Wembley Nights 1 & 2   The Definitive Edition & remaster

Wembley Stadium

London, U.K.

11 - August - 1993.

Attendance: 72.000 (sellout) - Support: PJ Harvey, Big Audio Dynamite II

Disc 1 (71:25)

01. TV: The Drug of the Nation (PA) / Drumming Boys (PA)

02. Zoo Station

03. The Fly

04. Even Better than the Real Thing

05. Mysterious Ways

06. One

07. Unchained Melody

08. Until the End of the World

09. New Year's Day

10. Numb

11. Zooropa

12. Babyface

13. Stay (Faraway, so Close!)

14. Satellite of Love

15. - Sarajevo link-up -

Disc 2 (59:52)

01. Bad / The First Time

02. Bullet the Blue Sky

03. Running to Stand Still

04. Where the Streets Have No Name

05. Pride (In the Name of Love)

06. - ZooTV Videoconfessionals -

07. Desire

08. - MacPhisto's phone call to Salman Rushdie -

09. Ultraviolet (Light My Way)

10. Love is Blindness

11. Can't Help Falling in Love

Recording Equipment - History

OKM IIc + Sony TCD-D7 > DAT Master > DAT-C1 > Original Wembley Nights CD set > EAC (Secure) > remastering process > FLAC

Taper: Ard Stegman

Remaster: Francesco Donadel - It has been a long and hard work. It took me nearly 2 months. I've restarted the work many times because I was not satisfied with the final result. I've used different programs, setup, monitors and even different eq for each track of each cd. For sure I'm not the best audio mastering engineer in the world (of course i'm not!) but I've tried my best to achieve the most pleasing sound. I had to find a comprimise and avoid any kind of dynamic compression for example 'cos the low frequencies tended to "fart" on the speakers, and the background noise was rising to an annoying level. Yeah the noise reduction process has not been so easy... I had to find a comprimise between quality and clarity. By the way all the tracks have perfect transitions, no gaps, no volume changes...
I received the original set way back in 1995 when Geraldo V.K. made 30 copies of each set and sold them to people for 500 dollars each box containing the 4 concerts.

Comments

Phenomenal recording, remastered by Francesco Donadel. Clarity is outstanding in this item, and audience noise is softly audible. Taper had to be extremely well located. All instruments and vocals have been nicely captured, so music comes through very powerful and close. The live feeling is superb. A top notch item!

The setlist included again Zooropa, a song that was premiéred a few days before in Glasgow, and the appearance of Babyface, that was played for the first time ever. An agressive rendition of Bullet the Blue Sky not only attacks America but also the European Community for not intervening in Bosnia.

This is the show where Salman Rushdie appeared onstage. The whole thing is perfectly explained in the book 'U2-Live: A Concert Documentary' (by Pimm Jal de la Parra and Caroline van Oosten de Boer, published by Omnibus Press on 2003):

- "What's all the fuss - Salman Rushdie can't be English, can he?" MacPhisto asks, referring to Rushdie's attempt to have the British government take him into protection. Since January 1989, when the Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwah on Rushdie for offending Islamic fundamentalists in his book The Satanic Verses, he has been living in hiding. "Shall I give him a telephone call?" When someone picks up, the words "Yes, this is Salman Rushdie speaking" sound too clear for a phone link. With his macabre humour, MacPhisto says heartily "Salman, it's been a long time! Tell me, how miserable are you these days? Do you get out and about much?" "Oh yes, now and again. I have to be careful, of course. I have even more trouble with the critics than you do" Salman answers. "Maybe not. Well, I don't want to make you too jealous because we're having an absolutely fabulous evening here at Wembley Stadium". While the crowd cheer, Salman says "Yes, I know that, because I'm here too!". "I beg your pardon?" "I'm much closer to you than you could ever imagine. In fact, I can see you now: you're wearing a ridiculous gold suit, and you're standing in front of the loudest people I've ever heard in my life". MacPhisto challenges him: "I don't believe you're here. Come out if you're not afraid!".

Arms outstretched, it is indeed Salman Rushdie who comes walking on stage from the wings. While he goes over to hug Bono, Salman's face is enlarged on the screens, and the crowd produce a tremendous cheer as they realise his appearance is an historic occasion. It is almost unbelieable that for almost five years this man, embracing Bono in front of 72.000 people, has been unable to simply walk down the street for fear of being killed by Muslim extremists. "I think you might need these, Salman" says MacPhisto and puts his red devil horns on Salman's head. "I'm not afraid of you: real devils don't wear horns" Salman says. The next day newspapers all over the world print photos of their embrace and in many countries it makes the TV news. -

** It seems the consensus among fans say the show was taped by Ard Stegman, but it was Geraldo v. K. who converted his 'DAT clone' to create the original 'Wembley Nights' CD sets, that he later sold out there. First remastered series appeared in the trading market, by Francesco Donadel, when he acquired a copy from Geraldo. As mentioned above by himself, he wasn't happy with the final result, so he just made in 2007 a 'definitive edition' with a second and fresh remaster, and the output offers outstanding sound quality. **