The U2 bootleg project

2004-10-16 – London, England – Riverside Studio

diederdevries — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 15:04:06 +0000

Performance:
Promo gigs are never really good, this one isn’t a cracker either. The songs sound more or less pre-recorded (for example Edge’s singing amd some guitar rythms) and only Miracle Drug was above average. I don’t like Bono’s voice on this one, but I can’t blame him for that. 3/5

Audience:
Only 150 people out there so it’s pretty intimate, but they are probably still louder than the average American crowd in a stadium nowadays. 4/5

Sound:
Not very very good for a broadcast. City of Blinding Lights is even pretty bad mixed, the channels swap constantly. Also the crowd is at some points even louder than the band. 4/5

Overall:
Highlights: Miracle Drug
Lowlights: Bad mixing of the sound, too heavy prerecorded 3.5/5

Fan advice: not worth downloading

More info:

download

U2gigs

Next show: 1986-06-04 – San Francisco, California (Conspiracy of Hope Tour)

1986-06-04 – San Francisco, California – Cow Palace

1992-02-29 – Lakeland, Florida

diederdevries — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 09:46:01 +0000

Performance:
‘You forget, that the United States of America are so loud’ Bono says during the very first Zoo TV gig. Well I’m wondering if he would still say that at this moment…

But this is about the show. For a opening gig it’s pretty flawless, meaning that they didn’t seriously messed up a song. Of course the show doesn’t flow like it does later on. I mean, closing the main set with I Still Haven’t Found isn’t a really great idea. Even Better Than The Real Thing sounds a bit stiff, mainly because Edge plays it at a lower key (a bit more like the album version), even Bono notices it : ‘Turn it up, the guitar!’

Other songs that were played (slightly) different later on this tour are Mysterious Ways (little longer intro + slide solo is a little less exciting), Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses (fairly epic outro-solo by Edge). Also that, Ultra Violet has a different (but nice) intro, playing the openingriff first for one time and then again with drums and bass kicking in. At first I thought it was a mess-up, but listening to the rehearsals it was meant to be played like this.

Overall a pretty interesting opening show, nice to hear how songs changed during the tour.

Audience:
It’s a good American crowd, pretty noisy during the show, particular during Even Better Than The Real Thing, Mysterious Ways, Bullet The Blue Sky, Pride, Where The Streets Have No Name and Desire. Although they even had bad habits back then, iif you hear closely you can hear people having a conversation during the show.

Sound:
3.5 stars, it’s a pretty decent recording. Bono’s loud enough, Edge, Larry and Adam are a bit too distant. Still enjoyable, didn’t cause a headache.

Overall:
Highlights: Ultra Violet, Mysterious Ways, Bullet The Blue Sky, Who’s Gonna Ride Your Willd Horses
Lowlights: Even Better Than The Real Thing.

Fan advice: very interesting to hear the earlier live versions of songs described above. I recommend downloading this, its a nice one.

Youtube vid:

More info:

download: http://u2start.com/shows/1992-02-29/Lakeland,%20Florida%20-%20Lakeland%20Arena/#general

u2gigs.com: http://www.u2gigs.com/show110.html

Next show: Vertigo Tour Promo gig.

Is it possible…

diederdevries — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 14:35:08 +0000

…to listen to all available U2 bootlegs so far? I have had this idea for a long time and now I’m going to start with it. Now I think it will take more than two years (up to now there are 1136 bootlegs, and there will be more in the future).
Of course I will also write a review for each show. People are saying I’m mad (which they are right) and that I will hate U2 at the end… We’ll see.

I will pick bootlegs randomly, although I will save the high quality bootlegs for when I’m almost finished, gives me something to look forward to and will prevent me from burning out too soon.