A Chicago taper has perhaps the most important archive of American indie/underground live recordings ever made

this is INSANE

https://archive.org/details/aadamjacobs

just look through this, you'll be amazed

I was at that New Pornographers Hideout show in Feb 2001, but I was sure it ended with them covering Randy VanWarmer's "Just When I Needed You Most." (Maybe there was an earlier show?)

Anyway, I've seen Aadam at a million shows setting up his equipment in the years since then (as has our board's jaymc), and he was always skittish about letting folks listen to the recordings, so it's been especially fun that he dropped all of them at once.

yeah def remember seeing this guy at shows all the time and being vaguely annoyed by his gear being up by the stage though now i appreciate the results

Collection is great - sole way I able to listen to the one Hüsker Dü show I went to (on my birthday!).

whoaaaaaa

well ok then, riding out the rest of my workday with a GBV set from 1995, LFG

Anyway, I've seen Aadam at a million shows setting up his equipment in the years since then (as has our board's jaymc)

Yup, Aadam is good people

Damn Dirty 3 in 95

Good profile of him from a few years ago:
https://interactive.wbez.org/curiouscity/taping-guy/

Wow, there are 10 of my old band's shows in the online archive, including our fourth show ever (opening for Earlimart in 2003).

thought this was going to be about Malachi Ritscher,

I'm surprised I or anyone hasn't posted about him and the archive yet. In fact I was worried for a second that he had died! When I get home I will post a link to the documentary on him.

remarkable, thanks ums

https://vimeo.com/866218283

could've sworn i started a thread about this when it all started going up ... but I guess not! a real treasure trove.

Every time I go to the Hideout I now notice the outlet installed just for his use (as seen in this doc).

I feel like they have been uploading stuff to the archive for a couple of years now. Aadam is/was great, because while he had an allegiance to certain bands he was also a huge supporter of the Chicago scene in general. A couple of my bands, it was great to play a show at, say, Empty Bottle or Lounge Ax to a handful of people, and yet Aadam would still be there taping, as if the show were actually important.

Looks like I did post about it here:

Live Music Archive Bootlegs Site

saw fountains of wayne in there and my generation’s genetic coding required me go and i don’t regret it and 24 songs holy shit. valley winter song is now my substitute for two goddamn months at 65° in denver with only lots of rollerskiing

Thanks! Really enjoying this 1993 Moonshake show (much better fidelity than the Philly 1993 show that's on YT): https://archive.org/details/ajc02228_moonshake_1993-07-02

Just listened to a little of this Boredoms show so far (live at Intonation Festival, 2006), and am appreciating the stereo separation of the two drums sets in the mix! Nice. https://archive.org/details/ajc00957_boredoms_2006-06-24

This is amazing. Thank you ums and Josh.

Looks like I did post about it here:

Live Music Archive Bootlegs Site

― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, February 4, 2026 6:19 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

i haven't worked as a writer professionally for a long time but i still have my clickbait headline instincts tbh

What This Chicago Man Taped Will Change the Way You Think About Music Forever

haha ums i actually googled this thread title yesterday to see if you took it from a headline somewhere

This One Simple Trick Will Allow You To Listen To Your Favorite Concerts Whenever You Want

this site rules, I forget how I heard abt it, prob from tyler on bsky

Holy moly. Searched up my era of Chicago showgoing (95-03) and in addition to all the stuff I went to, there's at least a dozen shows I suddenly remember being very mad about missing! Gonna be painful if the recordings are so good I get even more upset I wasn't there. Equally psyched to play through early-90s stuff I wasn't around for (Versus, Air Miami, Beat Happening, the one early Vandermark show) and maybe most of all to find out what it sounded like when Aluminum Group played the Fireside Bowl (the vibe-match between band and venue there feels both hard to imagine and also maybe perfectly Chicago?).

This is clearly too wonderful of a thing to criticize, but there is this funny thing where, years ago, taping a lot of the bigger acts here probably felt like capturing something marginal that would otherwise get lost, and there was no way to sense how many of them would end up in positions where their live material is pretty readily available — with some stuff I kind of wish he'd ended up capturing the openers and documenting more of the music that actually did fade away a bit! But you'd have to see the future to know that, and he's clearly done an amazing job capturing loads of key stuff in his taste zone, plus more than enough surprising or under-documenting things to spend months going through.

(Plus honestly it's probably mostly indierock dead-enders and/or people who were around at the time who crave documents of all the bubbling-under acts? Like, it was 100% unquestionably the correct call to use your tape on Pavement in 92 and not the opener Frances Gumm, even if a future dork like me might end up with copious digital access to the former and more curiosity about the latter.)

yeah tbh i'm bummed my old band isn't on here lol, i'm sure he was set up at at least one show we played

Pretty sure he typically taped everything, openers and all. I haven't checked the site in a while, but he's not the one uploading the stuff, so maybe there is some editorializing/prioritizing going on?

Found a couple of shows from a band I was in, cool!

what is the current ability to tape such shows? with the change of the economics in music, and the ability to distribute online, has access changed? does free distrubution generate conflict? do bands insist on rights to control and own them?

The band and venue had to be OK with it, and in the case of Aadam it was usually sort of an opt-out policy. It's also why he never really circulated his recordings himself, since he didn't want to be part of the bootleg eco system. That said, it seems everything gets or can be easily recorded or captured these days, at the least on phones, in pretty good quality. I doubt there is even a market for bootlegs. What made what Aadam did special is that he recorded a bunch of small audience stuff that was largely of interest to the (usually) few people who were in the room with him. For every Nirvana gig he recorded there were a dozen by Eleventh Dream Day. Though not (yet) the one that for years was my favorite show ever, EDD at Lounge Ax with Ira Kaplan on second guitar. Maybe 1994?

yeah I have a recent Michael Hurley cassette tape bootleg that was recorded entirely on an iPhone

i know that they put up a few yo la tengo tapes from aadam's collection and the band and/or label asked them to take them down ... it's sort of nebulous, but most bands I think are fine w/ audience tapes from days gone by showing up. no one is making money off of it anyway, a true labor of love from all involved.

and though it's still more of a jam band thing, having good recordings on archive.org has been a net plus for a lot of bands, good advertisement for the live show etc. i like it anyway!

For sure. It also raises an interesting philosophical paradox, in that you never know what recording may be of historical value until it's been recorded and history has caught up. And yet, you can't record everything, and even when you come close, or as close as possible, the volume itself becomes part of the value, a la this Aadam Jacobs archive, or the Dead or whatever else. Just think of the countless bands we *wish* were comprehensively documented. Then again, it becomes its own sort of Zeno's Paradox, in that it brings you the listener closer and closer to the band itself, while always being at a distant remove from the people on stage, their hours of rehearsals, their work in the studio, and so on. I'm always reminded of one of the funniest things I've ever heard at a show, an Eleventh Dream Day show, in fact. It was at the Empty Bottle, and some guy in the front yelled to Rick Rizzo that he'd been to every single Eleventh Dream Day show in Chicago. "Oh yeah?" Rizzo replied. "Well, I've been to every single Eleventh Dream Day show everywhere." We can only get so close.

ha over the past couple years i’ve ventured into archive site, sorta lost enthusiasm after i realized it’s jam fixation —incl somebody’s dorm trunk sourced 1984 digital video re recording of day 3 of the 72 kilauea fest with a 210 min take of space which was totally the phil zone— but i think i found a pair of great gybe shows

recording of day 3 of the 72 kilauea fest with a 210 min take of space

please tell me this is real

i both joek about and would check out but alas

This is an incredible treasure trove and I've already downloaded a dozen things. That said--while also being loath to criticize this wonderful, free thing--did aadam not care much for jazz? Surprising to search for Fred Anderson, Brotzmann, et al and come up empty, given the locale and the time period. A small nitpick, really, as there's plenty here to keep us busy for a long time.

Empty Bottle Tapes: https://corbettvsdempsey.com/records/the-bottle-tapes/

all taped by the late Malachi Ritschler

looks like only about ~15% of the collection's been uploaded so far

https://bsky.app/profile/ajc-project.bsky.social/post/3m5r4v4hhuk2t

Was just looking into that. There are now 2,065 files on the Internet Archive (less than three months after that Bsky post, which says 1,500+), so it seems like things are chugging along.

If I remember right, he also taped TJ & Dave performances (considered some of the best longform improv) and maybe other comedy/improv?

Chicago Reader article on this from over a year ago says it'll likely take at least five years (or I guess four now) to upload everything:

https://chicagoreader.com/music/gossip-wolf/aadam-jacobs-collection-internet-archive-concert-recordings/

If I remember right, he also taped TJ & Dave performances (considered some of the best longform improv) and maybe other comedy/improv?

― Come On, (Eazy), Thursday, February 5, 2026 4:35 PM (two hours ago)

He definitely did -- I have copies of a few TJ & Dave shows which were his filming (but I got from someone else), and I remember seeing him up front for at least one improv show I was in 20+ years ago. I don't know if this project will encompass the video stuff but I hope so.

as far as xpost jazz & related, I've found several shows involving Ken Vandermark. also, if you count improv, 75 Dollar Bill, and one so far by Tortoise. Just now, I thought to check for ones led by Jeff Parker, and yesss!

oh dang Vandermark 5 was so great

Sunwatchers up in there too!

did Rothko (the band) have three bass players? If so I remember seeing them too!

Yes, three bassists only

For the first four years it was three bass players, then Jon and I left to pursue our other bands, and Mark kept going with a variety of musicians or by himself.

Maresn3st throwing up a huge "I'm in the band" smokescreen here to avert eyes from the fact that their show is actually Rothko (ft. Ricky Gervais)

Yeah, weird one, the gig was part of a day's demonstration in opposition to the original XFM being bought and somewhat neutered by the Capital Radio group. Gervais had his show on there, and other than John Kennedy, perhaps, he was the most visible presenter and compered the evening. I have no memory of him being there whatsoever, and was kinda surprised to hear the introduction.

https://archive.org/details/ajc03196_minutemen1985-11-03.ajcproject

https://archive.org/details/ajc03201_new_order_1985-08-06

sorry can't resist

I was literally talking to Reg from Seam about that Minutemen show a week ago!

https://www.facebook.com/aadamjacobs/posts/pfbid02co5fBzJ7Dfy2J9GvmwDJ32uCko41Li3J2XviNrkzUXYZzGmGJws2FScHPxeLPSd2l

https://scontent-ord5-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/688322442_10165217904229388_8168757781775875122_n.jpg?_nc_cat=102&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=7b2446&_nc_ohc=YU1whTUpSGAQ7kNvwFTVJk7&_nc_oc=AdrQScJg3eJOVk2wrkYem5zEEyLDxTdhqsjHkUk1dbIdQv8_X0-F0_VPnkqXBSYcXRs&_nc_zt=23&_nc_ht=scontent-ord5-2.xx&_nc_gid=R8xWwTw76iOLMOka4gipGA&_nc_ss=7b2a8&oh=00_Af4dLMxrUhhmp8XKi_WRgIfxYcTVmAwNeeFpU30xc5k4vQ&oe=69FFF9D5

Honestly insane that my band is ranked #11 (right behind Fred Armisen's)

Next step world conquest.

Robbie Fulks is thee best, nice to see him so prominently represented even though it means nothing

The Chills

https://archive.org/details/ajc03078_thechills_2019-02-27

I was at that show, so good, bought a shirt.

Man ...

https://archive.org/details/ajc03483_sineadoconnor_1988-04-11

Jeez a show that ENDS with "Troy"? That would have left me unable to do anything for a few days.

I heard some of these are getting takedown notices (e.g. Tracy Chapman), so grab 'em when you see 'em

I didn't know he had a youtube channel!

http://www.youtube.com/@AadamJacobsTube

A lot of it is just stuff from TV and whatnot, but there are some shows, like this just posted ripper:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkRIiRiwwMs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYDedad86XQ

Galaxie 500 at Lounge Ax, 1990:

https://archive.org/details/ajc03516_galaxie500_1990-10-12

Just discovered that if you select the old 'WinAmp' player, you don't have to wait half a fucking hour before a track starts to play.

a few early pixies shows got uploaded too

very early stereolab

damn this Sinead show is great

Smiths cover!

are there really no Fall shows? seems like a very weird omission

Man, that Sonic Youth from the Cabaret Metro '87 recording is pretty hair-raising.

saw them earlier that summer, all those shows when they were doing the Ramones medley totally rule, see also Hold That Tiger

The 87 Cabaret Metro Aadam tape is in fact the Hold That Tiger show, right?

:O

I think you are right!

yeah same date, maybe someone can do a matrix of the audience + sbd for the ultimate Hold That Tiger

Was Hold That Tiger a soundboard? That did cross my mind that it may have been one of those archival recordings, but then I thought, 'nah, they wouldn't upload, surely' I guess they could squeak through if it's a different source. I hope nobody finds out if it is the same recording.

Recorded in Chicago, IL at Cabaret Metro by Aadam Jacobs 10/14/1987

https://www.discogs.com/release/15460043-Sonic-Youth-Hold-That-Tiger

oh lol there you go — it's the same recording!
i doubt SY would care about the tape being uploaded.

SY's own version of Hold That Tiger is speed corrected with slightly improved sound
https://sonicyouth.bandcamp.com/album/hold-that-tiger-2
http://www.sonicyouth.com/mustang/lp/boot5.html

pretty funny — I'm so used to the original Hold That Tiger that the speed-corrected version sounds ... too slow!

haha

same tbh

Wikipedia was also updated on 9th April to link Aadam and the Collection website

i've had the vinyl of Hold That Tiger since the 90s, and it's a great performance but I've always felt a it was a pretty shitty recording tbh!

is the remastered / re-edited /not-sped-up version not better than the vinyl though

ha! that's nuts. It's MUCH better. I need to track down a copy... those Ramones covers slay.

Had never listened to this gig/Hold That Tiger, but yeah these performances are much sharper than Sister. I saw the Cleveland show a few days after, and it was the only time Sonic Youth blew me away. All the other times were at the start of tours when they hadn't yet found the power of their latest material.

Glen Hansard at the Hideout (capacity: 100) in 2002:

https://archive.org/details/ajc00869_glenhansard2002-10-06.ajcproject/GlenHansard2002-10-06t01.flac

Might have been at that one ...

Looks like they are starting the press some vinyl copies of a few shows:

The collection documents performances from iconic artists alongside countless influential independent and local bands whose music might otherwise have been lost to time. In addition, a carefully curated selection of recordings from the archive is being restored and prepared for vinyl and digital release through the new Laughing Bee label, bringing historically significant live performances to audiences in a new format while supporting the archive's ongoing preservation efforts. Today, the newly launched label Laughing Bee Music announced vinyl and digital releases of archival live performances from The Aadam Jacobs Collection: Naked Raygun’s This Place Used to Be a Strip Joint (Live) and Eleventh Dream Day’s By The Time They Got To Lounge Ax (Live).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuRPOVGRGkI

a similar project for another taper just kicked off, some great stuff already: https://archive.org/details/LazArchives

Man, I'm hoping against hope but I love them to press up at least one of the excellent Madder Rose shows on the site.

xp oh man thanks tyler!

Late pass but… holy fucking shit at that sinead tape