LISTEN/READ: U2 2005-03-26 Los Angeles, Sports Arena - Rehearsal - Slickmode’s MD Master
U2
March 26, 2005
Los Angeles, CA
Sports Arena
Dress Rehearsal Show for the Vertigo Tour
Equipment:
Audio: Sony ECM-717 + Sony MZ-N707 (LP4)
Recorded By: Slickmode
Transferred By: RyanJ
Tracked By: Popmart
Lineage: MD Master > Tascam MD-350 > Optical Out > M-Audio CO2 Converter > SPDIF In > NI Komplete Audio MKII > Audition (normalization to -1 db, fades in/out) > WAV > CDWAVE (track) > xACT > FLAC
Setlist
Introduction by Tour Manager
Show Intro
City Of Blinding Lights
The Electric Co. / I Can See For Miles (snippet)
An Cat Dubh
Into The Heart
Beautiful Day / Blackbird
Miracle Drug
Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own / No Regrets (snippet)
Love and Peace or Else
Elevation
Stuck In A Moment You Can’t Get Out Of
Yahweh
Bullet The Blue Sky / The Hand That Built America (snippet)
Running To Stand Still
Zoo Station
The Fly
Vertigo / Stories For Boys (snippet)
Price (In The Name of Love)
Where The Streets Have No Name
One
All Because of You
40
Notes:
This comes from the batch of DAT and MD masters that Hugo had given me late last year while in Southern California. It included all of his DAT masters and many of Slickmode's MD masters. I have been transferring most of JAM/Slickmode/Hugo's audio and video masters for the last handful of years. A lot of this stuff has not seen the light of day since recording. It may have been transferred, but never distributed. This is one of these tapes. Slick went up to UC Davis the night before for the Nine Inch Nails show. But had a friend that knew U2 would be rehearsing at the LA Sports Arena the next day and potentially letting in fans. I've cut out the beginning and end of the recording here. But he discusses how they sat outside and probably 20 minutes before the start of the rehearsal, the crew let anyone who was outside in. Slick used Hugo’s Sonic Studio mics for the NIN Davis show the night before and surprised he didn’t try to use them here at the rehearsal.
The recording itself is pretty average. Seems like the 717 mic was covered by his shirt or something and with the auto level of the MD recorder, it's something to be desired. But, it's a nice historical document of the start of the Vertigo Tour. This recording almost didn't happen. After the show ended (and I'll keep this brief as the recording went on for another 40 minutes after the show) Slick met up with JAM, who I suspect was filming (along with another person) and they were caught. Not really sure how as it was minutes after the show. They were taken in to the security office to await police. Some talking and Slick/JAM were allowed to leave. From their talkings, sounded like JAM did a dummy tape switch. But not sure if that footage was ever released. In 2020, JAM gave me all of his masters that were in his possession. But that was not in there. What I am realizing is that there are probably more masters out there that have been passed around and who knows who has them at this point. An example is that I know there are two Blink 182 video masters that are with a collector in the Ukraine. So, really I have no idea what else may be out there. But it seems like there could be video from this rehearsal as well.
Again, thanks to JAM/Hugo for allowing me to transfer the tapes and hope that people enjoy listening back to these recordings. Some really cool shows they taped between 2001-2010. If you need help transferring tapes, I would love to help you get them digitized. Reach out however you like. The download link below will be good through the weekend. After that, you’ll have to find it elsewhere.