The Aadam Jacobs Collection represents a significant trove of live music history, with Jacobs having recorded more than 10,000 concerts over four decades in Chicago and other cities. A group of volunteers is cataloging, digitizing, and uploading these recordings to the Internet Archive. The collection includes early-career performances by artists such as R.E.M., The Cure, The Pixies, The Replacements, Depeche Mode, Stereolab, Sonic Youth, and Björk.
One key example from the collection is Nirvana's debut Chicago show on July 8, 1989, at a small club called Dreamerz. According to The Independent - Main, Kurt Cobain announced to the crowd that they were Nirvana from Seattle. At that show, Nirvana performed the song "School." This early recording captures a pivotal moment in the band's rise to fame.
Hello, we're Nirvana. We're from Seattle.
Beyond Nirvana, the Aadam Jacobs Collection features a diverse range of notable artists and performances. It includes a 1988 concert by Boogie Down Productions and a 1990 show by Phish. These recordings highlight the breadth of musical genres and eras covered in the collection, from hip-hop to jam bands.
Jacobs' beginnings as a concert recorder trace back to 1984, when he made his first recording. According to The Independent - Main, Aadam Jacobs began recording concerts after meeting someone who suggested sneaking a tape recorder into shows. For that initial effort, he used a Dictaphone-type device borrowed from his grandmother. This humble start laid the foundation for his extensive archive.
And I eventually met a fellow who said, 'You can just take a tape recorder into a show with you, just sneak it in, record the show.' And I thought, 'Wow, that's cool.' So I got started.
Over the years, Jacobs' recording equipment evolved significantly. He later used a Sony Walkman-style tape recorder, a home console cassette machine, digital audio tape (DAT), and solid-state digital recorders for his recordings. This progression in technology allowed him to capture higher-quality audio over time.
The current status and challenges of the digitization project involve ongoing efforts by volunteers. The process of digitizing and uploading to the Internet Archive is underway, but it requires careful handling of thousands of tapes and files. Volunteers face logistical hurdles in preserving and organizing such a vast collection for public access.
I was using, at times, pretty lackluster equipment, simply because I had no money to buy anything better.