Elton John - Rock in Rio, Parque Olimpico, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 9-7-2026

Here's a concert from earlier this month (writing this in September 2026). Elton John performed in front of over 100,000 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil as the headline act for the 2026 Rock in Rio Festival. Luckily for us, it was broadcast on local radio and TV, so we have an excellent sounding version.

This concert wasn't on my radar screen to be posted. However, a frequent contributor to this blog, Fabio from Rio, is from, well, Rio. He actually attended this concert and enjoyed it, and then encouraged me to post it. So twist my arm, here we are. 

Since Fabio attended this concert, I thought that instead of the usual blah blah blah from me, we could have Fabio give his report on how the concert went. I asked him, and he kindly obliged. So here's Fabio impression of the concert experience. Take it away, Fabio: 

This was not my first time attending an Elton John performance. He is a "frequent flyer" to Brazil (he has been around here a dozen times, maybe) and I had already attended three or four of his concerts in Rio, the first one 31 years ago, in 1995, in a much smaller venue. This time around, since I was told it could really be his "last one ever," I decided at the last minute to go.

Attending the Rock in Rio Festival is far more than just going to a concert; it is a true, immersive experience. The festival grounds practically transform into a massive amusement park, packed with dozens of entertainment options. You could easily spend hours wandering between a movie theater, pop-up pubs, and dedicated stages featuring dance and acrobatic performances. The musical diversity is dizzying, spanning everything from traditional Brazilian music, instrumental sets, jazz, funk, and mainstream pop, all the way to electronic beats blasting until 3:00 AM. They even have a massive Ferris wheel and a zip line over the crowd. Oh, and there are also a couple of "rock" acts to justify the festival's title.  

As I mentioned, wanting to take it all in, I made sure to arrive early. My goal was to explore the vast venue without immediately getting tethered to the main stages. Since I was wandering around, I deliberately ignored a few big-name shows (at least that's what they were hyping). I followed my ears and ended up catching a fantastic blues cover band, a stunning ballet performance on stilts, and a brilliant set by the legendary Brazilian singer-songwriter Gilberto Gil, among a couple other nice acts.

As the night progressed, it was time for the main event: Mr. Reginald K. Dwight. About an hour before the scheduled start of the show, I managed to squeeze my way through the sea of people and get to a reasonably good spot, but even then, Elton felt incredibly far away. In practice, I ended up watching most of his spectacular performance on the gigantic video screens flanking the stage. It was a fascinating yet slightly surreal experience: feeling the raw energy of a massive crowd all around me while, technically, watching the artist on a screen.  

The concert was really enjoyable: excellent sound, good setlist (all his main hits and a couple of deep cuts), incredible musicianship from the entire band, and Elton was clearly happier than a pig in the mud (or as we say in Brazil, "happier than a chick in the garbage can"). He addressed the crowd half a dozen times, including complaining a bit about the cold weather. We had an unusually cool night - around 18 degrees C (64 degrees F) which, for a Brazilian, and apparently for Elton too, is almost Game of Thrones' North Wall-level freezing. Elton later told the press that he felt it was one of his best performances of later years, and that the night was simply incredible. 

--- 

The only thing I want to add to that has to do with the sound quality. The vast majority of this apparently comes from the version broadcast on TV. That's a lucky thing, because the radio version was constantly interrupted by very annoying DJ (the morning "shock jock" types) speaking in rapid-fire Portuguese between almost every song. However, the TV version was lacking the encore of the last three songs. So I used the radio version for that, carefully getting rid of the DJ talk along the way. I also checked that version for differences, and found some more of John's banter between songs. So I added in those bits from the other source as well.

This album is two hours and 11 minutes long.

01 Funeral for a Friend - Love Lies Bleeding (Elton John)
02 talk (Elton John)
03 Bennie and the Jets (Elton John)
04 I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues (Elton John)
05 Philadelphia Freedom (Elton John)
06 talk (Elton John)
07 The One (Elton John)
08 Tiny Dancer (Elton John)
09 Sacrifice (Elton John)
10 Honky Cat (Elton John)
11 Rocket Man [I Think It's Going to Be a Long, Long Time] (Elton John)
12 Levon (Elton John)
13 Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word (Elton John)
14 Someone Saved My Life Tonight (Elton John)
15 Have Mercy on the Criminal (Elton John)
16 talk (Elton John)
17 Candle in the Wind (Elton John)
18 Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (Elton John)
19 talk (Elton John)
20 Sad Songs [Say So Much] (Elton John)
21 talk (Elton John)
22 Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me (Elton John)
23 Crocodile Rock (Elton John)
24 Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting (Elton John)
25 I'm Still Standing (Elton John)
26 talk (Elton John)
27 Cold Heart (Elton John)
28 talk (Elton John)
29 Skyline Pigeon (Elton John)
30 talk (Elton John)
31 Your Song (Elton John)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/HM1acHif

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/en/Rox5dzGV7ruzI7T/file

The cover image was put together by Fabio using an AI program. But the photo is a real, unaltered photo from this exact concert. (I double checked.) 

The AI helped with the text and layout and so forth. Fabio still uses CDs, and makes CDs of bootlegs he likes. So he made a back cover for himself, again using the assistance of AI. I don't know how many people might find such a thing useful. But what the heck, here it is if anyone wants it.

John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison & Ringo Starr - Solo Rockers, Volume 3 (1969-2026) (A Mike Solof Guest Post)

Here's the third and last album compiling the best rockers from the solo careers of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. Once again put together by Mike Solof (with some suggestions from me). 

There's one more best ballads album coming. Then, since McCartney has so much solo career, and his heart keeps on ticking, there's another album of extra rockers from him, and another of extra ballads. (On top of that, you'll also notice slightly more songs from him on these other albums too.)

Most of the songs here come from studio albums. There are a couple of exceptions though. "Soily" is a great McCartney rocker from his Wings years. He put out a live version, but no studio version. The version here is an unreleased studio take. Also, "I'm Losing You" and "Cleanup Time" were both included on Lennon's 1980 album "Double Fantasy." However, these are special remixes done by Mike. Oh, and the last song is an unusual one. "Givin' Grease a Ride" originally appeared on a 1974 album by Mike McGear, McCartney's brother. But Mike (Solof) did another edit to remove McGear and focus on McCartney's participation on it. McCartney co-wrote it, and the backing band on the recording was Wings. 

This album is 59 minutes long. 

31 Soily [Take 7] (Paul McCartney)
32 Goodnight Vienna (Ringo Starr)
33 I'm Losing You [Mike's Mix 2025] (John Lennon)
34 Old Siam, Sir (Paul McCartney)
35 Any Road (George Harrison)
36 Cleanup Time [Mike's Mix 2025] (John Lennon)
37 Spin It On (Paul McCartney)
38 It Don't Come Easy (Ringo Starr)
39 Sue Me, Sue You Blues (George Harrison)
40 House of Wax (Paul McCartney)
41 Whatever Gets You thru the Night (John Lennon)
42 Any Road (George Harrison)
43 Home to Us (Paul McCartney & Ringo Starr)
44 Drowning in the Sea of Love (Ringo Starr)
45 Givin' Grease a Ride [Wings Only Version] [Mike's Mix 2025] (Mike McGear with Paul McCartney and Wings) 

https://pixeldrain.com/u/nNBttgVC

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/d5Oeosromzuc9dy/file

The cover is another imagines Beatles reunion image that Mike asked an AI program to make. I pointed out to him that it was odd if the crowd was behind the Beatles, but Mike pointed out it could have been a stage in the center of the crowd. 

John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison & Ringo Starr - Solo Ballads, Volume 2 (1969-2026) (A Mike Solof Guest Post)

Here is the second out of three albums where guest poster Mike Solof gathered together ballads from the solo careers of the Beatles. 

Since this is a collection of released songs, I don't have much to say. You can find more sourcing details in the mp3 tags. Also, Mike has included a list of the source albums in his PDF file added to the download zip. 

All of the songs are the official studio album versions, with the exception of "Run of the Mill," which is an unreleased demo version. However, when it comes to putting a ballads album like this Mike noticed a lot of the Beatles solo career songs tended to be more of the rocking variety. So, for five of the songs here, Mike made mixes to make these, well, more ballad-esque. Those are the ones with "[Mike's Mix 2026]" in their titles.

This album is 48 minutes long.

15 Somedays (Paul McCartney)
16 Give Me Love [Give Me Peace on Earth] (George Harrison)
17 Bless You (John Lennon)
18 Heal the Pain (Paul McCartney & George Michael)
19 Grow Old with Me [Mike's Mix 2026] (Ringo Starr)
20 Run of the Mill [Demo] (George Harrison)
21 Tomorrow (Paul McCartney)
22 Beautiful Boy [Darling Boy] (John Lennon)
23 Only You [Mike's Mix 2026] (Ringo Starr)
24 Footprints (Paul McCartney)
25 Woman [Mike's Mix 2023] (John Lennon)
26 Golden Blunders (Ringo Starr)
27 Days We Left Behind (Paul McCartney)
28 Grow Old with Me [Mike's Mix 2023] (John Lennon)
29 Just for Today [Mike's Mix] (George Harrison)
30 Jenny Wren (Paul McCartney)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/1CCu6UDj

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/9EfenBAkeihKu2n/file

The cover is more AI art Mike found on the Internet. He likes those more than I do. All the ones in this ballads series have the same style.

St. Vincent - Cover Versions, Volume 3: 2022-2026

Here's the third and final album of cover versions by singer-songwriter St. Vincent. Once again, a big thanks to musical friend Lil Panda for coming up with the idea and helping to put this together.

This time, the vast majority of the songs are unreleased versions, usually from concert bootlegs. The only officially released ones are the first three tracks, plus track 7. As usual, consult the mp3 tags for more sourcing details.

Also, if you think her version of "Running Up That Hill" sounds remarkably similar to the original by Kate Bush, that's because it's St. Vincent's vocals added to the instrumentation of the original. 

Even though most of the songs come from bootlegs, the sound quality is generally excellent. 

This album is 50 minutes long.

Here's a list of the original artists for each song:

01 Funkytown - Lipps, Inc.
02 Dig Me Out - Sleater-Kinney
03 Piggy - Nine Inch Nails
04 You Still Believe in Me - Beach Boys
05 Glory Box - Portishead
06 Running Up That Hill [A Deal with God] - Kate Bush
07 Pain for Fun - Willow
08 Breed - Nirvana
09 Lush Life - Billy Strayhorn
10 Young Americans - David Bowie
11 Grace - Jeff Buckley
12 Poses -  Rufus Wainwright

Here's the usual song list: 

01 Funkytown (St. Vincent)
02 Dig Me Out (St. Vincent)
03 Piggy (St. Vincent)
04 You Still Believe in Me (St. Vincent)
05 Glory Box (St. Vincent with the Roots)
06 Running Up That Hill [A Deal with God] [Live Vocals Only] (St. Vincent)
07 Pain for Fun (Willow & St. Vincent)
08 Breed (Nirvana & St. Vincent)
09 Lush Life (St. Vincent)
10 Young Americans (St. Vincent)
11 Grace (St. Vincent)
12 Poses (St. Vincent)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/qC5AUHT6

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/I9hBSLrxczpAHCS/file

The cover image is from a concert at the Chase Center in San Francisco, on September 26, 2022.

Robyn Hitchcock & Emma Swift - Live from Tubby's House, Nashville, TN, 8-24-2026

Ever since at least the Covid pandemic beginning in 2020, Robyn Hitchcock has performed a lot of home concerts. Generally speaking, I haven't posted them because they were behind paywalls, and artists like him need ways to make a living. But about two weeks ago as I write this in early September 2026, Hitchcock posted a home concert on YouTube that's available for anyone. I've converted it from video to audio and chopped it up into mp3s, so you can enjoy it as an audio bootleg. 

In July 2026, Hitchcock released an excellent new studio album, "The Confuser." It's his best in years, in my opinion. Yet, in typical contrarian fashion, he barely promoted it at all in this concert. He only played one song from hit, "My Dead Astronaut." Instead, this was a requests show, and he and his partner Emma Swift were looking at Internet requests as they came in live and performing some of them. So he tended to do lesser known songs.

Speaking of Swift, she is an excellent singer herself. She sang harmonies on a good number of the songs. She also bantered back and forth with Hitchcock between most of the songs, but I didn't carefully listen to the talking tracks to see which ones involved her or didn't. 

 

Hitchcock and Swift did another one of these concerts for YouTube on September 2, 2026, and I have plans to process and post that one as well. 

This album is an hour and 31 minutes long.

01 talk (Robyn Hitchcock)
02 My Dead Astronaut (Robyn Hitchcock)
03 talk (Robyn Hitchcock)
04 You and Oblivion (Robyn Hitchcock)
05 talk (Robyn Hitchcock)
06 The Leopard (Robyn Hitchcock)
07 talk (Robyn Hitchcock & Emma Swift)
08 [A Man's Gotta Know His Limitations] Briggs (Robyn Hitchcock & Emma Swift)
09 talk (Robyn Hitchcock)
10 I Often Dream of Trains (Robyn Hitchcock)
11 Raymond Chandler Evening (Robyn Hitchcock)
12 talk (Robyn Hitchcock)
13 Autumn Is Your Last Chance (Robyn Hitchcock)
14 talk (Robyn Hitchcock)
15 Mexican God (Robyn Hitchcock)
16 talk (Robyn Hitchcock)
17 Cynthia Mask (Robyn Hitchcock)
18 talk (Robyn Hitchcock)
19 Winchester (Robyn Hitchcock)
20 talk (Robyn Hitchcock & Emma Swift)
21 So You Think You're in Love (Robyn Hitchcock & Emma Swift)
22 talk (Robyn Hitchcock & Emma Swift)
23 Rock 'n' Roll Toilet (Robyn Hitchcock & Emma Swift)
24 talk (Robyn Hitchcock & Emma Swift)
25 Oceanside (Robyn Hitchcock & Emma Swift)
26 talk (Robyn Hitchcock)
27 Glass Hotel (Robyn Hitchcock)
28 talk (Robyn Hitchcock)
29 Opel (Robyn Hitchcock)
30 talk (Robyn Hitchcock & Emma Swift)
31 One Long Pair of Eyes (Robyn Hitchcock & Emma Swift)
32 talk (Robyn Hitchcock)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/zX1iRPXP

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/BN2ki1qPiczUr5C/file

The cover image is a screenshot I took from a video of this exact concert. I used the Ask Gemini program to improve the image quality.

Covered: Brian Wilson, Volume 5: 2017-2026 (A Fabio from Rio Guest Post)

Finally, we arrive at the last volume of this "Covered" project, bringing Fabio’s "Brian Wilson Week" to a close just in time to celebrate what would have been Brian’s 83rd birthday on June 20, 2026. (He died on June 11, 2025.)

This volume focuses on more recent performances, spanning the years 2017 through 2026. In fact, the final track was released only a few weeks before this post went online. Together, these recordings provide yet another illustration of Wilson’s enduring influence across multiple generations of musicians.

One track deserves a bit of additional explanation, as it touches on a subject that some readers may find controversial. Dae Lim’s version of "Let’s Put Our Hearts Together" is a hybrid creation that combines archival material, original recordings, and a degree of AI (Artificial Intelligence) assistance. Dae recorded new vocal parts and worked with existing Beach Boys-related material, using AI-based tools to help blend timbres and stylistic elements in a way that evokes the sound of a classic Beach Boys recording. The result is something akin to uncovering a previously unheard Beach Boys tape based on fragments and possibilities rather than a genuine lost master. Whether one embraces or rejects that approach, the results are certainly intriguing and worth hearing.

Note also, I have a policy of only including one version first song in these Covered projects. However, for Wilson, Fabio and I couldn't resist, including two versions of possibly two of his greatest creations, "Good Vibrations" and "God Only Knows." The second version of "Good Vibrations" is here, while all the other ones are included in earlier volumes.

If there are any Brian Wilson songs that you feel we should have included and we didn't include, please let us know. Sometimes we can make additions after the initial posting. But keep in mind there are some excellent Beach Boys songs that were not written or written by him. Perhaps at some future point we might make a covered album for the other Beach Boys.

Thanks again to Fabio from Rio for spearheading this project.

This album is 59 minutes long.

01 Kiss Me Baby (Kayla Williams)
02 Let Him Run Wild (Malibu Buckeroo)
03 That's Not Me (Suburb Smoking)
04 Busy Doing Nothing (Samantha Sidley)
05 Caroline, No (Chrissie Hynde)
06 'Til I Die (Tim Swisher & Cosmic Restoration Band)
07 All I Wanna Do (Mapache)
08 Dance, Dance, Dance (Johnathan Pushkar)
09 Good Vibrations (SAER)
10 Help Me Rhonda (Weeklings)
11 I'd Love Just Once to See You (Anderson Council)
12 Thank Him (Gracia Rother)
13 Meant for You (She & Him)
14 All Summer Long (Skelgro)
15 Melt Away (She & Him)
16 Let the Wind Blow (Royal Fuse)
17 And Your Dream Comes True (Harvard Krokodiloes)
18 Let's Put Our Hearts Together (Dae Lims with the Beach Boys)
19 Little Saint Nick (Moon Loungers)
20 Your Summer Dream (Gracia Rother)
21 Wendy (Adam Michel)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/gGPa3DBS

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/rBCDmQrldMV8o91/file

The cover image is from 2016. 

Elle Cordova & Toni Lindgren - Full Moon Tunes Livestream, 5-31-2026

Here's something that's only a couple of days old, as I post this in early June 2026. This happened to come up for me on YouTube. It's a short acoustic concert from Elle Cordova and Toni Lindgren.

So far, I've posted 14 volumes of Cordova and Lindgren performing cover songs. (In case the names don't ring a bell, Cordova used to be known as "Reina del Cid.") Unfortunately, it seems they've broken their habit of performing a new cover song every Sunday, after doing that for at least eight years. There's only been one new cover song posted in the last six months, for instance, so I haven't been able to update that series in a long time. But in this video, they talked about resuming that, but only doing one new cover song every full moon.

I enjoy their cover versions, but they have good originals too. This is a mix of covers and originals. (Specifically, "Jambalaya (On the Bayou)," "Tennessee Waltz," and "The Monkey and the Engineer" are the covers.) It was performed in acoustic mode, with just the two of them, as they usually do.

I'm a stickler for giving the date and location of any concert I post. In this case, I know the date but not the location. Clearly, it was a free webcast recorded in somebody's living room. But I have no idea of the town or even the state. If you do know, please let me know, and I'll fill in the missing information in the title. 

This album is 43 minutes long. 

01 Runner in the Sun (Elle Cordova & Toni Lindgren)
02 talk (Elle Cordova & Toni Lindgren)
03 Bernadette (Elle Cordova & Toni Lindgren)
04 talk (Elle Cordova & Toni Lindgren)
05 Jambalaya [On the Bayou] (Elle Cordova & Toni Lindgren)
06 talk (Elle Cordova & Toni Lindgren)
07 Carl Sagan (Elle Cordova & Toni Lindgren)
08 talk (Elle Cordova & Toni Lindgren)
09 Tennessee Waltz (Elle Cordova & Toni Lindgren)
10 talk (Elle Cordova & Toni Lindgren)
11 Roswell (Elle Cordova & Toni Lindgren)
12 talk (Elle Cordova & Toni Lindgren)
13 The Monkey and the Engineer (Elle Cordova & Toni Lindgren)
14 talk (Elle Cordova & Toni Lindgren)
15 Whiskey Down (Elle Cordova & Toni Lindgren) 

https://pixeldrain.com/u/6DAV8Sd4

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/i5y5WQSFEvYZyFi/file

The cover image is not from this exact concert. However, this is the thumbnail image they used to promote the concert on YouTube. The thumbnail was too small, but I looked around and found a larger version, then used that. That's Lindgren with the sunglasses and Cordova with the striped shirt.

Covered: Neil Young: Alternates, Volume 4: 2016-2026 (A Fabio from Rio Guest Post)

In recent days, I've been posting four alternate "Covered" album by Neil Young. As I explained previously, I mostly picked the songs in the ten volume "Covered" series for him. But these four are the turn for guest poster Fabio from Rio to make the picks. This is the fourth and last of those alternates.

There's not much else to say that I didn't say in previous write-ups. However, I'll reiterate that, for these four alternate volumes as a whole, about half the songs are different versions of songs on the original ten-volume "Covered" series, and the other half are songs that didn't get included there. But I'd say on this volume, only a few are unique, like "Ramada Inn," "Hey Babe," and "Human Race." And there actually are two versions of "Pressure" in these alternate albums, and none in the original 10-volume series.

Thanks again for Fabio for his role in making all these albums, both the original series and this series of alternates.  

This album is an hour and five minutes long. 

01 Pressure (Ossifer)
02 Expecting to Fly (Jakob Dylan & Regina Spektor)
03 Ambulance Blues (Jeff Rosenstock, Laura Stevenson)
04 The Losing End (Bill Janovitz)
05 Thrasher (Scott the Hoople)
06 Like an Inca (Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real)
07 Ramada Inn (Scott the Hoople)
08 Hey Babe (Jeff Rosenstock & Laura Stevenson)
09 Human Race (Bernhard Schafers)
10 Lotta Love (Juliana Hatfield)
11 Give Me Strength (Emma Swift)
12 Such a Woman (Charlie Greene)
13 Comes a Time (Lena Hall)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/x61VMjCZ 

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/0rXP3r6JnwvGlv0/file

The cover image is from 2012 or thereabouts.

Gillian Welch & David Rawlings - Acoustic Reckoning, Capitol Theatre, Port Chester, NY, 4-11-2026

Here's something for Grateful Dead fans as well as fans of Gillian Welch and David Rawlings: it's acoustic versions of most of the songs on the 1981 Grateful Dead album "Reckoning," plus many other Grateful Dead covers. There's a lot of music to love here as well, since the concert was almost three hours long. And it took place less than a month ago, as I write this in May 2026.

Lately, I've been doing a lot of searching for concerts that have taken place in the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, New York, due to the leak of dozens of concerts from there a couple of weeks ago. The sound quality of these concerts is excellent, but most of them need work being split into individual song files and such, so I've been checking to see if other people are doing that. These searches have turned up a few things that don't actually come from that big leak, and this is one of them. This is from a webcast instead. So, while the sourcing is different, the sound quality is equally excellent.

Welch and Rawlings have become stars of roots music, blending country, bluegrass, and folk. But while they've released many albums mostly consisting of songs they've written, it turns out they've also been Deadheads all along. In fact, while gathering information for this album, I came across an article talking about how Welch followed the Dead for some concerts in the late 1980s, as Deadheads did. So, apparently just for fun, they decided to perform an entire tour of the U.S. consisting of nothing but covers of Dead songs, as well as cover songs closely associated with the Dead. The tour started in April 2026 with this concert, and will continue through August. So if you're reading this, you might want to go see them live. I checked their setlists at setlist.fm. It turns out they've been varying up their set lists a lot on the tour. They played 24 songs here. But they've done over 40 different ones on the tour so far, and all the songs are those that were performed by the Dead.

The tour was inspired by the Dead's "Reckoning" album, which was semi-acoustic. It's hard to call it fully acoustic, since the band had two drummers. But Welch and Rawlings went even more stripped down, being accompanied by just a bassist (as you can see on the cover image). A majority of the songs performed did appear on "Reckoning," but it's a loose tribute. They skipped some songs from that album, and played quite a few others. I was especially impressed by "St. Stephen," as I didn't know it could sound good with such minimal instrumentation.  

This album is two hours and 52 minutes long. 

01 talk (Gillian Welch & David Rawlings)
02 Bertha (Gillian Welch & David Rawlings)
03 Jack Straw (Gillian Welch & David Rawlings)
04 Oh Babe It Ain't No Lie (Gillian Welch & David Rawlings)
05 Dire Wolf (Gillian Welch & David Rawlings)
06 Dark Hollow (Gillian Welch & David Rawlings)
07 talk (Gillian Welch & David Rawlings)
08 It Must Have Been the Roses (Gillian Welch & David Rawlings)
09 Loser (Gillian Welch & David Rawlings)
10 Friend of the Devil (Gillian Welch & David Rawlings)
11 Cassidy (Gillian Welch & David Rawlings)
12 talk (Gillian Welch & David Rawlings)
13 Cumberland Blues (Gillian Welch & David Rawlings)
14 Brown-Eyed Women (Gillian Welch & David Rawlings)
15 I've Been All Around This World (Gillian Welch & David Rawlings)
16 Deep Elm Blues (Gillian Welch & David Rawlings)
17 Brokedown Palace (Gillian Welch & David Rawlings)
18 talk (Gillian Welch & David Rawlings)
19 He's Gone (Gillian Welch & David Rawlings)
20 Cold Rain and Snow (Gillian Welch & David Rawlings)
21 Bird Song (Gillian Welch & David Rawlings)
22 Ripple (Gillian Welch & David Rawlings)
23 talk (Gillian Welch & David Rawlings)
24 Althea (Gillian Welch & David Rawlings)
25 To Lay Me Down (Gillian Welch & David Rawlings)
26 St. Stephen (Gillian Welch & David Rawlings)
27 Not Fade Away - St. Stephen [Reprise] (Gillian Welch & David Rawlings)
28 Morning Dew (Gillian Welch & David Rawlings)
29 talk (Gillian Welch & David Rawlings) 

https://pixeldrain.com/u/eZTJVaSo

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/o5bi397bmPxuc35/file 

The cover image, from right to left: David Rawlings, Gillian Welch and Paul Kowert. This image was taken at the Fox Theater, in Oakland, California, on April 17th, 2026, less than a week after the concert presented here. The text at the top and the bottom come from a promotional image associated with the webcast. I just resized the words and moved them around.

Brandi Carlile - Target Center, Minneapolis, MN, 2-21-2026

Here's a concert that I'm posting (on February 24, 2026) only three days after it took place. One thing that often stops me from posting recent music is sound quality. But this is a rare exception because the concert was broadcast live on a local radio station. That means the sound quality is excellent.

This concert had special significance because of the city it was taking place in - Minneapolis. This was a regularly scheduled stop on Brandi Carlile's national tour, planned months in advance. But with the battles between I.C.E. and the local populace in Minneapolis, Carlile wanted to broadcast this concert on the radio to help celebrate the successful resistance efforts there. It was also livestreamed nationally, and available for a fee for 24 hours. The concert thus raised $600,000 for a non-profit, the Advocates for Human Rights, who are supporting legal efforts of those detained by I.C.E. So good for Carlile! I hope more musical acts make similar efforts.

If you also want to donate to the same cause, here's their link:

https://www.theadvocatesforhumanrights.org/Home 

This concert got some media attention. Here's a Rolling Stone Magazine article about it, which mainly consists of an interview Carlile gave right after the concert finished:

Brandi Carlile on Resisting Trump, Protesting ICE in Minneapolis 

And here's another article with some further links and photos and so forth:

https://www.jambase.com/article/brandi-carlile-twin-cities-singing-resistance-minneapolis

The song list was pretty similar to other ones on her tour. It mostly consisted of originals, with a few covers thrown in: "Long, Long Time," "Viva la Vida," and "Uninvited." And just for the concert, it ended with "It's Okay to Change Your Mind," which had become a theme song for protesters in Minneapolis. For that song, Carlile was joined on stage by the Singing Resistance, which is a group of hundreds of locals who have been conducting singing vigils to help protest illegal actions by I.C.E.

I didn't change the music here. However, there were frequent interjections by radio DJs between songs to mention the radio station name and so on. I edited all of those out. And there was much longer DJ banter before and after the concert, plus during an unusually long break before the encore. I cut all that out as well.  

Thanks to commenter nytvf for suggesting I check out this concert. I might have missed it otherwise. 

This album is two hours and 22 minutes long. 

01 Returning to Myself (Brandi Carlile)
02 Human (Brandi Carlile)
03 talk (Brandi Carlile)
04 Mainstream Kid (Brandi Carlile)
05 Broken Horses (Brandi Carlile)
06 talk (Brandi Carlile)
07 A War with Time (Brandi Carlile)
08 talk (Brandi Carlile)
09 A Woman Oversees (Brandi Carlile)
10 Right on Time (Brandi Carlile)
11 talk (Brandi Carlile)
12 Who Believes in Angels (Brandi Carlile)
13 talk (Brandi Carlile)
14 Beginning to Feel the Years (Brandi Carlile)
15 talk (Brandi Carlile)
16 The Things I Regret (Brandi Carlile)
17 talk (Brandi Carlile)
18 You without Me (Brandi Carlile)
19 The Mother (Brandi Carlile)
20 talk (Brandi Carlile)
21 The Story (Brandi Carlile)
22 talk (Brandi Carlile)
23 You and Me on the Rock (Brandi Carlile)
24 talk (Brandi Carlile)
25 No One Knows Us (Brandi Carlile)
26 talk (Brandi Carlile)
27 Sinners, Saints and Fools - Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me 'Round (Brandi Carlile)
28 talk (Brandi Carlile)
29 Long, Long Time (Brandi Carlile)
30 talk (Brandi Carlile)
31 The Joke (Brandi Carlile)
32 Hold Out Your Hand (Brandi Carlile)
33 talk (Brandi Carlile)
34 Viva la Vida (Brandi Carlile with the Head & the Heart)
35 Church and State (Brandi Carlile)
36 Uninvited (Brandi Carlile)
37 talk (Brandi Carlile)
38 A Long Goodbye - Girl from the North Country (Brandi Carlile)
39 It's Okay to Change Your Mind (Brandi Carlile with the Singing Resistance) 

https://pixeldrain.com/u/4yqPQbXg

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/en/6DPGvIGjM5rq3hI/file

The cover image is from this exact concert.

Bruce Springsteen - Streets of Minneapolis (Live Acoustic Version)

Here's a song that was actually created earlier today, January 30, 2026. I don't think I've ever posted anything this fast at this blog before. Just two days earlier, Bruce Springsteen released a new song called "Streets of Minneapolis," which he had written only a couple of days before that. That released version was performed with a full band. But today, he was in Minneapolis, and he was a guest at a Tom Morello concert held at a small club. While there, he performed two songs, and one of them was "Streets of Minneapolis," done in solo acoustic mode. I thought this version is different enough, and interesting enough, to merit being posted here.

The recording of this song was just done by someone on their cell phone, so there were some sound quality issues. Another reason I'm posting this is because I figured I could make this version more listenable with some audio editing improvements. I used the MVSEP program to reduce the crowd noise during the song. I kept in some roars of the crowd where they were warranted, but I got rid of a lot of ambient noise, as well as random loud screams and woo-hoos. I also used the Adobe vocal enhancer program to add some clarity to Springsteen's comments before the song began.

In case you haven't figured it out from the song title, or from hearing about it already, the song is about the current crisis with I.C.E. misbehaving in Minneapolis. While I'm a political progressive, I usually try to avoid talking about politics on this music blog. But I have to say I'm glad that Springsteen has written a song to express what a majority of people in the U.S. are feeling right now: that I.C.E. is going too far, and they're harassing, hurting, and sometimes even killing people they don't like instead of properly doing their jobs. Democracy is in danger of being replaced by a de facto dictatorship. I hope other musicians follow Springsteen's example and lend their talents to help push back against this power grab.  

Springsteen's performance of this song was newsworthy enough to result in some articles. Here one, from the Daily Beast: 

Bruce Springsteen Kicks Trump ‘In the Teeth’ at Rage-Fueled Show

And here's all of Springsteen's participation in the concert: 

Bruce Springsteen at First Avenue 1/30/26  

After playing his new song, he was joined by a full band, including Tom Morello, and they performed "The Ghost of Tom Joad." Morello played some blistering lead guitar on that one. Then the concert ended with John Lennon's "Power to the People," though really it was just the chorus repeated a few times along with some shouting to get the crowd worked up.

Here's the link to the cleaned-up live acoustic version: 

https://pixeldrain.com/u/yo8eER1S

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/krciqmn65DBSKGU/file

Normally, I post album covers. But this isn't an album. Besides, I'm having problems running Photoshop on my computer in the past few days. So if anyone wants a cover for this, it will have to wait. 

Oh, one final note. The "Brucebase" Bruce Springsteen Wiki has a lot of good links and information relating to this performance, including a bunch of photos. You can find that here:

2026-01-30 First Avenue, Minneapolis, MN - Brucebase Wiki