If I had to record analog today my first concern would be obtaining quality tape. I haven't looked into it, but my understanding is that quality cassette tapes are kinda' pricey these days. I imagine reel-to-reel even moreso. If it's just for a few shows, though, it might not be that big a deal.
As to decks, I'd look for a Sony D5 or the Marantz deck that was popular among tapers (I can't remember the model number). The Sony D6 is pretty good and even more portable, and is what I had/have, but the metering is very crude and it can't pass a signal while doing a tape flip. There is probably other functionality it lacks compared to the D5 or Marantz, but I never used either of those so I can't say for sure.
There is a thread on here where someone recreated a '70s cassette rig...I believe with a big Nakamichi deck. That project is pretty awesome, so you may want to dig up the thread.