Hey funky friends @silentboatman @Seventieslord @WizardofFinance
Here’s a link to both shows: https://we.tl/t-rH8zk4FAaQ
They’re also shared on Soulseek as well as the rest of my collection
As for when and where they were sold, it was on Wolfgandsvault itself. The site is a legit American company with a complicated legal history, selling/streaming private recordings from concert venues owners and by some legal miracle (I don’t know which loophole they could possibly find) winning every attempt at shutting them down by labels and artists, US courts basically saying that for as long as they paid royalties, they could go on. There are some articles about these lawsuits online that are easily googled.
For some time, a few years ago, they also offered some shows for sale. Their website then said in the FAQ that the reason why some shows were for sale and others weren’t was because they had to settle special deals and get authorization from the artists/labels to sell them and not just stream them. I honestly have no idea why some shows by a similar artist were available for sale and others weren’t, but back then I bought everything I could from the artists I really liked, including those 2 P-Funk shows. I also have no idea why eventually the purchasing option was cancelled and the site became a streaming only thing.
So technically, everything that was once sold there can be considered an official release, since it’s a legit US company.
A very strange case is Prince, who was notoriously litigious but, as far as I know, didn’t even try to take legal action (probably because other big names had tried and failed before him), yet his 2 Warner Bros era shows were never offered for sale (I know from a good source that WB has a stake in any live recording made while P was under contract), while his 1998 Tramps show (when he was free of any label) was, suggesting he chose to strike a deal and cash in as much as he could from Wolfgangsvault, for lack of being able to stop them from using his music. But I honestly have no clue what went on behind the scenes, it’s just an educated guess.