Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Boot Tracker, August 19th 2008, Hershey (Bakerstuff)

The second Bakerstuff tape to surface today is almost equally as impressive as the St. Louis tape. Next to that stellar show this recording testifies how consistent the quality is the band delivers night after night. Listening to them back to back, it is funny how different things suddenly stand out. High lights of this tape aren't necessarily the rarities and covers, even though Hershey got a few choice selections, the tracks that grab me most on this recording were the "Reason to Believe" and "Prove it All Night" double shot and the joyous audience participation during "Waiting on a Sunny Day." For some reason those tracks transported me to the show most. That is not to say there isn't a whole lot next to that to enjoy on this recording. The biggest surprise here is without a doubt "Part Man, Part Monkey." Though the song is a far cry from the best he's ever written, on this particular night it the song where Springsteen's voice shines through most as it is extremely well sung.

Hershey was a bit Little Steven's show. Springsteen allowed him to drag the audience down to his underground Garage by letting him pick a few request. Silvio van Zandt went for "Boom Boom" Animals style followed by a rousing version of "Darlington County." Though the second wasn't as surprising, it isn't less exiting because of it. Same goes for tour staples "No Surrender" or "Because the Night," there's a reason there staples after all. As final blow out for this Hershey night Joe Grushecky was invited on stage. As special guest Joe is almost a staple in itself. Instead of going for "Code of Silence" however, Joe tore into "Gloria" with the Boss in a competition whose voice has the most gravel and guts. Few rockers are as rowdy as Gloria and I can imagine this rendition left Hershey in a frenzy once more, especially since it followed an already high energy encore that started with rockabilly monster "Seven Nights to Rock" and allowed Rosie to come out to play. Bakerstuff captures captured all of this on a very nice recording that is fairly even. It seems like Bakerstuff is bringing the power night after night to our stereos for the final nights of the tour. In the notes he announced his version of Kansas City. So with the rumored Crystal Cats coming in September as well, I suspect that the Magic will continue through our stereos and iPods for just a little while longer.

"Part Man, Part Monkey"

MP3 File

Download the full show in mp3 here
A small request, use mp3s for personal use only. Keep them in your iPod or on your computer 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: 4,5 out 5
Artwork: none

A review from the show by the Patriot News.
The picture in this post are by David Bernstein and Backstreet Bev

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