BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN & THE E STREET BAND - Cleveland, OH 1978 (R.I.P. Clarence Clemons)

Oh, why not...since it's America's birthday weekend, how 'bout one last tribute to the Big Man and the Boss Man? And maybe even the best of the lot while we're at it?

Like oh so many Americans -- not to mention so many Springsteen song subjects -- I've been laid off. As of tomorrow evening I will be officially unemployed for the first time in seven years. The greed goes on, the country heads straight down the shitter, so let's all celebrate with beer, hot dogs, fireworks, and Transformers 3. Yippee!

Anyway, good times. I can't be sure when I'll be posting again; I have to get my own damn PC first...

Wish me luck if you please, Happy July 4th, and I'll be back!

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN & THE E STREET BAND
"Agora Night"
The Agora - Cleveland, OH - August 9, 1978
(FMB @320 kbps)
DOWNLOAD 1 / DOWNLOAD 2 / DOWNLOAD 3

Thanks once again to Addicted to Vinyl.

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN & THE E STREET BAND - San Francisco, CA 1978 (R.I.P. Clarence Clemons)

As promised, one more shot of epic '78 Boss, in honor of the late great Big Man.

This is the legendary, four-hour (including bonus tracks) KSAN-FM broadcast from San Francisco's venerable Winterland -- two weeks before it closed forever -- introed by Mr. Bill Graham himself.

'Nuff said for now.

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN & THE E STREET BAND
"Winterland Night"
Winterland Ballroom - San Francisco, CA - December 15, 1978 (FMB)
DOWNLOAD

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN & THE E STREET BAND - Passaic, NJ 1978 (R.I.P. Clarence Clemons)

How will the Boss ever replace the mighty Big Man?

To commemorate the beloved sax king's passing this weekend, possibly the single greatest Springsteen/E Street band show ever -- certainly one of 'em. More will follow.

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN & THE E STREET BAND
"Passaic Night"
Capitol Theatre - Passaic, NJ - September 19, 1978 (FMB)
DOWNLOAD 1 / DOWNLOAD 2 / DOWNLOAD 3

Thanks to Addicted to Vinyl.

JETHRO TULL - Seattle, WA 1975

Time to change it up for summer, dudes! Just saw good ol' Tull for the first time last Saturday at the Greek Theatre, and probably the last time. Nothing against them, they were lovely -- but in my exciting "I'm a new dad who just got laid off" life, they must fall under the "see-them-once-and-check-them-off-the-list" heading.

Anyway, I had already posted a couple of sweet early Tull boots over on my all-'60s blog, Heavy Sugar Radio, so do check those out as well.

As for this one, it's a recently remastered @320 beaut, with solid sound quality and setlist and a stream of frequently hilarious between-song banter by the always fluterrific Ian Anderson.

JETHRO TULL
Seattle Center Coliseum - Seattle, WA - July 25, 1975
(AUD @320 kbps)
DOWNLOAD 1 / DOWNLOAD 2 / DOWNLOAD 3

PRINCE - Los Angeles, CA 2011 (21 Nite Stand, Show #3)

Alrighty, one last blast of royal rockin' funkage from that lusty young knave, Mr. Rodgers Nelson, and we out. Off to celebrate my first wedding anniversary on Sunday.

Much love, y'all!

PRINCE
The Forum - Inglewood, CA - April 22, 2011 (AUD @320 kbps)
Welcome 2 America: 21 Nite Stand -- Show 3
DOWNLOAD

PRINCE - Los Angeles, CA 2011 (21 Nite Stand, Show #12)

I think this might be my first post ever in which the accompanying photo was taken by yours truly!

Ah, another week, another regal Prince boot fo' ya. But this one is different, since it documents the second of the three shows I attended during the already-legendary, now apparently concluded "21 Nite Stand" at ye Olde Fabulous Forum. As it turned out, by His Purpleness' math, "21 nites" actually ended up only being "15 nites," but who's counting? (Oh wait, I was. Even though I made it to what turned out to be the final show on May 29, I still wanted more!)

This one is especially special to me because at this very show, my dear cousin Daniel and his lovely girlfriend Christine got engaged, during "Take Me with U" as it happened. My wife and I walked up to their section, unrolled a banner with the big question written on it, and about 3,000 amped-up concertgoers, family and friends went even crazier as my man got down on one knee...a moment I will never forget.

Even better, this wonderful audience recording is possibly of even better audio quality than the first one I posted; it's also 320 kbps. How do these cats do it? (Setlist linked here.)

Congratz again to Daniel and Christine, and thanks to whatever magnificent bastard did such a fine job taping all 2 hours and 40 minutes of this glorious show!

PRINCE
Welcome 2 America: 21 Nite Stand -- Show 12
The Forum - Inglewood, CA - May 14, 2011 (AUD @320 kbps)
DOWNLOAD