diff --git a/gtk2_ardour/main.cc b/gtk2_ardour/main.cc
index 27b4fdbdb2..39424d0e6b 100644
--- a/gtk2_ardour/main.cc
+++ b/gtk2_ardour/main.cc
@@ -235,6 +235,8 @@ int nomain (int argc, char *argv[])
 int main (int argc, char *argv[])
 #endif
 {
+	console_madness_begin();
+
 	ARDOUR::check_for_old_configuration_files();
 
 	/* global init is not thread safe.*/
@@ -263,8 +265,6 @@ int main (int argc, char *argv[])
 	}
 #endif
 
-	console_madness_begin();
-
 #if (defined WINDOWS_VST_SUPPORT && !defined PLATFORM_WINDOWS)
 	/* this does some magic that is needed to make GTK and X11 client interact properly.
 	 * the platform dependent code is in windows_vst_plugin_ui.cc