U2
Cow Palace
Daly City, CA
April 25, 1987

Sixteenth Night of the Joshua Tree Tour
KeithM Master via JEMS

1644 Edition

Recording Gear: Sony ECM-939 Stereo Microphone > Sony Walkman D6C 

JEMS 2017 Transfer: master cassettes > Nakamichi CR-7A azimuth-adjusted playback 
> Sound Devices USBPre2 > Audacity 2.0 > iZotope RX6 and Ozone 8 mastering > 
[post production] > iZotope RX7 (Mbit+) > .wav (16/44) > Adobe Audition CC 
(edit & track split) > .wav > Frontend FLAC (7) > .flac

Track listing:

01-[PA intro: Stand By Me]
02-Where The Streets Have No Name
03-I Will Follow
04-Trip Through Your Wires
05-I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
06-MLK
07-The Unforgettable Fire 
08-Bullet The Blue Sky
09-Running To Stand Still
10-Exit
11-In God's Country
12-Sunday Bloody Sunday
13-The Electric Co.
14-Bad
15-October
16-Springhill Mining Disaster
17-New Year's Day
18-Pride (In The Name Of Love)
[encore break (fades)]
19-Mothers Of The Disappeared
[encore break]
20-With Or Without You
21-"40"


Known Issues: 
- Tape flip at the start of "In God's Country" (patched with JEMS source)*
- Tape flip in first encore break (no issue)

* Keith M "flipped" the tape in less then 10 seconds...! 

NB: edits of Track 13 and 14 are included to allow for 2CD format

BIGGIRL
APRIL 2020

----------
Introduction To The KeithM Masters

JEMS is pleased to present the outstanding work of KeithM to fans the world over and 
resume our series from the original 1987 Joshua Tree arena tour. 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 quite good to excellent and offer a 
striking balance in that they capture the extraordinary excitement of the crowd, with 
limited 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, 33 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 generosity of KeithM.
Introduction To The KeithM Masters

Cow Palace, April 25

After a memorable five-night stand in Los Angeles, the Joshua Tree moves north to the 
Cow Palace just south of San Francisco for two shows that would wrap the western leg of 
the tour. Because the routing didn't include the Pacific Northwest, members of JEMS and 
a few friends drove to the Bay Area for these shows. Jared was living in San Fran at the 
time and played host. If memory serves, tickets for the shows were sold via mail order 
lottery. I believe we had eight people in our party, Jared got four tickets for night one 
through the lottery and we had no tickets in hand at all for night two. In other words, 
we were 12 tickets short.
Ticket demand for the two Cow Palace shows was like nothing I ever experienced before. 
There were zero tickets available on the secondary market and it seemed everyone in the 
Bay Area was looking for tickets. Outside the venue several hours before the first show 
I saw hundreds of people seeking and literally no one selling. Things were looking dire 
for us, until we heard an interesting story from from one of Jared's friends who had 
received a call from the Cow Palace box office that afternoon informing him additional 
seats were released and they were going to hold tickets for him and others who had been 
shut out.
Apparently, Bill Graham Presents, the promoter, had kept some kind of waiting list of 
people who had mailed in for tickets and didn't receive them. The folks who ran the box 
office were then placing calls to locals in order of the list. I asked Jared's friend Mark 
if he remembered the name of the woman who called. Mark said it sounded like a kindly older 
woman who we will call for the sake of this story Mrs. Johnson.
Armed with that name and the back story, we went to the Cow Palace box office and said we 
had sent in for tickets, didn't get them, but I had received a call that tickets were held 
for us. The person helping us said she didn't see my name on the list, to which I replied, 
"But Mrs. Johnson said she was taking care of me." I know it seems far-fetched in this day 
and age that our plan would work, but low and behold the person helping me said, "Well, you 
did get a message from Mrs. Johnson... How many tickets do you need?"
My memory of the exact specifics from 33 years ago are fuzzy now, but I know for a fact we 
got eight tickets behind the stage for the second night and I'm pretty sure four for the 
first night using the Mrs. Johnson message story a couple of times. I don't think there's 
any chance we get into the Cow Palace any other way.

As much as I enjoyed the first night, the second night at the Cow Palace is my favorite U2 
show of all time. When I ask people what their favorite show was of a particular tour or run 
of shows, I often find it correlates to their best seats. I was sitting behind the stage for 
this one and it is still the best U2 show I ever saw.

Behind stage on Edge's side is where Mrs. Johnson placed us. The show started out as riveting 
as the first, but it was the set list changes that took this performance to another level, 
starting with the joyous "Trip Through Your Wires." The moment I recognized Edge's guitar was 
starting "The Electric Co." was pure jubilation. Then the shock of hearing a completely unknown 
song, "Springhill Mining Disaster," and finally, the wondrous and somber "Mothers of the 
Disappeared" which genuinely left me in tears. Transcendent.
Obviously I have a personal bias, and U2 did repeat some of these changes in Chicago a week 
later. But for me, this is the best show of the Joshua Tree first leg.
It also happens to be a fantastic KeithM recording. Keith is super close and the music 
completely fills his tape. The levels are again pushed (especially during "With Or Without You") 
but compared to JEMS' master recorded behind the stage or Persic's excellent recording, KeithM's 
might best be described as immersive. All three tapers documented the performances effectively, 
but KeithM's tapes of both nights allow you to re-experience the show in an almost you-are-there 
manner. Perhaps that's hyperbole. You be the judge. Samples provided.

I'd like to express my deep gratitude to KeithM for loaning us his precious master tapes and 
allowing us to share his work. Apologies for taking so long to get to these two shows—I couldn't 
let another anniversary pass without putting them out. KeithM is enjoying reading your comments 
so please keep them coming. Special thanks to DIME member bitrate for helping me connect to 
KeithM and remaining persistent as the months (and years) went by before we finally got things 
going with the tapes. Lastly, our new friend and ally BigGIRL has helped rekindle my U2 enthusiasm. 
Thanks to her for handling the post-production on the Cow Palace recordings.

BK for JEMS