The essential bootlegs?

There are also many many tours where the best show wasn’t selected for an official release, or there were setlist differences. Powerslave tour is the first that comes to mind, they played shorter setlists in NA and Bruce sounds pretty exhausted by the time they get to Long Beach.
 
Samantas5855 said:
It's clipped and compressed probably, and the mix is problematic. The BBC version fixes this
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The BBC version I found isn't very nice sounding - It's distorted, for one (do you perhaps have a cleaner version? Where did you get it?), the upper mids/lower treble is extremely harsh, especially with those ultracompressed overheads. Dynamics isn't everything, and that sure isn't dynamic sounding either. I don't think the official version sounds particularly good, but I'd take it any day. I think I'm going to drag it into Pro Tools and tweak it more to my liking and see what comes out.

Edit: That being said, the original release sounds better than the remaster, that's for sure.
 
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chaosapiant said:
I’m curious what the appeal is in getting a bootleg of a show from a tour where an official release exists. Has there ever been a case where the bootleg sounded better than the official releases?
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The mega compression of RiR 2001 is annoying. In the Wicker Man intro, Smith's guitar is as audible as all 4 other instruments combined. The bootleg has dynamics. Although the kick drum is lacking. So the appeal here is to have two different versions to your liking.
 
I'm really looking forward to Maiden releasing Hammersmith 1984 properly.
1984.10.12 - Hammersmith Odeon - London, England

01. Aces High
02. 2 Minutes To Midnight
03. The Trooper
04. Revelations
05. Muders In The Rue Morgue
06. Phantom of The Opera
07. Flight of Icarus
08. Rime Of The Ancient Mariner
09. Losfer Words (Big 'Orra)
10. Powerslave
11. Dave Murray Guitar Solo
12. The Number of The Beast
13. Hallowed Be Thy Name
14. 22 Acacia Avenue
15. Iron Maiden
16. Run To The Hills
17. Running Free
18. Sanctuary
 
Zare said:
The mega compression of RiR 2001 is annoying. In the Wicker Man intro, Smith's guitar is as audible as all 4 other instruments combined. The bootleg has dynamics. Although the kick drum is lacking. So the appeal here is to have two different versions to your liking.
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There's also the official dvd which can be downmixed for more dynamics and there's also some weird rare hdtracks uk version which I couldnt find anyone that owned it
 
Spaldy said:
I've been trying to get hold of a bootleg recording of Donington 1992 for years. I don't mean the limited vinyl release with the black and white cover (pre official release in 98) but the original BBC radio broadcast recording with the superior sound mix. I heard it once off a cassette copy years ago at a fan club event and there are some clips on YouTube but I struggle to find the full concert. Does anyone have a digital copy of it or know where to get one?
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https://musicbrainz.org/release/adb708e1-4afc-4791-8d84-42cd07061912/cover-art
1628105130097.png1628105148542.png1628105167241.png

I think this is the one you are looking for.
 
PhantomOfTheOpera said:
I have that FM broadcast version on 2cd somewhere and I recorded the cassette when it was broadcasted here in Finland.
I think youtube had some clips atleast because I've revisited the show couple times, just to hear Bruce's little mistake on The Evil That Men Do.
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Listening to it again now. Janick or Dave's guitar (probably Janick's) goes massively out of tune during the latter half of Fear of the Dark.
 
Mosh said:
There are also many many tours where the best show wasn’t selected for an official release, or there were setlist differences. Powerslave tour is the first that comes to mind, they played shorter setlists in NA and Bruce sounds pretty exhausted by the time they get to Long Beach.
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I would also add Death on the Road and Nights of the Dead to that as well. He clearly has a cold in Dortmund and he is exhausted in Mexico.

Maybe even Maiden England? Was he ill there?
 
Not sure if this is appropriate for this thread but not sure where else to put it,


This is a pretty spectacular fuck up as the entire band leave out a couple of measures of a verse, except for Bruce. It almost sounds like it's on purpose to emphasise the final lyric, but I think it's just Nicko finished too early and the rest of the band went with him.
 
srfc said:

but I think it's just Nicko finished too early and the rest of the band went with him.
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Yeah, it was Nicko's fault. They dropped the song because of that.

I love the reaction of the whole band: everyone looks at each other (and Nicko), Steve (and then Bruce) went to the drums and Dave is like, ''nothing has happened'' :lol:. I would say this was an effective mistake for the song - the full power of Bruce's voice (without the instruments) is epic.
 
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That song was a disaster for the few times they played it in 2010, it’s no surprise they dropped it. Unfortunately, it probably also means they’re never going to do it again.
 
Kalata said:
Yeah, it was Nicko's fault. They dropped the song because of that.

I love the reaction of the whole band: everyone looks at each other (and Nicko), Steve (and then Bruce) went to the drums and Dave is like, ''nothing has happened'' :lol:. I would say this was an effective mistake for the song - the full power of Bruce's voice (without the instruments) is epic.
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Yeah they covered it up pretty professionally, Nicko holding off on the rata-tat-tat on the hats until bruce had finished the vocal.
 
Running Free and Transylvania both have demo versions or radio sessions from around that time, so I suspect the "spaceward versions" there are just these other versions relabeled. Logically, if they were real, why didn't Maiden put them on BOTB? They put Strange World on it, so why keep the other 2.
 
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