After I posted about my Cold War Kids experience, I discovered something that I need to share with you. Because this time it’s not about our taste buds — it’s about our ears, expectations and defining what a live bootleg really is.
Shortly after I posted my Cold War Kids review I read about the experience of fellow live music fans over at Consequence of Sound. And I discovered that the live bootleg that the Cold War Kids graciously gave to fans as a free download after the Vic show was allegedly missing songs.
Now, let me say this. When I listened to the bootleg the day after the show I felt like something was missing.
I thought that it was strange that it might be possible that all the songs we heard that night were not on the recording.
But I didn’t mention it in my original review because, when I wrote it, I didn’t have any hard proof or hadn’t read anything that would have supported such a claim.
But after reading Consequence of Sound’s review and the comments of fans after the post — which present all types of scenarios for what songs were “missing” — I decided it was time to take a serious look at this live bootleg mystery.
So in an effort to get to the bottom of this, last week, I sent an email to the Cold War Kids label and their PR to see if this is really true, or at least get more information for you. As of this posting I haven’t heard back from them.
I’ll also say that IF the bootleg is really “missing” songs, I would like think that the Cold War Kids wouldn’t intentionally deceive fans. So in order to clear things up and set things straight, I do think we need an honest explanation from the band or the label about what happened.
Until I hear back from them, I did want to bring this “missing songs” situation to your attention so that you were at least aware. I wanted to bring it up because this Cold War Kid bootleg issue is a great opportunity to start a discussion about what is a live bootleg really is.
Let’s play devil’s advocate and say that there are “missing” songs from the Cold War Kids bootleg. What would that say about a band that gives fans an allegedly “free” and generous live bootleg that appears to let us remember our live music experiences but really only captures part of our concert experience?
Now, let’s look at this from the other side and consider things from the fan’s perspective. As I noted earlier, there seems to be a disconnect among fans on what songs were actually played or missing from the bootleg? Knowing that I wondered, what if fans are confused themselves and their live music memory is playing tricks on them?
To wrap this up, let’s say that the so call “missing” songs weren’t the ones that most fans wanted to hear anyways, does that make the whole “missing” issue mute anyways? Considering that, is a live bootleg only a live bootleg if the recording captures the entire concert, or does the bootleg have to capture just the most memorable moments?
That’s A lot To Think About, So Let’s Figure This Out
What do you think is the definition of a live bootleg?
Did you discover the missing the tracks, too? How does the possibility of the missing tracks make you feel? Do you feel tricked or deceived?
Have you experienced something like this before where a band gives a free bootleg that doesn’t have the complete show on it?
Is it possible that the “missing CCR” songs were infringing on copyright laws and that’s why they weren’t on the bootleg recording?
If you’re a live sound expert or have experience in recording live shows in the same way this bootleg was and can shed some light on the situation please do so via the comments.