ROCK!

June 15, 2007 11:25 AM

Bruce Springsteen, 1973. Stevie Ray Vaughan, 1984. Jimi Hendrix, 1968. King Crimson, 1969. Warren Zevon, 1982. Dio, 1984. The Band, 1974. Santana, 1975. Elton John, 1970. The Rolling Stones, 1978. For classic rock fans it's a drink from the firehose at Wolfgang's Concert Vault, the web archive of rock promoter Wolfgang Grajonca, better known as Bill Graham. If you want to download any of these shows it'll cost you ("Based upon all the information that is available to us, we believe that performers can earn between four and six times more from Wolfgang's Vault per download than they currently receive from their record companies"), but you can stream all of them at no charge. (Previously)
posted by jbickers (60 comments total)

Hendrix...Crimson...Elton John...Stones....it's like a grand nexus of every 25 minute long, whining song I ever hated with a blinding passion.
posted by DU at 11:29 AM on June 15, 2007

Always a stinker in every music thread who thinks they are too cool for your music. Loser.
posted by caddis at 11:31 AM on June 15, 2007

Your favorite comment sucks.
posted by papakwanz at 11:37 AM on June 15, 2007 [7 favorites]

every 25 minute long, whining song I ever hated with a blinding passion.

Others find pleasure in things you despise

I lo-o-ve the Mefi life
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 11:38 AM on June 15, 2007 [1 favorite]

Hendrix, King Crimson, both rule. Elton John sucks no matter what era, and the Stones have sucked since the mid 70s.

You're welcome.
posted by jokeefe at 11:38 AM on June 15, 2007

OMG, how could you not mention the Flock of Seagulls shows! Awesome!

Sorry, I'm home sick and slightly delerious. I think I'll go and lie down now.
posted by jokeefe at 11:41 AM on June 15, 2007

I'm not cool by any measure and I am well-known, especially by myself, for having bad taste in music. I just hate "classic rock".

In fact, why is music from the 70s considered the "classic" rock? Wouldn't the 50s and 60s be better candidates for that term?
posted by DU at 11:41 AM on June 15, 2007

DU:

You can't always get what you want
You can't always get what you want
You can't always get what you want
But if you try sometimes you might find
You get what you need

posted by boo_radley at 11:42 AM on June 15, 2007

Sadly, I've come to the conclusion that when people diss things that I like, they're probably right and I'm probably wrong, so I'm going to start adjusting my lifestyle to suit their preferences. Thanks to everyone for making it easier to figure out what I should like.
posted by davejay at 11:51 AM on June 15, 2007

DU, you should really check out what's on offer here. The Clash from 1979; a U2 show from 1981 that reminds me what all the inital fuss was about; Neil Young from 1975.... and I've just barely stratched the surface. Thanks for the post, jbickers.
posted by jokeefe at 11:51 AM on June 15, 2007

Double
posted by octothorpe at 11:53 AM on June 15, 2007

While I suspect that the Stones didn't start sucking till the mid 80's, I still thank you because this is awesome.
posted by Divine_Wino at 11:53 AM on June 15, 2007

Thank you.
posted by Bearman at 11:55 AM on June 15, 2007

If there is not a single concert you want to listen to for free on this list:

1.Bruce Springsteen 03/02/1973
2 The Allman Brothers Band 06/27/1971
3 Lynyrd Skynyrd 11/06/1975
4 AC/DC 10/16/1979
5 Jimmy Buffett 10/24/1974
6 Stevie Ray Vaughan 04/15/1984
7 Derek and the Dominos 10/23/1970
8 Fleetwood Mac 06/08/1968
9 The Band 08/16/1976
10 Jimi Hendrix Experience 10/11/1968
11 The Allman Brothers Band 01/29/1971
12 Genesis 01/24/1975
14 Bob Marley and the Wailers 11/30/1979
15 Booker T. & the MG's 06/08/1968
16 Bruce Springsteen 12/15/1978
17 Led Zeppelin 04/27/1969
18 Led Zeppelin 01/11/1969
19 Bruce Cockburn 11/02/1984
20 Stevie Ray Vaughan 08/17/1984
21 Randy Newman 11/10/1974
22 The Who 04/06/1968
23 Traffic 11/18/1970
24 The Allman Brothers Band 12/31/1973
25 Cream 10/04/1968
26 Bob Marley and the Wailers 06/08/1978
27 Pink Floyd 04/29/1970
28 The Who 10/22/1969
29 Neil Young & Crazy Horse 03/06/1970
30 The Allman Brothers Band 09/26/1973
31 Traffic 01/26/1973
32 Ry Cooder 07/07/1974
33 Rod Stewart 12/05/1978
34 Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers 03/07/1980
35 Eric Clapton 02/12/1978
36 Dio 10/05/1983
37 King Crimson 12/14/1969
38 Grateful Dead 12/31/1988
39 Little Feat 09/01/1988
40 Black Sabbath 08/05/1975
41 Miles Davis Quintet 03/07/1970
42 James Taylor 05/29/1970
43 Muddy Waters Blues Band 11/04/1966
44 Muddy Waters Blues Band 11/06/1966
45 Elvis Costello & the Attractions 06/07/1978
46 Rush 09/21/1984
47 Warren Zevon 10/01/1982
48 U2 05/06/1983
49 The Rolling Stones 07/06/1978
50 The Pretenders 05/30/1980
51 Elton John 09/16/1988
52 Genesis 10/15/1986
53 The Band 02/14/1974
54 Moby Grape 02/26/1967
55 Jimi Hendrix Experience 10/11/1968
56 Quicksilver Messenger Service 11/07/1968
57 Emerson, Lake & Palmer 11/20/1977
58 The Bee Gees 12/20/1976
59 Taj Mahal 09/19/1969
60 Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young 06/06/1970
61 Van Morrison 11/01/1978
62 The Kinks 02/18/1977
63 Humble Pie 05/06/1973
64 Jethro Tull 09/08/1984
65 Iggy Pop 03/07/1977
66 Ozzy Osbourne 05/11/1981 Music Hall 10 50:22 4.63
67 Emmylou Harris 11/25/1975
68 Genesis 10/22/1978
69 Dio 08/25/1984
70 Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young 06/04/1970
71 Mountain 12/31/1970
72 The Paul Butterfield Blues Band 10/14/1966
73 The Band 01/14/1974
74 The Marshall Tucker Band 09/26/1973
75 Santana 03/23/1975
76 J. Geils Band 06/27/1971
77 Ten Years After 04/30/1971
78 Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young 06/06/1970
79 Little Feat 09/01/1988
80 David Bowie 07/13/1983
81 Bruce Springsteen 07/03/1988
82 Grateful Dead 05/15/1970
83 Grateful Dead 07/02/1971
84 Tracy Chapman 05/27/1989
85 Grateful Dead 04/28/1971
86 Dickey Betts 12/14/1974
87 Elton John 11/12/1970
88 Heart 09/01/1977
89 Peter Frampton 03/24/1975
90 The Rolling Stones 12/01/1981
91 Warren Haynes 05/13/1993
92 Santana 05/25/1975
93 Eric Clapton 04/22/1985
94 The Charlie Daniels Band 01/30/1982
95 The Doobie Brothers 10/26/1975
96 Quicksilver Messenger Service 06/07/1968
97 10cc 11/11/1975
98 The Band 02/13/1974
100 David Crosby 04/08/1989

then you must just not like sound in general. Great post. Thanks.
posted by ND¢ at 11:57 AM on June 15, 2007 [6 favorites]

Thanks, nice find; Im enjoying the smooth sounds of 1975 hifi recording of the Jerry Garcia Band.

I just finished watching the bleak movie "Threads" as a result of the discussion in the recent apocalyptic fiction post.

And boy did I need some care-free hippy music right now.
posted by Merik at 11:58 AM on June 15, 2007

Also, Stevie Wonder from 1973. Kiss my ass.
posted by ND¢ at 11:59 AM on June 15, 2007 [1 favorite]

sifl and olly, the sifl and olly show,
sifl and olly, the sifle and olly show,
ROCK! sifl and olly ...
posted by kickback at 11:59 AM on June 15, 2007

The '73 Springsteen concert is revelatory. Springsteen is still finding his singing voice. He lays on the Woodie Guthrie-esque stuff pretty thick (he actually plays an early, extended version of "Wild Billy's Circus Story"). It's all wonderful. I love listening to great artists early, somewhat fumbling material sometimes. Great post.
posted by HeroZero at 12:02 PM on June 15, 2007

Double

No it's not. At the time of that post, all the site did was sell posters and t-shirts. The concert vault is rather new.
posted by jbickers at 12:04 PM on June 15, 2007

....and I still have yet to read a DU comment I agree with. Thanks for at least being consistent.
posted by rocket88 at 12:05 PM on June 15, 2007 [1 favorite]

Thanks Jbickers, great post.
I used to attend the Fillmore East back in the day and I loved redicovering the handbills . . . Nobody presents triple bills like BG did!
posted by ahimsakid at 12:06 PM on June 15, 2007

Great. BTW, ever heard of http://www.dimeadozen.org/ ; of www.bootcity.org ; of www.thetradersden.org , or http://bt.etree.org ? These are great trackers with only non-official material to download via bittorrent. (I forgot : zappateers, for zappa freaks). Quality ranges from real bad to excellent, material is taken from concert audiences, radio or tv broadcasts, soundboards..
In order to download those torrents : to me, azureus is the best.
All these websites only offer non commercially released music : everything official is carefully removed by the moderators. They try to discard material when an artist isn't tape-friendly too.
posted by nicolin at 12:06 PM on June 15, 2007 [1 favorite]

The concert downloads would be more appealing if they were CD quality instead of mp3. So to play them in my CD player I am going to upconvert them back into wav files and burn CDs? For ten bucks they could at least provide a lossless compression. Otherwise, I like this marketing idea. I hope they have actually worked out all the contractual issues so that they don't just get shut down.
posted by caddis at 12:10 PM on June 15, 2007

I hear you nicolin, but the hassle factor is high. Shows go up and stay around for only a short while. You have to keep going back every few days to keep up to date on what is available. Here you can just go into the whole rather large catalog, find what you want and be done, plus your favorite artist gets a few bucks.
posted by caddis at 12:14 PM on June 15, 2007

In Audio Hijack I trust...
posted by Fupped Duck at 12:20 PM on June 15, 2007

Goddamn, that Bruce show is aces. Those early songs really pop live and the accordion on Bishop Danced is so so great. And to think I've stood on that stage (and that the principal sang "I Believe I Can Fly" on that stage …)! Thanks!
posted by wemayfreeze at 12:21 PM on June 15, 2007

Your favorite band thinks your favorite record sucks.
posted by liam at 12:43 PM on June 15, 2007

I was there! I was only 10 at the time but I have fond memories. Thanks jbickers for the post.
posted by Sailormom at 12:52 PM on June 15, 2007

Can we please have a music thread without mentioning Dio?
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 12:53 PM on June 15, 2007

Jesus. The Springsteen, Chuck Berry, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Clash, Booker T, Van Morrison...nevermind, I can't even list all the foot-tapping I've done so far.

Thanks much for this.
posted by Roman Graves at 12:54 PM on June 15, 2007

Sweet, I begged and begged my dad to take me to that Dio concert and he wouldn't do it. Now I can live the magic that almost was.
posted by The Straightener at 1:23 PM on June 15, 2007

Elton John sucks no matter what era

Painfully wrong. Great songwriter, if we're being honest.


There are only two musical jokes on that list, and their names are "Santana" and "Stevie Ray Vaughan."

Especially SRV. What a piss-poor, soulless rip-off of Hendrix.
posted by drjimmy11 at 1:46 PM on June 15, 2007

Woah, Big Brother and the Holding Company at the Fillmore in '68. Very decent Summertime in there. Sweet.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 2:02 PM on June 15, 2007

i never cared much for srv. but at least his bassist was in tune. listen to the first 30 seconds of spanish castle magic from the 68 show linked above. good lord, noel redding, luckiest man in rock and roll.
posted by tremspeed at 2:04 PM on June 15, 2007

There are only two musical jokes on that list, and their names are "Santana" and "Stevie Ray Vaughan."

Especially SRV. What a piss-poor, soulless rip-off of Hendrix.

Wow, this must be the stupidest comment I've ever read on MeFi. Ever hear of "Riviera Paradise"? "Lenny"? "Lotus"? "Love, Devotion, Surrender"? "Abraxas"? Either you're deaf or just being silly.
posted by CKZ at 2:04 PM on June 15, 2007

Holy Shit! Flying Burrito Brothers!
posted by ND¢ at 2:16 PM on June 15, 2007

Dio "Thank you ... Elvis"? (End of Mob Rules)
posted by buzzman at 2:36 PM on June 15, 2007

Listening to Hank Williams Jr. cover "Lawyers, Guns and Money" is a bit surreal.
posted by ND¢ at 2:39 PM on June 15, 2007

Hah! AC/DC playing Towson! In 1979! Awesome!

(If you've ever lived in Baltimore, you'd understand that.)
posted by bardic at 2:46 PM on June 15, 2007

Stevie Ray, souless?

Jesus Christ on a popsicle stick, the children have taken over MeFi. Better break out the Twinkies and pop.

I suppose King Crimson didn't play fast enough, and Jimi was out of tune. That piano player in ELP, why the hell does he insist on sticking those knives in that organ? Are we supposed to be impressed? Damn Rush drummer, what the hell does he need all those tomtoms for, anyway?! That chick in the White Stripes, look at what she does with the most minimal kit. Kickass!

No matter how much you love your music, always know that there's someone out there who hates it with as much passion. Damn kids, GET THE HELL OFF MY LAWN!
posted by dbiedny at 3:38 PM on June 15, 2007 [3 favorites]

Oh, and great fucking post, jbickers, I've enjoying it big time!
posted by dbiedny at 3:38 PM on June 15, 2007

Either you're deaf or just being silly.

More like deaf or fucking retarded. If you can't hear the distinct difference between SRV and Hendrix...well deaf or fucking retarded pretty much says it.
posted by Roman Graves at 4:09 PM on June 15, 2007 [2 favorites]

This Springsteen concert is so bad ass! Thank you SO much!
posted by Democritus at 4:24 PM on June 15, 2007

This site rocks my face off!
Guess it's time to hook my computer back up to the stereo.

I personally vouch for the 78' version of The Boss. The description says it best: This is powerful rock ‘n' roll revivalism and Springsteen makes the heat rain down upon the assembled Winterland parishioners.
After watching him in Dublin on PBS this weekend, good to see he hasn't lost it.

On the same note, I love the posted concert commentary. Shit like that makes me giddy.
posted by jmd82 at 4:34 PM on June 15, 2007

I can see both sides of the SRV controversy. He's a fine musician, but nothing special. I'd be perfectly happy if I'd have ended up at one of his shows, but I find him somewhat unmemorable, he doesn't have a unique voice in my mind. Not like Hendrix, who is an elemental force.

It must be hard to be an electric guitarist after Hendrix. People like Fripp and May and on the more experimental side Torn and Frith managed to create their own unique voices, but everyone else stands in Hendrix' shadow.
posted by lupus_yonderboy at 5:15 PM on June 15, 2007

Oh, and the first concert I listened to was amazing (King Crimson 69)!

But the price is too high -- $10 should get me a CD -- it's particularly hard to pay because I can just listen to the site for free.

If you're listening -- $5, guys! At $5 I would have bought probably 10 of these shows -- at $10 I'm buying none, it's just where my price break occurs and not some punitive thing (in fact, I do want them to succeed...)
posted by lupus_yonderboy at 5:18 PM on June 15, 2007

Well, most CDs cost me between 5 and 15 dollars so 10 is in the sweet spot. If they offer up the wav files at 10 bucks I am probably in for about 15 to 20 of these shows, but then I make too damn much money. Nevertheless, I probably represent the middle aged earner who is their sweet spot customer. We don't want no damn mp3s though. That is the big hole in their business model. Save the Beck Arcade Fire etc. for the mp3s, as though we like them, the big audience is younger and they don't know from sound quality.
posted by caddis at 5:42 PM on June 15, 2007

Now that's best of the Web! Great post, jbickers.

DU, why don't you and your little friends go out and play on the highway for a while?
posted by RussHy at 6:37 PM on June 15, 2007

SRV has some great stuff, when he's trying to be SRV and not Jimi. His first album is really good, soulful rock-blues, with a southern twist.

Santana, while he has turned into an embarrassment, has done some amazing shit in his life. Santana III is one of the most kick-ass rock records ever, and one that most people, even Santana fans, don't know.
posted by papakwanz at 8:15 PM on June 15, 2007

Especially SRV. What a piss-poor, soulless rip-off of Hendrix.

Wow.

I have this theory about music -- how it represents the harmony and rhythm of the universe, how everything is waves, and how they're all moving forward in time. Music, to me, in this way is sacred, and it's greatest practitioners are in a way Shamen, calling forth the spirit and power of universal waves, interacting in harmony against the backdrop of the 4th dimension, time. Stevie was a holy man in this respect -- he was wakan... he had great power. I'm sorry you're unable to see that.
posted by Devils Rancher at 8:35 PM on June 15, 2007 [2 favorites]

...SRV controversy. He's a fine musician, but nothing special. I'd be perfectly happy if I'd have ended up at one of his shows, but I find him somewhat unmemorable, he doesn't have a unique voice in my mind

Wow indeed. I'm gobsmacked that someone could actually say this about SRV, but then I guess that's what different strokes are all about. I think SRV has about the most unique voice (on guitar, not vocals) I can think of...I first heard him (*coughcoughcough* years ago) on the radio in the car late one night, playing live, and I sat in the freezing cold absolutely unable to stop listening until it was finished, I had never experienced anything like that before, hearing him made me understand for the first time what people meant when they said that music "spoke" to them. I love all kinds of music, but Stevie is something deeply special to me, he spoke my language in a way I'd never heard before, and haven't heard since (except maybe for Derek Trucks sometimes). And SRV's versions of Hendrix are not "rip offs", he went to great (and obvious) pains to both make Voodoo Chile his own while simultaneously expressing deep respect for Hendrix - Stevie was among the most humble of musicians when it came to remembering those who came before him.

And what Devils Rancher said, exactly.
posted by biscotti at 9:38 PM on June 15, 2007

I don't think I like music. There are lots of songs that I enjoy listening to, but nothing that I'd ever go out of my way to see in concert. Actually, "go out of my way" is understating it. I can't imagine a situation where I'd want to go to a concert at all.

Maybe I have no soul.
posted by Justinian at 10:07 PM on June 15, 2007

"Do you know why my heart is breaking tonight? Because I can't eat all that San Antonio pussy tonight!"

-- Vince Neil, 12/01/1983
posted by The Straightener at 10:33 PM on June 15, 2007

Thanks so much, jbickers - I am enjoying this so much tonight. Groovin on some vintage Ry Cooder right now. Life is good.
posted by madamjujujive at 12:42 AM on June 16, 2007

There goes the weekend.

Lynyrd Skynyrd in Cardiff? Sweet.
posted by ceiriog at 4:46 AM on June 16, 2007

this site is the reason Al Gore invented the internets.

For the record Stevie Ray Vaughn was beyond awesome. Saying he was just a clone of Jimmy Hendrix is akin to saying every band that existed after the Beatles was a Beatles clone. When someone comes along to redefine the genre no one who comes after is unaffected.
posted by any major dude at 6:17 AM on June 16, 2007

Would've liked to have found a Joe Jackson performance in there. Oh, well....
posted by pax digita at 6:48 AM on June 16, 2007

Allman Brothers XMAS 1973
*eyes rolling up in head*
Dionysian Trance Rock!
posted by RussHy at 9:57 AM on June 16, 2007

I tend to divide my guitarists into greats, gods and hendrix (whom I classify as an alien). SRV, to me, is a god. He has the power to strike me dumb and command my body to move involuntarily. Listening to the subtle work on Chitlin's Con Carne just makes parts of my body spasm because they are all trying to move and keep up and can't quite coordinate that fast. The Sky is Crying makes me viscerally hurt in such a pleasant way its indescribable. It cries and murmurs and screams. But all of it is very very human.

Hendrix, now, Hendrix was something else. I can't really say what. He is the left field. Not just coming in from out in left field. Its rare that things are revolutionary rather than evolutionary and he just did things fundamentally different. And not just different to be different.

This archive is just gorgeous. Thank you. I agree with the description on the Big Brother show...Summertime, when it was still fresh, is a thing to behold. Currently listening to some of the CSNY from the Filmore when they still all seemed to like each other and got off on laughing with the crowd. That's some nice stuff.

Much much more listening to be had.
posted by afflatus at 4:12 PM on June 16, 2007

"Based upon all the information that is available to us, we believe that performers can earn between four and six times more from Wolfgang's Vault per download than they currently receive from their record companies"

Um... Somehow I'm not too sure of that. What if the artist owns the label?
posted by thrakintosh at 5:22 PM on June 17, 2007