Since 2013, the reunited Replacements have played a series of high profile show at various festivals (Riot Fest, Coachella, Austin City Limits) and a few select destinations (last month’s triumphant hometown Minneapolis gig and a sold out performance in NYC). Of course, you're going to hear mutterings from purists that this isn't the "real" Replacements. Drummer Chris Mars opted out of the reunion, guitarist Slim Dunlap has been beset by health problems in recent years, and original guitarist Bob Stinson died in 1995, leaving only singer-songwriter Paul Westerberg and bassist Tommy Stinson to carry the torch. On the whole, however, even die-hards have conceded that Westerberg, Stinson and their replacement Replacements do justice to the band's beloved catalog.
But as with all reunions, there's nothing quite like the first time. Fortunately, there are plenty of unofficial recordings from the 1980s that capture the 'Mats at their best—and their worst.
"It's not something we contrive, it's what we are," Westerberg said of the band's legendarily unpredictable live show. "But we'll try to play some of the songs good. It's like won't try to purposely mess up. But there are some songs we'll just wing … And sometimes we're going for the big kamikaze thing. I'd rather have them hating our guts in some circumstances, so they can at least go 'Who the fuck was that band?'"
The Replacements @ CBGB's, 12/9/1984
The Replacements undoubtedly left plenty of audience members exclaiming just that—along with a few other choice epithets—when they played CBGB in December of 1984. Or maybe they all knew they were in for a wild ride; the band was actually billed as Gary & the Boners for the gig. The only official live Replacements album is the insanely drunken, hilariously sloppy (and cassette only) The Shit Hits the Fans and the CBGB audience tape demonstrates how that type of show was not an anomaly. The band plays only a few originals, instead attempting (and usually failing miserably) to cover the Monkees, Lou Reed, Derek & the Dominoes, Hüsker Dü, Sonny & Cher, the Who, Black Sabbath, U2, and many others. The Replacements were clearly going for the “big kamikaze thing” Westerberg spoke of here—and it wasn’t just musical suicide. This particular gig may have been some form of attempted career suicide as well. "I [took] the entire Warner Bros. staff to see them," said talent scout Michael Hill of the CBGB show. "People looked at me like, 'What is it you like about them?'"
The Replacements @ Maxwell's, 2/4/1986
Those bewildered WB staffers would have had that question answered if any of them caught the Replacements across the river at Maxwell’s in Hoboken club a little over a year later. A soundboard recording of the night captures a fiery, focused set that would make a true believer out of any skeptic. Not that the band had turned into a slick outfit by any means; the ‘Mats wouldn’t be the the ‘Mats if they weren’t teetering on the edge of complete collapse. It’s that delicious tension that makes this show such a ragged, glorious pleasure. As opposed to the soused wiseass he was at CBGB, Westerberg sounds as though he has something to prove, howling righteously through some of his finest anthems—"Unsatisfied", "Bastards of Young", "Left of the Dial" and others. His cohorts respond in kind, blasting away behind their leader fearlessly like some kind of post-hardcore Crazy Horse. Bob Stinson’s leads are particularly dead-on, full of tightwire act daring and pure rock ‘n’ roll heat. When the circumstances were right, the infamously unstable guitarist was capable of supplying the band with an elemental source of power, not unlike Keith Richards in his prime.
Shows like the one at Maxwell’s weren’t enough to keep Stinson in the band, however. Before the year was out, he was relieved of his duties as a Replacement. But he still looms large over the band’s legacy. When the reunited Replacements tear into "Color Me Impressed" in front of new and old fans, it’s Stinson’s spirit they’re hoping to conjure up.