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Originally posted by germcevoy[..]

that video from the fifth is excellent Ali. Only a one cam shot but it must be a tri-pod and the quality is out of this world for a video of that age and the audio is also bloody excellent. There are 2 incomplete Sydney pro-shots (only a few songs each) and a very decent 3 cam mix from Dortmund but the Rotterdam show you mentioned is by far the best visual of the tour for me, Get downloading.

Great!! Thanks Gerard!

germcevoy

17 years

Originally posted by Ali709What’s the story behind this “screw up” Bono mentions in the beginning of Love Rescue Me?

Bono was reffering to the voice problems he had suffered a month previous to the Rotterdam gigs. The tour was scheduled to end with the New Year's Eve show but because Bono's voice was so mangled several of the Amsterdam gigs were called off and rescheduled as these Rotterdam gigs. Thats why you hear him ask 'anyone here from Amsterdam'

germcevoy

17 years

1990-01-06 - Rotterdam

Crowd

Another dedicated mention for the crowd this week. All that I really need to say is that they are Dutch so they are bloody crazy concert goers. Listen to any Dutch bootleg from any tour and the crowd will be awesome. They put the Irish to shame sometimes. Well done boys and girls in attendance.

Sound

Solid, sound recording. Sounds pretty much identical to the other Rotterdam nights (same taper?). For an audience recording of almost 20 years it still sounds great. Very good feedback from Bono's vocals and the recording captures the crowd very very well. On a more negative note Larry's drums sound terrible. The echo and the lack of clarity is yuk but the crowd and the performance don't let this detract from the overall recording. Deserved of its 4 stars.

Performance

Lovetown astounds me. How the Christ was this only 2 years before ZooTV?? The band started writing Achtung Baby probably less than a year after this gig. What a fucking transformation. The fact that it's Lovetown (and late Lovetown at that) means that this is probably gonna automatically be better than pretty much everything else. Lovetown is thee best of all the U2 tours for sheer raw performance. Simple.

Notable performances :

#I Will Follow. it's not very often that i'd credit this song as it's so overplayed. Excellent here though.
#I Still Haven't Found was gorgeous. That little closing verse was excellent Kudos to the crowd.
#MLK/Unforgettable Fire. Bono's voice during MLK was awesome. I swear a tub of butter beside me melted when I turned it on. What a shame about UF. Not the performance, it's just crap that this has been the last performance to date.
#'With a Red Guitar, that sometimes doesn't work'. Great diffusion of a technical hitch.
#1969 OKAY!!. Great fecking snippet.
#Running To Stand Still. Holy shit it's good. Slow start but what is the snippet? Ahh love it.
#'With Or WithOOUUTTT YOUU!! I love finding performances when Bono does this part.

After Running this show kinda hit a brick wall for me. It seemed to lose a bit of momentum.

Not so notable :

#I'm not so keen on LoveTown Streets performances. There is no depth to Edges guitar, no chime, it just sounds like one constant noise coming from his guitar. I originally put this down to the recordings but even during the Soundboard Point shows his guitar still sounds poor.
#As I previously mentioned I think the show lost pace after the midway point.
#She's a mystery would have been better without the singing ladies.
#The BB King set sounded weaker than normal.

Summary

It's LoveTown, there is a dutch crowd, these details should gurantee greatness but unlike the other 3 Rotterdam shows I felt that this one fell short of the rest of the Rotterdam nights. Maybe the band where to relaxed, or Bono wasn't feeding off the crowd enough but I was left a little cold by this show (and that is the first time i've ever said that about a Lovetown gig)

Overall - 7/10

Next show please

iTim

17 years

Review for: Sportpaleis Ahoy, Rotterdam, Netherlands (06/01/1990)

Performance

1) Where The Streets Have No Name - Very good opening song in my opinion. Musically, the introduction is faultless. The crowd are definitely in the mood for this one. Bono's vocals are also in good shape. Really does make you want to sing along.

2) I Will follow - I've stated this before and I'll say it again, I don't like I Will Follow that much. But recently, it's grown on me, with help from this performance and last weeks in Madrid. I used see it in the setlist and just say no. But now, I'm open to the song. This is a pretty fine performance. Crowd are excellent, and Bono acknowledges this. The audience really are acting as the 5th member.

3) I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For - "Welcome to the rock 'n' roll concert, where the crowd is louder than the band - can you be noisy in tune?" - Of course they can (igoring the false start

). Superb. It really is.

4) MLK - I don't see the point in commenting on this really to be honest. It's a short, simple song, that can't really go wrong. It's a nice little pre The Unforgettable Fire song. But I've never understood why it's so early in the setlist. It'd be better near the end in my opinion. Perhaps the last song of the main setlist, before the encore?

5) The Unforgettable Fire - Last performance?

How I wish I could've been in that crowd, even though they are a little bit ahead of themselves sometimes. Beautiful song. Bono does well on the falsetto in my opinion. And here comes the Edge orchestra comprising of one man and an ebow. How he uses that to such effect. Great.

6) God Part II - First time I've heard this live. I love the studio version. And I have to say, it's great live.

7) Desire - I've always loved this song. Great energy. Really short as well. Good performance.

8) All Along The Watchtower - This is on the second time I've heard this around Rattle & Hum. The first being on Rattle & Hum. It's a very good cover. Certainly improved a lot since they started playing it during the Boy tour. Good song, again, it's got a lot of energy for the crowd.

9) All I Want Is You - Really good performance. Audience is amazing.

10) Van Dieman's Land - I think this is a really good song. This is a great performance. I love it. Edge's voice is great.

11) Bullet The Blue Sky - This song is great live. I'm not really a huge fan of a song being played faster than it should be, but Bullet The Blue Sky is a great example of it working. For a quick start, it sure does last a long time. Which is no bad thing. It's a brilliant tune.

12) Running To Stand Still - Crowd are great again here. Lovely song. Brilliant performance. The audience really make this a great, great performance. Possibly the best I've heard. Great snippet at the end too.

13) She's A Mystery to Me - Pretty good I must say. The band do very well.

14) Angel of Harlem - Angel of Harlem is always good live. One of my favourite tracks. This performance is mighty fine. I don't like it being backed by B.B. kings orchestra though. Just a point.

15) When Love Comes To Town - Great song, great energy, excellent performance I think. Nothing more to say. Spectators still going strong I might add.

16) Love Rescue Me - I like the studio version of this song. Never heard it live before though...until now. And it's perfect. Enhances the studio version a lot! Brill.

Encore:

17) With Or Without You - Bit early to be singing '40' is it not? Hehe. Good performance. I've heard better, but nonetheless, very good. no Shine Like stars which is disappointing.

18) Pride (In The Name Of Love - Wow. How late? Typically good performance of such a brilliant song.

19) "40" - Brilliant closing song. I love to hear the crowd singing the refrain to this. Brilliant.

Overall
____________________________________________________________________________

Performance: Very good. The energy the band has is great and Bono has some good interplay with the crowd throughout. Solid performance and not a bad song there for me.

Crowd: Amazing throughout. Superb.

Sound: Very good actually. I think it's a 4 star audio bootleg and it deserves 4 stars. Occasionally some things aren't quite clear, but overall, it's great.
____________________________________________________________________________

I'll post up my choice for next weeks bootleg shortly.

djrlewis

17 years

1990-01-06 - Rotterdam, Netherlands - Sportpaleis Ahoy

Sound

Very good. Unlike others I didn't notice the lack of Larry. Heard all his bits fine. Maybe the extra boost of the in-car system helped?

Audience - bloody hell. Bono's right to question whether they may lift the roof off!! Superb and they elevate both this recording and, more importantly, the gig.

Performance

Well, it's Lovetown, and I agree absolutely with Gerard - musically the best tour they've done (yet?!). So it was always going to be good - I love it when a Lovetown show is chosen.
I loved this one. I didn't feel the drop-off Gerard mentions, although following up that RTSS was always going to be tricky.
Loved ISHFWILF, MLK, UF, RTSS in particular. I would also like to know what that snippet is at the end of RTSS.

Didn't like the audience talking during MLK and WOWY left me cold (except the high note, but it can't rescue a flat performance of the song for me - no snippet

). But that was it. Hardly major criticism.

Overall

Loved it. Staying on my iPod and in my top three Lovetown (after New Year and the 10th in Rotterdam). RTSS has gone into my Best LIve playlist it was that good.

Looking forward to your choice Tim

djrlewis

17 years

Nate, Patrick and Sergio left to post. I'm guessing Sergio may have trouble doing that.

Ali709

17 years

Originally posted by djrlewisNate, Patrick and Sergio left to post. I'm guessing Sergio may have trouble doing that.

Why? Parents again?

germcevoy

17 years

Originally posted by Ali709[..]

Why? Parents again?

his reviews are always late or early but he usually fits them in somewhere

iTim

17 years

Right, my choice of bootleg.

Why have I chosen the bootleg?

Well I don't own many bootlegs to fully consider a broad spectrum of bootlegs, so decided to choose one from one of my favourite eras of their career. It also happens to be my most listened to bootleg from this era and of any era for that matter. So it must be good? I think it is.

What is it?

Tour: Zoo TV
Type of Recording: Audience
Sound Quality: 5 star
Show: Invalid url 'http://Globen, Stockholm (11/06/1992)'

Setlist

1. Zoo Station
2. The Fly
3. Even Better Than The Real Thing
4. Mysterious Ways / Love To Love You Baby (snippet)
5. One / Unchained Melody (snippet)
6. Until The End Of The World
7. Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses
8. Tryin' To Throw Your Arms Around The World / Love And Affection (snippet) / Three Little Birds (snippet)
9. Angel Of Harlem
10. Dancing Queen
11. Satellite Of Love
12. Bad / All I Want Is You (snippet)
13. Bullet The Blue Sky
14. Running To Stand Still
15. Where The Streets Have No Name
16. Pride (In The Name Of Love)
17. I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
18. Stand By Me

encore(s):
19. Desire
20. Ultra Violet (Light My Way) / My Way (snippet)
21. With Or Without You / Shine Like Stars (snippet)
22. Love Is Blindness

______________________________________________________________________________

I hope you enjoy it.

Ali709

17 years

Right, The Dancing Zoo TV, I get to watch this one instead of listening!

I like your choice, I hope it's ok with others and isn't considered an "obvious" bootleg.

iTim

17 years

Originally posted by Ali709Right, The Dancing Zoo TV, I get to watch this one instead of listening!
I like your choice, I hope it's ok with others and isn't considered an "obvious" bootleg.

Ahh, I didn't know it was an obvious choice, or could be considered obvious. What's the story behind it's fame then?

germcevoy

17 years

Originally posted by iTim[..]

Ahh, I didn't know it was an obvious choice, or could be considered obvious. What's the story behind it's fame then?

it's a pro-shot and it sounds awesome and the performance is awesome. Thats about good enough. I'm all burned out on ZooTV and with my Dublin trip I may be stuck for time so I may not be able to review but I shall still try and contribute in my own way.

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