BONO: “My feeling”, he adds, “is that it is cool for people to share our music — as long as no one is making money from the process. We tell people who come to our concerts that they can tape the shows if they want. I think it is cool that people are so passionate about our music”

Whats a bootleg ?

Bootleg recording is an audio and/or video recording of a performance that was not officially released by the artist, or under other legal authority. The process of making and distributing such recordings is known as bootlegging. A great many such recordings are simply copied and traded among fans of the artist without financial exchange, but some bootleggers are able to sell these rarities for profit, sometimes by adding professional-quality sound engineering and packaging to the raw material.

Bootlegs can consist of recordings of live performances, or material created in private or professional recording sessions. Changing technologies have had a great impact on the recording, distribution, and varying profitability of the underground industry. The copyrights for the song and the right to authorize recordings often reside with the artist, according to several international copyright treaties. The recording, trading and sale of bootlegs continues to thrive, however, even as artists and record companies attempt to provide “authorized” alternatives to satisfy the demand.

In 1991, when a bootleg of U2’s studio sessions called The New U2 (the first version of what would eventually become the  bootleg) was being distributed, Island Records took out a full-page ad in the British publication Music Week warning record stores that the label would “take legal proceedings” against anyone selling the bootlegs. U2 manager Paul McGuinness issued a press statement saying the bootleggers were cheating fans by distributing inferior material.

In a later interview about the incident, Bono said: “The only thing that can piss you off is if people are charging a lot of money for something that isn’t very good. It [the Achtung Baby working tapes] got bootlegged in Berlin and it was just like having your notebook read out. That’s the bit I didn’t like about it. There were no undiscovered works of genius, unfortunately, it was more just gobbledy-gook.”

During 2001, several other comments were made by the band regarding the recording of their shows. They made it clear that they were fine with people recording their performances and trading them. They did make it clear that they were opposed to people making money from those recordings. As Bono says, “We invite people to bootleg our shows. We invite people to make copies, we’ve no problems with that, but if some guy is gonna make money off the back of this, we’re gonna find out where he parks his car.” Even with those comments being made, those recording cannot openly do so at a show, as security does still take steps to prevent that

Now speed forward to 2009. If you attended a 360 show you know that pretty much the whole inner circle was dedicated to Bootleggers - from Video to Audio. You can pretty much get the whole tour from what we deem to be the best source available today. The only comment to make is that if your purchasing a bootleg your wrong. Stop it - The concept of free exchange of musc dies when you do something like that. Just enjoy the music, show and share.

Suggested Shows

2009-06-30 - Barcelona
2009-07-20/21 - Amsterdam
2009-07-07/08 - Milan
2009-07-02 - Barcelona
2009-07-18 - Berlin
2009-07-11   Paris, France - Stade de France