Best sounding/quality set Boot so far

Getoutofmyfuckinface

In peoples humble opinion which boot has the best sound quality/set of the first leg so far. I am straped for cash due to the 3 shows that i am going to this tour (especially the Vegas event) and have to be really thrifty with my spending. Any advice would be cool. I like the sets for Boston, and chicago but have heard that the echo is bad or the sound quality isnt as good as other shows. For this reason i was leaning towards either philly 1 or 2 cause i have seen possitive feedback on the quality of these boots. I would like people with either boston and philly or chicago and philly to compare the quality of the sound as well as the quality of the performance.
Thanks

PoMoXian

I am by no means an expert on these things but I was at the Grand Rapids show (where I live) and I have the bootleg and it sounds fantastic. I would not be disappointed if I had bought it as a commercially available Live In Concert CD. Of course, there could be some sentimental attachments influencing my opinion!

But I have also read others say that of the boots released up until that one came out, it was the best sounding. FWIW. I hope you get your questions answered better than I can.

A Fan

Realize you'll get subjective opinions here, but....I was at both Boston shows, in the arena, the sound for Boston II was far, far better than Boston I.

In terms of boots, I got Toronto II, and Boston II, and there is an extremely noticeable difference in sound, in that Boston II sounds exceptional, Toronto II not that great.

Again, just one fan's opinion.

Abner11

I have Hartford, Boston I and Boston II, and the Boston shows sound better than the Harftord one does. Boston I is in .flac for me, while the others are in .mp3, and it does sound better than the others, but I can't exactly tell if that is because it's in .flac or it was just a better sounding show all around.

obiwon76

The DC boot is very good. I have all of the shows so far, and it seems the past 4-5, the mix is way better than the earlier shows. Maybe they did some tweaking or got the chinks out.

apuraja

obiwon76 wrote:

The DC boot is very good. I have all of the shows so far, and it seems the past 4-5, the mix is way better than the earlier shows. Maybe they did some tweaking or got the chinks out.

obiwon: which is the best performance wise boot of the ones you have/ I am limited in budget and can buy 3 shows total, i already have toronto II, which 3 others are must?

jamestr1

I like the Detroit boot. Unfortunately it's the only one I have at this time. But I like it a lot. Good setlist, good songs, nice mix, GREAT 2nd Encore!

Getoutofmyfuckinface

I downloaded the boston 1 set in flac and Eddie's voice on the slower songs (i.e. release, forever young, masters of war, crazy mary) sounds very clear and has less of an echo effect then the rest of the concert. On the heavier songs, however, his voice has a noticable echo (and also sounds distant as if he is in china) because of the accoustics of the indoor arena and the type of recording they are using. This makes him sound both Out of Key and like he's singing in a closet behind a closed door on alot of the songs (eddie always sounds awsome live so I know the sour sound of his voice is a distortion of the indoor arena/recording process). The echo has the same effect on Mike as well, you can barely hear him solo on half the songs (if you play close attention you will hear a soft guitar in the background, its very faint so you have to really listen for it and isolate the sounds, then you will see what i am taking about). I am not sure why the accoustics of these indoor events are having this effect on the bootlegs this year (as they did for 2005). The 2000 and 2003 indoor events had an echo but it was alot less pronounced and did not have the same effects on either mike's guitar or eddie's voice. This is just an observation, I do not have any programs to isolate the sounds in order test the actual decimal level of Ed's voice or mikes guitar (and even Jeff's Bass at times) to compare the differences. To the human ear, it is VERY noticeable, and for this reason i recommend only downloading outdoor shows in this tour, except maybe for the shows you attend so you can have them for sentimental reasons. Or if the indoor show has alot of slow songs maybe give it a shot, other then that i am going to be very selective from now on out. Hope this helps people- i was very stoked to hear a show on this tour, kept prolonging the envitable purchase of a boot; while i am not completely overjoyed with my purchase i was able to get a taste of the new tour (bad sound or not) and got a few gems of perfect sound on the 2 Dylan covers.

See you guys in VEGAS and SF

jhinkle1114

I have Camden I and II and DC (the three I attended).

Sound on all is great, but DC is easily the best sounding.

obiwon76

obiwon76 wrote:

The DC boot is very good. I have all of the shows so far, and it seems the past 4-5, the mix is way better than the earlier shows. Maybe they did some tweaking or got the chinks out.

I would advise the following: Now, my opinion is based strictly on sound quality and not so much as the set list or crowd participation.

1) Grand Rapids
2) Boston II
3) DC
4) Camden I
5) Chicago I

If you a double dose, great sound and set list, the Grand Rapids show is by far the best.

rebornFixer

obiwon76 wrote:

If you a double dose, great sound and set list, the Grand Rapids show is by far the best.

Agreed. I have four boots so far (Toronto #1, Grand Rapids, Cleveland, and Albany) and Grand Rapids is the best thus far. Cleveland has a sweet setlist and a killer version of Porch (very long and dare I say jazzy jam session), but the crowd seems somewhat more sedate.