Boot Tracker, March 17th 2008, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

As a 'rule' I do not review second versions of a bootleg. From time to time I will try to give you little updates on alternate versions I came across. But then again, rules are meant to be broken. Since I didn't do a review of the first version of Milwaukee floating around, I'll take a little time out for the "slowburn" version. As a recording this new version is nothing earth shocking. Its a very decent audience recording, a tad muddy, but overall pretty good sound. Especially if you play it loud like the taper suggests, neighbors be damned! What is interesting though is that the recording stems from a phase in the tour when the shows were supposed to be stale. At least according to set list analyzing fans like myself. You know, the type of fan that obsesses over every little thing he does, analyzing it to the bone. On many occasion fans like myself had the arrogance to bemoan the quality of the shows on the basis of what we saw printed, on the set list. During the first phase of the second American leg, these lists were still kind of static.

This recording proves us wrong though. Static as the set lists might have been, the shows were far from stale. Springsteen is one of those Rock stars who understands the importance of making every evening count, of making every show an experience. After all, most ticket buyers will probably get only one show and that show better be damn good! Milwaukee is just that. Of course if you've been doing multiple shows, if you've downloaded more than a few bootlegs, there's little that you haven't heard before. But judged on its own merit, set off against the question if this particular night was a good night, the answer can only be positive. With "Reason to Believe, "Cadillac Ranch" and "Ramrod" in the set, Milwaukee was the night of the Road House Rockers, down right sleazy and dirty as R&R should be. This show also had a pretty rare performance of "Streets of Fire" and very nice guest spot on "Meeting Across the River" from Richard Davis, who played base on the original studio version. However static the set lists might have, little was wrong with the shows.

"Meeting Across The River"

MP3 File

Download the full show in mp3 here
A small request, only burn mp3s for personal use, but never use a mp3 based CD in a trade. The Quality of mp3s deteriorate rapidly every time a CD is ripped. Using high quality music files such as FLACs is essential in keeping the trading pool healthy.

Recording: 3 out of 5
Show: 4 out of 5
Artwork: none