A bootleg recording, in the case of U2, is a recording that has not been officially released by U2. They usually take the format of a "live recording" of a U2 performance. Some prefer to call those recordings that are sold "bootlegs" and do not use that term for recordings that have been made of live material which are traded but not sold. In some countries bootlegs of concerts are legally available for sale. These are often refered to as "live imports." If you decide to buy bootlegs, you must consider that the artists get no royalties for the sales. (source: U2faqs.com)
In 1991, when a bootleg of U2's studio sessions called The New U2 (the first version of what would eventually become the Salomé bootleg) was being distributed, Island Records took out a full-page ad in the British publication Music Week warning record stores that the label would "take legal proceedings" against anyone selling the bootlegs. U2 manager Paul McGuinness issued a press statement saying the bootleggers were cheating fans by distributing inferior material.
In a later interview about the incident, Bono said: "The only thing that can piss you off is if people are charging a lot of money for something that isn't very good. It [the Achtung Baby working tapes] got bootlegged in Berlin and it was just like having your notebook read out. That's the bit I didn't like about it. There were no undiscovered works of genius, unfortunately, it was more just gobbledy-gook."
During 2001, several other comments were made by the band regarding the recording of their shows. They made it clear that they were fine with people recording their performances and trading them. They did make it clear that they were opposed to people making money from those recordings. As Bono says, "We invite people to bootleg our shows. We invite people to make copies, we've no problems with that, but if some guy is gonna make money off the back of this, we're gonna find out where he parks his car." Even with those comments being made, those recording cannot openly do so at a show, as security does still take steps to prevent that.(source: U2faqs.com)
You can use any free and reliable download service, we recommend Mega.co.nz. Also feel free to send a recording to us via a temporary WeTransfer.com link for us to reupload.
You can find a list of the latest upgrades on the shows page, you can also subscribe to them using our RSS feeds.
No, and you'll never have to, our audio collection is absolutely free available for anyone in the world. You don't have to upload or do anything in order to use our bootleg collection. That's what U2 fans are all about in our opinion.
When are you browsing the catalogue of bootlegs, you will see icons that will mark bootlegs that you already have and which not. You can manage this using the menu on the right.
Thanks to member ReclinerMan who compiled this list we can, here you go:
5 stars: Near-Perfect Proper Recording; could be released as a proper live album (it may have already).
4.5 stars: Good Proper Recording; recording sounds great, but doesn't properly represent event i.e. improper mix/incomplete soundboard (poor audience to band ratio/one sided to a certain performer).
4 stars: Excellent Audience Recording; top-tier recording of the show from the crowd with all elements clear and audible, as it should be.
3.5 stars: Great Audience Recording; quality recording of the show from the crowd but minor problems start occurring (screaming or talking/shifts in quality/age or poor handling).
3 stars: Good Audience Recording; fine recording of the show but the minor problems begin occurring more frequently.
2.5 stars: Average Audience Recording; the performance is there but major problems begin popping up (too much screaming or talking/unwieldy shifts in quality/source damage beyond repair).
2 stars: Fair Audience Recording; no performance just problems with the source.
1.5 stars: Poor Audience Recording; you were standing outside the performance area, weren't you?
1 star: Abysmal Audience Recording; mind as well be two hours of you babbling your finger against your lips.
These are "live" concerts recorded with professional equipment. During a concert the signal from the instruments usually channels through the central mixing station, or soundboard, before going to the PA system. A soundboard recording is a recording that takes place at the soundboard. These recordings are high quality.
Bootleggers can request an ALD (Assisted Listening Device) headset at an arena concert (required by law for hearing impaired fans), which provides a high-quality feed of a live show using a low-level FM frequency broadcast inside a facility. Bootleggers will tape this headset feed, giving the bootleg not usual problems like random crowd noise or distortion.
In Ear Monitors are devices used by performers to hear a mix of microphones and/or instrument pickups that are on the stage. They are often custom fitted to the individuals ears and provide a high level of noise reduction from stage noise. An IEM recording is a recording of this wireless audio feed, there can be a difference between an IEM recording from Bono's feed and the recording from Adam's for instance.
A matrix recording is a new recording consisting of different tapes from the same show. An example can be that you have an audience and IEM recording (both have their own (dis)advantages) and you want to mix them in one recording, that would be a matrix.