What are the best shows from all the tours?

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cobl04

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I just discovered the most awesome website evah!! www.u2start.com :drool: OMG it's wonderful. It's like those websites that you dream exist, but you know they never will.

Anyway, just wondering what everyone considers the best shows from each tour as with my new broadband connection I want to download some shows. I already have Dublin III and the Cannes festival.

:drool:

Anyone post there?
 
Personally i love Popmart from Melbourne.

Zoo TV Auckland is a great show, even if the recording isn't top drawer.

16/8/1992 from Washington :drool:

Also, the second to last JT show from Tempe - incomplete but amazing. 19/12/87

Those are off the top of my head, personal favourites that others may not mention.
 
Pre-Boy: 26 February 1980, Dublin (really, best sound quality of the lot as far as pre-Boy gigs go)

Boy Tour: 15 May 1981, San Francisco (including an early I Fall Down)

October Tour: 4 November 1981, Berlin (11OTT has THREE solos)

War Tour: 6 May 1983, Boston (if you want good sound quality from War, this is the place to go)

UF Tour: 7 November 1984, Glasgow (the sound quality isn't perfect, but holy shit, the band's energy more than makes up for it) and 21 March 1985, Chicago (Best. UF. Ever. And the sound quality is mindblowing.)

JT Tour: 29 April 1987, Chicago (Again, incredible show with amazingly good sound quality)

Lovetown:
1. 26 December 1989, Dublin
2. 30 December 1989, Dublin
3. 18 November 1989, Sydney
4. 10 January 1989, Rotterdam
You aren't living if you don't have those four gigs.

ZooTV: 11 August 1993, London (Pretty unique set with some rare performances, and Bono goes nuts at the end of Bullet)

Popmart: 23 September 1997, Sarajevo (do I even need to explain?), or if you have that, 28 August 1997, Leeds (probably the best Popmart gig).

Elevation: Don't waste your time. If it's got Gone, The Fly, Bad, and 11 O'clock Tick Tock, it should do.

I haven't listened to enough Vertigo bootlegs, but going by setlists, 26 or 28 May 2005, Boston and 20 September 2005, Chicago.
 
COBL_04 said:
Anyone post there?

I think a few people do COBL, I think Blue Room does occassionally and he seems very knowledgable on bootlegs, I've posted a handful of times, but not as much as here.

Anyway my favourite bootlegs (and the ones I'd most recomend)

War Boston 83

UF Birmingham 84 (The WAIA version Bad is from this show)

JT Chicago 87 (Rocks Hottest Ticket) Denver 87

LT Rotterdam 1990 Jan 10th (tricky because there's so many good nights from this tour)

Zoo TV Washington 92 (Soundboard Quality, my very favourite Zoo Tv gig)

Popmart Santiago 98
 
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UF Bologna, Chicago

JT: Chicago and Denver 1987

Lovetown: Dublin shows

Zoo TV: Stockholm, Washington, Wembley first two nights.

Popmart: Sarajevo, Santiago and Tel Aviv.

Elevation: on first leg Chicago last two nights and Boston last night . on the last leg Providence or Miami - last show of the tour.

Vertigo: Chicago last night on the first leg, Amsterdam with the Miss Sarajevo live premiere and again Chicago shows on last leg. The Japan shows on the last leg sound great.
 
Oh, I love U2start :drool:, I downloaded verious boots, but honestly, I haven't had time to listen to many of them. Recently, I listened to the last Chicago show, London I and Saitama I from Vertigo, they were really great, also in sound quality.
 
COBL_04 said:
I just discovered the most awesome website evah!! www.u2start.com :drool: OMG it's wonderful. It's like those websites that you dream exist, but you know they never will.

Anyway, just wondering what everyone considers the best shows from each tour as with my new broadband connection I want to download some shows. I already have Dublin III and the Cannes festival.

:drool:

Anyone post there?

I know Corianderstem does (thank you for uploading some good shows :sexywink: )...

In terms of good shows are you talking quality of the show or quality of the recording? cus there's a big difference there...
 
Zoo TV: Washington 92, Dublin 93 and the official Sydney one.

Popmart: Leeds (probably their most rocking gig ever), Mannheim (a show with lots of snippets, the best and longest ending of Discotheque ever, unfortunately the radio broadcast is incomplete), Tel Aviv (perfect quality), Sarajevo (no need to explain)

Elevation: Boston and Slane DVDs totally satisfy me.

Vertigo: Twickenham BBC radio broadcast, 3rd leg Chicago shows, Sao Paulo boot (best ever version of The Fly!!!), Melbourne and Japan gigs.

All available on u2start.com :D (except the audio taken from DVDs of course)
 
I have to second (and third, and fourth) the recommendations for Popmart Leeds, the final Lovetown show in Rotterdam 1/10/90, and Chicago 3/21/85. Easily my three favorite bootlegs. For the ZooTV tour, London 8/12/93 is a great one -- it's got the final performance ever of Zooropa, Bad with Jo Shankar on violin, and an awesome version of Bullet.

Edit: Popmart Sarajevo is great, too, in spite of (or perhaps because of) Bono's voice. ISHFWILF and AIWIY are the best shitty vocals ever. :wink:
 
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Hmm I'm more of a u2torrents/bloodredsky hub kind of guy, but I can tell you a few nice gigs for sure...

1981-03-06 Boston
1982-02-11 New Orleans
1982-12-02 Manchester
1982-12-06 London
1983-06-05 Red Rocks (of course)
1984-10-23 Nantes
1985-04-15 East Rutherford
1986-06-15 East Rutherford
1987-04-04 Tempe
1987-04-24 & 25 San Francisco
1987-05-07/08/09 Hartford
1987-07-21 Munich
1987-09-28 New York (great recording & show, best '87 IMO)
1992-08-13 East Rutherford
1992-08-23 Foxboro
1993-05-11 Rotterdam
1993-08-28 Dublin
1998-02-11 Santiago
2000-12-05 New York
2001-05-03 Cleveland
2001-05-15 Chicago
2001-05-16 Chicago
2001-06-09 Boston (the Free Ray Bourque gig, great show)
2001-10-10 South Bend
2001-10-25 New York
2001-10-27 New York
2005-05-12 Chicago
2005-07-29 Gothenburg
2005-09-21 Chicago
2005-12-07 Hartford
2006-02-20 Sao Paulo
2006-12-04 Saitama
2006-12-09 Honolulu

OK that's a ton of shows and I probably left out some gems (I did leave out the great shows already mentioned like the Dublin & Rotterdam Lovetown gigs and Popmart Leeds & Sarajevo).
 
For ZOO TV it has to be the first night at wembley Stadium 11/08/1993, it had everything!

Zooropa, Babyface, Bad and Ultra Violet were all played and a nice snippet of the First Time to.

The emotional and moving sattelite link up with Sarajevo.

Salman Rushdie coming on stage

This should be released on DVD!!
 
It really depends on what you are looking for. Quality of the recording or quality of the performance or setlist. Personally, the best quality is a soundboard to me. But you may run into some conflicts with sound ratings on U2Start on that one because most people there seem to think audience recordings are better than soundboards which is mind boggling to me. :shrug:

My suggestions off hand would be:

-May 6, 1983 Boston Soundboard (complete recording) Obviously the complete Red Rocks show is also a must have if you dont have it already.

-November 21, 1984 Dortmund Broadcast quality (incomplete) but its the best recording from the Unf. Fire tour period.

-March 21, 1985 Chicago Audience recording but pretty good quality and a solid performance. (The Bologna Italy show others have mentioned is also a high energy performance with good quality, I think Chicago is slightly better though on the quality of the recording).

-November 17, 1987 Denver Soundboard, best recording from the Joshua Tour period. Not sure which version U2 Start has but the best one I have heard was a remaster from a direct transfer from the pro shot called "Back In Denver".

-November 18, 1989 Sydney Not the greatest quality recording but simply an outstanding performance. Bomb threat before the show, alot of tense energy which translated to a fantastic performance. Desire, Watchtower, God Pt II and All I Want Is You from this show are some of the best versions they have ever done.

- Any of the Dublin 1989 shows. All are very good quality and decent performances. I do think the New Years Eve show is a bit overhyped though. Great quality as its a broadcast but after the fantastic Streets intro it falls flat to me, all the energy is used right at the beginning.

- June 11, 1992 Stockholm Audience recording, great quality, one of the few times I think the audience recording of this one is better than the soundboard that exists of it. The indoor leg had a different vibe to it so its good to have a recording from those legs also and I think this is the best of them. Honorable mention would be April 21, 1992 Tacoma, great show, good quality. One of Ed P.'s better shows.

-August 28, 1993 Dublin Broadcast quality, I think every U2 fan has this one, if you dont you should get it.

-November 16, 1993 Adelaide Soundboard from a pro shot, most people will probably say Sydney over this one but I like this performance better. A bit more raw, Edge's guitar work on Dirty Day stands out much better. Several versions are out there. There is one that is 2nd generation though from the pro shot, this is the one to find. Not sure what version U2Start has.

- Alot of a great recordings from Popmart, take your pick. My favorites are:

-November 14, 1997 Miami (soundboard taken from a pro shot) great quality, good performance, last time the song Miami was played.

- January 31, 1998 Sao Paolo, Broadcast quality, great performance.

- February 11, 1998 Santiago, Broadcast quality, probably my favorite recording from this tour for both quality and performance.

- May 15, 2001 Chicago (ALD recording, very good quality), I'm a tad biased on this one as I was there but the debut of 11 O'Clock and Out Of Control on the Elevation tour. Great perfomance, one of the best I saw on Elevation.

- November 25, 2001 New York, Soundboard from a pro shot, best quality recording from the Elevation tour IMO.

- May 12, 2005 Chicago Audience recording, good recording for an audience one, one of the better setlists of the Vertigo tour to me. I'm a tad biased on this one also as I was there.

-Euro leg has a lot of mediocre recordings unfortunately. There are a few exceptions. Gothenburg is probably the best of the aud. recordings from this leg.

- The Buenos Aires 2006 broadcast is great quality. Unfortunately Bono's vocals are pretty raspy for alot of the performance, especially at the beginning. Its unfortunate as this would be a near perfect recording if they had been.

-Saitema Japan, the last show there, the date escapes me. The audience recording is better than the IEM that surfaced of this show. Top notch audience recording of a pretty good show.


Wow, thats a long post! Sorry, but U2 audio is one of my major passions/hobbies.

I would also suggest if you have a high speed connection (which personally I do not) going to U2torrents. You will get the best quality of most recordings that are out there from that site.
 
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Joshua Tree - Cork 8/8/87
Lovetown - Anything from the Point Depot series
Zoo TV - London 8/11/93 (seriously, this show owns...they played Zooropa! And it's also in great quality)
Popmart - Leeds 8/28/97
Elevation - Cleveland 5/3/01
Vertigo - 3/28/05 San Diego or 5/26/05 Boston
 
Agreed w/Blue Room re: Zooropa Adelaide, forgot all about that one. Though Sydney sounds better Adelaide is a better show IMO.
 
Adelaide is great, but the sound is a bit...strange. :slant: I have a strong dislike for shows recorded off the monitors because the crowd is non-existent.
 
1984-11 Fire at Dortmund
1986-06-15 - East Rutherford
1989-12-26 - Dublin
1992-06-15 - Amsterdam
1992-08-16 - WC
1992-08-30 - New York
1993-08-28 - Dublin
1997-07-16 - Rotterdam
1997 Sarajevo
1997 Mexico
1998 Santiago
Slane
2005 Milan shows
2005-07-29 - Gothenburg
2005-09-14 - Toronto
2005-09-20 - Chicago
2006-11-24 - Oakland
2006 Tokyo shows
 
LemonMelon said:
Adelaide is great, but the sound is a bit...strange. :slant: I have a strong dislike for shows recorded off the monitors because the crowd is non-existent.

See, I'm the exact opposite. I would rather hear every note the band are playing and Bono is singing crystal clear over some girl screaming "Bono I love you!" at the top of her lungs. Matter of a preference I guess. You will/do fit right in at U2start with your opinion though. :wink:
 
It really does depend on the quality of the bootleg, yeah soundboards are great but they can be a bit lacking in atmosphere. The 10th January Rotterdam 1990 bootleg has alot of audience presence but not so much that it overwhelms the band, it complements the recording rather than intrudes upon it, you get a real sense of just how much emotion and atmosphere was present that night, it makes for a great listening experience. I love soundboards but they can sound as if the band are playing to an empty room.
 
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I don't listen to ZooTV 1993 shows more,because I can't stand Larry's soft sounding drums, I hate it:madspit:
 
Ok, so hypotheticallly if I had really good audience recording of Slane 1 and a very good soundboard of Slane 1, and I could only release one of them. You would choose for me to release the audience recording? Just curious.
 
Depends. How clear is the hypothetical audience on the soundboard?

Some soundboards have great audience levels, others don't. I don't want I LOVE YOU BAWWWNOOOOO but i like to hear the crowd cheer and clap.

Take the Vertigo Gothenburg show - a stunning recording but it sounds like there are two people there. To me, that isn't representative of a live show.
 
Hmm, interesting. Good information to know. Then I dont get why people seem to freak out by the mere mention that someone may have a soundboard or one exists of X show. 9 times out of 10 there is a decent audience recording of the same. But its quite clear that alot if not most people here and on U2Start prefer audience recordings.

I have saved the link to this thread and I have to the one that was similiar on U2Start about the same subject. So people shouldnt freak out about it next time.
 
coolian2 said:
Depends. How clear is the hypothetical audience on the soundboard?

Some soundboards have great audience levels, others don't. I don't want I LOVE YOU BAWWWNOOOOO but i like to hear the crowd cheer and clap.

Take the Vertigo Gothenburg show - a stunning recording but it sounds like there are two people there. To me, that isn't representative of a live show.

:up: Agreed.

Quick recommendation: listen to the Elevation Charlotte (3/29/01) bootleg sometime...that is one of my favorite audience recordings ever. The balance between the crowd and the band is excellent...plus, the crowd is a bit more subdued because it was 40 degrees and raining the night of the show. :heart:
 
Ok, I just joined the website.

While not the best recording, my first download was the November 28,2005 Montreal concert. I'm, like, over the moon right now because I'm re-living that amazing show.

:rockon:
 
LemonMelon said:

Quick recommendation: listen to the Elevation Charlotte (3/29/01) bootleg sometime...that is one of my favorite audience recordings ever. The balance between the crowd and the band is excellent...plus, the crowd is a bit more subdued because it was 40 degrees and raining the night of the show. :heart:

:up: Three star recordings FTW

I've now got this show downloading.


I'm probably going to bust the download allowance this month because of this thread. And i already have at least 30 shows
 
If you are going to look for audience recordings over soundboards at least pick the good shows. Charlotte 01 is a pretty good audience recording but its a short show and a standard performance for the beginning of the tour.

I think the best audience recording from Elevation is the April 20, 2001 San Jose show. I think its called "Shine Like Stars" or "Last Of The Rock Stars" or something like that. Its about as perfect as an audience recording can get and the show is WAY better than Charlotte.
 
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Whenever I decide to take a break from U2, a thread like this comes along and makes me think "Oooh, I need to hear that show right now!"

:lol:
 
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