U2
San Diego Sports Arena
San Diego, CA
April 13, 1987
Eighth Night of the Joshua Tree Tour
16/44.1 Mastered Edition
KeithM Master via JEMS
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 (24/96 capture to .wav) > iZotope RX6 and Ozone 6 mastering > iZotope MBIT+ resample and dither to 16/44.1 > Peak Pro 6 (post production) > xACT 2.37 > FLAC
01 Where The Streets Have No Name
02 I Will Follow
03 I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For
04 MLK
05 The Unforgettable Fire
06 Bullet The Blue Sky
07 Running To Stand Still
08 A Sort Of Homecoming
09 Sunday Bloody Sunday
10 Exit
11 In God’s Country
12 Gloria
13 Bad
14 October
15 New Year’s Day
16 Pride
17 With Or Without You
18 I Shall Be Released
19 40
Introduction To The KeithM Masters
JEMS could not be more pleased to present the outstanding work of KeithM to U2 fans the world over.
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 really good to excellent and offer a striking balance in that they capture the extraordinary excitement of the crowd, but somehow little to no 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, 30 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.
All nine shows will be posted in two formats:
16/44.1 mastered by JEMS
24/96 unmastered raw transfer
San Diego, April 13
After opening night in Tempe, KeithM picks up the tour again at the first of two shows in San Diego where Bono’s voice is back in full force and the set is really taking shape.
It is a strong performance, with the new material starting to blend well with the past, including fine versions “A Sort Of Homecoming,” “The Unforgettable Fire” and “Bad.” SD1 is also notable for the inclusion of Bob Dylan’s “I Shall Be Released” in the encore (the first of four times on the tour after being a staple of the previous year’s Amnesty trek).
Despite an incredibly excited and vocal crowd, KeithM’s capture is clear and punchy, with the music always at the forefront even when audience energy peaks. Samples provided and artwork included. Based on internet research, it appears KeithM’s San Diego recordings circulate from CD-Rs made from a first generation analog copy of the master, so this should improve on that. All invasive audience noises have been removed.
I’d like to express my personal gratitude to KeithM for loaning us his precious master tapes and allowing us to share his work. You should express your gratitude to him as well in the comments. 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 critical support of our efforts.
BK for JEMS
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