My Baby Love Love Loves Me
Con el Merengue
The Night Is Still Young
Surrender

Teatro Felo Monzon, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain, 19th May 2007 - 1 Tape - Very Good

Radio recording of Jonathan and Tommy performing live for 'Los Conciertos de Radio 3' (RNE 3), which was aired on the 4th of June 2007.

Cultureel Podium Roepaen, Ottersum, The Netherlands, 28th September 2007 - 1 CD - Excellent

Les Amoureux (?) Similar to the one above... (but in French and with a much slower tempo)

Great American Music Hall, San Francisco, California, 6th December 2007 - 1 Tape - Good

Egyptian Reggae (fragment)
You Can Have A Cell Phone That's Ok But Not Me
Let Her Go Into the Darkness (unilingual)
He Gave Us the Wine to Taste
Here It Is
Pablo Picasso
The World Is Showing Its Hand
Cosi Veloce
When We Refuse to Suffer
El Joven Se Estremece
Le Printemps Des Amoreaux Est Venu
Not So Much to be Loved as to Love
Because Her Beauty is Raw and Wild
I Was Dancing in the Lesbian Bar (lots of dancing and guitar-flips)
Her Mystery Not of High Heels and Eye Shadow
No One Was Like Vermeer
My Baby Love Love Loves Me
Girlfren
Older Girl

Radio K, Student Radio Station, University of Minnesota, 14th March 2008 - 1 CD (INTERVIEW) - Very Good

A faulty recording here, the sound keeps dropping out from the left and right channels randomly, so not an easy listen.

Egyptian Reggae (fragment)
In Che Mondo Viviamo
He Gave Us The Wine To Taste
Because Her Beauty Is Raw And Wild
No One Was Like Vermeer
When We Refuse To Suffer
Le Printemps Des Amoreaux Est Venu
Her Mystery Not Of High Heels And Eye Shadow
Older Girl
Così Veloce
Poem by Pier Paolo Pasolini
Cellphone Song
I Love The World
Ice Cream Man
Pablo Picasso
Silence
My Baby Love Love Loves Me
Instrumental/crowd
Vecchio Frack (fragment)

Local 506, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 10th October 2008 - 1 CD - Excellent

45 minute interview broadcast on RNE3 (Radio Nacional de España 3) just before the start of Jonathan and Tommy's latest European tour. The conversation is mainly in Spanish and the following few songs performed live in the studio.

Zentral Café at the K4, Nuremberg, Germany, 24th March 2009 - 2 CD - Excellent

No One Was Like Vermeer
Egyptian Reggae
Because Her Beauty Is Raw and Wild
In Che Mondo Viviamo
He Gave Us The Wine To Taste
Old World
Le Printemps Des Amoreux Est Venu
Celestial
I Was Dancing In The Lesbian Bar
You Can Have A Cell Phone That's Okay But Not Me
Es Como El Pan
Silence Alors, Silence
When We Refuse To Suffer
Springtime In New York
Her Mystery Not Of High Heels And Eye Shadow
My Affected Accent
Not So Much To Be Loved As To Love

My own recording from pretty near the front of the audience, and about 10 or 12 feet from Jonathans guitar.

Egyptian Reggae
No One Was Like Vermeer
Let Her Go Into the Darkness
Blowin in the Wind
Because Her Beauty is Raw and Wild
When We Refuse to Suffer
Vincent Van Gogh
Pablo Picasso
Hurricane When She Came (?)
Celestial
Les Etoiles
I Was Dancing in the Lesbian Bar
My Affected Accent
Keith Richards
My Baby Loves Loves Loves Me
Es Como El Pan

Intro
No One Was Like Vermeer
Mr. Sorrow
Hurricane When She Came (?)
Sa Voix Olive (?)
These Bodies (?)
Because Her Beauty Is Raw And Wild
Egyptian Reggae

I Am The Wind And Sun (?)
Old World
I Was Dancing in the Lesbian Bar
The World Is Showing Its Hand
El Joven Se Estremece
When We Refuse to Suffer
Keith Richards