Which bootleg are you listening to?

[dimejinky99]

Bonner Springs 2003.

one of those hidden oft ignored gems..this and Cork 96 are my two 'backwater' gems..weird but great setlists and the 2 strangest Pj shows i've been to for the same reasons...rain and thunder and lightning..

[Birds in Hell]

St Louis main set is FANTASTIC, encores pretty solid but nothing remarkable.

Jeff makes a few blunders in Swallowed Whole but I still think it's the best attempt I've heard yet. Mike's solo is perfect.

[Kevin Davis]

Glad to hear it get your endorsement, Spence -- it felt relentless in person, I am anticipating unwrapping the bootleg in several days here.

[Biff Pocoroba]

It's nice to hear how most of us are enjoying the newer shows again instead of being disappointed in them.

[SpectorHD]

New Orleans 2000.

Six songs in - fantastic so far. Great Rival.

[CopperTom]

I watched the new Grand Rapids DVD. I'm definitely an audio guy. Nice Footsteps.

[Jessica Fletcher]

I received an iTunes gift certificate for Christmas so I thought I'd check out the San Diego show I saw last year. I enjoyed myself immensely but I figured the boot would be lackluster given what I've heard on the sirius station (I think the horrible quality of the stream really makes this live stuff suffer). Man, was I wrong. Listening to that show again was fantastic and restored my faith in them a bit as a live act. Eddie sounds pretty damn good for the most part and the band sounds tight and powerful.
It was such a positive experience I thought I'd put on the previous San Diego show in '09, which I thought was a little lackluster at the time. It sounded okay performance-wise, and it was mixed horribly. Is this common with boots from the Backspacer tour? I'd like to hear the MSG show I caught in '10 but if they all are mixed that poorly I won't bother.

[Kevin Davis]

If memory serves the 2010 boots were (generally) mixed even worse than the 2009 ones, though the performances were consistently stronger.

[TouringReg]

If memory serves the 2010 boots were (generally) mixed even worse than the 2009 ones, though the performances were consistently stronger.

In 2010 I went to Hartford and Boston and thought they were really great shows. On paper, the setlists for Newark and the two New York shows also look really good. I think this five-show run to close the tour is a bit underrated because the bootlegs sound so bad.

[Jessica Fletcher]

Sorry if these are newbie questions, I stopped buying boots pretty much completely after the 2006 tour, but is there a known reason why the boots sound so bad from these years? Different engineer maybe? My 2009 show sounds bad enough for me to be annoyed that I paid for it. I imagine that feeling was common at the time.
And yeah, TouringReg, I remember being blown away at the MSG I setlist, and being pissed that I didn't go to the 2nd show when I saw it.

[Birds in Hell]

Different engineer maybe?

Bingo.

Brett Eliason, the band's live sound engineer from 1991 to 2003(?), mixed all of the boots from 2000 through 2006.

Barrett Jones mixed the 2008, 2009 and 2010 shows and there was a great deal of complaint about the change at the time. As you've heard, they sound worse and the difference isn't subtle.

Brett returned in 2011 and is still mixing the current shows (thankfully).

[Kevin Davis]

Is that the same Barrett Jones that recorded "Oh, the Guilt" and "Curmudgeon?"

How the mighty have fallen?

[matt reeder]

Is that the same Barrett Jones that recorded "Oh, the Guilt" and "Curmudgeon?"

How the mighty have fallen?

One in the same, I believe.

[Birds in Hell]

Yep, same guy as far as I know!

I'm really not sure why those bootlegs are mixed so poorly, they really do sound audibly bad.

[Jessica Fletcher]

Different engineer maybe?

Bingo.

Brett Eliason, the band's live sound engineer from 1991 to 2003(?), mixed all of the boots from 2000 through 2006.

Barrett Jones mixed the 2008, 2009 and 2010 shows and there was a great deal of complaint about the change at the time. As you've heard, they sound worse and the difference isn't subtle.

Brett returned in 2011 and is still mixing the current shows (thankfully).

Thanks, glad Brett is back!

[TouringReg]

I listened to the Avocado portion of the 2006 Turin, IT show at the gym this morning. Man, did this band used to sound good. That's my main complaint with these three week tours with a day off between almost every show, they'll never get in a flow like that again.

I loved Avocado when it came out but by 2009 it hadn't aged well for me. I quite enjoyed hearing the live versions of the songs today (was never a fan/will never be a fan of Comotose/Big Wave however).

[CopperTom]

I just listened to the new vault. I'm glad they do vault releases, but they dug a little too deep on this one. A very unremarkable show. I'd put this in the bottom 10 of all 2000 shows. I think the release of this show proves how few complete recordings exist.

My guess on Vault #5 - Missoula 2005.

[Leatherhead]

I think the release of this show proves how few complete recordings exist.

I don't understand, is there not hundreds of complete bootlegs?

[CopperTom]

I think the release of this show proves how few complete recordings exist.

I don't understand, is there not hundreds of complete bootlegs?

Not counting what's already been released, in my opinion, no, there are few complete recordings.

[Birds in Hell]

Seeing as none of the released Vault shows (barring The Vic from 2007) have been complete, I'd say it seems much more likely than not that most of their old recordings are missing at least some portion of the show.

I certainly wouldn't complain about a series of two-disc compilations from various older tours, eg. Asia/Australia/NZ 1995, Europe 1996, etc.