Uncle Tupelo - French Village Drive-in, East St. Louis, Missouri, July 1987 / Lincoln Theater,…

Uncle Tupelo - French Village Drive-in, East St. Louis, Missouri, July 1987 / Lincoln Theater, Belleville, Illinois, 1988Paying your dues as an up-and-coming midwestern rock band sometimes means playing an East St. Louis drive-in in between screenings of Innerspace and Adventures in Babysitting. At least that’s what Uncle Tupelo had to do in the summer of 1987. And somehow, we can time travel back to catch a glimpse of the barely-out-of-their-teens trio tearing it up above a poorly rendered Bugs Bunny mural. This shaky/blurry camcorder footage (uploaded in improved quality by the terrific 3 Cameras and a Microphone channel) is priceless stuff, Jay Farrar, Jeff Tweedy and Mike Heidorn rowing fearlessly down Pickle River. About a year later, Uncle Tupelo had upgraded their environs somewhat, playing a hometown show in Belleville — and 3 Cameras has more shaky/blurry footage for our enjoyment. A rowdy crowd, likely made up mostly of friends of the band. But even though their debut LP was…