Best Bootleg

So I was cleaning out the home-entertainment area of F_B World HQ the other day, and I stumbled on an old cassette I'd made of a Stones boot, circa 1975 or so. (I date it from there because the Exile cuts are front and center). It's a tremendous set -- beginning with an airborne "Brown Sugar" and ending with the Jumpin' Jack Flash/Street Fightin' Man combo. My highlights, though, are a singalong "Sweet Virginia" and "Rip This Joint," which sounds like speed-metal. Mick Taylor is as good as it gets. The album was called, "Nasty Songs," FWTW.
So what are you're best bootlegs? Nothing eventually released counts, so no "Basement Tapes." And Springsteen and Dead fans should try to control themselves.

 

Would that you had died as a youth...

 

I think Bam-Bam was on roids, though.

 

I used to have dozens of Dead bootlegs, but I got rid of them years ago-- along with my tape player.

My favorite bootleg was from a Six String Drag show at Tipitina's back in 1998. I knew one of the guys in the band and it was a great, great show.

 

Sirs, Madames,

Had a Talking Head boot that was ahead of its time--and then rendundant by better performed/better recorded releases. A Clash album that was bad-cellphone sound quality. A Roxy album, only a bit better.

Prince's Black Album ... I should try to find it.

YHS, etc

 

Clash - Live in Jamaica crica 1982...A soundboard reggae centric set.
AC/DC - Live from the Atlantic Studios..Recently released in a box set somewhere, but the bootleg still sounds better.

 

FB --
I'd warn off the PJ fans as well. Our ilk is everywhere.

One of my college buddies had the famous PJ show where they played the night after the Dead and Ed drunkenly promised a longer show.
It was always my favorite, but I no longer have a copy. So PJ fans, if anyone has this, I would make it worth your while for a copy.

 

Springsteen, Dec. 18, 2000, Christmas concert at Asbury Park Convention Hall

A crowd of under 2,000 and I was one of them, having snuck in no less.

It opens with Bruce alone at the piano playing a slowed down version of "For You". Still gives me chills listening to it. First time I heard "Kitty's Back" live as well.

 

In a slightly different genre than has been discussed (and while my particular subgroup of collectors isn't as scary as Dave Matthews, Dead or Pearl jam fans, I'm sure we're pretty strange in our own right):

Metallica, LA Forum, Feb, 13, 1992. best Black Album show on the best tour, before they began to think going Alternative was the way to go.

Metallica, Miami, FL, August 1994. Rob halford sings the encore at the end of their last tour before they went soft.

Metallica, any of the four comeback nights at the Fillmore, 2003. They completely ignored all 1990s output other than Sad But True and Fuel, and played 18 old-school, faster tunes a night. At an average band member age of 39.

Led Zeppelin, Cleveland, 1977.

Led Zeppelin, March 31, 1973, LA Forum, Bonzo's Birthday party.

Led Zeppelin, Live on Blueberry Hill (I THINK it's an LA Forum show, circa 1970). Plant actually breaks into Fats Domino impersonation during one of the jams.

Guns 'n' Roses, August, 1991, LA Forum. Played all of the first album, most of Use Your Illusion a month before the album came out. Sounds like it's recorded from a mike that someone was sitting on, but still a nice snapshot of a band that could have been marked for greatness, just before they really started to blow it.

 

In '94 while following the Dead, we stopped in Anderson, Indiana, for a show at Deer Creek. Stopped to get some water somewhere and in the parking lot ran into touring heads. They gave us a tape from a 1974 show in Portland, Oregon. Quality set, mostly because there was a Minglewood Blues on it; my favorite Dead song.

 

Fenian, that sounds like two hours or so of pure musical bliss. I think even the terrorists love Exile on Main Street.