Grant Park,
Chicago, IL
July 4, 1991
WXRT-FM
01 Replacements - I Will Dare
02 Replacements - Bent Out Of Shape
03 Replacements - Achin' To Be
04 Replacements - Merry Go Round
05 Replacements - Happy Town
06 Replacements - Swingin Party
07 Replacements - One Wink At A Time
08 Replacements - Waitress In The Sky
09 Replacements - When It Began
10 Replacements - Someone Take The Wheel
11 Replacements - Talent Show
12 Replacements - Nobody
13 Replacements - Another Girl Another Planet
14 Replacements - Hey, Good Lookin'
15 Replacements - I'll Be You
16 Replacements - I Don't Know
17 Replacements - Within Your Reach
18 Replacements - Can't Hardly Wait
19 Frankie Lee & Tom Marker - Encore Break
20 Replacements - Hootenanny
21 Frankie Lee & Tom Marker - WXRT-FM Outro
Okay, we've got a serendipitous coincidence here. A full year ago - December 20, 2023 - I ripped a first generation cassette for editing. Our pal Sam Eliot's Mustache sent boxes of tapes, one thing led to another, and a full year later, that folder was still sitting on my desktop, untouched. As Sam's sending more cassettes this coming year, I couldn't stand the thought of looking at the ****ed thing for another three-hundred-sixty five sunrises and sunsets, so I carved out some time and got it done in a single evening.
02 Replacements - Bent Out Of Shape
03 Replacements - Achin' To Be
04 Replacements - Merry Go Round
05 Replacements - Happy Town
06 Replacements - Swingin Party
07 Replacements - One Wink At A Time
08 Replacements - Waitress In The Sky
09 Replacements - When It Began
10 Replacements - Someone Take The Wheel
11 Replacements - Talent Show
12 Replacements - Nobody
13 Replacements - Another Girl Another Planet
14 Replacements - Hey, Good Lookin'
15 Replacements - I'll Be You
16 Replacements - I Don't Know
17 Replacements - Within Your Reach
18 Replacements - Can't Hardly Wait
19 Frankie Lee & Tom Marker - Encore Break
20 Replacements - Hootenanny
21 Frankie Lee & Tom Marker - WXRT-FM Outro
Okay, we've got a serendipitous coincidence here. A full year ago - December 20, 2023 - I ripped a first generation cassette for editing. Our pal Sam Eliot's Mustache sent boxes of tapes, one thing led to another, and a full year later, that folder was still sitting on my desktop, untouched. As Sam's sending more cassettes this coming year, I couldn't stand the thought of looking at the ****ed thing for another three-hundred-sixty five sunrises and sunsets, so I carved out some time and got it done in a single evening.
The only thing left was to write a .txt file, and I figured that could wait... until I woke up the very next morning and found that SilentWay posted one of the bootleg versions of this WXRT-FM radio broadcast. I figure this is fortuitous chance, the Fates urging me to complete my task, so here it is.
As mentioned, this has been bootlegged, not just as Institutionalized, but under titles including It Ain't Over 'Til The Fat Roadies Play, Hanging It Up, The Farewell Gig, The Farewell Gig - FM Broadcast: Grant Park, Chicago, July 4th 1991.
This version is NOT from the bootlegs, but from a known first-generation tape I received in trade in the early 1990s from a trader in the Chicago area. With a little blip missing due to the tape flip, it's complete from the start of the broadcast to when they send it back to the studio for commercials.
To my ear, this isn't better or worse than the bootleg. I think the boot has a bit more high end to it.
What IS different is the boot cuts off before the end of Hootenany, and doesn't have the WXRT announcers Frankie Lee & Tom Marker talking at the end of the show. There may be one or two WXRT station identifications on my version that aren't on the boot, but I didn't spend a lot of time cross referencing them.
The Replacements were playing their very last concert at this gig. Famously, they left the stage one band member at a time at the end of the gig, with a roadie stepping in, taking over the instrument from the band member.
The only thing to wrap up is the greater event at which this concert took place: Taste of Chicago.
Taste of Chicago was (is?) the city's premier outdoor festival, the city's most famous summer event, drawing visitors from all over the globe. The event ran for eight days, attendance was expected to be 2.5 million people. The press claims it was the biggest food festival in the world. The budget for this street party was $10 million.
I've included press coverage of the event. It's not about the Replacements, but it's what I found, so I included it.
Besides the Replacements, musical acts including Tommy James & the Shondells, Steppenwolf, the Guess Who, the Temptations, and the Four Tops.
So...here's a new source for the show that SilentWay posted yesterday. Compare! Contrast! Comment!
