The Pretenders - Live at the Fillmore

(I said I'd post this Friday, but I'm jumping the gun, as I doubt I will have time to do it. Enjoy! And, I'll talk to you next week!)

Can you be a male, growing up in the 80's, and not have been infatuated with Chrissie Hynde at some point?

She certainly cuts a striking figure, with her jet-black hair and matching eyeliner. Then, throw in her swaggering, sassy personality and you get a lethal combination for any adolescent boy.

Yet, the Pretenders are so much more than eye candy.

Their songs have an instantly recognizable post-punk, new wave sound with Chrissie's sinewy, seductively smoky-sweet vocals fronting chiming guitars and driving beats. But the lightness of the music often covers a lyrically dark world of broken relationships, loss, and missed opportunities.

You've got the broken mother-child relationship in "Kid":
Kid, my only kid
You look so small, you've gone so quiet
I know you know what I'm about
I won't deny it
But, you forgive though you don't understand
You've turned your head
You've dropped my hand

Or, the sad longing for relationships past in "Back on the chain gang":
I found a picture of you
What hijacked my world that night
To a place in the past
We've been cast out of

Or the pain of current relationships in my favorite Pretenders song, their cover of the Divinyls, "Human":
I play a good game, but not good as you
I can be a little cold, but you can be so cruel
I'm not made of brick, I'm not made of stone
But I had you fooled enough to take me on
If love was a war, it's you who has won
While I was confessing it, you held your tongue
Now the damage is done...

Well there's blood in these veins
And I cry when in pain
I'm only human on the inside

And if looks can deceive
Make it hard to believe
I'm only human on the inside

Even their more upbeat songs, like "Brass in pocket", come across with a sad undertone of desperation:
I'm special, so special
I gotta have some of your attention
Give it to me

But, nonetheless, the Pretenders stand as a beacon of excellent, smart, real songwriting.

For those fans who jumped ship after 1984's "Learning to Crawl", this bootleg is a testament to what you missed, as it has bits and pieces off of all their albums up to 1999's "Viva El Amor".

And for those of you who are not aware of the Pretenders (What? Shame on you!), this concert gives you a "Best of" view of 25+ years of music excellence.

The downloads contain two separate shows, both FM broadcasts and both sound excellent. You need both to un-rar correctly.

The Fillmore, San Francisco, CA
February 14, 2000
(FM Radio broadcast - KFOG)

1 - Samurai
2 - Legalize Me
3 - Talk Of The Town
4 - Downtown (Akron)
5 - My City Was Gone
6 - Baby's Breath
7 - Thin Line Between Love & Hate
8 - Biker
9 - Who`s Who
10 - Human
11 - Kid
12 - Back On The Chain Gang
13 - Don`t Get Me Wrong
14 - Night In My Veins
15 - Room Full Of Mirrors
16 - Popstar
17 - Middle Of The Road
18 - Mystery Achievement
19 - Stop Your Sobbing
20 - Rubo De Nube - Brass In The Pocket

Date and venue unknown
(FM Radio broadcast - KFOG)

1 - Intro
2 - Human
3 - Nails In The Road
4 - From The Heart Down
5 - Biker
6 - Popstar
7 - Message Of Love
8 - Talk Of The Town
9 - Tattooed Love Boys
10 - Outro

http://rapidshare.com/files/15297125/tp_latf.part1.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/15298231/tp_latf.part2.rar