Des Plaines home helps preserve 10,000 rare concert recordings

Local audio enthusiast digitizes massive archive of secretly taped shows from Nirvana to Phish

Apr. 12, 2026 at 9:48am

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An abstract, minimalist illustration featuring bold black silhouettes of a vintage microphone and cassette tape against a high-contrast red and white background, conceptually representing the preservation of historic live music performances.A local audio archivist's painstaking work to digitize a massive trove of rare live concert recordings for public access.Des Plaines Today

A massive archive of more than 10,000 secretly taped concerts is being digitized, with some of the painstaking transfer work happening right in Des Plaines. Local audio enthusiast Brian Emerick runs multiple cassette decks at his Des Plaines home to preserve rare shows by artists from Nirvana to Phish for free streaming on the Internet Archive.

Why it matters

This project helps save a trove of rare live music recordings that would otherwise be lost to time, preserving an important part of music history and giving fans access to hard-to-find concert performances.

The details

Emerick has been collecting and recording live shows for decades, amassing a collection of over 10,000 concerts on cassette tape. He is now working to digitize the entire archive, with the painstaking transfer process happening at his home in Des Plaines. The recordings span a wide range of artists, from early Nirvana to jam band favorites like Phish.

  • Emerick has been collecting and recording live shows for decades.
  • The digitization project is currently underway.

The players

Brian Emerick

A local audio enthusiast in Des Plaines who has been collecting and recording live concerts for decades, amassing a collection of over 10,000 shows on cassette tape.

Internet Archive

The nonprofit digital library that is hosting the digitized concert recordings for free public access.

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What they’re saying

“A massive archive of more than 10,000 secretly taped concerts is being digitized, with some of the painstaking transfer work happening right in Des Plaines.”

— Patch AM Team, Author

What’s next

The digitization project is ongoing, with Emerick continuing to transfer the massive cassette tape archive to digital formats for preservation and public access on the Internet Archive.

The takeaway

This project highlights the dedication of music fans and the importance of preserving rare live recordings, ensuring that these historic concert performances can be enjoyed by future generations.