CD 1 & 2 : Birmingham, Alabama, October 7th, 1992

Taper's location : Second (fourth?) row on Edge's side right under the Trabant

Taper's comment (Steve Hendrix) :
First of all, let me thank everyone for their kind words about this tape, but it's been over 14 years & I think it's time to set the record straight. This is my DAT recording, but it is by far not the best quality you guys can get. The story is the "Hallelujah, My Girl" Boot CDs were not made from my original DAT. They were made from a second or third generation analog transfer of the recording. The guys beside my friend & I at the show were recording the show for an Italian Bootleg company & their DAT crapped out for some reason & I guess they had already accepted the money for it so they decided to try & get mine. I didn't want any part of some bootleg company because I really only got into taping because I love live music, not to make any money from it, so I refused to give it up. After a few weeks of trying, they kind of gave up trying to get it from me & started looking elsewhere. They eventually got the analog copy from a trader in Europe who got it from another European trader who got it from me in trade. Back then, DAT tapes were expensive & their was of course no CDR so we traded analog cassettes. To make a long story short, the show finally got pressed & released after a lot of EQ & stuff & it got out that way. They didn't even bother to put the complete show out because for some reason they cut "Desire" off the CDs, but my DAT is quite full & complete. The one guy that got it pressed thought it would be funny to send me a copy of that CD when they got done with a sarcastic thank you note as well. This experience caused me to stop trading for a few years because it soured me so much. Since everyone on this board has been so great in sharing all their stuff, I would like to get the real DAT out their for everyone to hear. It was taped from the fourth row on Edge's side of the stage with a Sony D3 DAT recorder & two Audio Technica Lavalier mics & is by far one of the best tapes I ever made.

Jason's comment (mastering man) :
Recording Info:
- Mics set to flat response instead of bass roll-off.
- DAT set to minus 20dbs in SP mode.

Mastering Info:
- Three tracks total across two discs, used EAC in secure mode to pull WAV files off the CDs.
- Joined the three WAV files into one (first splice is clean, but the start of the encore is an obvious break).
- Repaired a split-second right channel dropout at the very beginning of Zoo Station.
- Repaired a split-second left channel burst of noise at the end of TTTYAATW.
- Fade-in start, fade-out at end of "Stand By Me", fade-out end.

There's nothing like serving up a 14-year-old can of Whup-Ass on a pack of pathetic thieves like the baboon-buttcracks that pressed Steve's most excellent recording against his wishes! This original DAT master is one of the clearest, fullest, richest audience recordings I've heard. Best of all, the master is complete - the "George Bush Rap" sets the mood, and who in their right mind would have cut out "Desire"?!?! I did a comparative listen between this master recording and the tarnished tin CD (can't call it "silver") published by Pluto Records, and there's no difference in quality other than some obvious EQ adjustments on the tin, adjustments not made here and best left to the listener to tweak to taste. I tracked this differently than the tin CD on purpose, made a couple repairs in spots pointed out by Steve, put fades at the start and end of the concert and also at the end of "Stand By Me" because it's a full stop and cut between that track and the "Zoo TV Confessional" otherwise. Some highlights unique to this concert: A rare performance of "My Girl"; Larry singing "Whiskey In The Jar" acapella; a rendition of "Running To Stand Still" and "Where The Streets Have No Name" so perfectly melded together that it was almost painful to split them into separate tracks; a thunderous "Desire" punctuated with canon shots at the end; and how often do you get to listen to a recording made from beneath a dangling trabant?

This master is superior in all ways to the incomplete pressed version of it. Time to upgrade, people!