Which bootlegs are you listening to right now?

DAM 1

Washington - 19/09/98

leekstokie wrote:

NEW YORK - NYE - 1992

I finally got this in the mail like two days ago. I'm quite happy.

MSG I '10

Penultimate show of the US 2010 tour. Sometimes eases us in before the band up the tempo a notch or three! - Breakerfall/Last Exit/Animal/The Fixer/Severed Hand. Small Town & I Am Mine gives everyone a chance to catch their breath. Comatose is played fairly early in the set, Force Of Nature makes it's last appearance to date and Even Flow tries to take the roof off. Lowlight follows, Ed describing it as one of his favourites to sing and invites the crowd to join in - "it's all a party at this point". Army Reserve is dedicated to a Lieutenant who Ed got word returned from Iraq the day before the gig and like Force Of Nature this is the last time Army Reserve has been played too date. After Insignificance talks to the crowd about MSG 03 when the stage was "tremoring" and says they've already felt it a few times at the show already. Evolution ends the main set.

Encore 1 begins with The End and Ed is accompanied by a 4 string quartet. Lukin is next and the quartet joins in but it's not that impressive to be honest. The mellow vibe continues with Just Breathe. The acoustic guitars & strings are ditched for You Are. Love Reign O'er Me makes it's 2nd and last showing of 2010. Probably one of my favourites versions of LROE. Ed says it was Pete Townshend's birthday the day before so he gets the crowd to shout out "Happy Birthday Pete". State Of Love And Trust, Once and Porch ensure a blistering end to the 1st Encore.

Encore 2 begins with Jeremy and Leash before Stone is handed the mic for Mankind. Two covers are next, Crazy Mary and I Believe In Miracles. Alive goes to another level and Indifference ends the show on a perfect note, ready for night 2! When the band stop playing and the crowd sing "I will scream my lungs out til it fills this room" is one hell of a moment.

Enjoyable boot but Boston and Newark are still my top 2 from this tour. Onto MSG II later to see if that can break into my top 2 of US 2010.

Washington, DC 6/22/08

nice HTI opener
Evacuation gets evacuated - funny moment
beautiful version of Come Back
eddie lets a kid play guitar on All Along the Watchtower - this is really cute

overall pretty good show. not my favorite of the ones i've been to, but a solid show all around.

MSG II '10

"And away we go...." Corduroy and Hail Hail open, love those as 1-2 punch. Breath is very early in the set, making it's first appearance of 2010. Nothingman is next; Ed saying Hartford sang the shit out of it a week earlier, challenging MSG to better it. I'm Open is dedicated to Howard Zinn. Grievance is sandwiched between Unthought Known and Amongst The Waves. Present Tense is bliss and Not For You is equally as good. Push Me Pull Me and Rats together is fantastic. Why Go closes the main set.

Just Breathe opens the 1st encore, Ed again accompanied by the string quartet. Just Breathe is next and then it's time to skin a cat....Lukin II. Beautiful. Love this version so much, I played it twice before moving onto the next song! After Lukin II announces "here's a few for the serious collector" too which we get Black Red Yellow (first time since London '05) and Sweet Lew - Jeff seemingly very surprised they are playing this!!! Normality is restored with Given To Fly and the encore ends with a high tempo thanks to Spin The Black Circle and Rearviewmirror.

Wasted Reprise & Betterman open the 2nd encore, followed by Black - the latter part of Black sublime. The Real Me quickens the tempo and Ben from Band Of Horses is brought out for Hunger Strike. During Mike's solo on Alive, Ed reads/shouts out "play Leash, play Leash". After Ed sends well wishes to Bono, he announces its "time kick out the jams motherfucker!". I've said it before and I'll say it again, I much prefer Rage's version of this. It's left to Yellow Ledbetter - what else?! - with a Star Spangled Banner tag to close out the show and the tour. Perfect.

The last 4 shows on this tour are the best with Noblesville, Cleveland and Hartford all impressive too.

For the next four days, I'll be listening to the 2009 Philly boots. Always a great thing to do.

Hartford 2010

Tampa 2008

Mansfield 11/7/2003