Black Crowes
Aragon Ballroom
Chicago, Illinois
May 17, 1991

Lineage: Master audience cassette => stand-alone Pioneer CD burner => EAC => WAV => FLAC front-end (level 8) => Audigy Audio Cleaning Lab

Track listing:

Disc one (45:26):
(1) Intro (0:12)
(2) Twice as Hard (4:32)
(3) Thick 'n' Thin (2:57)
(4) Chris banter (0:19)
(5) You're Wrong (5:57)
(6) Chris sung intro (1:06) =>
(7) Stare It Cold (6:29)
(8) Intro (0:17)
(9) Seeing Things (6:05)
(10) Intro (0:14)
(11) Sister Luck (5:37)
(12) Hard To Handle (4:08)
(13) Chris banter (0:46)
(14) Thorn In My Pride (last notes cut) (6:39)

Disc two (40:53):
(1) Shake 'Em On Down =>
Get Back => Thank You =>
Black Moon Creeping (16:11)
(2) Intro (0:49)
(3) She Talks To Angels (6:40)
(4) Dreams (11:13) => *
(5) Jealous Again (5:58)

* w/Marc Ford

MD5 signature file is included. Sorry, no artwork.

Comments:

This is somewhat of a "Holy Grail" for myself and other Chicago-area Crowes fans. This was an early stop on their brief (6-week) 1991 headlining tour, and the show -- though short -- absolutely smoked. I brought my roommate's deck and mics to the show and was frightened away by an aggressive pat-down search; other the years, I have encountered many Chicago-area tapers who said they were also deterred by security, and like me, left their gear in the car. This has become frustrating because it seemed that for once, security had literally stopped EVERYONE from taping the show, which rarely happens with high-profile events. Usually, at least one taper would make it through the security gauntlet; for this one, however, it looked like we were out of luck.

Fast-forward to 2008. This show had become a gaping hole in many collections -- countless Crowes fans were converted by this show, yet no recording was in circulation. Enter intrepid DIME member "svah," who stepped up a few weeks ago to let me know that his audience master -- recorded from the middle of the floor on a hand-held recorder (no word on the type of equipment) -- had been located at his parents' house and was on its way to me. After three stressful weeks of waiting for it to arrive via First Class mail, I'm happy to present this on DIME to plug the hole in Crowes collections around the world!

Performance-wise, the band is on fire just as I remembered. They tore through their breakthrough album with a spirited performance, closed the main set with the lengthy "Shake" medley (which featured the early guitar part for "Black Moon Creeping" near the end), then brought out their friend Marc Ford (who later joined the band) for a great jam on "Dreams." I had forgotten how much this band rocked at the beginning of their career, before they ventured into spacy, atmospheric jams with Amorica. If you are a fan of their first album, this show is essential.

In terms of sound quality, the fidelity leaves a bit to be desired considering (a) the equipment used, (b) and the acoustics of the Aragon. The mics were overwhelmed by the volume and you get distortion in the loudest parts; furthermore, this causes the high-end to get a bit lost. On the plus side, though you can tell that the crowd was absolutely hysterical (and drunk), but there isn't too much interference in the immediate vicinity of the taper. Samples are included to give you a sense.

A couple other comments:
* The Crowes really didn't play too many headlining shows in support of their first album -- a six-week U.S. tour plus a brief (2- or 3- week) tour. For the most part, they spent their first couple years opening for the likes of ZZ Top and Robert Plant; this is only the 14th headlining show from their first tour to enter wide circulation.
* In the next day or two, I will post my amateur "remaster" of this recording. However, if anyone would like to tackle their own remaster, feel free -- just note the info file as such. There is opportunity to make this a much better recording if you have the skills.

Hope you enjoy it! A million thanks to svah (and his mother, for finding it in svah's belongings) for unearthing this one.