16/365 - Recordings of bands' live performances

16/365 - Recordings of bands' live performaces, originally uploaded by freeloosedirt.

There is a whole subculture of individuals built around making recordings of bands' live performances and sharing these recordings amongst themselves and others. I look for some of these recordings that are of bands I like and who are including new, previously unreleased songs in their live set. I also like listening to recordings of shows that I attended. Just this morning my friend Kevin sent me a recording of the Frightened Rabbit show I went to on Wednesday night, and I'm looking forward to listening to that. However, I don't listen to recordings of live shows as much as I used to. I find that an audio or video recording of a concert never entirely captures the experience of attending a show in the same way a audio or video recording of a thunderstorm would never replicate being caught in one.

This Bruce Springsteen live set isn't from one of those “tapers.” It's a professionally recorded official release from Springsteen. The songs included here are from many different Bruce performances between 1975 and 1985. Many hardcore Springsteen fans were disappointed in “Live 1975/85.” They will tell you that there were performances during that time which were more interesting, dynamic and representative of his live shows. On the other hand, when this was released, I was very excited to see the track listing, because seven of the songs were from a show I had attended: the 9/30/85 show at the L.A. Coliseum. In fact, if you listen carefully, you might hear Heidi's whimpers of desperation from the stall in the women's bathroom during “Born In The USA.” The band took the stage and the women still waiting for an open stall rushed into the ladies room, which made it impossible for Heidi to leave until the mob had cleared, several songs later.