Live on Air

by Bobster

First of all, it's not a bootleg, it's a legit British import with copyrights, as far as I can tell. From the Diver Down tour, in California, might even be the US Festival.

Sound quality: 4 on a ten scale. Not very bassy but a good overall capture. Saturation in quite a few places, tape flanging at other times. Not sure if it's a fan tape, pretty awful if it's from the soundboard! Needs some serious mixing and EQ'ing. Some of the songs are faded in and/or out, instead of letting us hear the beginning and ending. But the fact that this recording exists at all is something we should be grateful for.

Performance : 6 on a ten scale. Everyone makes mistakes but the vibe is great just the same. Dave forgets words and cues, Alex is solid on all but a few occassions, Mike's bass is all over the place, kinda sloppy at times. Eddie takes chances, doesn't play it like the record. At times this is really cool to hear like the added harmonies on Jamie's Cryin'. Somebody Get Me a Doctor is a jam that also incorporates Girl Gone Bad (then unreleased) and I'm So Glad (by Cream.) Sometimes he misses the odd note or is out of tune with Michael. Dave is just out of tune a lot! Very loose performance by all.

Fun Factor: 9 on a ten scale! Ya gotta love Dave's shtick even when he forgets the words, and he does that a lot, even on the first songs. The textbook definition of what a frontman is supposed to be.