Your favorite bootleg(s) from each tour

[Allanah]

I know that some of you out there have dozens (or more) of bootlegs, and I'm looking to expland my somewhat limited collection. So, what are your favorite shows from each tour, and what do you like so much about them (a kickass Edge solo, Bono's voice being especially "on," a rarely-played song makes an appearance, a cool general vibe, etc)?

Of the few that I do have, these are my favorites:

Lovetown Rotterdam 1/10/90 - The Point Depot shows are awesome (One Tree Hill and WOWY 12/26/89 ), but this one's my favorite. Just a really fun overall show with a great setlist, and Bono's voice is to die for here (I know some people prefer him to be a little clearer on the high notes, but I love the screamy-ness.) It has my favorite ever performances of Bad and 40. And Out of Control!

Popmart Leeds - I've heard about the George Harrison thing, and damn did it ever light a fire under these guys. This show rocks harder than should be legal. This tour has my favorite versions of Bullet; it's funky and rocked-out and absolutely kicks my ass. Mofo, LNOE, and HMTMKMKM all rock. The shortened All I Want Is You took some getting used to, but now I love it. It's also my favorite version of UTEOTW.

Chicago 3/21/85 - Energy, energy, and more energy. I've heard that Bono's voice was kind of hit-or-miss on the UF tour (is that true, or am I misinformed?), but it's really strong here. Really love Wire and A Sort of Homecoming on this. Electric Co. is great as well.

I've also got a soft spot for Popmart Sarajevo. Bono's voice was crap, but it really works given the emotion of the show, which is a miracle for me -- usually I won't like a show when Bono's voice is in bad shape.

I'd love to hear from you guys on this, especially on U2's earlier shows and the Vertigo tour. The only Vertigo boot that I have is the second Atlanta show, which was my first and only U2 concert. Ah, memories...

 

[LMP]

The best ZooTV boot is Dublin 8/28/93 by a landslide.

If you haven't heard it yet, check it out.

That concert is flawless.

 

[Allanah]

I do have that one. I know I'll probably be crucified for saying this, but overall, I'm not a huge fan of that show. Before I'm chased out of here with pitchforks, allow me to explain...

I don't dislike it or anything, but if I'm gonna listen to a bootleg, this definitely isn't the first one I'd reach for. And go figure -- Achtung is my favorite U2 album, but I also think it's the album that, song-for-song, is the least compelling live. It's not a knock, it's just that the songs are so freaking good on AB that I see little room for improvement (UTEOTW and TTTYAATW being the exceptions to this) in the live show. I've never liked One live, and I prefer Elevation versions of The Fly. I don't care for Numb at all. I don't like the falsetto "wide awake" in Bad.

I like what they try to do with Desire musically, but I HATE the MacPhisto vocals. I wish Daddy's Gonna Pay was in the setlist. And Dirty Day. And Acrobat, for that matter. And as long as I'm dreaming, I'd like a pony.

I do love a few things about that show. Stay is perfect . As is TTTYAATW. WOWY is beautiful, and I do enjoy the ZooTV versions of Mysterious Ways. Though I prefer JT/Lovetown versions of RTSS, that segue into Streets is fabulous. And Love is Blindness is their best closer ever, IMO.

 

[mandrake]

PopMart Tel Aviv has very good quality, maybe not the best performances, but still worth it.

 

[Bones58]

PopMart Leeds probably is the bootleg of PopMart. ZooTV washington 1992 is a better ZooTV bootleg. I still need to listen to the Rotterdam concerts on Lovetown

 

[CTU2fan]

Hmm, I've got a few live recordings

Boy tour - 1981-03-06 Boston - nice high-energy show, great recording.
October tour - 1981-12-13 Lido Beach - another great-sounding one.
War - 1983-05-06 Boston - see Boston '81
UF - Both Glasgow shows in November '84, great recordings & spirited gigs.
JT - 1987-09-28 NYC - great show, Spanish Eyes played.
Lovetown - any of the Dublin gigs, my favorite is 1989-12-30, great versions of several songs, She's a Mystery to Me played.
ZooTV - 1992-06-11 Stockholm, also the April '92 Vancouver & Tacoma shows.
Zooropa - 1993-08-12 London, 1993-11-16 Adelaide (several versions of Adelaide, the best one is very nice.)
Pop - 1997-08-28 Leeds, 1997-09-23 Sarajevo, 1998-02-11 Santiago
Elevation - 2001-05-03 Cleveland, 2001-05-15 Chicago, 2001-10-19 Baltimore
Vertigo - 2005-07-29 Gothenburg, 2006-11-18 Melbourne

Lots of other great ones, but those are from memory without checking my list.

 

[Nisse]

a few tips

pre-boy: Dublin 1980-02-26
pre-war: Utrecht 1982-12-08, Boston 83-05-06, Red Rocks
War: Tokyo 1983-11-30
UF: Rotterdam 1984-10-30 / Melbourne 84-09-17
JT: LA 1987-11-18
Zoo TV: Lakeland 1992-02-29
Popmart. Tempe 97-05-09
Vertigo: Boston 2005-05-26, New York 2005-05-21

 

[Roland of Gilead]

A few of my favorites -

Joshua Tree - "Mountains and Deserts" Remastered Soundboard. Nov.7th, 1987. My choice even over the Chicago "Rock's Hottest Ticket" show from the same tour.

Zoo TV - "The Real Thing" Soundboard. June 15th, 1992. Rotterdam. My favorite Bad from the entire Zoo tour era with snippets of All I Want is You and Norwegian Wood.

Zooropa - "Zoo Europa" Soundboard. August 28th, 1993. As a fan of live U2 music, this show is a must own along with the famous Point Depot Lovetown shows. You might not pick it as your favorite, but it will be one of the best shows in your collection.

Pre-Elevation - "A Place In New York" Soundboard (or FM Broadcast?). December 5th, 2000. Irving Plaza, New York. This short setlist has amazing versions of Mysterious Ways, One (with Walk On snippet very powerful), 11 O'Clock Tick Tock, and the Who's Won't Get Fooled Again. A must have in my opinion. You won't find a better boot from the Elevation tour era.

From Vertigo, my 3 favorite recording are all from the last leg. Japan 3 (December 4th, 2006) is probably thee show just because it has the best quality sound I have ever heard from an audience recording. Really on par with soundboard-like quality. The best Bad from the tour no doubt. Japan 2 for the greatest quality One Tree Hill recording among others. Melbourne from the 18th of November is the last one I would say is a must have.

There are many more boots obviously, but these are the ones I tend to listen to the most.

 

[coolian2]

I haven't really developed favourite boots from most tours, except Zoo TV.

Try Washington 16-8-1992. I challenge you to find a better performance of With Or Without You.

 

[djerdap]

The JT Tour - Hampton 1987/12/12 - Amazing energy, the only performance of 11 O´Clock Tick Tock on the tour, Mothers of the Disappeared, Larry singing for the first time (Tequila Sunrise)...

Lovetown Tour - Sydney 1989/11/18 - the fabulous Hawkmoon 269 opener, the Desire version with the shredding solo, a kickass All Along the Watchtower, New Year´s Day version with a couple of extra War lyrics rarely sung ("Maybe the time is right, maybe tonight") and the best version of Knockin´on Heaven´s Door I´ve heard.

ZooTV Tour - East Rutherford 1992/03/18 - a concert, although not that great recorded, is a musthave for every fan. Amazing versions of almost everything, but especially Wild Horses and WOWY.
Stockholm 1992/06/11 - Probably my favorite U2 concert ever. Amazingly performed and very amusing.
Adelaide 1993/11/16 purely because of Dirty Day.

Popmart Tour - Leeds, enough said. The most rockin´concert ever.
Santiago and Sao Paulo are great as well, especially the latter one with an amazing version of Mysterious Ways.

Elevation Tour - Boston 2001/06/09 - Kickass setlist. East Rutherford 2001/06/22 and Slane 1 (fantastic version of Bullet, one of the most emotional versions of Kite...)

Vertigo Tour - Seattle 2005/04/25 - after the Leeds concert, the most rocking U2 show I´ve heard (unbeliveable ZooTV encore and a fantastic Vertigo version, with a beautiful Running To Stand Still version stuck in as well).
Chicago 2005/05/12 - One of the best encores ever.
Chicago 2005/09/20 - Beautiful acoustic Walk On, live premiere of The First Time and the best version of Discotheque ever.
Sydney 2006/11/10 (the first show) - best versions of Walk On and Kite ever and a kickass Zoo Station.

 

[toscano]

The mother of all bootlegs is Leeds Popmart.

Runner-up would be Dublin Xmas at the point on Lovetown

Rock's hottest ticket comes in 3rd



Of course back then U2 WAS still a rock band........

 

[corianderstem]

Vertigo Tour - Seattle 2005/04/25 - after the Leeds concert, the most rocking U2 show I´ve heard (unbeliveable ZooTV encore and a fantastic Vertigo version, with a beautiful Running To Stand Still version stuck in as well).

Were you there? It was even more rocking in person, hard to believe.

Plus it had Gloria! Bad! The first appearance of the Vertigo encore! Man, I thought that place was going to explode.

That concert was SO. FUN.

 

[randy5554]

Chicago 9/21/05
Chicago 5/16/01 (Zoo TV style opening to the set)

 

[Zoocoustic]

Were you there? It was even more rocking in person, hard to believe.

Plus it had Gloria! Bad! The first appearance of the Vertigo encore! Man, I thought that place was going to explode.

That concert was SO. FUN.

I was there.

That was, bar none, the most amazing concert I've ever seen by U2 or any other band. The band was on, but more than that, I've never been to a show where the audience was so into the show. It seemed like every person there was screaming and cheering their lungs out for every song, even the more obscure ones.

It's funny because Seattle Elevation and Seattle Popmart were both shows where I felt the crowd was very quiet and out of touch with what was happening. I always felt embarrassed for how little the crowd seemed to actually care about what was happening. I was thinking I wouldn't blame the band for not wanting to come back to Seattle for the poor audience response to those shows.

But Vertigo Seattle second show was off the charts. OFF THE CHARTS.

 

[misterboo]

It seems by consensus that I have to hear Popmart Leeds. Can anyone direct me to where I can find it? Or send me the link? owenj33_3@hotmail.com

 

[Allanah]

Just go to u2start.com and click on "bootlegs." There are tons of shows there, all neatly divided by tour.

 

[misterboo]

Lovely, cheers!