U2start.com | Bootleg Round Table

Good evening folks, here's my review.

1982.12.01 - Glasgow

This was the night of debuts, lots of War songs were played here for the first time, if only for this, this is a unique bootleg.

Sound: Not as good as a soundboard could be, but really worth a 4. The drums are flat, the energy comes through nevertheless. Edge can be heard well, none of the instruments are overexposed. Bono's voice is echoed in some songs, and he has some problems with the high notes.

Performance: The concert starts a bit flat, no matter how fast songs they play as openers (Out of Control, Twilight, etc.), but as we get further, the show and the atmosphere gets better and better. 'A Day Without Me' is fantastic, but it just prepares the listener for a simply incredible 'An Cat Dubh'. I never felt that it's a cinematic song, but this slow arrangement that is present here can totally give us sights of dirty alley-ways with wandering black cats - really a highlight of the night.
It's a shame that this song is followed by a totally weak 'Into The Heart', which sounds very uninspired. And here begins the premier-parade, the first new song is 'Surrender' which is quite enjoyable, but the band sounds a bit unsure about this - and with all the other debuts of the show. It's amusing to hear 'Sunday Bloody Sunday' being played without the 'rebel' feeling, but the biggest surprise comes, when 'New Year's Day' starts, and...Edge PLAYS THE PIANO RIFF THE RIGHT WAY, WITHOUT THE EXTRA NOTES!! I never heard this song played so accurately to the album version, and was really delighted to finally hear this. The final part is also triumphant, offering an extended '11'o Clock Tick Tock' followed by 'The Ocean' (the change is a bit dramatic), but 'A Celebration' and 'Fire' put the things in their right places, though I can't see how could they close a show with such a filler (I know they didn't, I Will Follow was repeated, but the recording ends here).

Ups: An Cat Dubh (Best performance of this song I ever heard), New Year's Day (for the piano accuracy), 11'O Clock Tick Tock (Long, long, that's how I like it).

Downs Not much, I only didn't like 'Into The Heart' (very uninspired) and 'Fire' (played as an encore...uhh).

Overall Great pre-War show with some historical song debuts, and a brilliant 'An Cat Dubh'. Check it out if you can!

fenderman

17 years

1982-12-01 - Glasgow, Scotland - Tiffany's

Sound: There is hardly any bass in this recording. But that's probably due to the age of this boot. Other than that it sounds pretty good.

The good:
SBS - I had no idea this was the debut of some of these great songs. It's greta to hear this song's 1st performance
11 O'Clock Tick Tock
A Celebration - this is a song I ususally don't listen to very much, but I really like it
An Cat Dubh/Into the Heart - These songs were so good in the early years
I Fall Down

The not so good:
New Year's Day - Even though this is its debut, which is great, half the songs sounds really out of tune.
Surrender - Just feels like there's no spark in this song

Overall: This is a pretty good show and I did enjoy listening to it. Not something I would be itching to listen to a lot so really no need to hurry to download.

Sound: 3 stars
Performance: 3 stars

LikeASong

17 years

Happy New Year to you all!! Here's my modest review.

1982.12.01 - Glasgow

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!).

Sound:
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. Anyway, as said before, it's worth its 4 star rating.

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?

Overall
Awesome. Together with London 1982-12-06 and Groningen (3 days later), the 3 best Pre War shows

djrlewis

17 years

Looks like all the reviews are in. I'll get round to a summary asap but I've got a busy couple of days ahead so I may be a while.

Happy New Year to all the roundtable!