Springsteen Challenge Day 9: Favorite Bootleg Recording

This is an interesting post to write, because only three mini stories come to mind regarding bootlegs and Bruce. For starters, while Landau and the Springsteen team don’t actively discourage bootlegging of Bruce concerts (“Bootleggers, roll your tapes!” was the call from Mr. Springsteen himself in 1978, while introducing a song), there is something a bit odd about the notion of having bootlegged versions of shows.  Does Bruce feel like he owns every performance he puts on? Or, does he realize that most of his fans are like me, in that they will buy whatever he puts out as a release – so even if they have a bootlegged, soundboard or pit audio, version of a show, they’ll still buy the official Columbia release of whatever show Bruce chooses to release for $29.99 on DVD or audio.

I guess the earliest thing I need to say about Brucelegs is that I once purchased a Bruceleg on eBay. I realize that now, this is illegal.  But, back then, eBay didn’t seem to care.  I was actually nervous about making the purchase – it was August 15^th, 1975 – Live at the Bottom Line.  These shows are legendary as the shows that launched his Born to Run album tour into the stratosphere – he blew the roof off the small club on the corner of West 4^th street and Greene Street in Manhattan, including a scintillating version of Thunder Road, featuring Bruce solo on the Piano. I sat watching, afraid I’d be outbid, and lose that show forever, never to hit my eardrums.  Of course, I was likely the only bidder. I also purchased July 18^th, 2005 in Buffalo, NY – Bruce on the Devils and Dust tour.  I was at this show.

I was officially hooked. I even had to stop myself from buying the Lost Masters collection – these are Bruce’s master tapes that have been converted to mp3, including the entire Nebraska album session in his garage in Colts Neck, NJ, and other gems, like Bruce stopping in the middle of a recording to answer the phone. The person wanted 80 dollars for the whole set, and I was a poor college student.

Eventually eBay realized it was trading in ill-gotten Bruce recordings, and shut the whole thing down.  Instead, I went to the newsgroups – alt.bootlegs.springsteen, which featured some of the skeeziest, most underhanded people ever.  I was looking to trade the two shows I had – Live in Buffalo, and Live at the Bottom Line – for other shows, or U2 bootlegs.  But people there wanted me to pay for their bootlegs, or give them more than the bootlegs I had.  They seemed intent on keeping me from getting my hands on their bootlegged albums!  I really wanted Roses and Broken Hearts – a recording from off of the Tunnel of Love Express tour in Mountainside, CA.  Turns out, by the way, that recording sucks. Some guy wanted me to send him 20 dollars for the CD.  He could’ve just emailed me the files, and it would’ve cost him nothing. I didn’t do it on principle.

There’s something about Bruce fans – we don’t pay for Bootlegs anymore.  eBay doesn’t allow it, and we won’t exchange unless it’s a swap.  In fact, in the same vein, when someone signs on to the Backstreets Ticket Exchange – BTX, and tries to sell a Bruce ticket for more than face plus fees, people get indignant, and people refuse to buy from that seller.  Bruce fans know that it is a cardinal rule that one does not scalp on BTX.  Similarly, one does not charge anymore for Brucelegs.

Nowadays, I have my means for getting a hold of live show recordings, though I won’t disclose them here.  I also have all of the Lost Masters (there are 19 discs to the Lost Masters collection.) I spent some of my time during boring Grad School classes downloading top rated bootleg shows, and now I dozens of bootlegs.  My buddy Erik has a terabyte external hard drive with almost every Bruce Show recorded in lossless audio format that he was given from his buddy Brian, who regularly attends Bruce shows.  Brian, by the way, is featured very briefly on the Live in New York DVD, as the camera pans over him.  But that’s neither here nor there.

That being said, this post is supposed to be about my favorite Springsteen bootleg.  My favorite bootleg is the Live in Buffalo at the HSBC Arena from July 18^th, 2005. The reason for this is two-fold.  First – I was at this show, and second – it is the only solo acoustic Bruce tour I’ve seen.  He referred to the “Ghost of Tom Joad” tour as the “sit down and shut the fuck up” tour, so Devils and Dust is “sit down, shut the fuck up” tour part two. It was an odd concert to be at, but it featured some more adventurous arrangements of Bruce classics, and some wonderful gems off of an unappreciated album – Devils and Dust.  It was also Bruce, telling stories, and speaking in a calm demeanor.  He wandered onto the stage with little fanfare, played a few songs, spoke nervously to the audience, and then proceeded to ask us not to hoot and holler or whistle during the quiet sections of the songs.  Basically, just listen.  Sing along, enjoy it, but listen.  We all sat in our seats until the final song, and then clapped politely as he thanked us and walked off. It was wonderful, and for the first time on my way out of the arena (this was only my second Springsteen show), I dropped a ten-dollar bill into the bucket for the Food Bank of Western New York. It was a fantastic, wonderful experience, and I’m glad I have that experience recorded. 

There is a loud “whoooooo!” during “Long Time Coming” which is one of my favorite songs from Devils and Dust, which rivals the ear splitting whistle on the Live in Barcelona concert DVD during “Incident on 57^th street” that I wish could’ve been scrubbed from the audio – both take me out of the mood of the song, and I wish someone had slugged the person responsible.

Tomorrow’s prompt: Favorite E Street Band Member