Weekend Entertainment: Wolfgang's Vault Has The Clash, Talking Heads, And Joe Strummer

It's been a little while since we've seen any new material that caught our eye on Wolfgang's Vault, but apparently when it rains, it pours. This weekend the streaming site has shows from The Clash and Talking Heads, as well as a two part interview with Joe Strummer. Yes, tasty indeed.

The Clash show is from The Agora Ballroom in Ohio circa 1979, and as such it has a selection of tracks from the band's first two records. Some of those tracks (especially from the second album) got rarer in later years, so it's nice to catch a live version of some of those tracks. We were psyched to see "Stay Free" on the list.

The Talking Heads set is from a 1977 set at CBGB for King Biscuit Flower Hour. It was recorded prior to the band's debut 77, but also interesting contains their cover of "Take Me To The River" from the second album. If you want raw, early Talking Heads, this is your cup of tea.

Finally, the Joe Strummer interview is made up of two parts, one from 1983 and one from 1984. The focus is largely on the breakup of The Clash, and decidedly absent is the optimistic Joe of the late 90's. It's interesting, to say the least.

All in all, these three serve to underscore why Wolfgang's Vault continues to be filed under "awesome" here at HAD - free, rare, new concerts every week? Too cool.

Stream: The Clash Live At Agora Ballroom
Stream: Talking Heads Live At CBGB's
Stream: Joe Strummer Interview

Noise Pop 2009: Videos Already Making Their Way To The Web

For anyone who attended last week's Noise Pop fest, it's no secret that there were HD video cameras all over the place at every gig. While we had heard rumblings that the video would be in the edit bay for the better part of 6-8 months, it looks like the release cycle will be far faster than that.

Three full length gigs (Deerhunter, Ra Ra Riot, and Port O'Brien) have been posted on YouTube, and supposedly the remainder are making their way to streaming music beheamoth Wolfgang's Vault. Suffice it to say, both for those who were there, and those who not, this is an awesome treat.

Check out the Deerhunter vid above, and head to Noise Pop's YouTube page for Ra Ra Riot and Port O'Brien.

Wolfgang's Vault Has Classic Elvis Costello From San Francisco Circa 1978

We're going to assume, given that it's Thanksgiving week and all, that many of you will have a fair dose of free time on your hands over the coming days. Well, all things being equal, you may as well fill that time with some of the good tunage that's out there waiting for you. If you manage to tear yourself away from all the awesome new music out there, then we encourage you to take a step back and head over to Wolfgang's Vault. The always-awesome archive of Bill Graham's concerts is hosting an Elvis Costello & The Attractions show from 1978, and it's not to be missed. It's a recording from The Winterland right in the midst of Costello's pissed off young man phase, and the set is rife with the frustration and angst of his first two records. Highly recommended.

Stream - Elvis Costello Live At Winterland 06-07-1978

Now This Is Cool: Wolfgang's Vault Comes To The iPhone

Who amongst you ever thought you could have Bill Graham's legendary concert recordings in your back pocket all day long? Not us. Well, now you can have exactly that! Wolfgang's Vault has released a free app for the iPhone that allows you to stream from the Vault's extensive archives.

As we've mentioned before, we're pretty huge fans of the Vault, so it's nice to see them continue to expand their offerings. It's also quite nice that they decided to do it for free. What can we say? We're impressed! Click here to download the app now.

Nice Tom Petty Show From The Winterland

Here on HAD, we try to keep a tab on some classic San Francisco concerts that are available online. If you're anything like us, you can take a little bit of nostalgia along with your hearty meal of the latest and greatest. Well, Wolfgang's Vault has posted a nice Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers concert from '78 at Bill Graham's Winterland. The Winterland was a classic venue of the 70's, and is now the site of, you guessed it, condos! Ah, what is this world coming to? Anyway, back to the Petty: The show is a prime late-seventies recording, from the night before New Year's Eve. It's a fantastic show with the band in their prime, an honest to goodness intro by Bill Graham himself, and a few rarities to boot! It's not only a great show, but a nice warm up for Outside Lands as well. Enjoy...

Stream: Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers - Live At Winterland

Wolfgang's Vault: SF Music History

This post is basically a heads up for those of you who have not heard of Wolfgang's Vault. Wolfgang's Vault is a business run by the purchaser of (San Francisco concert impresario) Bill Graham's archives. The owner bought all the archives of Bill Graham Presents in 2003, and the website is essentially a site for selling off large amounts of the retail material (shirts, posters, etc.) from that site. Wolfgang is Bill Graham's given name, and so ostensibly the site is a tribute to him.

Now, here's where it gets interesting: in addition to the above mentioned retail items, the archives also contained numerous concert tapes from the BG archives. The owners of Wolfgang's Vault have digitally transferred these (many of them unheard) tapes, and are streaming them for FREE from the Wolfgang's Vault "Concert Vault" site. They add five new shows a week, and there's so great archival material on there. If you're in to 60's and 70's rock, it's simply unbeatable. The only catch is that you need to register, but that's free. Once you register, here are some links to some shows from classic San Francisco venues:

Fillmore Auditorium
Winterland
Fillmore West
Cow Palace
Oakland Auditorium
Oakland Coliseum

Additionally, I highly recommend checking out Bill Graham's autobiography Bill Graham Presents it's a fascinating read, and a genuine page turner.