EXP
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2018-05-07 - San Jose
 Tour: Experience and Innocence tour
Songs played: 28
Audio recordings: 4
Videos: 1
  1. I added a review to the show page (night 2).
  2. I only saw 2 shows in 2018, just these two San Jose shows. Probably rank in the lowest of all the U2 shows I've seen. I had originally planned a nice run of shows per my usual, and then just kept dialing it back. Skipped the rehearsals + Tulsa because of new job and move. Then skipped Vegas + LA due to a dying kitty. He passed away the day after the Vegas show; I made the right choice. Almost skipped one of the San Jose because of kitty too but made it down there. Then skipped Atlanta + Nashville because I just couldn't get checked into the tour.

    And with all that in mind, I still thought the beginning of the tour was lame. It got better in Europe once they rewrote the first half, rather than just doing an inferior repeat of 2015.

    I remember thinking, as I suited up the taping vest with a bunch of receivers and recorders, on just how much I was on auto-pilot for the taping. Then the shows felt like U2 was on auto-pilot too. I will say the 2nd show was better than the first.

    Don't think I've ever gone back and listened to the recordings.
  3. Yeah if they hadn't changed the setlist I wouldn't have bothered with the later shows in Europe.
  4. I was about to sell my Amsterdam 2 ticket. But then the setlist changed, so i kept it. Later bought a ticket for the Berlin final show. Still not one of my favourite tours.
  5. Originally posted by hoserama:I only saw 2 shows in 2018, just these two San Jose shows. Probably rank in the lowest of all the U2 shows I've seen. I had originally planned a nice run of shows per my usual, and then just kept dialing it back. Skipped the rehearsals + Tulsa because of new job and move. Then skipped Vegas + LA due to a dying kitty. He passed away the day after the Vegas show; I made the right choice. Almost skipped one of the San Jose because of kitty too but made it down there. Then skipped Atlanta + Nashville because I just couldn't get checked into the tour.

    And with all that in mind, I still thought the beginning of the tour was lame. It got better in Europe once they rewrote the first half, rather than just doing an inferior repeat of 2015.

    I remember thinking, as I suited up the taping vest with a bunch of receivers and recorders, on just how much I was on auto-pilot for the taping. Then the shows felt like U2 was on auto-pilot too. I will say the 2nd show was better than the first.

    Don't think I've ever gone back and listened to the recordings.
    I thought you had attended more gigs because I had mental notes of you being the taper of Milan, New York and Dublin but I see you were the matrix creator and/or uploader for those but not the taper.

    I perfectly understand what you're saying, priorities first obviously. And the tour was mostly uninspired until mid-2nd leg so I think I would have skipped Atlanta and Nashville too and rather use the $2k in something else.

    Now that you say you haven't listened back to these recordings... Do you know where the Xavel IEM matrixes for both San Jose shows come from?
  6. Originally posted by LikeASong:[..]
    I thought you had attended more gigs because I had mental notes of you being the taper of Milan, New York and Dublin but I see you were the matrix creator and/or uploader for those but not the taper.

    I perfectly understand what you're saying, priorities first obviously. And the tour was mostly uninspired until mid-2nd leg so I think I would have skipped Atlanta and Nashville too and rather use the $2k in something else.

    Now that you say you haven't listened back to these recordings... Do you know where the Xavel IEM matrixes for both San Jose shows come from?
    I don't remember having any involvement in Milan? My main contribution was NYC3 and Dublin4, and then general coordination + tech assist + gear loan.

    Xavel IEM likely came from our Japanese bootlegger friend, same as Vegas + LA. I suspect it was the same person who covered a lot of Europe 2017 (somewhat poorly).
  7. Originally posted by hoserama:[..]
    I don't remember having any involvement in Milan? My main contribution was NYC3 and Dublin4, and then general coordination + tech assist + gear loan.

    Xavel IEM likely came from our Japanese bootlegger friend, same as Vegas + LA. I suspect it was the same person who covered a lot of Europe 2017 (somewhat poorly).
    We had you marked as "Remasterer" for MLK's recording of Milan 2, isn't that correct?

    The 2017-2018 Xavel IEMs are so inferior to your recordings but still quite better than the normal IEMs we grew used to between 2001 and 2011 with loads of interferences, loud clicks, etc. Must be a skilled taper, who knows.
  8. Ha. I completely forgot about that Milan show.

    The Xavel are pretty basic. Clearly just running with two packs, likely into a four track recorder. At least he runs them in stereo unlike our esteemed colleague Nuno. Basic level mixing and cleanup, and out they go.

    A lot of the 2001-2011 were run with scanners as opposed to stereo receivers. Makes a big difference. There's been some improvements with the RF circuitry on the newer receivers too, which does help a bit on static.