ok ok…kinda silly question…but the very little live VH bootlegs we have from 78-84 are like pure gold. Even though most of us like to complain there’s no GREAT official DVD from the early years…I’ve learned to be grateful for the few nuggets we do have (no matter how poor the quality!!!). There are only a handful that we know. Still amazed people got in w equipment in those days.

my main thoughts…
1. THANK GOD for those tapers who were able to get in the equipment in those days (audio and especially video). Who knew 35 yrs later we’d be still enjoying this footage.
2. Who are the tapers of this rare and prized footage. I know of a few. And then …..
3. why is the old footage typically only clips, guess the source was just bad and only bits and pieces were salvageable? Like 1981 Chicago…seems like decent footage…but only bits and pieces. Who recorded this one and is there hope more footage is sitting around on this. << I guess we can keep dreaming. ha

- 78 Fresno – DJ?
- 79 Fresno – DJ? + pro
- 79 Boston ??
- 80 St. Paul ??
- 80 Pink Pop
- 81 Oakland (pro hiding away!)
- 81 Chicago ??
- 81 Memphis (mostly full show!)
- 82 Largo (pro)
- 83 (various S. America (pro))
- 83 US Fest
- 84 Montreal
- 84 Vegas
- 84 BBC UK

Man they were too good!!!!!!!!!! 9 minutes 20 seconds of pure magic.

Back in the day when I traded for a 2nd gen US FESTIVAL 83 VHS , the guy I got it from said that he got his copy

from one of the camera guys that worked the show. As for the ’82 & ’84 Montreal shows, a guy named Pierre C.

filmed & recorded a ton of shows from Montreal. My very first show on cassette was the ’82 show that I purchased

from him. It blew my mind at the time, as I didn’t realize something like that existed.

Anything old enough to be recorded on 8mm film is going to be short, as you could only load 9 minutes of film at a time. Chances are, the whole show was not recorded because of this limitation.

JasonA:
Anything old enough to be recorded on 8mm film is going to be short, as you could only load 9 minutes of film at a time. Chances are, the whole show was not recorded because of this limitation.

yeah makes sense w the 8mm. Too bad we didn’t have iPhones in the 80′s — now there’s hundreds of HD quality bootlegs for every show!

but the 81 Chicago bootleg got me thinking because it seems there’s bits from opening song well into the show. I would hope there would be full 9-minute sections at least. But that would be too simple ha…oh well guess we can keep scrounging around for little nuggets.

mrmojohalen:
Back in the day when I traded for a 2nd gen US FESTIVAL 83 VHS , the guy I got it from said that he got his copy

from one of the camera guys that worked the show. As for the ’82 & ’84 Montreal shows, a guy named Pierre C.

filmed & recorded a ton of shows from Montreal. My very first show on cassette was the ’82 show that I purchased

from him. It blew my mind at the time, as I didn’t realize something like that existed.

Yeah I remember buying bootleg cassettes from ads in back of magazines way back before the internet was around. I was also blown away that the live VH shows existed at the time. Still love that we have quite a bit of shows from all years in various quality. And can kinda feel the vibe being at a show from way back while listening to VH blow everyone’s minds.