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show
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performance
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audience
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sound
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overall
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1985-02-05 Bologna, Italy
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Performance:
The band were on fire from January to April of 1985, and this boot is a perfect proof. Epic versions of almost every song (Electric Co, Bad, Sunday Bloody Sunday, 40), flawless guitars, bass and drums and an awesome Bono made out of that night one of the best bootlegs I've heard. The audience were waiting for U2, and U2 thanked them with an awesome concert.
Audience:
Awesome. Simple as that. As happened when U2 first played in Spain, here in Madrid in 1987, that audience had been wating for a U2 concert for years, and when it eventually took place, they celebrated it together with the band. The audience (apart from the obvious reason, this is a TUF bootleg and we hadn't reviewed none!) was the main reason for me for choosing this boot ..
Sound quality:
Fantastic excellent audience, it sounds like a 1993 Ex Aud, but being 8 years older!!! No clicks, no digital noise, no cuts, no annoying fades. Just a fantastic recording.
Overall:
Fantastic, awesome, GREAT.
One of the best bootlegs I ever heard, a must-have. This is, as it's fan-name points, "The Unforgettable Night" !!!!
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1993-08-18 Cardiff, Wales
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Performance:
Pretty good. Band was really into it, after all this is a Zooropa show, and they made a good performance all throughout the show. Special mentions for Bullet The Blue Sky (dunno why, but every single version of Bullet they played on the 1993 summer -Sarajevo wars, you know- were specially strong, had some special energy that made them special), Desire and Ultraviolet. Also the setlist worked very very well, although they could have rehearsed the new songs a bit more (Babyface was ¬¬).
Audience:
They were really enthusiastic, as always on Cardiff. Good crowd. Nothing else.
Sound quality:
"(As said by Jeremy) Bono sounds like he's singing from Dublin while the band is playing in Cardiff."
Jeremy's words are a fantastic summary of the sound quality of the show. It sounds off, muffled and very very annoying sometimes (Numb, Stay, Running and Pride were painful to hear lol). Not good at all, specially considering all the great audience recordings we have from that era/year/leg/month...
Overall:
A good show if you are a completist, or if you wanna have a nice Zooropa setlist and an enthusiastic crowd. If you look for great performances or great sound, better go for Verona, London or Dublin...
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2005-06-21 Glasgow, Scotland
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Performance:
The audience were hoping for a great june evening and the band answererd them with a great show. Thefour boys were on fire, even though Bono lacked some brilliant spices, the ones which mark the difference between the great and the good shows.
The setlist was fucking AWESOME. All Because Of You is the most rock-ish thing they've ever done (06-27 in Dublin also), and the audience loved it. After that, the concert couldn't go better. The Electric Co without The Cry intro always reminds me to the Joshua Tour performances, consequently I love them After that first 3 songs came the usual Vertigo middle set. And then Whos' Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses, which I loved. Running To Stand Stilll is always fantastic, and Bullet was quite inspired too. The Fly and Zoo Station rocked very hard (even though I use to dislike post-1993 The Flies). Yahweh is a great song but doesnt work live, specially in front of 55.000 people (it could work with 4.000 in an arena, but never in a stadium). And second Vertigo's always remind me to my only show attended, so I always like them. It's a great, uplifting ending for a show, the complete opposite of 40 or All I Want Is You. Lovely ending, the audiences always like it
Audience:
Fantastic scottish audience, pleased to rock, clapping, singing along, dancing... The only down was that I slightly felt that some sectors of audience (I pressume the younger audience) didn't know some songs, specially the weird and ancient ones (Electric Co, Wild Horses, even Still Havent Found). Otherwise it couldve been perfect.
Sound quality:
Like listening underwater.
The whole recording lacked of shining and crispness, but specially Edge and Adam got lost every minute... The beggining of the quiet songs was terrrible, but the rocker ones were not better... Even though audience reported very bad accoustics on the stadium, a recording can be clear and crisp...
Overall:
Highlights
All Because Of You, Running To Stand Still, Vertigo2
Overall
There are far better Vertigo shows, but this one is a good souvenir. Moreover, Im always pleased to listen U2 in Scotland
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1997-09-20 Reggio Emilia, Italy
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Performance:
quite liked it. Very good mood, both from band and audience, and almost every song has good performance. A few of them are absolutely nailed. This are Mofo, Please, WTStreetsHNN and of course One. The complete highlight of the night. I liked the kareoke also (the audience loved it! Famous and "stereotipycal" italian song).
Audience:
This part is only rated, not commented on.
Sound quality:
As pointed out before, it's not 5-stars-worth, even though it sounds good. As a nice and remarkable point, I have to say that I had this one rated as Good>Very Good Soundboard on my old Hard Disk  That shows that the show actually sounds very good. But not 5 stars. The completely worst point for me is that, with the biggest crowd ever seen on a U2 concert, most of that audience sound is lost. It could have be great. Anyway, 4 stars is more cappropiate
Overall:
Even though there are better Popmart concerts (Sarajevo, Santiago, Leeds, Miami), this is worth Grey-Monday-Evening listening. Did you catch me? It's a good upbeat concert, both audience and band are having a good time and they want us to spend it with them.
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1992-06-11 Stockholm, Sweden
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Performance:
The whole performance is flawless.
From the I Could Have Lost You of Bono, alone in the stage, to the Blindneeeeeeeesss... Good night!, the performance is perfect. There are virtually no mistakes nor bad performances.
The show also feature that great surprise of Dancing Queen, played with two legends on stage (the male members of ABBA), which makes the audience go nuts. Honestly, I have heared/watched/listened many other artists playing with U2 on stage, and my absolute favorite still being Dancing Queen on Stockolm. It's so weel played, and it represents how great is U2, capable of mixing that dance-party spirit of ABBA with their own rock-show style. Awesome.
The night is summarized on a sentence Bono said after Dancing Queen: "This is the most surreal night of my life!".
Audience:
Crowd is amazing throughout the whole show. Even though it's not that much appreciated on the Soundboard version, the existing audience recordings show how great was the ambient on that small arena.
The sing along with every song, and their presence makes more notable on Angel Of Harlem -Dancing Queen, where they literally go nuts. Also ISHFWILF-Stand By Me and With Or Without You get great responses from that crazy Scandinavian people.
That crowd was witnessing one of the most astonishing shows ever, with lights, industrial sounds, jokes, surrealism and great music, all mixed up.
Sound quality:
There are many recordings, remasterings, re-remasterings, mixes, remixes and matrixes of this show. Honestly, it was such a great show that it doesn't matter which recording are you listening to: it sounds great. The concert was broadcasted live to a contest winner on England, so there is a good Soundboard version from that copy. Nevertheless, I prefer that completely awwesome Excellent Re-Excellent Astonishing Fantastic Audience recording we all know. If rating could be over 10/10, this recording would be.
Overall:
Too good to be only 16 years back...
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2001-10-10 South Bend, Indiana
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Performance:
The setlist on this concert is one of the bests of the Elevation Tour in my opinion. It features the only night of the tour not-opened by Elevation (only that is remarkable), but Beautiful Day is sooo good as opener... People goes crazy when hear that Edge's guitar. Amazing. Until The End Of The World and New Year's Day stay on their usual positions, after Beautiful Day, but since they were one song earlier than usual, they get a tremendous response from the young audience.
Pride was played the 7th song. Played earlier than the usual, also get a nice response from the audience. It was followed by Sunday Bloody Sunday and a more or less common setlist (Kite, Angel, Desire, Staring, Bad, Streets and Haven't Found). Another nice surprise was With Or Without You, as the closer of the main set.
And the ENCORE. Wow, wow, wow. Awesomely opened by Elevation and awesomely followed by Mysterious Ways. One and Walk On finish the show, which ends only with 19 songs.
The performance is very strong throughout all the concert. The band felt in a great shape, confident and quite happy. The audience, which as said before was formed mostly by young, upbeat people, carried them. Virtually all the songs were performed greatly. The energy and the special emotion of the show made it very special, so the band wanted to play a unique gig.
Even though Bono's voice was not 100% (was it anytime on the Elev Tour??), he makes a remarkable effort to sing good, and in my opinion, he achieves it...
Audience:
The South Bend' Joyce Arena is small. That0s the first point. It can hold about 7000-10000 people. And since it's near (near? I really don't know it sure) a university, most of the tickets were sold to students, young people. That meant an extra-point to the audience usual energy and reactions, etc. The stage's heart, as we have all seen on Slane and Boston DVDs, is huge. And the venue was small. Therefore, there was almost no space betwween the heart tip and the rear seats. That meant an unusual proximity between the band and the audience. Some people has even reported like being in an unplugged show. Those of you who have seen the DVD of this show know what I mean.
Sound quality:
The sound is perfect. Perfect. The upgrade made by Hodel_05 a few months ago sounds absolutely like heaven to my ears. Period.
Overall:
The first concert after the 9/11 massacre. Anything else to say?
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1982-12-01 Glasgow, Scotland
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Performance:
Of course, as the whole 82-83 era, this concert has an incredible energy, both from the band and te audience. The show begins a bit cold, although they open with a hard song (Out Of Control), but as the show advances the performance and the audience get considerably better. The only weak point on the performance is that Into The Heart (a song that I love!) and Fire (a song that I hate!) are both very very uninspired. The other 18 songs are performed strongly and receive an incredible amount of energy from the band, which seems actually playing for a live recording or so...
The most remarkable point on the performance is clearly New Year's Day, which is performed greatly, with energy and passion, and features a great piano from The Edge and the final part of the song, that verse that I love!!
Ups:
New Year's Day, Sunday Bloody Sunday, Surrender (read below), An Cat Dubh (one of the best perfs ever), I Fall Down, I Threw A Brick/A Day Without Me (both greatly performed), I Will Follow (is this the only song that the audience knew? They went mad!), 11 O'Clock Tick Tock and The Ocean.
Downs
Into The Heart, Fire and Surrender (Surrender is between the Ups and the Downs...). The sound?
Audience:
This part is only rated, not commented on.
Sound quality:
Not perfect, and this is the kind of soundboards I specially dislike (no audience sound, etc)... But it's worth its 4 stars rating A lack of bass makes the overall sound weak, as well as the echo of Bono's mic on some songs
Overall:
As someone said before, an unique bootleg. The live debuts of Surrender (did someone mentioned it?!?), Sunday Bloody Sunday and New Year's Day make it VERY worth acquiring and listening, since that great songs (that later became classics for the fans) were in their fledgling stages. The overall performance is very good and inspired (as the whole Pre-War tour was!)
Awesome. Together with London 1982-12-06 and Groningen (3 days later), the 3 best Pre War shows
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1981-06-09 London, England
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Performance:
This part is only rated, not commented on.
Audience:
This part is only rated, not commented on.
Sound quality:
This part is only rated, not commented on.
Overall:
Tremendous overall show, good sound, great energy both from the audience and the band, and weak versions of some songs (Fire, Boy·Girl). Nothing else.
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1989-10-16 Melbourne, Australia
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Performance:
Pros
The SETLIST!!!. That setlist kicked ass!!!! Incredible. First of all, opened with Hawkmoon!! Moreover, it was a very good version. Second, the middle part is awesome. Desire-Watchtower-Bullet-Running-Streets-IWF-Gloria-ISHFWILF-AIWIY-PGR-AOH... And so on. After that, comes WOWY (amazing version IMO) and... God Part II!!!!! Amazing opsition (16th song), and followed by NYD and Pride!! Also the finishing is great, with Party and 40 (both great renditions).
The audience is great. The overall ambient is very good, and the bad seems to be on a great mood. Also BBKings band is fantastic (as usual, to be sincere).
Cons
The SOUND. Sometimes the audience sound and the hiss drowns out the band. Other times, the recording itself is so bad that you can barely hear The Edge or so
Audience:
This part is only rated, not commented on.
Sound quality:
Terrible. I've listened to lots of shows; good, bad, averages and fair audiences. But this one is BAD. Although it has good mooments (God Part II, etc), the overall quality is bad. 6/10
Overall:
Originally posted by since I agree with all you said::
"A top band on top form, clearly enjoying themselves. Excellent tour and this is a fun boot. I've not heard a bad Lovetown boot yet and this didn't disappoint."
Anything else to add.
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1987-07-15 Madrid, Spain
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Performance:
The band is on the greatest mood I ever seen. Not Zooropa Tour, nor War Tour, nor Lovetown, nor Vertigo... Joshua-Madrid is the perfect example of HOW can be a U2 concert. The band knew that it was their 1st concert on Spain, and they responsed greatly. They were on a great mood, and they seemed to be having fun on the stage.
Audience:
Attendance was 125,000 people. Awesome. Biggest show until 1997. There were only 95.000 scheduled tickets to sale, but a ***** promoter sold 30.000 more. That could have been a massacre with all that people, but it was eventually fine. And how fine was it... Biggest concert so far in Spain, and 2nd biggest on U2's history...
Sound quality:
Not the best show I ever listened, of course. Although, the sound is OK for a 20 years old not-scheduled-and-even-amateur recording. It lacks some clarity on the high end, and a bit of Adam and Larry is sometimes lost. Anyway, the sound is just OK in my opinion. You are able to stand 2 hours of this stuff...
Overall:
When the Where The Streets Have No Name organ sounded over the 125k people on the stadium and lights went up, Bono appeared with a soccer balloon and shot it over the crowd. The first point of the night was amazing. After that, (just at the end of I Will Follow - which was awesome too) Bono gave some gifts to the mad spanish crowd. "Este es un lugar GREANDE, pero U2 y vosotros somos MUCHO MAAS grandes!!" ("This is a huge place, but U2 and you, we are MUCH bigger!!" ***Crowd went nuts***...
I'm not commenting every single detail, because it'd be so long. The whole show was spreaded with pearls. The Edge was also joking with some audience members, and Larry went off twice of the drumming-kit to wave and salute the audience (this anecqdothes are obviously not in the recording, but my parent was there and he knows it). Great.
The Electric Co was another great point. Bono climbed up to the stage once again (for the last time) and there (over 30 meters up the crowd) holded (for the last time! What a unique moment) the U2 White Flag. Awesome. After that (crowd went nuts again) he sung the best snippet done ever into that song: Break On Thru (To The Other Side). My father's throat went of on that moment .
And of course, Spanish Eyes was the absolute highlight of the night. As the first performance of a song, it was raw and not pulished, but how great it was. The crowd loved it and sung along (although they didnt know the song! how weird!).
And ''40", the closer song. Probably best version of the song ever. Amazing. Crowd thown the few energies they had left on this song. Amazing. My father once told me that people went out of the stadium singing out loud the "Hooooowww looooong... To sing this song?", and that verses were heard for hours at some points of Madrid... So great!
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