Paris  11-December-1989

Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy

Paris, France.

11 - December - 1989.

Attendance: 16.000 (sellout) - Support: BB King

Disc 1 (52:10)

01. Star Spangled Banner / Bullet the Blue Sky

02. Desire

03. All Along the Watchtower

04. All I Want is You

05. Where the Streets Have No Name

06. I Will Follow

07. I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For

08. MLK

09. The Unforgettable Fire

10. God Part II

11. Bad

Disc 2 (46:45)

01. Van Diemen's Land

02. New Year's Day

03. Pride (In the Name of Love)

04. Angel of Harlem

05. When Love Comes to Town

06. Love Rescue Me

07. With or Without You

08. "40"

Recording Equipment - History

Analog 2nd > Nakamichi CR-7A > Peak 5.2 > WAV > Goldwave (speed fix) > FLAC

Transfer: JEMS

Taper: F.R. (or friends / relatives)

Additional comments (Erik of the JEMS group): In 1990-91, JEMS did a few trades with a taper/collector called Frank Reilman in Groningen, The Netherlands. From Frank we obtained copies of every European show on the Lovetown tour save for the Dublin shows. From us he got several of the Joshua Tree masters that have been posted here on U2T this year.

Many of the cassettes we received from Frank are marked "first generation" and we have never transfered them until now. Rooting around in the archive this past weekend I found some of Frank's original letters and lists. On the first list he has about half of the Euro Lovetown shows and he notes them as being anywhere from master to second generation. On a subsequent list he has every show and notes them all as masters--in his letter he wrote that they were all recorded by "me or friends of mine."

It is a fine recording but something of a strange one. The copy I got from Frank is on one 90 minute metal tape and one side of a 60 minute chrome tape but the cuts/flips on the master don't match that configuration at all. There are fade out and fade ins done on my tapes that clearly aren't on the master and more hiss than master transfer should have. Another curious detail: the pre-show music is recorded for several minutes.

Judging from the sound when the tape sides start, this is not off the master but a copy of something that had been edited already. I can't 100% guarantee it is a second gen, but I think there is aural and printed evidence to support that.
 

Additional notes (from Mike Duchek): As Erik refers to, the only other recording of this show I have is one that was posted here in the last couple months, Scott Z's source (the so-called 'We Live in Lovetown'), which also ran a tad slow I believe. That one had "40" cut out early and another cut I can't remember (maybe before "I Still Haven't Found?"). This one is a different source (***YES, I am pretty sure this is a different taper and equipment***), although it actually sounds kind of similar. Anyway, I think this one probably has more bass than Scott's source, and is certainly very close and clear. The drawback is the sound is a tad washy or warbly, moreso than Scott's source, something which sounds like it's because it's from old, supposedly second-gen cassettes.

So, I received this as a big WAV file and put it through Goldwave to adjust the speed slightly. It was a bit slow and I sped it up, and then split it into tracks. Nothing else has been done to this recording. Anyway, this one is probably slightly more complete than Scott's source, although for sure there are cuts here and there mostly probably due to tape flips, first before "MLK" (little or no music lost) and before "Love Rescue Me" (again little or no music lost).

Notes on the show:
1. During a nice, somewhat extended "All I Want is You" and a great "Bad" Bono sings a few lines I don't recognize, except for one, "ain't love the sweetest thing." I think these are probably improvs ("oh Majula?"), so I wouldn't call it a snippet of "Sweetest Thing" (first released in 1987), but it might be an early reference to the song re-released some ten years later.

2. Speaking of "Bad," some great guitar at the end. Bono also starts the song off with "Help" after the sequencer has started (a little different from what he usually did).

3. This is one of only a few performances I have heard where Bono sings "maybe the time is right, maybe tonight" line in "New Year's Day." I don't have as many recordings as some people here, but this is one of only three shows I have where he does this.

4. "Angel of Harlem" had a bit of "Suspicious Minds" at the end again.

Comments

Great recording with fantastic sound quality. This source has more punch and a more full and close sound compared with other sources in circulation. Even some parts of the show sound crystal clear (a good example is The Unforgettable Fire). Crowd noise is certainly audible, but usually placed between songs. Of course, sound quality is excellent, with all instruments and vocals well audible and upfront. As remarked above, "40" is complete in this recording, and there are edits before MLK and Love Rescue Me, with no loss of music. In my opinion, the two sources I have of this show are different, but tapers had to be very close one to the other in their taping location. However, in terms of sound quality, I prefer this source as it sounds slightly crisper and closer, with 'more body', if that makes any sense.