Sneaking A Tape Recorder into concerts in the 70s-90s

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by sheeerheartattack, Jun 2, 2021.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. mooncusser2k

    mooncusser2k "Oink, Oink, Woof, Woof, Baaaaa."

    Location:
    Massachusetts
    I've heard of someone who did exactly that to bring a 1980s video camera & recorder into shows.
     
    sons of nothing likes this.
  2. EdogawaRampo

    EdogawaRampo Senior Member

    I stuffed cassette recorder into my zipped up jacket for a Beach Boys concert in 1973. At 13 I didn't realize getting up by the stage it was going be so loud that the tape was going to get saturated and everything over driven. It sounded 'ok' in spots, but crowd noise and sheer volume made it pretty much worthless as anything but an artifact. When their In Concert album came out later in the year my little experiment became redundant anyway.
     
    ARK, Lonesurf and Zeki like this.
  3. Bern

    Bern JC4Me

    Location:
    Allegan, Michigan
    Had a friend sneak a MiniDisc recorder into several Gordon Lightfoot shows (1998 or 99).....had stereo mic run up his sweatshirt and the mics clipped to the brim of his baseball cap.

    Bern
     
    ARK likes this.
  4. johnny q

    johnny q Forum Resident

    Location:
    Bergen County, NJ
    Those Sonic Studio DSM's were damn good! But the guy that made them had the worst ever website - cluttered and impossible to navigate. I recall he sold a model "head" for placing the Mics on.
     
    trd likes this.
  5. vivatones

    vivatones Forum Resident

    A friend took a portable reel-to-reel recorder to concerts in the late 60s. He has (and I have heard) recordings of The Dave Clark 5 (full concert), Herman’s Hermits and The Who from their 1067 tour, The Newbeats, ? and The Mysterians, Sam the Sham and The Pharaohs, and others. Another friend took a small cassette recorder to concerts in the 80s and has (and I have heard) recordings of The New Mamas & the Papas, Bo Diddley, Dee Clark, Jan & Dean, Etta James, The Dixie Hummingbirds, and others.
     
  6. CHIP72

    CHIP72 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Silver Spring, MD
    Someone probably already said this, but Rerun did on "What's Happening!!" with the Doobie Brothers. :D
     
    George Co-Stanza likes this.
  7. FredV

    FredV Senior Member

    Would really like to hear the DC5 recording!
     
  8. tdcrjeff

    tdcrjeff Senior Member

    Location:
    Hermosa Beach, CA
    I believe that one was a Steve Hopkins recording. I believe used a Sony ECM-99a mic and a Sony TC-152 cassette deck. Nice gear, but not pro.

    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
     
    DTK, Bern, Yayastone and 1 other person like this.
  9. Ryan Lux

    Ryan Lux Senior Member

    Location:
    Toronto, ON, CA
    Thanks for the update. A nice sounding room obviously. Is that a stereo mic?
     
  10. tdcrjeff

    tdcrjeff Senior Member

    Location:
    Hermosa Beach, CA
    Yes, single-point stereo. Two plugs for R/L. It was fairly popular choice for tapers in the 1970s.
    [​IMG]
     
    ceddy10165 and Ryan Lux like this.
  11. Ryan Lux

    Ryan Lux Senior Member

    Location:
    Toronto, ON, CA
    Thanks! Great recording though there's a lot of calls to "sit down!". So funny.
     
  12. ODShowtime

    ODShowtime jaded faded

    Location:
    Tampa
    Ok I see The Who LA 1980 and I raise you Rush Anaheim Convention Center 06-12-1981.
     
  13. ODShowtime

    ODShowtime jaded faded

    Location:
    Tampa
    Damn, hopefully you had some decent shrubs that month. Wow.
     
    K.K.VanMalmsteen likes this.
  14. rkt88

    rkt88 The unknown soldier

    Location:
    malibu ca
    i snuck wally heider into the santa monica civic once. does that count?
     
  15. Tim1954

    Tim1954 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Cincinnati, OH
    Man, a great story with sad ending. I’d have love to have heard all three of those shows.

    Thankfully, a lot of great Sabs has surfaced in recent years. Including the Millard recording of Long Beach ‘75, but from a performance standpoint the Lampinski shows from Providence ‘74 and ‘75 are off the chains!

    I’ve got a few PFM boots but no audience recordings from the ‘74 USA tour. Wow!

    @blacksabbathrainbow will probably shed a tear when she sees that you recorded the Honolulu ‘71 show but it didn’t survive the years.
     
  16. Hammer70

    Hammer70 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Toronto
    In my life, I only ever tried to tape a concert once: Queen at Exhibition Stadium, Toronto on August 30, 1980. I was 15 at the time. Huge Queen fan, I also had the Christmas ‘75 show that I’d recorded off the radio and Live Killers from the year before. Recorded it in mono on a small Sony - was a fair distance from the stage, the stadium was cavernous and two girls were singing beside me. I was so distraught that my recording sounded so unprofessional that I erased it less than a week later. Really wishing I kept it as my own souvenir of the show. But the released Rocks Montreal from a year later (audio and blu-ray) was pretty much the same setlist.

    To be honest, I’m not much into audience recordings, other than for historic purposes (in some cases). Admittedly, multitrack and soundboard recordings don’t always have the same vibe as an audience recording but I prefer the additional clarity. I actually didn’t even add some of the Cat Stevens bonus tracks on the 2020 Tillerman deluxe set because they were poor audience quality.
     
    Zeki likes this.
  17. sons of nothing

    sons of nothing Forum Resident

    Location:
    Illinois
    I love how old tapes from back in the day still show up from time to time, especially Black Sabbath. So few tapes exist of them doing tracks like Warning and Sleeping Village, A Song For Jim, covers like Early One Morning or Blue Coat Man.

    Folks, our final shirts don't have a pocket. Set then free while you can.
     
    blacksabbathrainbow likes this.
  18. FillmoreGuy

    FillmoreGuy Forum Resident

    Location:
    springfield nj
    Did it twice. Jimi Hendrix Experience at Madison Square Garden (1st rock concert I ever saw. Jimi was so-so that night)
    2nd time- ELP Thanksgiving Day 1971 also at MSG. Used a Radio Shack cassette player for these shows. Lost the tapes ages ago.
     
    ARK, DTK, Zeki and 1 other person like this.
  19. OhioHead

    OhioHead Forum Resident

    Location:
    Ohio
    I open tape bands that allow it and have stealth taped a couple of shows since 2015 (Paul McCartney & Nick Mason). The Nick Mason show was easy to get the gear in (winter), Sony M-10, battery box & Church CA 14 (cardioid mic’s), this show I had a mic bar w/ me that I taped to a flat brim hat in a bathroom stall.

    When I open tape, it frustrates me that of all the places to stand in a venue, a chatty group will stand in front of the mic’s - oh well your talking will be posted on the net.

    Goose, Billy Strings & Leftover Salmon are all coming up this summer.
     
    ARK, zphage and trd like this.
  20. PrineHootieWho2000

    PrineHootieWho2000 Forum Resident

    Location:
    USA
    He didn't get busted? I've been busted (Shawn Colvin & Steve Earle) - security was SERIOUS. They told someone else to stop and then that meant I should shut down too.
    I taped Barenaked Ladies at a different venue two years later without trouble.
     
  21. Ray29

    Ray29 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brooklyn, NY
    I walked right into the Centrum arena in Worcester, Massachusetts in April 1987 with a boom box. Recorded the Grateful Dead on 2 Maxell XL II 90’s. It was a JVC cassette deck with 2 built in stereo mics. Still have the tapes. Sound is excellent albeit with plenty of in between Stoner banter between me and my friend. The Dead sure took their time between tunes.
     
    Last edited: Jun 3, 2021
    ARK and Zeki like this.
  22. spencer1

    spencer1 Great Western Forum Resident

    1973 Deep Purple MkII at Long Beach.
    Dann who was 6’4”, as wide as he was tall and a “don’t f**k with me” look on his face smuggled a cassette recorder in under his Pea Coat (remember when those coats were popular?)

    He was not asked to open his coat, they actually stepped back as he passed through.

    We were sailing along on way too much mescaline and had brought bota bags filled with vodka and orange juice.
    In our haze we had convinced ourselves that we would need Vitamin C that night.
    Vodka and OJ seemed like the best way to get it.

    During Ian Paice’s drum solo you can not only hear our buddy Dave vomiting but you can also hear the actual splash on the floor.
    A famous tape for us.

    That show was eventually officially released on Deep Purple’s Archive series.
     
    Ere, ARK, kouzie and 6 others like this.
  23. olsen

    olsen Senior Member

    Location:
    los angeles
    In Summer 1967 I wanted to tape some Hollywood Bowl shows. Then and now, the Bowl is open to the public during the day. I spent an afternoon there scoping out possible AC outlets. Found one in some bushes by the seats I'd purchased for Janis Joplin. Next day I brought in a reel to reel - not a Wollensak but a 7" reel to reel WITH A PLUG - in a shopping bag and hid it in the bushes under some leaves. Came back on show night, managed to plug it in and pull it up into my lap. Mic held high, I got the show. Repeated this a few weeks later and got Donovan and his totally appropriate opening act, the Buckinghams. Tapes lost to time sadly.

    edit to add: A reel to reel, what was I thinking
     
    Tommy Jay, ARK, DTK and 5 others like this.
  24. rkt88

    rkt88 The unknown soldier

    Location:
    malibu ca
    there was a time when you could actually sit atop the hill above the bowl and hear the summer sounds wafting from the theatre.

    i have both been to the bowl on many wonderful occasions - and also been the fool on the hill.

    i only mentioned the wollensak as it was the height of technology for consumer use reel to reels in the early 60's..

    and in fact what my pop used to record the very first bob dylan interview in '61.

    i later used this white and aluminum reel to reel on "output". probably to sing along to "down in the boondocks" by billy joe royal. a columbia records hit - circa 66 lol

    because that's the side of town, i was born in.
     
    Zeki likes this.
  25. trusso

    trusso Forum Resident

    Going by memory:

    Kiss at MSG Dec 1977. super 8mm movie camera

    Yes - Nassau Coliseum - June 1979. - uper 8mm movie camera

    Kiss - MSG. - July 1979. Boom box tape recorder and movie camera

    Cheap Trick - Calderone Theater - April 1980 movie camera and Walkman. I got caught filming. And was told I could be arrested. They took the batteries out of the movie camera and gave it back to me. I used the batteries in the Walkman.

    Debbie Gibson - Jones Beach 1988. Radio shack tape recorder inserted into a Chips Ahoy family pack of cookies

    Debbie Gibson - Nassau Coliseum 1989- Walkman

    Kiss Nassau Coliseum 1989 Walkman

    Ringo Starr JOnes Beach 1989. Walkman ( this one was interesting. I scold two extra tickets to someone. He was sitting next to me and was taking pictures with a 35mm camera. Security guy came over, took his camera, pulled out the film and exposed it, handed him back the camera and threw him out).

    Rolling Stones - 1989 - Shea Stadium Walkman

    Billy Joel - 1989 - Nassau Coliseum. Walkman

    McCartney MSG 1989. Walkman

    McCartney 1990 Giants Stadium. Walkman

    Hall and Oates 1991 x Jones Beach. Walkman

    Ringo Starr - 1992 - Jones Beach - Walkman

    Ringo Starr - 1992 - Radio City Music Hall - Walkman

    Debbie Gibson - 1995 - Borders Books. Walkman

    Shania Twain 2000. - MSG. walkman

    Mariah Carey 2001 MSG. Walkman

    Ringo Starr - 2000 - Westbury Music Fair. - Walkman

    Ringo Starr 2002? Jones Beach. Sony MD

    Brian Wilson and Paul Simon 2002. Jones Beach Sony MD

    McCartney Citi Field 2009(?) Kodak HD a video camera

    McCartney - 2014 - Las Angeles iphone

    kiss 2019 Nassau Coliseum - iphone
     
    Last edited: Jun 4, 2021
    ARK, Pinknik, ted321 and 3 others like this.
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.

Share This Page

molar-endocrine