U2, le 1987-04-22 à Los Angeles, CA (Sports Arena), USA
EX AUD
ANA-M > FLAC
Sony ECM-939 > Sony WM-D6C // KeithM
U2
Sports Arena
Los Angeles, CA
April 22, 1987
Fourteenth Night of the Joshua Tree Tour
KeithM Master via JEMS
1644 Mastered Edition

Recording Gear: Sony ECM-939 Stereo Microphone > Sony Walkman D6C

JEMS 2017 Transfer: master cassettes > Nakamichi CR-7A azimuth-adjusted playback > Sound Devices USBPre2 > Audacity 2.0 > iZotope RX6 and Ozone 6 mastering > Peak Pro 6 (post production) > xACT 2.39 > FLAC

01 Stand By Me
02 MLK
03 Pride
04 Trip Through Your Wires
05 I Will Follow
06 Bullet The Blue Sky
07 Running To Stand Still
08 The Unforgettable Fire
09 Sunday Bloody Sunday
10 Exit
11 In God’s Country
12 The Electric Co.
13 October
14 New Year’s Day
15 Gloria
16 Bad
17 Where The Streets Have No Name
18 I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For
19 With Or Without You
20 40

Known Issues:
-Running To Stand Still: two splices

Introduction To The KeithM Masters

With U2 back on tour, JEMS is pleased to present the outstanding work of KeithM to fans the world over and return to our series from the 1987 Joshua Tree tour.

KeithM recorded hundreds of concerts in, around and beyond Southern California starting in the early ‘80s, including what can only be described as a series of essential recordings from April 1987, the start of the Joshua Tree tour. Of the tour’s first 16 performances, incredibly KeithM recorded nine of them using a Sony ECM-939 stereo microphone and Walkman D6C. In my opinion, they range from quite good to excellent and offer a striking balance in that they capture the extraordinary excitement of the crowd, but limited up-close chatter or talking.

Some of KeithM’s recordings have circulated before (though perhaps not all?) and the lineage of what is around ranges from an analog generation or two removed to “unknown.”

This series presents the first proper digital transfers ever made from KeithM’s metal master tapes and, as such, we believe each and every one of them represents a substantial upgrade to circulating copies of these nine incredible shows. In other words, 31 years later, we get to hear some of the formative shows of the original Joshua Tree tour in best-ever quality thanks to the remarkable preservation and generosity of KeithM.

Los Angeles, April 22

The legendary closing night of the high-profile, five-show stand in Los Angeles is one of tour’s best. For the first time, the band turns the set list on its head, moving songs out of their familiar positions and changing the dynamic of the set substantially. The night opens with a surprise as instead of Ben E. King’s “Stand By Me” fading out as the pre-show music, the band pick up and finish the song themselves in its first-ever performance.

Spirits are high throughout as the mixed-up order and closing night energize the band, who are playing at a peak already. The tour debut of “The Electric Co.” is another highlight and it is refreshing to hear “Where The Streets Have No Name” and “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” so late in the show.

It would appear KeithM’s master is the underlying recording for circulating copies of this show, including the bootleg “U2 Versus The US,” so this should represent an upgrade to all. Of the four nights KeithM recorded in LA, it is probably his best, with rich, full sound and very few issues. Samples provided. Given the historic significance of the show, we are presenting the recording in both 1644 mastered and 2496 unmastered editions.

I’d like to express my personal gratitude to KeithM for loaning us his precious master tapes and allowing us to share his work. He is enjoying reading your comments so please keep them coming. Special credit goes to DIME member bitrate for helping me connect to KeithM and remaining persistent as the months went by before we finally got things going with the tapes. Lastly, there’s no one JEMS trusts more to handle post-production of this series than our esteemed colleague mjk5510. Thanks to him for his continued vital support of our efforts. Without him, our recordings would come out a whole lot slower.

BK for JEMS