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  1. It is Sunday in Australia so I will kick off proceedings...

    aussiemofo's review of

    1987-07-08 - Brussels, Belgium - Vorst National

    Performance

    There are so many legendary Joshua Tree shows many of us know and love – Rosemont (Rock’s Hottest Ticket), Paris, Wembley, L.A., Denver, Sun Devil. They're all vintage U2. You can add Brussels to the list also.

    Right from the very first note, this show kicked a lot of arse. Played straight after the famous Paris gig, Brussels provided superior renditions of almost every song that was featured. The Streets opener is the best I’ve ever heard. The crowd just go nuts as soon as the gents take the stage and those first organ sounds surface and then Bono proceeds to just go off, particularly towards the end of Streets.

    Edge didn’t put a foot (or note) wrong and Larry delivered one of his finest, really give it some extra oomph throughout, particularly during I Will Follow, Electric Co. and Bad.
    Brussels is a keeper! There was simply no let up from the boys. I don’t what Bono was on but he gave every ounce of energy and passion he had behind every single song. And from a simply stunning Streets the show continued to deliver in spades.

    I Will Follow rocks, I Still Haven’t Found... Running, Sunday, God’s Country. . . they’re all amazing.
    I’ve always preferred the JT versions of The Unforgettable Fire and this one is probably the best I’ve heard surpassing Denver...just listen to Bono during “Stay tonight in a lie” and you’ll see what I mean.

    I’ve felt Electric Co. is incomplete without The Cry, but who really cares when they play it like this. The best Cry-less Electric Co. you will hear is Brussels, complete with Bono swearing during the bridge and then proceeding to make puke noises at the end!

    The October-New Year’s Day combo followed by Pride is also great and then we have three fantastic encore tunes, including a nice ‘40’ to close out. Just simply a near-perfect performance.

    5/5

    Audience

    The audience helped make this boot. They were relentless in showing their appreciation, really getting behind every song. Audience highlights include someone yelling ‘Oh my God!’ at the start of I Still Haven’t Found and another bloke singing la-la-la-la America, la-la-la-la America to pre-empt the Electric Co. snippet only to have Bono not sing it. Wrong tour I think mate!

    4.5/5

    Sound

    Sound was excellent. Only a few blemishes such as minor interference during Running and some volume fluctuations during another song I can’t quite recall (In God’s Country maybe). The sound also appeared to turn on and off in between a few songs which was also a little distracting but I’m starting to get picky now.

    4.5/5

    Overall

    Download this boot right now if you haven’t got it. It’s a must-have Joshua Tree show. I can’t believe I waited for Gerard’s BRT selection to listen to it!

    Highlights
    Every song. Really.
    Streets – As above. The best intro with Streets as an opener I’ve heard.
    The Unforgettable Fire – the best version I’ve heard (or that I can recall)
    Electric Co. – It often my gig highlights, but this one’s special. The puke noises are classic.
    In God’s Country – another best-of performance.
    With or Without You – can’t ignore this one either. This is how WOWY should be all the time.

    Lowlights
    None. Flawless.

    This holds Rosemont status for mine. It will forever be on my iPod. 5/5
  2. oh yea Aussie. Thats one enthusiastic review
  4. Mine's coming up now or maybe later, when I get back from lectures this afternoon
  5. 1987-07-08 - Brussels

    Bit of bachground info first. This was the bands first indooor show after a run of 4 large outdoor gigs. The venue here was probably the smallest of the whole tour. Also, the bands first gig at this venue was so loud it actually shook nearby buildings and Brussels Seismological Institute registers it as an earthquake. Cool.

    Sound

    Perfect audience recording. Simply perfect. Sure theres the odd clapper or individual shout but overall this is perfect. The taper here was awesome, I have no idea how he managed to get such a great recording in such a small, loud venue. I've watched the DVD which has a different audio source and the crowd were so much more powerful than they come across in the recording. Bono and the band perfectly balanced with the crowd greatly prominent providing a great ambient and atmosphere. To knoow that this is a 1st gen and not the master is exciting. This is brilliant, I just winder how good the master would be. This recording could also do with a fresh transfer as there are plenty of cuts and trims throughout so we have probably lost a few small speeches etc. Just stunning. Beats Rocks Hottest Ticket. I'd give 5/5 for it being an audience recording but it is a 4.

    Performance

    Ahhhhhhhhh where to start. Quite simply the best U2 concert of all time. Flawless. I've had phases with all U2 eras but this one gig is the one that stands out above all of the rest (Red Rocks and Point Depot included). I was never a massive fan of JT Streets but this is the best version i've heard full stop. Others will disagree but Streets has had many reinventions over the years but this one ticks the boxes and sets the tone and pace for the rest of the gig. 'ahhh I LIKE IT', the man sounded like he was on drugs. Brilliance.

    I Will Follow was it's usual self. I Still Haven't Found was great but i'm still not keen on the exodus snippet. MLK was flawless, Bono's voice was silky smooth and filled the arena. It lead into the best ever Unforgettable Fire ever. Just compare this to the Paris performance on the DVD where his voice was harsh and breaking. Bullet had plenty of flare and energy. Running To Stand Still is the second highlight of the night. It has no lengthy snippets or improvisations but it is just flawless. His voice just rocks and the crowd backs him up perfectly. Bonos little ramble before 'she runs through the streets' gives me goosebumps.

    The rendition of Sunday Bloody Sunday served up is a 10/10. Perfectly paced with the vocal and passion to match. 'trenches dug within our hearts' - anybody ever heard him sing that good. Just a great performance, I only wished he'd skipped on the amnest international line. Exit and In God's Country both excellent.

    The Electric Co comes in as another brilliant highlight. Without The Cry it just works. Great pace and enthusiasm. Bono's 'what colour is this' rant with the Irish flag made a simple but heartfelt statement about affairs in his homeland. Larry's drumming in this song was especially good. The 'UP UP UP' followed by Break On Through (awesome snippet) rounded off an immense performance. Help was lovely. Bono's speech about Greg made for an emotional moment backed up by a storming perfirmance of the song.

    The crowd taking over at the start of New Year's Day makes for another hilight. Party Girl isn't a song I enjoy but it hit the spot here, especially Bono letting the crowd do a round of 'oh oh oh oosss'

    Final hight moment is WOWY. Sure there maybe more epic and unique versions out there but this is my go to version when i'm looking for a great all round version of WOWY. Shine Like Stars, Tear Us Apart, solo and another refrain of 'ohhh o o ohhhs'. What else do you need? 40 rounded off the best show ever. 10/10

    Audience

    Among the best you will ever hear. Every word of every song they sang aswell as guessing snippets before Bono sang them. 'Ala la america' for eg, that was Boy era!!. You could just feel that some in that audience were enjoying the best night of their live and all I can say is JAMMY BASTARDS. 10/10
  6. Right, this is the first time I've made my review adhere to the format on the bootleg pages so here goes lol

    1987-07-08 - Brussels, Belgium - Vorst National

    Performance

    Terrific performance. It's not often I throw 5 stars at a show, but this merits every one. The show starts off in dramatic fashion (nicely counterpointed by Bono's understated "hello" in the intro.) with a superb version of WTSHNN and continues as such. I remember once saying during another BRT (I think it was Casper's TUF show from the Barrowlands) about how the band "drives through the main set with a kind of reckless abandon combined with verve and panáche", and those sentiments were buzzing through my mind throughout listening to this show. There's nothing bad to be said about the band on this show in a Joshua Tree context - they loved every second and the crowd were more than fair game. I won't lie, I prefer later versions of most of the songs on the setlist BUT that doesn't detract from this being an amazing show, i.e. the whole greater than the sum of its parts, I think would be apt to describe how I view it. A couple of highlights have to be Edge's string breaking in IWF (you can hear at the end that he's only playing one string to the main riff but continues regardless); during Electric Co. ("all I see is fucking red!"); NYD and Pride rocked (not something we seem to say much nowadays) and there's a surefire reason why WOWY here is considered one of the best ever - there's nothig else to say but call it sheer brilliance. True, it still doesn't knock Paris '92 off my personal pedestal as far as performances go but it made one beastly fist of it.

    Audience

    Nothing much to say other than praise one of the best audiences ever heard on a U2 bootleg. End of.

    Sound

    As good as you're likely to get with audience recordings save for something slightly superior such as Stockholm (11-06-1992) - great listening with little to really pick out.

    Overall

    I was very tempted to try and be an awkward sod and pick out whatever faults I could in the show purely because Gerard et al have praised this to high heaven for what seems like eternity, but the thing is they have good reason to praise it like they do - IT'S THAT GOOD. As a Joshua Tree show, this has got to be one of the best, and indeed one of the great U2 shows. True, there are one or two that I would personally put above this but that's personal preference on my part. If you like U2, you'll love this, so make it your mission to download this boot ASAP.

  7. Yep!


    I love just Edge and Bono just starting off and then the other two coming in mid-way. Lovely!

    Originally posted by germcevoy:
    The Electric Co comes in as another brilliant highlight. Without The Cry it just works. Great pace and enthusiasm. Bono's 'what colour is this' rant with the Irish flag made a simple but heartfelt statement about affairs in his homeland. Larry's drumming in this song was especially good.


    Let's not forget the puke noises right at the end.

    Originally posted by germcevoy:
    Final hight moment is WOWY. Sure there maybe more epic and unique versions out there but this is my go to version when i'm looking for a great all round version of WOWY.


    The boys need to get back to basics and play WOWY like this again. Almost all post-Zoo performance suck balls.


    Originally posted by germcevoy:
    Every word of every song they sang aswell as guessing snippets before Bono sang them. 'Ala la america' for eg, that was Boy era!!.


    That dude was fuckin' legend!
  8. Originally posted by aussiemofo:[..]
    Yep!

    [..]
    I love just Edge and Bono just starting off and then the other two coming in mid-way. Lovely!

    [..]

    Let's not forget the puke noises right at the end.

    [..]

    The boys need to get back to basics and play WOWY like this again. Almost all post-Zoo performance suck balls.


    [..]

    That dude was fuckin' legend!


    I hope you're not trying to dislodge me as King of the Multi-Quote lol...
  9. Originally posted by WojBhoy: I remember once saying during another BRT (I think it was Casper's TUF show from the Barrowlands) about the band "The band drives through the main set with a kind of reckless abandon combined with verve and panáche",



    I do recall. That's my favourite BRT line!


    Originally posted by WojBhoy
    I hope you're not trying to dislodge me as King of the Multi-Quote lol...





  11. easily. Theres no big headedness or ego present in this show, the audience is European. . The Brussels setlist isn't good but you can't mark a show down for songs that weren't played.
  12. I'll post mine within a few days. Loads of enthusiasm here.
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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.
Contribute to the U2 community with uploading photos or by telling us which shows you have visited.