Best Aerosmith Bootleg

[Bucketslash]

So, I was going through my stuff, and I was wondering, what's the best aerosmith bootleg?

Is there anything as definitively good as the brussels affair to the stones or live at the star club for jerry lee?

[GivenToFly]

I'll assume you mean video bootleg. I have a few pro-shot ones (you can can get any of them from tradersden.org) and I could tell you a bit about them:

Houston 1977 - haven't seen it yet

Foxboro Stadium (Boston?) 1986 - haven't seen it yet

MTV Unplugged - Very nice performance. Worth having and works very well just listening to the audio as well. Problem is, a fairly large portion of the screen is black. Excellent performance of Hangman Jury and (from what I can remember) One Way Street. Fun!

Osaka New Year's Eve '99/'00 - In my top 3 favorite shows/dvds that I have or have ever seen. Everything about this show is so amazing (one of the few possible improvements could be the addition of the song with the same name to the setlist) that I can't even describe! Steven in a top day, the band in a top day, phenomenal setlist, the visual show knocks you the fuck out, there is a really cool moment with the countdown to the new year followed by Full Circle, anyway almost perfect. The only flaws that come to mind are a kinda weak performance of One Way Street (otherwise one of my favorite Aerosmith songs) and the lack of a good covero n the net, but I guess that's easily fixable. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Just Push Play Tour, Tokyo 2002 ; Girls of Summer Tour Camden, New Jersey 2002, Yokohama 2004 - All very good concerts. If you were to choose between them, I'd recommend Yokohama, despite the much shorter setlist. Why? Better quality than the others and a slightly bit better performance. Not much difference in the latter though.

Benefit Show for Robin Hood Foundation, New York 2006 - This one less so. The performance is not as great as in the others. Makes up with an excellent acoustic part though!

Whatever, get any of them, they're all good. Hell, get all of them!!!

I've also seen one from the 70s, '76 I think it was, or '77, also pro-shot but I didn't particularly like that one. You might, if you're a fan of 70s Aerosmith, hating everything they put out after '78, in which case ignore this entire post. I still REALLY need to find a full pro-shot from 94 or 98. Sad thing is, I know for a fact there some out there, but I can never find them seeded.

And I also should probably find this Brussels Affair everyone seems to be talking about. Although I'm not that crazy about pre-89 live Stones. This might change my mind though.

[Bucketslash]

Well, technically I meant video, but I'll check it out. I'll break down the pre-89 stones for you.

Steel Wheels was a great tour, full of energy. I reccomend most shows out of this. The problem with all post '75-ish stones shows is that there's a certain lack of live power. Keef's riffs are strong and tend to mask over any lead guitar licks they play in the trade offs(which are a little minimalistic to begin with. it's a problem from start me up after, with the exception of some stuff off undercover), which mask the bass and keeps the drums static. The real excitement is Mick in these shows, and the slide work, I find. Otherwise I stick with black and blue, some girls, and undercover(which it seems like the only guy who loves that album)

The Mick Taylor Era, however, is quite possibly why everyone loves the stones live. Why? The song writing was strong, and the arrangements live had 5x more exciting lead guitar. Mick taylor was a master of the guitar solo, and made this era amazing. Mick's in top form, being driven in comradeship, and keith riffs off and adds licks to say "Gimme my spotlight!". meanwhile Bill Whyman, who didn't play as much bass on these albums, reinterprets these songs his way and charlie keeps them grounded. Check Altamont and brussels for an idea of this stuff

The Brian Jones Era, is split two ways. when brian was an active member, he was as good as keith, was a great backup vocalist, and a better harmonica player. Whenever he played slide, he was amazing. However, good quality boots are far and few between. When brian was going down, his guitar playing wasn't too bad, but keith took a more lead role. His playing is very stacatto and riff like in his solos, which led to mick taylor.

Hope that helps

[GivenToFly]

No need to tell me about the Steel Wheels tour, the show in Atlantic City on 19.12.89 is also in my top 3 favorite concerts ever!

The thing about the Stones for me is that post-89 they are probably my favorite live band ever. It's not just for the way Mick, Keith, Ronnie, Charlie and Bill (for a short while) played. It's the whole package. When I watch a show I also care A LOT about stage theatrics for example. The Stones definitely always have that. I care about the rest of the players as well. I'm used to the Stones summing up to a 15 (or whatever) members band, with backup singers, keyboards, horns, everything. Take that away and it's just not the same for me. They seem too restrained for me in the 70s. They were a rock'n'roll band playing rock'n'roll on stage. Starting with the Steel Wheels tour though, they were a phenomenon.

I'll take You Can't Always Get What You Want from Live Licks over the same song from Love You Live any time. Something's just missing in the latter. And ffs, I've had this as wallpaper for a loooong time, and I'm not planning on removing it any time soon. That's Rolling Stones for me.

It's probably the same reason why I prefer the second half of Aerosmith's career to the first. I also prefer Illusion GNR live. (although these also have a lot to do with the setlists)

Back on topic - I don't know about audio bootlegs. I only have one, from Warsaw (Poland) in 94 and it's pretty good. However, I once had one from Boston, from 2002, that ended with Toys In The Attic. That performance of Toys was one of the best live songs I've heard in my life. I mean, I absolutely adore the one on Classics Live, but that one from Boston wiped the floor with it.

[Bucketslash]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9aqA8oImus&feature=related

That's about a good 5th of why everyone loves the brussells affair.