U2's 3 Greatest Live Concerts.

[Laughing Gas.]

Hey y'all! Looking to start up a nice set of U2 bootlegs by downloading a few shows from U2 start. So, anyone have a few suggestions on where to start? I already have Roundhay Park, PopMart Sarajevo, Milan 20/7 and Slane Castle and Zoo TV Sydney I both have on DVD. However, still include any of these shows if you would say there are top 3 U2 live concert material.

Thanks!
Laughing Gas...

 

[The Disciple]

Here 2 me is the best RECORDED shows:

2 me, the best bootleg of the Popmart Tour is Leeds.

The best from ZooTV is the Dublin broadcast.

As for Elevation, the best show is the 09/25/01 NY Soundboard/Audience Matrix.

 

[Screwtape2]

11-16-1993 Adelaide, Australia (Zoomerang Leg of ZooTV)
12-20-1987 Tempe, Arizona (Joshua Tree Tour)
2-26-1980 Dublin, Ireland (Pre-Boy Era)

 

[Blue Room]

Its tough to narrow it down to three.

My three best shows would probably be:

6/5/83 Red Rocks
12/20/87 Tempe
11/18/89 Sydney *If I could only pick one, it would be this show.

Best three taking into account the show and quality of the recording would be:

6/5/83 Red Rocks Broadcast
12/26/89 Dublin Soundboard (best live version of One Tree Hill done)
1/30/98 Sao Paulo Broadcast

Really there are alot out there that are top notch though and are excellent shows.

 

[pgv]

9/12/05 Buffalo (Okay I'm slightly biased as i was there, but the references to john lennon and the performance of instant karma was just perfect)

28/8/93 - Dublin (I'm absolutely in love with this version of One)

29/4/87 - Chicago (The recording is brilliant, as is the crowd reception on the bootleg)

 

[2861U2]

I would suggest 12-31-1989, Point Depot, Dublin, and I bet Axver would second that.

My favorite concert of all time might be 5-3-01 in Cleveland. I highly recommend it.

 

[the tourist]

1/10/90 in Stockholm.

 

[phillyfan26]

LoveTown Sydney is a keeper, you could also take LoveTown Dublin at Point Depot.

ZooTV Dublin.

Vertigo Boston in December '05.

Red Rocks was amazing in '83.

 

[SpaceOddity]

I definitely agree with:

- Lovetown Dublin @ Point Depot (1989-12-31)
- ZooTV Dublin (1993-08-28)
- Popmart Leeds (1997-08-28)

Those are probably my top 3 bootlegs. I never realized the last two were on the same day, only 4 years apart... Interesting...

 

[TheBrazilianFly]

Lovetwon Dublin (12/26/89)
Popmart Sarajevo (09/23/97)
Popmart São Paulo (01/31/98)

 

[u2thewho]

Albany, NY Elevation- Yeah, I'm a bit biased, but Bono talks about the city like in no other bootleg I've heard- adding a full verse in the bridge of I Will Follow

NYC- 10/24/01- The crowd on this recording is amazing- you can hear them singing along with viertually every song, and though I assume this is universal, I can hear it most here

Zürich Elevation- Bono's voice is ON and the recording is very high quality

 

[Salome]

don't know
they were all 3 in The Netherlands though

 

[Axver]

Well, I could just pick three from Lovetown, but I won't:

1. 1989-12-26, Dublin: U2's highest point
2. 1983-06-05, Red Rocks
3. 1997-09-23, Sarajevo

 

[pepokiss]

11-02-98 - Popmart Santiago (I was there )
12-05-05 - Vertigo Chicago 4 (absofuckinglutely amazing)
28-08-93 - ZooTV Dublin (or ZooTV Washington DC)

 

[AndrewCowley]

Man these threads are hard. In answering this question we predominatly draw on the relatively small number of soundboard, broadcast etc... shows that exist over the years. For every PopMart Chile, ZooTV Dublin, Red Rocks etc... there's probably a dozen audience recordings of shows just as good but which never stand out due to the sound quality.

I've got almost 300 shows and in listening to them I've really tried to train myself to hear through the often average sound quality and instead focus on U2's performance. This can be hard. In comparison it is all too tempting to rate a great sounding but ultimately poorer performance as being better simply because it was easier to listen to!

So as usual everyone will give more or less the same answers. The real truth lies amongst all those crappy audience recordings out there.

 

[AndrewCowley]

Well, I could just pick three from Lovetown, but I won't:

1. 1989-12-26, Dublin: U2's highest point

Can't go wrong with that. The best version of Streets ever. The way Bono changes the tone of his voice when he sings "trampled in dust" is amazing. Shame he can't sing that way anymore. Only 'problem' with this show is it is pretty short. And they didn't play Bad.

Axver I suppose this show has your all time favourite One Tree Hill in it?

 

[OneDayFly]

I must give the 1985-03-21 Chicago one a mention here.
Listened to it yesterday and I fell in love with it again.
Really energetic show. Best performance of Electric Co. ever.

Other than that: 1993-08-28 Dublin and 1989-12-26 Dublin are must-haves.

 

[Axver]

Can't go wrong with that. The best version of Streets ever. The way Bono changes the tone of his voice when he sings "trampled in dust" is amazing. Shame he can't sing that way anymore. Only 'problem' with this show is it is pretty short. And they didn't play Bad.

Axver I suppose this show has your all time favourite One Tree Hill in it?

Definitely my favourite One Tree Hill - it and Streets are completely mindblowing. Opening with God Part II is pretty sensational as well.

The 1989-12-30, Dublin show is a really close second. The debut of She's A Mystery To Me is amazing, and the performance of WOWY has to be one of the very best ever, and how can you go wrong with 11 O'clock Tick Tock?

With regards to the short concert length, quality over quantity I guess.

I must give the 1985-03-21 Chicago one a mention here.
Listened to it yesterday and I fell in love with it again.
Really energetic show. Best performance of Electric Co. ever.

Excellent pick there. I think it's probably the best show from the UF Tour. The performances of Wire and The Unforgettable Fire are mindblowing - I haven't heard better versions of either.

 

[Mirrorballman83]

Red Rocks 6/5/83
Tempe 12/20/87
Dublino 28/08/93

 

[elevation1]

Dublino 31/12/1989
Dublino 28/08/1993
Turin 21/07/2001

 

[AndrewCowley]

A lot of people will put Dublin 31/12/1989 in their lists. I don't think it's a great show. Sure it sounds great due to it being broadcast. But I reckon for the most part U2 sound pretty flat during this show. Kind of like they are plodding along instead of flying high. The 3 other Dublin shows are far better. And perhaps better than all of the Dublin shows is the final Love Town of Rotterdam January 10th 1990.

 

[goincommando]

I'm a relative newcomer to the bootleg scene, but looking at these gigs I realize that I have most of the picks in here.

I know this isn't the board for it, but if anyone can send me that Unforgettable Fire Chicago gig that'd be great.

LakersFan326@aol.com

 

[AndrewCowley]

I'm a relative newcomer to the bootleg scene, but looking at these gigs I realize that I have most of the picks in here.

I know this isn't the board for it, but if anyone can send me that Unforgettable Fire Chicago gig that'd be great.

LakersFan326@aol.com

You should be able to find it at www.dimeadozen.org or www.u2torrents.com. It is a very popular show so there should be an active torrent for it at one of these sites.

 

[CTU2fan]

Mastertape of it is active on DIME now actually.

I love these threads, but best 3? How about 1 from each tour:

1981-03-06 Boston
1982-02-12 New Orleans (c'mon, it's on a boat)
1983-05-06 Boston
1985-04-15 East Rutherford (~14-minute "Bad")
1987-09-28 NYC
1989-12-30 Dublin (many "great" performances of songs, plus "dream it all up again" speech)
1992-08-23 Foxboro (OK maybe I'm a bit biased toward Boston gigs)
1993-11-16 Adelaide (some Zooropa material, better IMO than Sydney 11 days later)
1998-02-11 Santiago
2001-10-27 NYC
2005-12-07 Hartford

 

[bridgit]

And perhaps better than all of the Dublin shows is the final Love Town of Rotterdam January 10th 1990.

 

[Roland of Gilead]

Some excellent choices and some I'll have to look out for.

No particular order:

11-7-87 Denver (I'm a Joshua Tree junkie)
06-15-92 Rotterdam (this and the 8-28-93 are the ones for this period)
12-05-00 New York (for a promo show this comes off like an unforgettable experience in full tour glory)

Of course, the Point Depot '89 shows are a must. All of them.

 

[gmc]

Very subjective to pick 3.I'd go for the first 3 times I saw 'em live,'cos it's great to seem'em live,yeah?So I'll do a little play on words on the thread title.......U2's 3 Greatest Live Concerts,That I Couldn't Live Without (or something like that!)

1.PopMart,Leeds 1997-08-28....outstanding performance,great recording,memorable day (I was there).

2.Zooropa,Dublin 1993-08-28.....again oustanding performance(on home soil),great recording.

3.Elevation, Cleveland 2001-05-03.....the band "are on fire",truly amazing recording,Bono's voice is possibly the best I've heard on this recording.

3rd equal.LoveTown,Dublin 1989-12-31.....I really love this show,I don't subsrcibe to the earlier post that U2 sound flat at all.But,hey,that's what opinions are for,right? And I respect your opinion Sir AndrewCowley.

But having said all that,currently listening to PopMart,Wembley 1997-08-23 (An Emotional Goodbye).Just can't stop playing it,fantastic show,outstanding recording.I went the night before so it's pretty relevant to me."..come on,give us a kiss,London",pure class.

 

[U2girl]

Sarajevo, Irving Plaza, and any one of the Dublin Lovetown shows.