Paul Westerberg-Left Of The Dial

[mc17strat]

Too bad the sound couldn't be dialed to center at the very least...

[polarbearfelly]

Strange, I get nostalgia from this despite it being just a few year before my time ('85-born kid here). Just wish that this sound still existed in some form today!!

[ThePeteybee]

this song embodies the spirit of the music and the era I grew up in. College radio. All the good shit was on the little tiny stations that had the bravado and the balls to play this stuff. Growing up in the bay area, it's the only way i woulda found bands like the 'mats and husker du and the waterboys and world party.....all the stuff that still sounds great to me today. sure, i could be stuck in the past, but fuck you.......i love it.

[mdep524]

Seriously, I would give anything to have this complete show on DVD! I have seen every video on YouTube/heard every mp3 of Westerberg and the Replacements live from the '80s through the '00s and this is the best damn thing EVER!

Blasty, if you read this, thank you so much for posting this, and what kind of grassroots Occupy Wall Street / Tea Party movement to we need to start to get this released??

[agirlandamonkey]

This was a great show. God, I miss the Replacements.

[Michael7E]

I totally dig Paul's style during this show. He looks so fly with the shirt and tie. It's like he's a guy who works in a cubicle at an auto insurance company, but then at night he rips off his suit jacket, grabs a guitar, and preaches the gospel of Alex Chilton and rock music to the masses.

[rlipil]

Someone needs to put this show out on DVD. I've seen Paul perform live since '85. This is hands down the best performance of his I ever did or didn't make it to. Sorry die-hard Mats fans, but this absolutely cooks everything I ever saw the band put on.

[thunders73]

Who'se side are you on?

Westerbergs.

This is fucking flawless.

[ericthefeesh]

The best american songwriter of our generation......bar none!

[vlock1]

I was given tickets to this show for my birthday that year. It remains the best birthday gift I've ever been given.

[Hankandthetanktops]

that musta been his "first act" signature geetar he just townshend'ed ....

that was great energy! its obvious he gets excited when he plays his great songs still.

thatsa +

thanks for posting... ~

[Hankandthetanktops]

@Hankandthetanktops actually.... i don't think that is the "first act" model. the neck AND body are different. i stand corrected. still a great move.

[guitarkat99]

@Hankandthetanktops

I think it was an Ibanez Talman... he had a few of those on that tour.

[Hankandthetanktops]

@guitarkat99 ahhhh - thank you for the info!

[11xzxzxz]

best rock song ever.. I agree .. just much better on record.

[CapnCanard]

Westerberg. Best songwriter since 1980. On and on and on and on, what side are you on?

[pwnDonkey]

that is a serious fucking rock song

[11xzxzxz]

This is my favorite rock song of all time .. but the studio version with Bobby Stinson.

[elmerglugh]

I saw the mats three times. I loved the band. I have all of their records. I was admiring these vids and the jaguar style guitar Paul is playing. I have hated the Who for about forty years because of their guitar smashing gimmick. For heavens sakes, give the thing to a kid who needs one and will appreciate it. I'd thump Westerberg in the arm with the full force of my index finger, if I saw him right now.

[11xzxzxz]

@elmerglugh I hate the who because their best record was the Who Sellout with Roger's softer. Hate his braggadocio singing on most other records .. so I like Happy Jack and Magic Buss and I can see for miles and Armedia City in the Sky.

I hate who are you? and squeeze box and Tommy and quadraphenia or whatever pretentious name it is .

[dartmouthhoop]

absolutely fabulous....a criminally unkown talent to many

[amaddb04]

wow, what an ending. 5 stars.

[rkirkpatrick25]

Paul is a legend. One of the greatest ever.

One band is following in their footsteps right now... The Gaslight Anthem, check em out... hell, check out their cover of Left of the Dial and you'll see!

[ghost037]

I'm seventeen, an under achiever, and in constant search of true rock n roll and The Replacements are the type of band that made me fall for rock music in the first place.

First heard of Paul in the movie Singles. Found out about the Mats soon after wards and there one of my fav bands. My senior year of high school has been hellish for lack of a better term and they have been the soundtrack to all of my angst and self loathing.

Stop by Vancouver some time Paul. Danks!

[rloebe34]

I'm so damn jealous of you guys who grew up listening to Springsteen, The Rolling Stones, The Replacements and other great musicians in there prime. I hate being in college and hearing nothing but Lady Gaga and other TERRIBLE shit at the clubs and parties. REAL Rock N' Roll will never die. Don't worry guys,some of us appreciate real good music like this song still.. IT FUCKING ROCKS

[jamielowndes]

Im the exact same. The Replacements are pretty much getting me through University.

[bruklinboy]

I got news for ya, music that was on the radio and played at clubs back then sucked too. I know, I was there

and except for the few hundred that were there with me at places like Irving Plaza and the Ritz nobody was listening to the mats either. and it was shame because they were brilliant.

one band todat that does remind of those days is The Hold Steady

[jamielowndes]

I dont have the software, can make an MP4 version of this and send it to me?

[rudowakening]

"And if I don't see you/ In a long, long while/ I'll try to find you/ Left of the dial"

That's how you lyrically end a song. Take note, kids. Mr. Westerberg knows what's up.

[DrWhiggs]

So, I guess the show's over?

[Teveh]

If anyone can make smashing a guitar cool it's Paul, just quickly fuck something up and then walk of without any fuss. Absolutely love it.

[Apanzon]

Man, I still can't tell what he's singin' before "you never made it on".

[jamielowndes]

"Weary voice that's laughin'/ on the radio once/ We sounded drunk/ never made it on"

[Apanzon]

@jamielowndes Well, that's what the lyrics-sites say. I'm still not sure about the "we sounded drunk" part, could be: "Didn't listen too long" imo. The last part is clearly "but/bet you never made it on".

Based both on this version and the album.

[jamielowndes]

No, Im sure its what i wrote. Im sure of it, just listened to that one bit over and over.

[flmnglps]

thanx samhain35 i should correct myself and say 82-94 for me were the best years for college radio. it only took me 7 years to finish college. "7 years down the drain" John Blutarski

[flmnglps]

those college radio days (82-94) were some of the most magical times of music for me. murmur, zen arcade, let it be. right up to bee thousand, slanted and enchanted, bandwagonesque and then music just seememd to go downhill from there generally speaking

[Samhain35]

Dude - you were in College for 12 years? :)

[jdkern32]

@flmnglps Bee Thousand is one of my favorite albums of all time!

[flmnglps]

@jdkern32 I just saw my comment I must have had Guided By Voices in the background. I meant Tim is one of my favorite albums of all time (along with Bee Thousand).

[ttraynor1]

@flmnglps 82 to 94=12 years. Were on my college plan? LOL Your comment: I AGREE. Maybe The Hold Steady/Gaslight Anthem/Drive by Truckers/Lucero can provide hope.......

[legalsandwichmaneuvr]

@flmnglps agreed

[wasdanah]

@flmnglps you just got old.

[Apanzon]

I would want NOTHING more than the chance to download this entire concert without cuts!

Oh, and I agree with Mozzer232. Smashing guitars just for the sake of it is corny, but as you can see Paul is on fire here and sooo into it. You would need an army to stop him from smashing that guitar.

[ttraynor1]

Heart and soul.....

[mc336687]

That would be awesome! Every song from this concert is money, plus it has Left of the Dial, Alex Chilton, Can't Hardly Wait and Kiss Me on the Bus! Doesn't get much better for a Mats fan!

[nomedicine]

could get a little bit better if it had bastards of young too.

smashing the guitar wouldn't be enough, i think he would've trashed the whole stage.

now THAT would be his greatest concert ever. (without the classic replacements line-up)

[dogbeardbirdbeer]

wow that was so cool how he smashed the guitar.

so fucking lame and cliche.

[spankingcharlene]

I agree, and I love Paul. I could've used that guitar. Give it to some kid, don't smash it

[SamiSuuronen]

Kids wont follow!

[Mozzer232]

I disagree. I usually think smashing of guitars is contrived and corny. But with Paul, its cool. He's the epidimy of Rock N' Roll. But he toned down a lot with his solo career(though still the man!). So if he's feeling like smashing a guitar from time to time.  So be it!

[quebecross]

Cool...this song rocks!

[Andreasleon27]

oh my goood

soo fucking goood thank you man!

[thunders73]

Simply peerless. Glad to see he restrained from giving one of his old Jr's a hiding. RIP Ibanez....

[Apanzon]

This is by far the greatest video you'll find on the internet. I must've watched like a hundred times. Such an awesome rock classic, such an awesome performance. Every bit of respect to Paul.

[alexharvey]

Fuckin' great!

[HighSchoolReality]

His screaming here is very poignant. A little sad, too, 'cause, like, that's a song about the Replacements in a roundabout way, y'know? "You grow old in a bar" and all that shit.

[goldbugnz]

I always took that to be a self referential, self aware lyric, don't you think. I mean, they knew what they were. They were the Replacements. A lovely drunken rocking roll mess that was never going to be mainstream radio darlings.

God bless the Replacements! Really good clip Blasty. Thanks for posting.

[chazhh]

Little girl keep growing up wearing makeup, playing guitar!

[pjmst46]

it's: "playin' makeup, wearin' guitar..." listen to the tune...westerberg is unprecedented in his story writing.

[harmen72tube]

one of the best recordings I found (sorry antoniusgrr found ) on tube so far! gonna grap my guitar emediately!

[antoniusgrrr]

After 25 years of thorough research i came to the objective conclusion that this is the best rocksong ever.

[11xzxzxz]

Yeah it's my favorite song too. After that Johnys gonna die by the replacements is no 2. Of cousre this versions cries out for Bobby Stinson.

[danjay67]

@antoniusgrrr Effing-A sir....... Efffing-A

[ri394]

@antoniusgrrr it took you 25 years? it took me 3 minutes and 41 seconds ;D

[bobbyrawson]

@antoniusgrrr I tried to like that twice, but it wouldn't let me, hahaha.

[lepaul2002]

wonderful.

[houstonveer]

Only Uncle Paul can save us now. Love the new wave look. It's a generation ago now. One two three four!

[ic0517]

Are you sure this is Westerberg? ;-) The show I was at in 85 or 86 at Mabel's in Champaign Paul was so drunk or f---ed up and didn't sing so much as sprayed his lyrics.

Then this little punk decides he's gonna run up on the stage and jump into the crowd, and the second time he did it he tried to land on these chicks and they just let him hit the floor. F---ing hilarous!

[TallFastLoud]

pretty girls playin' makeup, wearin' guitar. i have no idea why he chose to invert the nouns in that sentence but it works so well

[willthebighead]

it's cause it shows where the true priorities of the subject are. she wears the guitar as an accessory and is more interested in 'playing makeup'..that's what i've thought.

[RammaLama]

Goodness.

[scottdienerhart]

never gets old

[fuckwithfire1984]

Wish i'd been there

[tgodd]

holy shit listen to the crowd. this is awesome.

[bcn1211]

"Hugely underrated"!

[RGDaniels79]

there's just nothing wrong with this song

[elvismilk]

dam he is pumped up for this one , got to love him

[KellyGreen5555]

Paul Westerberg is tops. Put my pointy hat on upside down & dance a little jig in yer honour. Bravo Pablo.