We've talked about it in the past. Now let's do it.
While I'm open to ideas about how to do the list -- and will surely change the format and criteria as we go along -- let's start off with this premise: Let's name the Top 5 bootlegs for each tour, with as many as 5 more suggestions. The sound has to be pretty damn good for a boot to make the list, but sound quality is not the sole criteria. We'll weigh in the performance (i.e., the energy level, the setting, the setlist, etc.) because that matters, too. Otherwise we'd all be listening to the Atlanta Rising boot, which won't even make the list.
I'll keep a running list here at the top of what the consensus seems to be for each tour. It will change, of course.
Anybody who wants other ideas can probably dig through this thread someday for suggestions that fell short. There are going to be a lot of excellent boots that don't make the list.
So let's get started.
Let's use a slightly modified version of Patrick's list as a jumping off point. It will be modified swiftly.

THIS IS A WORK IN PROGRESS. IT IS FAR FROM DONE.

Pre-Columbia
1970-01-13 - The Matrix, San Francisco, CA - Live At The Matrix
1970-04-24 - Monmouth College, Long Branch, NJ - Sunlight Soldiers At The West End
1971-01-18 - D'Scene, South Amboy, NJ - Right The Fuck On!
1971-05-15 - Newark State College, Union, NJ - Bruce Springsteen Story Vol. 5 / Springtime In Asbury Park
1971-07-23 - Damrosch Park, Lincoln Center, New York City, NY - The Bruce Springsteen Story Vol. 6: Dance, Dance, Dance / Summertime In New York City
1972-03-14 - Challenger Eastern Surfboards, Highlands, NJ - Prodigal Son Meets The Uber's # 5
1972-03-17 - Richmond Arena, Richmond, VA - Non Uber Project Volume 1



Greetings & WEISS

Greetings & WEISS discussion thread



Born To Run

Born to Run discussion thread







Chicken Scratch

Chicken Scratch discussion thread



Darkness


Darkness discussion thread







River



River tour discussion thread






Born In The USA


Born in the USA discussion thread







Tunnel Of Love


Tunnel of Love discussion thread







Human Rights Tour

15/10/1988 Boss Lament on United Records with arguably the best ever Twist and Shout



Lucky Touch

Lucky Town/Human Touch tour discussion thread




Ghost Of Tom Joad



Brixton Nights
Asbury Park Night
Freehold Night
1996-03-13 Cirkus Night



Reunion

Philly Serenades (by the way, is the "original" recording still around somewhere? I liked that one very much, Ev2's is unlistenable on my stereo system, there is no bass, just bassdrum)
2000-06-20 Prodigal Meets The Ubers
2000-07-01 Uber series
2000-05-08 Hartford Uber series
1999-10-23 LA Night (Crystal Cat)
1999-10-23 Prodigal Son in the City of Angels



Rising



2003-08-31 Giant House Party in Jersey (Uber)
London Night
Midsummer 2nd Night
San Siro Night
Prodigal Son Tampa



Vote For Change

2004-10-13 CAA, East Rutherford (VFC Meadowlands Night)
2004-10-02 Gund Arena, Cleveland (Matrix)



Devils & Dust



Buffalo IEM/AUD
Prodigal Son Night Of Debuts
Cleveland Neo Remaster




Seeger Sessions



2006-04-30 New Orleans Jazzfest
2006-10-05 Verona (I prefer the full audience tape to the SBD/Aud compiliation)
2006-10-30 Globen, Stockholm (Stockholm Tonight CC)
2006-11-11 Wembley Arena, London (Wembley Sessions Second Night CC)
2006-05-10 St. Lukes, London (BBC Broadcast)
2006-05-21 Hovet, Stockholm (Stockholm Session Night)




Magic



San Jose
Red Bank Ev2 if that counts as a Magic Show
St.Louis Ev2
Milano ´07 CC
Gothenburg 2nd CC
We Swore We'd Live Forever EV2 (Tampa 22/4/2008)



Working on a Dream

2009-04-16 The Dump That Jumps, LA
2009-05-23 Izod Centre, East Rutherford
2009-07-21 Stadio Olimpico, Torino (CC)
2009-07-23 Stadio Friuli, Udine (CC)
2009-10-02 Giants Stadium, East Rutherford (Bossman?)
2009-10-20 Spectrum, Philadelphia (flyinggonz)



Non-tour Shows

1990-11-17 Prodigal Son at The Shrine
1995-04-05 Sony Studios (Crystal cat)
1998-01-31 Blood on Blood
2003-02-19 Double Take Night (Crystal Cat)
2005-10-04 Half a Day of School (uber)
2008-05-07 Count Basie
MUSE
1986-10-13 Shoreline Ampitheatre, Mountain View
1990-11-16 Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles (Ev2)
2003-02-19 DoubleTake Benefit, Somerville (CC)
2003-12-08 Convention Hall, Asbury Park (Peace, Love & Understanding EV2)
2004-12-19 Harry's Roadhouse, Asbury Park LATE SHOW (Uber Series #31)



Holiday shows

2000-12-17 Convention Hall, Asbury Park (Uber Series #9)
2001-12-08 Convention Hall, Asbury Park (Big Big Christmas Show EV2)



Compilations

All of Flynn's compilations, of course.



Studio boots




I think we need to add the dates of the boots (ex., 1975-02-05 Prodigal Son at the Main Point)
One of the hardest things will be figuring out which version to cite as the best, but I think that's crucial. If we can't decide, we can say it's a toss-up. But let's try to make this easier on people who don't want to look at eight different versions of Passaic '78 and wonder which one to get. I also think that once we get this list done, we should make sure we keep all the shows on it seeded on Jungleland and uploaded as a series on ABMS. Not everyone has them all.

Jumpstone offered this list:

Pre Born To Run

Main Point 75
Max's Kansas City
Walking tall vol.2

Born to Run

Providence
Bottom line
Roxy
Philly SBD
Rise like the rain

Chicken scratch

Boston 77
Jacksonville


Darkness

No Private Party
Summertime Bruce
Lost Soundboard tape (Hussey's remaster)
Passaic night
Winterland

River

Portland 25-10
28-12 Hussey's remaster
Vets show
Coliseum night
Nassau night

Born in the USA

Alpine valley 2nd night
The last time
Roses in the Kansas rain
Paris 85
Oakland 85

Tunnel of love

Restless night
Pittsburg
Longest date

Lucky touch

?????

Tom Joad

Brixton night
Asbury Park night
Freehold night
In Michigan (Ann Arbor)
??

Reunion

A good night for a ride
Prodigal son in the city of angels
Olympic stadium second night
??

Rising

The tables are waiting
GS 10
Shea 2
A beautiful night


D&D

Lots of great tapes. Comes down to what songs you like yourself I guess

MAGIC

San Jose
St Louis
Tampa

Working on a dream tour

LA matrix
East Rutherford 2
Philly #4
Torino
MSG????


And out of tour shows

Holiday shows?

There was a really good Wembly show with the "other band" on the Lucky Touch tour. I remember the River sounding awesome with the crowd singing along. I'll try and find the boot.

Update of my yesterday's list after some more thought went into it:

Of course it would be great if others also provided top 5/10 lists but otherwise everyone should just pitch in ideas for their personal favourites. And later, there should be some ugly fighting about what show is better than another, like in the old days! I, for example, will not get tired of telling you that Olympic Stadium 2nd Night should NOT be on that list....

These are what I think are essentials for each tour. For some tours I listed less than 5 since I don't know what else should be considered "essential" for the respective tour.


Pre ´75
---
Walking Tall Vol.2 Ev2
Saint In The City
Early Uber Collection
Max's Kansas City
????

Born To Run
---
Main Point
The new Providence Tape
Roxy Night
Bottom Line Broadcast
Philly New Year's SBD Ev2
Milwaukee Bombscare

Chicken Scratch
---
Stranded In The Park
Jacksonville
Streak Of Light Through The Tunnel
????
???

Darkness
---
Top4

Agora
Roxy Ev2
Passaic (Southside Bruce...is the best, right?)
Winterland

Other
Paramount Night, Atlanta, MSG Ev2, Seattle 12/20 or 9/17 Soundboard Hussey

River
---
Top 4
Portland 10/25
Tempe Ev2
Vietnam Vets
Nassau 12/31 Soundboard Ev2

Other
LA 8/28, Rosemont Ev2, 12/28 Soundboard Hussey, Coliseum Night

Born In The USA
---
Milano Night
Special Night Vol.2 Ev2
The Last Time Ev2
Where The Rivers Meet
Kansas City Night

What are the best of the other Ev2 remasters of MarkP tapes? There are a lot of them I reckon (where's SmokeyJoe when you need him?)

Tunnel Of Love
---
The Longest Date
Summer Night
Pittsburgh Ev2
Bloomington Night
Restless Nights or Munich

Lucky Touch
---
Lost TV Special soundtrack
Dublin Soundboard
Verona Soundboard
???
???


Ghost Of Tom Joad
---
Brixton Nights
Asbury Park Night
Freehold Night
???
???

Reunion
---
Top 5

Philly 9/25/99 (is the "original" recording still around somewhere? I liked that one very much, Ev2's is unlistenable on my stereo system, there is no bass, just bassdrum)
Prodigal Meets The Ubers 6/20/00
1/7/00 Uber series
Prodigal Son in the city of angels
Just The Boys in Cleveland

Other

Hartford 5/8/00 Uber series Ev2 (never understood the fuss about this one, but the sound is excellent)


Rising
---
Top 5

8/31/03 Uber series
London Night
San Siro Night
Prodigal Son Tampa
Philly 8/11/03

Other

Paris Night
Fenway 2nd '03
Atlantic City CC

D&D (apart from Flynn's compilation which should be enough, anyway)
---
Buffalo IEM/AUD
Prodigal Son Night Of Debuts
Cleveland Neo Remaster
???
???

Seeger Sessions
---
Milano CC
Other than that, no idea, not much of a fan of the boots from this tour

Magic
---
San Jose Matrix 08
Giants Stadium 7/31/08 Ev2 (performance rather than sound)
St.Louis Ev2
Milano ´07 CC
Gothenburg 2nd CC

Other
Paris Moerie
Columbus Neo
Tampa CC

I left out Red Bank since it is not really a Magic Show, is it?

Pre Columbia:

1970-01-13 - The Matrix, San Francisco, CA - Live At The Matrix

1970-04-24 - Monmouth College, Long Branch, NJ - Sunlight Soldiers At The West End

1971-01-18 - D'Scene, South Amboy, NJ - Right The Fuck On!

1971-05-15 - Newark State College, Union, NJ - Bruce Springsteen Story Vol. 5 / Springtime In Asbury Park

1971-07-23 - Damrosch Park, Lincoln Center, New York City, NY - The Bruce Springsteen Story Vol. 6: Dance, Dance, Dance / Summertime In New York City

1972-03-14 - Challenger Eastern Surfboards, Highlands, NJ - Prodigal Son Meets The Uber's # 5

1972-03-17 - Richmond Arena, Richmond, VA - Non Uber Project Volume 1

One final idea, in the case where this thread would get out of hand: At the point where a real discussion starts it might be useful to have a thread for each tour or at least for each decade, that will make it easier to follow and to jump in

Patrick,
I think you may be right.

a few must have's:

1976-04-04 East Lansing (Rise Like The Rain, ev2)
1977-02-13 Toronto (No Trouble In Receiver, ev2)

1978-09-21 Passaic (Singing Our Birthday Songs)

1981-05-07 Stockholm (Warm Welcome In Stockholm, ev2)

1984-09-18 Philly (The Last Time, ev2)
1984-10-31 LA (Halloween Confidential, ev2)

For the Reunion Tour, CC's LA Night from 23 Oct 1999 is a must-have, IMO.

Dates in front of ALL posted shows would really be helpful too.

Also for the HT-LT tour there is a Jesrey show which is very nice:

1992-08-07- New Jersey, Friday Night

Ivan, I'm working on adding all the dates. Give me a few days and it'll be easier to follow.

We should not forget the Human Rights tour and some of the performances that were not part of a tour but which many would consider to be an essential of any must have collection, well me anyway! eg

15/10/1988 Boss Lament on United Records with arguably the best ever Twist and Shout
17/11/1990 Prodigal Son at The Shrine
05/04/1995 Sony Studios (Crystal cat)
31/01/1998 Blood on Blood

as well as the best of the numerous Christmas shows.

I'll think about it thoroughly when I have the time, but until then, "Cirkus Night" (1996-03-13) should definitely be on the list.

Isn't there a consensus that both Prodigal Son's (PS in the city of angels, see the lists above) and Flynn's ALD/AUD mixes are superior to the admittedly excellent CC pure audience recording?

I think PS's LA is perfect.

And 2003-02-19 Double Take Night (Crystal Cat) from Somerville Theatre Boston MA

Most shows already mentioned, but I would like to add these:

1976-09-29 Santa Monica First Night
1988-01-31 Red Bank Night
2008-05-07 Count Basie (since it was the first time albums were played from start to finish)

i'm set for any "must-have offer" of the '76 and further,i kind of poor on the '75 years and prior .shame on me.

is there any chance for a spledid "must-have" flood?

TIA

Sure, agreed. Forgot about PS. I put his boot in the CC case. I should be shot.