Shootenanny! came out in early summer, and soon after E and his cohorts kicked off The Tour of Duty, one of their longest, most traveled and hardest rocking tours in its support. I managed to catch them in Washington DC in August of that year, in the snug, sweaty 9:30 Club, and they really rocked my socks off. It was like a bluesy thunderclap rolling off stage and over the audience. You’d scarcely recognize them as the band touring two years later with strings and girls in pajamas.

Enjoy this uncommonly good bootleg from The Tour of Duty, perhaps the best bootleg from the entire tour. Recorded at Acienne Belgique in Brussels on June 23, 2003 (their first European date of the tour), it could pass for the Tour of Duty live album that–ahem–is sorely lacking. True, there’s a great KCRW appearance captured on Sixteen Tons (Ten Songs), but the in-person show was phenomenal and needs a slick layout.

Highlights include 10 of 14 Shootenanny!, including the lenghty, E-as-motivational-speaker “Love Of The Loveless” (priceless!), and ballsy covers of the Beatles’ “I’m A Loser” and Tennessee Ernie Ford’s “Sixteen Tons”. Have a listen before the rigors of 80+ dates take E’s voice to the breaking point!

Sorry, but MC Honky is nowhere to be heard.

Track Listing

  1. Introduction
  2. All In A Day’s Work, Part I
  3. All In A Day’s Work, Part II
  4. Tiger Man
  5. I’m A Loser
  6. Sixteen Tons
  7. Packing Blankets
  8. Saturday Morning
  9. Dirty Girl
  10. My Beloved Monster
  11. 3 Speed
  12. Lone Wolf
  13. Numbered Days
  14. Souljacker, Part I
  15. Agony
  16. Dog Faced Boy
  17. Novocaine For The Soul
  18. I Like Birds
  19. Last Stop: This Town
  20. Love Of The Loveless
  21. Rock Hard Times
  22. It’s A Motherfucker
  23. Grace Kelly Blues
  24. PS, You Rock My World
  25. All In A Day’s Work
  26. Somebody Loves You
  27. Beautiful Freak
  28. Fucker
  29. Fingertips, Part III
  30. La Grange

[Sorry, but this bootleg is no longer available here.]