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We've talked about it in the past. Now let's do it.

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.

This is the 'Darkness On The Edge Of Town' tour thread, covering the dates 1978-05-23 to 1979-01-01.

1978-05-31 Boston (Looking for that million Dollar Sound-Pitch corrected)
1978-07-07 Roxy, LA (No Private Parties, Ev2)
1978-08-09 Agora (Agora Night, CC)
1978-08-21 MSG New York (Big Time Rock & Roll, Ev2)
1978-09-03 Saginaw (1st gen tape version)
1978-09-17 New York (Hussey soundboard remaster)
1978-09-19 Passaic (Passaic Night, CC)
1978-09-21 Passaic (Singing Our Birthday Songs, Godfather)
1978-09-30 Atlanta (Same Old Played Out Scenes)
1978-11-02 Largo (It's Dangerous Down There Tonight, Zeke)
1978-12-15 Winterland (PS @ Winterland, Prodigal Son)
1978-12-16 Winterland (unbooted)
1978-12-19 Portland (Paramount Night, CC)
1978-12-20 Seattle (This Is For The Crazies)
1978-12-31 Cleveland (The Firecracker Show)
1979-01-01 Cleveland (Meeting Across The River?)
Original Post

Replies sorted oldest to newest

1978-05-23 Boston MA Looking For That Million Dollar Sound.
Superb Sound. Excellent show from early in the tour.

Aside from the sound quality 1978-08-04 Civic Centre, Charlston, West Virginia should have never been on any list. The worst Darkness show. What a waste of a great recording. Bruce mailed this one in. I believe there were only around 1,000 in attendance.
Are you retarded? Hell yeah it was better in '78!
Originally Posted By: buckshot
1978-05-23 Boston MA Looking For That Million Dollar Sound.
Superb Sound. Excellent show from early in the tour.

Aside from the sound quality 1978-08-04 Civic Centre, Charlston, West Virginia should have never been on any list. The worst Darkness show. What a waste of a great recording. Bruce mailed this one in. I believe there were only around 1,000 in attendance.


I have to agree. The only reason this show was notable was that a good recording exists. Otherwise, meh.
I'm going again put my 2 cents in for the Hojo version of Winterland. As I remember Hojo used the Prodigal Son version as their primary source with the CC Winterland Night as a secondary source to fill in the gaps. The introduction to Rosie needs to be there.

 

"I've done my best to live the right way"

Originally Posted By: LB
I'm going again put my 2 cents in for the Hojo version of Winterland. As I remember Hojo used the Prodigal Son version as their primary source with the CC Winterland Night as a secondary source to fill in the gaps. The introduction to Rosie needs to be there.

I remember there was a huge argument between parties when these releases came out, but I believe both are independent of each other. That is, I don't think Hojo sourced anything from PS's version. Hojo's remaster is primarily a re-EQ of the CC version, while PS's version is more processed. I was a fan of the PS version back in the day, but now I tend to prefer a more "hands-off" approach. So I would also recommend the Hojo version (or the CC release).
I really love the New Year's Day show, too, unfortunately the sound is by far not good enough for a top 5, or even top 20 show considering the amount of great FM and soundboard recordings from the tour. However, there are a couple of soundboard tracks circulating, so that would be a nice task for TattooDad's new ?ber project to unearth to entire soundboard!

We sit here stranded, though we're all doin' our best to deny it

Originally Posted By: Patrick
I think the "one other" should be a less predictable one with an extraordinary setlist or performance, like 79/1/1 or 78/12/20. Like, from Monday to Thursday you listen to one of the Top 4 broadcasts a day, what show would be the one you listen to on Friday...


Hussey's remaster of the lost soundboard tape.
Originally Posted By: Patrick
I think the "one other" should be a less predictable one with an extraordinary setlist or performance, like 79/1/1 or 78/12/20. Like, from Monday to Thursday you listen to one of the Top 4 broadcasts a day, what show would be the one you listen to on Friday...


1978-12-19 or 1978-09-03. Special shows were the sound quality is excellent for the era.
Are you retarded? Hell yeah it was better in '78!
Originally Posted By: jumpstone
Originally Posted By: Patrick
I think the "one other" should be a less predictable one with an extraordinary setlist or performance, like 79/1/1 or 78/12/20. Like, from Monday to Thursday you listen to one of the Top 4 broadcasts a day, what show would be the one you listen to on Friday...


Hussey's remaster of the lost soundboard tape.


Agreed - it's been a long time since I've listened to it, and the sound is far better than I remember. Setlist is almost perfect too, just a shame there's no Adam Raised A Cain or Saint In The City.
everyone agrees about 19-09-78 Passaic night and Winterland 15-12-78, PS at winterland is far better than HOJo(i don't like his remasters at all,totally amateur)

the Atlanta broadcast recording had some issues,leave it out.

i don't like the Roxy recording,it gets the feeling of being in a drunks den.

i think there should be a representation of the great MSG stand of this tour.
21-08-78 EV2 bigballs r&r,don't remember the title exactly.

i would like to have the 20-12-78 Seattle show,This Is For The Crazies.this one blew my mind.one of the all-time best performances of any artist on this planet ever.

another show we must have of this great tour is the last one.1-1-79 Cleveland. there is a great recording from E.STREET called Richfield Colliseum.great sound.great SBD bonus tracks.
what do we need more?

have my choise.nothing compares to it.

cool
Originally Posted By: Ofer

another show we must have of this great tour is the last one.1-1-79 Cleveland. there is a great recording from E.STREET called Richfield Colliseum.great sound.great SBD bonus tracks.
what do we need more?



Is this available for download somewhere?
A good sounding version of this show would make it into my personal top 5 I think, same with 20/12/1978, what is the best release for this show?

By the way, I remember reading an article somewhere on the web back in 2001 according to which "Paramount Night" was the best bootleg ever, ahead of all the FMs. Anybody else remember that and even have the link?
The problem with Winterland Night is the thin, plasticy sounding drums, and the Hojo version is the same. The drums are far better on PS@Winterland.

The first set of Paramount Night is amazing, but the sound drops during Jungleland and doesn't really recover. Best ever Because The Night though, I could just listen to the intro over and over.
just look at the setlist of the last Darkness show,it can't get any better than that.

a rare Meeting Across The River,Heartbrek Hotel,Streets Of Fire,I Fought The Law,Saint In The City,
i'll dig it out and give it a listen.

i never liked Paramount Night .it sounds too dead to me.i prefer any other show.

Patrick if you really want Richfield ,we can set something.

but first i need to find it.

smile
i've been listening to 8-09-78 CC Agora night,a great show,a great sound.we should have this one.
also 21-08-78 EV2 Big Time R&R,sounds great and has a great setlist.

regarding Atlanta 30-09-78 i forgot about Same Old Played Out Scenes which is perfect.absolutely great.consider this one as a strong contender.

i also listened to Richfeld Colliseum.it's not an E Street production.
sound is ok,not that great although it has a very special setlist it's not enough for a contender.
Originally Posted By: Pete
There are a few options for Passaic 19th:

Southside Bruce & The E Street Jukes
Passaic Night
Piece De Resistance
The Way It Was

Are we going to be traditional and stick with Passaic Night, or be controversial and go with Southside Bruce?


Remember that "The Way it Was" includes the entire broadcast, including halftime interview, and the DJ chatter that was edited out of everything else. I believe (and yes, I'm partial) that the sound is at least as good as Passaic Night.

Scott
What about opening night, Buffalo:

05/23/1978 Buffalo, NY

BADLANDS (4.3 / NIGHT (3.04)/ SOMETHING IN THE NIGHT (5.34)/ FOR YOU (4.54)/ THUNDER ROAD (5.56)/ SPIRIT IN THE NIGHT (6.42)/ PROVE IT ALL NIGHT (6.44)/ RACING IN THE STREET (start cut)(6.03)/ CANDYS ROOM (2.56)/ THE PROMISED LAND (4.57)/ PARADISE BY THE C (2.56)/ FIRE (2.31)/ DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN (4.26)/ STREETS OF FIRE (4.11)/ MONA - SHES THE ONE (11.27)/ ADAM RAISED A CAIN (cut)(6.54)/ BACKSTREETS (11.24)/ ROSALITA (9.22)/ THE PROMISE (6.04)/ BORN TO RUN (4.35)/ 10TH AVENUE FREEZE OUT (cut)(3.5 / YOU CAN'T SIT DOWN (cut)(3.57)

Audience tape - Opening night of the Darkness tour. Includes the ONLY ever live performance of The Promise with the full E St Band. This concert was the live debut of 8 songs from Darkness...everything except Factory and Something In The Night (which had made its debut in 1976), and also features the full band version of For You. Backstreets has continued to evolve and the middle section contains the Sad Eyes rendition for the first time. Paradise By The C premieres as the start of the second set which also includes another premiere - Fire. Released on CDR "Opening Night In The Darkness" - covers the soundcheck as well, and "Go" (B Street)
it's not a complete SBD.the first 6 are missing.we got better options for a SBD then that IMO.

the second Winterland got a great FIRE ,the best ever.this one came into the 75-85 box.

"I SAY I WANNA STAY
YOU SAY YOU WANNA BE ALONE
YOU SAY YOU DON'T LOVE ME (god, it hurts)
BUT YOU CAN'T HIDE YOUR DESIRE
CAUSE WHEN WE KISSED ,OH OH FIRE."

he sings it with such passion,it brings tears to my eyes .
no one does it better (except one Irish man)

just for Fire, include this 2nd Winterland.

TIA
Now that the tour is over we can get back to working on this project.

Quote:
We've 14 in the list, which two would you cull?


1978-12-20 Seattle (This Is For The Crazies) I agree with Quante on this. Portland is better.
1978-12-31 Cleveland (The Firecracker Show) The next night is better.

 

"I've done my best to live the right way"

I know this is gonna sound blasphemous but I wouldn't include the Roxy show. It sounds OK and the performance it definitely over-rated. It's in the Holy Trinity of over rated shows (1978-07-07, 1980-12-31 and 1981-08-20). I'm not saying that they aren't great shows but there aren't as great as people make them out to be.

These you will listen to over and over again.

1978-05-31 Boston Looking for that million Dollar Sound-Pitch corrected
1978-08-09 Agora (Agora Night, CC)
1978-09-03 Saginaw (1st gen tape version)
1978-09-19 Passaic (Passaic Night, CC)
1978-12-15 Winterland (PS @ Winterland, Prodigal Son)
Are you retarded? Hell yeah it was better in '78!
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