U2 - 2018-05-15 - Los Angeles, CA (IEM/FLAC) by XAVEL

(IEM FLAC)

U2

The Forum

Inglewood, California

May 15, 2018

"Los Angeles 1st Night" (XAVEL-SMS-160)

Multiple stereo IEM matrix (with what seems to be audience from the "ambient mix" on Bono's feed)

Lineage: Silvers -> Foobar2000 -> Flac

Disc one (67:12):

(1) PA intro (3:52)

(2) Love Is All We Have Left (4:06)

(3) The Blackout (4:53)

(4) Lights of Home (4:28)

(5) I Will Follow (4:25)

(6) Red Flag Day (3:23)

(7) Gloria (4:31)

(8) Beautiful Day (4:45)

(9) The Ocean (2:25)

(10) Iris (Hold Me Close) (4:52)

(11) Cedarwood Road (4:53)

(12) Sunday Bloody Sunday (6:12)

(13) Raised By Wovles (4:22)

(14) Until The End Of The World (5:53)

(15) Intermission - Hold Me (remix) (3:56)

Disc two (78:39):

(1) Elevation (5:03)

(2) Vertigo (5:04)

(3) Desire (5:22)

(4) Acrobat (6:26)

(5) You're The Best Thing About Me (5:21)

(6) Staring At The Sun (5:14)

(7) Pride (In The Name Of Love) (5:49)

(8) Get Out Of Your Own Way (4:39)

(9) American Soul (4:55)

(10) City of Blinding Lights (7:32)

(11) "Women of the World' (3:00)

(12) One (7:38)

(13) Love Is Bigger … (5:44)

(14) 13 (There Is A Light) (6:33)

Info file, checksum files, and spectral analysis are included.

Comments:

Xavel made a name for themselves in 2015 when they released IEM matrixes of most of the dates on the Rolling Stones' 2015 U.S. tour. Since then, their releases typically have at least some wireless source in the overall mix, and almost without exception have been excellent. Recently, they have begun issuing a series of IEM matrixes from the early part of U2's 2018 "Songs of Experience" tour.

Sound quality is excellent. They seem to have done a pretty good job of de-emphasizing the click track and countdown between tracks (though they are more prominent on this release than the San Jose and Las Vegas releases); the only drawback is that it would be nice if they had used a good audience source to fill in the mix. Since it's only wireless, you have the tradeoff between sort of sterile sound vs. no audience interference.

Reviews were mixed for this tour, although few people thought it stood up well in comparison to their 2015 "Songs of Innocence" tour. With the benefit of hindsight, I think it did have its moments even if it didn't ever fully come together.

If you're a U2 collector and don't mind the unique sound that comes from IEM sources, chances are that you'll want some or all of these recordings.