Listening to an entire tour

[Axver]

If the song's played to a good enough quality, they should be impressed. And that's what I think it comes down to, a high class performance of a lesser known song is going to trump a tired, going-through-the-motions performance of a warhorse any day. When I see bands I don't know all that well, I know I'd much rather be blown away by an exceptional performance even if I don't know all the material instead of being underwhelmed by weak renditions of hits I could hear played with more passion by a cover band.

 

[Rosebud]

digitize, it was nice knowin' ya.

 

[An Cat Gav]

As part of snippet-checking for U2gigs.com, yeah, I've listened to entire tours, or as much of a tour as you can in cases where not that many bootlegs exist.

Lovetown is easily the most rewarding tour to listen to in its entirety. The JT Tour would be right up there too if it weren't for a part of the third leg where the set gets really static for about a month and you get to a point where the shows start to blur together.

Axver, I have no idea where you go to download bootlegs. I'd love to have the entire lovetown tour, where can I download them from?

 

[Axver]

Axver, I have no idea where you go to download bootlegs. I'd love to have the entire lovetown tour, where can I download them from?

I actually have almost the entire Lovetown Tour from the days when I traded bootleg CDs, but I'm sure U2start.com has everything you could possibly want from the tour. Unfortunately, the audio quality of many boots leaves a bit to be desired ...

Here's some gigs I suggest everybody get. Doing the whole tour may be a bit of a trial, but the following selection provides a very comprehensive overview (or a good starting place if you want to work your way up to hearing the whole tour):
- 23 September 1989, Perth, if only for the unique version of In God's Country that opens the show.
- 9 October 1989, Melbourne
- 20 October 1989, Sydney - contains the epic AIWIY/Bad combo.
- 18 November 1989, Sydney - good sound quality and a very intense gig. This was the "bomb scare" show where the venue had to be evacuated before U2 took the stage. Luckily, there was in fact no bomb.
- 23 November 1989, Yokohama, if only for the seriously rockin' God Part II.
- 1 December 1989, Osaka - the "backwards setlist" show.
- 18 December 1989, Amsterdam - the gig where Bono blew his voice out. God Part II is painful.
- All four of the Dublin gigs, but especially those on the 26th and 30th.
- 10 January 1990, Rotterdam - they sure ended the tour on a bang.

I should note that the tour is incomplete bootleg-wise - we only have some of the first gig in Perth, and from the two Auckland concerts, we have only about half of one show.

 

[DevilsShoes]

There was a thread on NYD a few months ago and I think we all pretty much unanimously agreed that it may be the only eighties classic to have been performed well on each and every tour. No only do the band always play it with plenty of energy but Bono never really seems to have any great difficulty in singing it. Even during the low's of the Popmart tour he was still able to nail the 'Say Its True' verse.

Anyway interesting topic, I'm not sure could do it myself, but one of the things I do like to do every now and then is listen to a gig or gigs on the same day that they were originally played. Over Christmas and the New Year I listened to the Point Depot 89 and Rotterdam 90 Lovetown gigs. They were tremendous, superb sound quality with the band on explosive form. I don't think they've ever been quite as good since.

 

[U2lunatic]

Yeah, I've tried this, with Conspiracy of Hope tour Wasn't much of a problem

 

[last unicorn]

I'm with you, except I'd say the fifth leg versions were bollocks too. Utterly dreary, boring song.

Umm no, totally disagree.


And I think NYD is the best of the old "warehouses". I don't mind hearing that song played live once in a while, maybe not every night.

Apart from that, I'd never listen to a whole tour, that would get boring pretty quickly. I love to listen to whole shows from time to time, but many bootlegs are bad in quality and it's actually painful to listen to some of the recordings. On the other hand, I've made compilations of great Vertigo live moments from various legs and shows and I love to listen to these

 

[An Cat Gav]

I actually have almost the entire Lovetown Tour from the days when I traded bootleg CDs, but I'm sure U2start.com has everything you could possibly want from the tour. Unfortunately, the audio quality of many boots leaves a bit to be desired ...

Here's some gigs I suggest everybody get. Doing the whole tour may be a bit of a trial, but the following selection provides a very comprehensive overview (or a good starting place if you want to work your way up to hearing the whole tour):
- 23 September 1989, Perth, if only for the unique version of In God's Country that opens the show.
- 9 October 1989, Melbourne
- 20 October 1989, Sydney - contains the epic AIWIY/Bad combo.
- 18 November 1989, Sydney - good sound quality and a very intense gig. This was the "bomb scare" show where the venue had to be evacuated before U2 took the stage. Luckily, there was in fact no bomb.
- 23 November 1989, Yokohama, if only for the seriously rockin' God Part II.
- 1 December 1989, Osaka - the "backwards setlist" show.
- 18 December 1989, Amsterdam - the gig where Bono blew his voice out. God Part II is painful.
- All four of the Dublin gigs, but especially those on the 26th and 30th.
- 10 January 1990, Rotterdam - they sure ended the tour on a bang.

I should note that the tour is incomplete bootleg-wise - we only have some of the first gig in Perth, and from the two Auckland concerts, we have only about half of one show.

Thanks Ax!!

 

[Axver]

Umm no, totally disagree.

Good for you?

 

[digitize]

I'd say that Streets is the only warhorse other than NYD that sounds good every tour.

 

[DrTeeth]

There's more to life than U2

Just the Bang and the Clatter - U2 Feedback Plenty of good stuff to listen to in between U2 albums

 

[The Sad Punk]

Good for you?

wait, i thought she was talking about warehouses, not warhorses

 

[Axver]

wait, i thought she was talking about warehouses, not warhorses

Remind me never to shop at the SYCMIOYO Warehouse.

 

[u2search]

Trust me when I say it can get pretty tiring! I really enjoyed doing some tours, but others got damn tedious after a while. I'd want to keep plowing ahead to find more snippets and things, but I had to pause so that I didn't lose the fun of it all.

I totally get that.

I've downloaded just about everything I could find over at u2torrents and I can't even listen to everything I have so far. You have to give it a rest every now and then

 

[Rosebud]

There's more to life than U2

No there is not.

 

[u2search]

Okay... I'm listening to San Diego now, and I understand how this can get tiring... maybe I should ditch Vertigo, despite how much I love it as a tour, and do Lovetown, instead? Only problem is that I'd be missing out on my beloved 90s.

What if you mixed tours? Like the first gig from one tour, then the first from another, then the first gig from tour #3, then the second from tour 1, the second from tour 2, then from tour 3, etc. Way more variation that way.

 

[Bonochick]

I'm purely impressed by the fact that you actually have all of the shows so that you would be able to accomplish such a feat.

 

[digitize]

Discovering new artists costs money... whereas bootlegs are free. Makes economic sense for me.

 

[Axver]

What if you mixed tours? Like the first gig from one tour, then the first from another, then the first gig from tour #3, then the second from tour 1, the second from tour 2, then from tour 3, etc. Way more variation that way.

This is a good idea. When I was doing the U2gigs snippet-checking, I'd often vary tours, not quite to the scale you mention as it was easier to go through consecutive shows, but I'd do, say, some ZooTV shows one day, some UF shows the next, some Popmart shows the third, etc.

 

[eltimbomofo]

I'm purely impressed by the fact that you actually have all of the shows so that you would be able to accomplish such a feat.

u2torrents.com baby!

 

[MMP]

And how things are going digitize, not dead yet?

 

[jecofficial]

if ur gonna do it, why dont you make some notes on the quality of the recording, then splice together a full show with your own pics, if you match up the recording qualities well enough, you might be able to make something cool, edit in some random bono speak and share it

 

[digitize]

And how things are going digitize, not dead yet?

Err... I started, and then things in WTAHAN started to get crazy. Hmm...

 

[digitize]

if ur gonna do it, why dont you make some notes on the quality of the recording, then splice together a full show with your own pics, if you match up the recording qualities well enough, you might be able to make something cool, edit in some random bono speak and share it

That's not a bad idea. Maybe a summer project?

 

[jecofficial]

actually no, we'll need this right away, thanks

 

[digitize]

actually no, we'll need this right away, thanks

Sue me.

 

[MMP]

Err... I started, and then things in WTAHAN started to get crazy. Hmm...

So stop please... take a look at how things are at WTAHAN right now...

 

[Fullonedge3]

actually no, we'll need this right away, thanks

lol

 

[jecofficial]

come on let's here the digitize tour, live up to your name dammit!

 

[digitize]

I'll probably just download each show on the next tour as they are put up on u2torrents and u2start, so I can listen to all of it.