I was actually pretty impressed with this recording. It's nothing like the live recordings you get on official U2 CDs, but it is very good. It is kind of the flat soundboard you usually get with these videos, but Bono's voice has an echo on it that makes it sound better, and the instruments sound very good, not like a studio. It's not as ambient as a normal live recording, but the individual instruments and voices are very nice, and I enjoyed it a lot, more so than something like the 12/19/87 soundboard recording. The sound is also crystal clear, and you can hear things that you normally can't pick out.
Like in the intro, it's as if hearing "Television, The Drug of the Nation" on a CD. It does get a little too clear sometimes though, with Adam's bass in Lemon being a little too much in the foreground. Nevertheless, it's cool to have such a soundboard recording, and this is a much better find that either of the above mentioned commercial bootlegs.
As for the show, although I think it's very good, I disagree that it's better than Sydney. Some people have said it's more spontaneous, but I think unrehearsed is more appropriate. Bono does screw up a couple times, especially in Stay where he sings the second verse a second time as the ending. Dirty Day has a different guitar solo, which is cool, but again that's just different, not necessarily better. Sydney was also more energetic. Bono seemed, in this show, a bit less lively, probably a little tired, but the phone call is funny. A good find nonetheless, I highly recommend it. |
