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  1. Is Tehran the only place where today's a Sunday?! Where are you people?! Ok, here I go...[beware: it's looong and nonsense!]

    1985-03-21 - Chicago, Illinois - University Of Illinois Pavillion
    -----------------------------------

    The Recording: 4.5/5

    >> Positive…
    * Pretty awesome, it doesn’t switch between left and right, you get enough music enough audience. The Vocals and the music are both pretty clear. It IS a 4.5 star recording!

    >> Negative…
    * Not a surprise really, but we don’t have as much bass as I would like, but hey, that would definitely make it 5 stars! It IS still more in there than many other bootlegs (listen A Sort of Homecoming as an example).

    The Show: 5/5
    To tell you the truth…I’ve been digging hard trying to find problems with it, but it’s just great! Let’s see what I got in the end…

    >> Positive…
    * TOTALLY AWESOME!
    * It’s the unforgettable fire tour; it really was only about the music back then. It’s weird that except for a few exceptions, the only thing that Bono says before a song starts, is the song’s name!
    * The setlist is amazing now...as I (or maybe we) miss these old songs and want to see them played! There is A Sort of Homecoming, Seconds, TUF, October, Wire…
    * All the songs are very well performed, there is no poor performance in my opinion, and they’re all done great! If I wanted to make a highlights list, it would have to be the whole setlist! Here are some standouts anyways! >>

    - Almost 11 minutes long version of Bad !
    - Electric Co. … 8 minutes long, with snippets and long jam-like thing in the middle!
    - October>> NYD !
    - As less heard songs live: TUF ,ASOH and 11 O’clock. Also, MLK blew me away!
    - The made-up lyrics to Knockin’ on Heaven’s door are funny
    - 9 minutes long ‘40’ + snippets, performed with the support band!

    >> Negative:
    There really wasn’t much, I had to dig hard for these:
    * At some points, when Edge is doing backing vocals…he gets over Bono! I mean you hear more of him than Bono, which doesn’t really sound good, as Bono is singing in the actual melody whereas Edge’s is a bit different, not good to become main.
    * Wire is not a favorite song of mine really, I did enjoy it anyways but the ending is awful really!

    Overall:
    Amazing! It was the first ever Unforgettable Fire tour bootleg I listened to. It exceeded my expectations. It’s a very good recording if you’re looking for the same thing as I was. I might suggest this other show as well, it’s got a longer and a bit better setlist (includes Indian Summer Sky, Surrender, Two Hearts Beat As One,...): 1984-10-23 - Nantes, France - St. Herblain (I found it right after having posted Chicago as this week’s bootleg!).

    The whole bootleg and show are just great (talking about this week's show, not Nantes mentioned in the last paragraph!!)! Also, it’s interesting to hear them when they weren’t as big as they are now. The ego hadn’t done its work yet, they are a band who has just become famous and big…you can hear Bono’s comments that reflect this (telling the CBS people: “you want some people? Come up here!” or the comments before Knockin’… there is another part where he says they used to have 500 people watching them and that he’s glad there are so many watching now).

    **Comments: Just wanted to point this out…it’s interesting how similar this show sounds to Joshua Tree Tour shows (particularly Paris 87, as I was listening to it at the same time). Of course, JT had new songs and a more confident band…but the (very short) speeches/comments (such as “for a very special man…” or “this is a big place but we’re bigger than this place”) and performances are very similar, which shows they didn’t spend as much time as they do now on how the tours should be, it REALLY was only about the music (though maybe we’re lucky that they changed their manners, or all the shows would be the same, up till now! )

  2. 1985-03-21 - Chicago, Illinois - University Of Illinois Pavillion

    Info

    The Unforgettable Fire 5th leg: North America
    Some of the show was filmed by CBS news and Wire was broadcast
    1st of two nights at Illinois Pavilion
    Rate 4.5/5 for sound on this site


    Sound

    Good boot this one, especially for the era. I thought during 11 o'clock it was bit ropey but it settled (that often seems to be the case?)
    I did notice there wasn't much bass, had to boost that up a bit.
    Audience very muted too; not sure if they were just quiet or not much was picked up by the taper.

    Performance
    Bono's voice ranged from shit (The UF) to pretty good (Amazing Grace snippet during Electric Co.). Couldn't work that one out. He acknowledges after The UF that it's not working and struggles with Pride too, but didn't seem to struggle so much on other songs.

    General band performance was good.

    One of the better boots of recent weeks for me. I was pretty tired when I listened and it kept me awake which is a good sign.
    It didn't blow me away though either - just very solid.

    Nice to hear some songs we don't hear much done well - Wire for example. I thought Electric Co was very good as was '40'.
    Nothing else has stuck in my mind though.

    Summary

    I think this boot is a good UF boot, solid performances, except Bono's voice is poor on several songs. Personally would rate it 4 stars, not 4.5.
  3. Originally posted by djrlewis
    I think this boot is a good UF boot, solid performances, except Bono's voice is poor on several songs. Personally would rate it 4 stars, not 4.5.



    hmm...I really didn't notice his voice going bad...tho maybe it's because I was listening to the show while driving in a huge traffic! I noticed what he said after TUF and I thought :"What the hell are you talking about?!"
  4. 1985-03-21 - Chicago, Illinois - University Of Illinois Pavillion

    Info

    The Unforgettable Fire 5th leg: North America
    Some of the show was filmed by CBS news and Wire was broadcast
    1st of two nights at Illinois Pavilion
    Rate 4.5/5 for sound on this site


    Sound

    Decent sound. Pretty much a clear, high quality boot. Great, but nothing special.

    Performance

    Wire is utter chaos, but in a good way. I love that song even more after re-listening to this show. It's such a powerful song. I felt as if I was hyperventilating while I listened to it.

    11 O'Clock Tick Tock was strong as usual.

    I Will Follow had a few bumps in the road, but overall it was good.

    I don't really care for 4th of July being played over the P.A. It just doesn't really fit, and it's kinda odd to segue into !EOTT. It kinda reminds me of the early Boy shows where they opened with The Ocean.

    Possibly one of my top 10 favorite performances of Bad. Quite ironic though that I've never heard a "Bad" version of that particular song...

    I absolutely love The Unforgettable Fire and ASOH live!

    Seconds was decent.

    the "Falling" vocal when October segues into NYD sounded great. Anybody know what I mean?

    Nothing better than ending the show with a 9 minute version of 40!


    Summary

    Overall I think this is a great show. The band was pretty consistent, with just a few bumps in the road. My only complaint is that on the UF tour, they didn't play many UF songs. I think they realized that when putting together the JT tour, and that might be why on the JT tour they played so many "New" songs off of JT, where they didn't do tthat on the UF tour. I think this show is sort of a "preview" of the JT tour, as they began playing covers, such as Knockin' On Heaven's Door.

  5. Moderator’s Notes:

    1985-03-21 - Chicago, Illinois - University Of Illinois Pavillion

    General Jots:

    --Already they're behaving like a big band. Bringing the cameras up the show that the music and people are bigger than "this place."
    --Wire was awesome and I loved the John Lennon snippet.
    --Sunday Bloody Sunday & The Electric Co. were on fire.
    --A Sort of Homecoming is better live, like so many U2 songs.
    --Bad felt weak to me. Still haven't found its power yet.
    --Pride and 40 exuded power.

    Final Thoughts:

    I'm amazed at the audio quality of this gig, it barely sounds like an audience recording. This gig was strong as well. I think if anything, Bono was out of breath a lot. I bet he was running and jumping and raising the roof to have a magnificent vocal. But it shows his commitment to the people in front of him.

    A great find. Hope this vibe continues.
  6. Originally posted by ReclinerManModerator’s Notes:

    1985-03-21 - Chicago, Illinois - University Of Illinois Pavillion

    General Jots:

    --Already they're behaving like a big band. Bringing the cameras up the show that the music and people are bigger than "this place."
    --Wire was awesome and I loved the John Lennon snippet.
    --Sunday Bloody Sunday & The Electric Co. were on fire.
    --A Sort of Homecoming is better live, like so many U2 songs.
    --Bad felt weak to me. Still haven't found its power yet.
    --Pride and 40 exuded power.

    Final Thoughts:

    I'm amazed at the audio quality of this gig, it barely sounds like an audience recording. This gig was strong as well. I think if anything, Bono was out of breath a lot. I bet he was running and jumping and raising the roof to have a magnificent vocal. But it shows his commitment to the people in front of him.

    A great find. Hope this vibe continues.


    Check out this version of Wire as well. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caECkQvLeHY Embedding is disabled on this video...



  7. The only problem is that it's not from the show we are talking about. It's from a Toronto show in the fifth leg.
  8. Originally posted by ReclinerMan[..]

    The only problem is that it's not from the show we are talking about. It's from a Toronto show in the fifth leg.


    I know that. Just thought you'd like to see it. That's why I said as well...
  9. i'd changed the show to 4 stars during the week
  10. I have to apologise, but this review won't be as detailed as my previous one, I have been extremely busy this weekend, so I found time to listen to this bootleg only once. Anyway, here it goes:

    U2 - 1985.03.21 - Chicago

    Sound: This bootleg has a very clear, crisp sound, it's only Bono's unusually deep voice that tells us it's an audience recording. All the instruments aound good, the drums are not over-echoed, the guitar sound is also sharp.

    Performance: This gig shows U2 going disco. All the songs are very dynamic, the focus is on the beats, seems like it's all about the groove. The songs are running on the tracks like steam engines, borth the band and the audience seems to be in a very good mood. The only thing that suffers from this, is the dramatic content of some tracks (most noticeably Seconds and Sunday Bloody Sunday), which behaving like rock boogie tracks, I can even see the audience dancing to the beat.
    What is also very important on this gig, is the role of Edge, whose background vocals are very dominant on this recording, sometimes as important as Bono's parts. During The Unforgettable Fire and A Sort Of Homecoming, they sound like they are singing a duet.
    The majority of the songs (and the spoken parts between them) are the UF tour standards, the new songs greatly fit in with the others, and the show is really flawless, I cannot hear really weak parts.

    Ups: 11' O Clock Tick Tock, Seconds (pure mirrorball action!), The Unforgettable Fire (great as always), A Sort Of Homecoming (for Edge's great vocals)

    Downs: Wire (routine bites hard), Bad (disturbing glitches in the recording)

    Overall: Great sound quality UF tour bootleg with a quite unusual disco feeling to some songs. Definately worth a listen (even more than one).
  11. OK, here is my reply, sorry that it's a little bit late, but I've had time to reply only now in the evening...

    1985-03-21 Chicago, Illinois - University Of Illinois Pavillion

    Sound:

    Very good for UF era, but there are better audience recordings, for example 1985-04-15 East Rutheford..

    Performance:

    -11 o'clock Tick Tock and I Will Follow are great as usual with Bono's for this era typical screams "I Will Folooooooooow".....

    -At the begin of Seconds I hated that "Message to the presidentttaaa, Ronald Reagannaa" and I think it's played a little bit faster as it should, but that was problem of more songs during this era,

    -Nice version of MLK with the backing tracks which dissapeared since JT Tour, not the best version of Unforgettable Fire, Bono's out of breath at falsetto parts, I've heard far better versions

    -Wire is pretty good here but doesn't match album version

    -On Bad it shows that this wasn't Bono's best night in terms of voice, also I didn't like long pause without singing in the middle of the song,

    -great cover of Knocking on Heaven's Door, Gloria doesn't dissapoint either, during this time, I think this song had its peak..

    Overall:

    Very nice UF bootleg, I've been dissapointed a bit with Bono's voice but overall performance of band was very good. I'd rate it in top 5 UF bootlegs, still not better than Dortmund...
  12. 1985-03-21 - Chicago, Illinois - University of Illinois Pavilion

    General Bits:

    I noticed some great songs were played here like ASoH, Pride and 40. 11'O Clock isn't the best way to open a show but then it's not high on my favorites list. The earlier shows are probably better because of New Year's Day how it's got the fast opening riff. And Do They Know It's Christmas was a nice little snippet to add as was Sympathy for The Devil during Bad. I really liked Bad here, certainly apart from the Joshua Tree / Lovetown versions it was like that, and Bono had a deep voice to pull it off.

    The sound amazed me even if it was still 128Kbps (on Megaupload's version anyway). Still sounded pretty good even 20 years later (the magic of digital media), and way more emotion put into the performances than what was shown during Vertigo (both in North America, Europe, South America and Australia).

    Personal Rating: 4/5
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Contribute to the U2 community with uploading photos or by telling us which shows you have visited.
Contribute to the U2 community with uploading photos or by telling us which shows you have visited.