02.04.1987
USA, Tempe, Arizona State University Activities Center
First Night of the Joshua Tree Tour
exc. Audience

01. Promoter Barry Fey Reads Governor Mecham Statement [2:25]
02. Where The Streets Have No Name [6:09]
03. I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For [5:11]
04. Gloria [4:22]
05. I Will Follow [3:51]
06. Bullet The Blue Sky [5:32]
07. Running To Stand Still [4:22]
08. Exit [3:54]
09. In God’s Country [3:48]
10. A Sort Of Homecoming [4:55]
11. Sunday Bloody Sunday [4:40]
12. Maggie’s Farm (Bob Dylan cover) [4:08]
13. Bad [9:15]
14. October [2:21]
15. New Year’s Day [5:28]
16. Pride [5:42]
17. People Get Ready [4:48]
18. 40 [6:11]

Total Running Time: [1:27:08]

Recording Gear: Sony ECM-939 Stereo Microphone > Sony Walkman D6C 
JEMS 2017 Transfer: 
master cassette > 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

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 genorisity of KeithM.

All nine shows will be posted in two formats: 16/44.1 mastered by JEMS, 24/96 unmastered raw transfer

Tempe, April 2:
The infamous opening night of the tour, when Bono’s voice was shot. I must admit I had never played this show before, knowing the circumstances, and it isn’t an easy listen. At times Bono is straining so hard that you actually sense the pain he is no doubt experiencing as he tries to soldier on. And he is off right from the start, struggling to pull off “Where The Streets Have No Name.” There are moments in the show when his voice grows a little stronger and the set isn’t as much of a disaster as I had come to believe, but you do wind up feeling incredible sympathy for him and how difficult that performance must have been. But that’s all hindsight. I asked KeithM for his point of view having experienced the show in person and his take is fascinating: “I have to say, the 4/2/87 show is one of my favorite U2 shows, because of Bono's voice.  The reason I love it so much, aside from how unique it is - for any performer - is how the crowd carried the show. The album had only been out for a few weeks, but more than half of the audience already knew all of the words and sang them as loudly as any U.S. audience I have ever heard. I can only imagine the discussion that took place before he decided he was going to perform. Did people try to talk him out of it? What did he think of the show afterwards? Not enough to play the 4/3/87 date, but I always assumed that was because he stressed out his vocal cords on 4/2/87.”

KeithM captures the heroic struggle in high-fidelity, with a fine recording that includes Barry Fey’s introduction reading a statement from the band about Governor Evan Mecham’s attempts to block the MLK holiday. Levels are a tad rocky at the start, but then the capture settles in nicely. There are a few moments where the levels run too hot and you might notice a tiny bit of distortion in one channel, but nothing the distract materially. Samples provided as well as artwork for the 16/44.1 version included. Beyond Bono’s vocals, the band is still finding its way this night as well, not surprising for opening night. There are some missed cues, but as noted above, its not a bad performance, just a difficult one. 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

U2Torrents.com: Torrent 10229 (by mjk5510)