Sunday, July 03, 2005

Just Another Face In The Crowd

Thank you, Mr. Zapruder
I've been attending concerts for well over twenty years now. I've seen the best of `em. I've seen the worst of `em. This past weekend I attended my 8th consecutive Hootenanny festival in Orange County. New to the merch booth this year was a dandy DVD that includes an overview of the festival as well as highlights from the show two years ago in Fullerton. WOOHOO! I was there! In fact, I noticed that if you look closely during John Doe's performance of "Backroom" you can see me in the crowd enjoying the show in the blazing hot sun. Ah. Good times. Good times.

Today's top 5 takes an interesting twist that few might be able to follow. If you can, you are welcome to add your five. So here it is... my top 5 songs where I made an appearance (in the crowd) on officially released live albums/videos:


Bruce Springsteen - Chimes Of Freedom

"Born To Run (acoustic)" Bruce Springsteen, from Chimes Of Freedom CD (1988)
All I can say is that this was recorded at one of the best concerts I've ever been to. Springsteen's four night run in L.A. during the Tunnel Of Love tour was nothing short of amazing. His solo reworking of his mid-70's anthem was the cherry on top (recorded on April 25, 1988 at the Los Angeles Sports Arena, Los Angeles, California). Another track on this four song EP, "Tougher Than The Rest", was also recorded on the same night. Music videos for both performances can be found on the Bruce Springsteen: The Complete Video Anthology 1978-2000 DVD.

Paul McCartney - Tripping The Live Fantastic"Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" Paul McCartney, from Tripping The Live Fantastic 2 CD set (1990) Paul's first comeback tour of major proportions featured a flurry of past hits that had never been performed live. Oh what a treat it was to see and hear it all. When Paul released Fantastic as a 2 CD set, he chose to mix it up and include recordings from cities all over the world. I happened to be in one of them for a rocking version of the Beatles' psychedelic title track from 1967 (recorded on November 23, 1989 at the Forum, Los Angeles, California). Not bad for being short-changed on the 60's myself.

Pearl Jam - New Rock 98.5 KOME: Pearl Jam Live"Better Man" Pearl Jam, from New Rock 98.5 KOME: Pearl Jam Live promo 2 CD set (1995) This show was set up as a make-up show for another gig I attended at Goldengate Park in San Francisco a few months earlier. At that show, Eddie Vedder became ill about six songs into PJ's set. He had to bow out, only to be replaced by Neil Young for the rest of the show. WOOHOO! Too bad the rest of the crowd felt jipped. So, they gave a discount to the people for a special show in San Jose before the year was out. Well, I was there for that one too! The entire show (recorded on November 4, 1995 at Spartan Stadium, San Jose, California) was recorded and released in its entirety by local radio station KOME, on a limited number of promotional CD sets given away on the air. I guess it was no big deal to the Jam (not that Jam) since they were broadcastng a live soundboard feed from a van circling the parking lot via their own Monkeywrench Radio. A top notch set from their career apex. Also guesting during their set: the Fastbacks and Ben Harper. Oh, and as I recall, they played well past the community's noise curfew. Rock and roll!

Eric Clapton - One More Car, One More Rider"Bell Bottom Blues" Eric Clapton, from One More Car, One More Rider CD & DVD (2001) One of the true guitar greats of all time. After having seen the "blues" tour several years prior, it was nice to see him play songs he wrote on this outing. I got lucky. He busted out several Derek & The Dominos tunes, to my delight. "Bell Bottom Blues" (recorded on August 18, 2001 at the Staples Center, Los Angeles, California) has long been one of my favorite songs of longing (no pun intended), and he wasted no time in pulling out all the stops. This entire DVD was filmed at the same show I attended. The 2 CD version of this release contains only portions of this gig. Side note: Our parking lot attendant was robbed at gunpoint just as he was waving us into a spot.

Various Artists - Hootenanny V.1"Back Room" John Doe, from Hootenanny V.1 DVD (2005) As mentioned at the beginning of this blog. There's nothing like a good ol' Hoot! Great food. Classic cars. Tough dudes. Hot dames. And, everything from roots country to psychobilly music to fill the air! I actually had no idea that this gig was being filmed. My only question is "why wasn't the Stray Cats reunion set on here?" Anyway, the likes of Russell Scott, Lee Rocker, Dave Alvin, the Blasters, James Intveld, and Junior Brown only crack the surface of what's on this nicely produced DVD. Great footage of Stuart "Statue Of Liberty" Johnson on skins as well. Think I'm gonna get me some Hawaiian shave ice!

Woodstock? Been there? Done that? Let's hear what you got!

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi!!! I like your reviews!!! I was thinking about Hootenanny The DVD, since I'm actually right now on a rally and need to answer a question about it. Please help me! I need to know what band played after James Intveld?

Dave Alvin
Paladins
Manic Hispanic

Thanks for your help! And keep goign to concerts! It's one of the best things to do!!! :)

2:01 PM  

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