Bootleg Round Table

Originally posted by djrlewisIf you're going to be bored of the speeches on a Vertigo boot, that applies to every boot, so really we should dock all of them 2 points automatically or just ignore that bit and listen to just the songs.

Originally posted by djrlewisYeah, I get that. And by all means rate the sound 0.5 / 5 if you like (some of the Boy boots come to mind...)

I just don't think that any performance of U2 I've come across is worthy of less than 5/10.

That wouldn't lead to a recommendation from me or this round table. It would make it a poor bootleg, barely worthy of download. But it would still recognise U2's position as the best live band ever seen. It's not a great Vertigo bootleg, that's true. But it's not that bad. We've all listed maybe one or 2 bad songs. Out of 23 that's not sloppy.
Even Drew says that the snippets make it worth the download, but then gives it 2.5/10. There's some inconsistency there to me.

If you're going to be bored of the speeches on a Vertigo boot, that applies to every boot, so really we should dock all of them 2 points automatically or just ignore that bit and listen to just the songs.

Originally posted by germcevoyI skip the speech on every Vertigo boot and don't let itaffect my rating. I kinda get where you are coming from about the minimum of 5 but I tend to disagree. This Boston gig gets a 4 from me. If we take Point Depot or Milan 1992 as the bands pinnacle (both 10/10) then some gigs just haveto slot in below 5.

Originally posted by djrlewis[..]
Reviewers this week are:-

Ali Posted
Gerard Posted
Dan Posted
Casper Posted
Daley Posted
aussiemofo Posted
Harry Posted
Jeremy Posted
Drew Posted
Tim Posted

Originally posted by drewhiggins2005-12-05 - Boston, Massachusetts - Fleet Center


Sound

Listening to a lot of later North American shows like Chicago and Philadelphia, it was about as good as those shows. I could pick up many of the instruments by setting both my Foobar and iPod equalizers to ones with a lot less bass. Not bad, but not out of this world either.


Performance

A very Christmas-orientated show with snippets like We Wish You A Merry Christmas, Jingle Bells, Christmas (Baby Please Come Home). It just wasn't as good as the early shows or even the previous European shows, and I'm thinking maybe it's something to do with the endless nights playing each song every single night at those said killer European gigs. As usual the songs that stood out were Gloria (anything is better than a tired rendition of New Year's Day), but at the same time, it actually still sounded familiar to me from the early 80s shows like London, Denver, Manchester, Loreley - plus the JT period - but should have been in all the shows on a rotation of Electric Co, New Year's Day, 11 O'Clock Tick Tock... - not just at certain leg points. City of Blinding Lights was in top form as usual.

Maybe it's just me but I wasn't interested in the encore - and at one point sent me to sleep. I prefer something like Zoo Station > The Fly with a bit of life. Crumbs From Your Table should never be played again as should Yahweh. But there were some great songs to make up for a boring encore; Until The End of the World and ''40''. One more thing; if you're not interested in playing a song, don't. With or Without You bored me to tears - Bono's voice was strained and in fact, I skipped the song because it was so painful. One was nothing spectacular as usual, and the speech made it even more tedious. We get the idea you have a ONE.org campaign, Africans are dying of AIDS - so stop fucking around and play the fucker, would you. U2 tried to incorporate new songs (Crumbs, Instant Karma...) but unfortunately, most of the gatherers are probably casual fans (Bono's a knob, the nameless drummer, but Beautiful Day and One are the greatest songs since sliced cheese) and you can't do much because they'll have a sook about how boring the songs are. The snippets were well worth admission price (or download) alone. Rock the Casbah, Van Morrison's Gloria, Rockaway Beach, Christmas (Baby Please Come Home), She's A Mystery To Me...what else could you want.

I'll keep the show, but I don't expect to listen to it much, except when I'm bored. Get Philadelphia or Chicago (2005-09-21) and hear some great efforts, plus giving the crowd something to have fun along with - seriously, how many casual fans know of Gloria, or even much about October? You mean to tell me, you play songs from your lowest-selling album, yet you play no songs from what could be your most innovative album (Pop) - come on, surely you can do Please or even another version of Discotheque. Pay attention to your fans, they do like Pop - even the casual ones may like it too!

U2 seriously need to go back to the drawing board to avoid another show as bad as this one. I'm glad that it was a bootleg and I wasn't there, otherwise I may have gotten up the front and told the band to play some real songs, not this excuse you call 'Vertigo'.

Rating: 2.5/10

Originally posted by drewhiggins[..]

Get rid of the following songs until you feel more comfortable with them again:

New Year's Day, Streets, Pride, One, Beautiful Day, Original of the Species, Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own, Sunday Bloody Sunday and Bullet The Blue Sky. Yeah, they're all classics - but they're tired and becoming predictable.

Originally posted by germcevoy[..]

I skip the speech on every Vertigo boot and don't let itaffect my rating. I kinda get where you are coming from about the minimum of 5 but I tend to disagree. This Boston gig gets a 4 from me. If we take Point Depot or Milan 1992 as the bands pinnacle (both 10/10) then some gigs just haveto slot in below 5.

Originally posted by WojBhoy[..]

Call me blasphemous BUT...I didn't think the Milan bootleg was/is THAT amazing IN MY OPINION I hasten to add lol...the crowd however were incredible BUT with regard to the performance and quality of the bootleg (although that's not that much of an issue), it didn't feel like a 10/10 to me...

...although the So Cruel snippet in Bad rocked my socks lol

Originally posted by germcevoy[..]

you disagree with all of us there then. Almost flawless performance (you'l find that out as your bootleg collection grows)

Originally posted by germcevoy[..]

you disagree with all of us there then. Almost flawless performance (you'l find that out as your bootleg collection grows)