Welcome - About Live and Loud!

Live and Loud! began as a fortnightly internet radio show in 2012 taking old unreleased live concert recordings I could find and working to repair and improve them - fixing tape hiss, noise, tape drop out, clicks, speed variations, defects - before improving the sound quality by EQing the sound to bring out the instruments as clearly as possible. These are now made directly available to download for free to reach as many fans of the music as possible.

Depending on the quality of the original recording, these can often be made to sound almost like commercial recordings - but of course I can't guarantee that for every show. What I can guarantee is it will sound far better than the original files available which have been floating around the internet and on bootleg recordings for many years.

Almost all are either "soundboard" recordings (taken directly from the mixing desk used at the gig on the night) or old FM radio recordings. A few gigs, if they are of special historical importance, make an appearance even if they were recorded from the audience - these can also be made to sound better than ever.

Do your ears a favour and listen on headphones or good speakers to get most benefit - laptop speakers will always sound pretty poor by comparison.

All shows still available are listed, including a link to download the remastered show for free. If you want to support the site with a small donation, you can receive the shows as either separate MP3s or FLACs (your choice) - head over to the Rewards for Donations page and see how you can get a lot for very little!

If you want to email me, an email link is in my profile in a link in the side panel.

And finally... These are great fun to listen to but DO NOT replace original releases - support these artists and buy their music.
There is nothing you can go and buy in a regular record store here. If a gig is made available as a regular release, then it will be removed (as a couple have been already).

Friday 30 July 2021

Show 169 - Roxy Music - Live At Calderone Theatre Hempstead - 8 March 1976

 


 A quick request. If you plan on downloading this and putting it on your YouTube channel or your own bootleg page - I don't mind. But a credit to this website where you found it, and a link back to this page would be really appreciated. It helps me gauge which artists are popular - ie more chance of other restorations coming. Don't just steal it and take the credit. Thanks.

This was an FM recording originally I think - and another of those I found online where the only copy was marked as a "remaster" by someone else from some point in the past. In truth, it was very loud and very muddy and was really tiring to listen to - so much so I had to strip all that out before I could listen to it all the way through to find and fix any faults.

I did that by spending an hour or so using a 30 band EQ which was like taking a clean, dry cloth to a misty window - lots more detail came out - drums, bass, guitar, keyboards, violin, sax, vocals, etc - all far clearer and you can now hear the quality of the band's playing shine through. And it would no longer give you a headache after a few minutes (with apologies to the original remaster-er if he's out there - I guess we have very different tastes).

Fortunately, after the EQ, there were only 1 or 2 small tape dropouts to fix and then I got to work with the studio tools. Noise had been generated by the previous loud mastering, so I gently removed most of that without affecting things much. The EQ had done most of the work, so a final run through with some mastering tools and the job was done.

Really pleased with how this sounds now - for any Roxy fans who have this gig already - try this one, I think (and hope) you will be very pleasantly surprised. You can now download this restored show exclusively for free, right HERE as one 320kbps MP3 file.

Or, if you would like to have separate, fully tagged MP3s or lossless FLACs, head on over to the Donations tab to see how you can obtain these for a very small donation towards the site costs. Absolutely no obligation to do so of course but every single one does go towards this site and the restorations. 

Either way, enjoy the show! Before you go - check out the other restored Roxy Music show HERE.

And finally... don't forget to SUBSCRIBE TO THE FREE NEWSLETTER so you never miss news on which new gigs are going to be restored and uploaded here; any news will be delivered to your inbox and I guarantee you no spam - and of course you unsubscribe at any time.

Setlist
Sentimental Fool
The Thrill Of It All
Love Is The Drug
Mother Of Pearl
Bitter Sweet
Out Of The Blue
Eddie Jobson Solo
Whirlwind   
Sea Breezes
Both Ends Burning
For Your Pleasure
Diamond Head
Wild Weekend

Friday 16 July 2021

Show 168 - Ultravox - Live At Ole Man Rivers New Orleans - 4 Oct 1980

 

A quick request. If you plan on downloading this and putting it on your YouTube channel or your own bootleg page - I don't mind. But a credit to this website where you found it, and a link back to this page would be really appreciated. It helps me gauge which artists are popular - ie more chance of other restorations coming. Don't just steal it and take the credit (yes you, "Ultravox Unofficial"). Thanks.

This is an interesting and lively gig from the still relatively new Ultravox line up, who had released their first single, "Sleepwalk" and album "Vienna" a few months earlier, and were in America and Canada for several months before they they returned to the UK for a tour of larger venues starting in December. 

Some interesting variations on well known songs, a few mistakes (especially in the first few songs) but overall a really strong performance all await... As well as Midge getting a bit stroppy with the house engineer over a lack of monitoring... You will also hear Billy Currie credited at the end as playing "lead keyboards, guitar and violin" - Billy was playing 2nd guitar on the song "Face To Face" (the jangly guitar line - that's him).

Firstly, as always with audience recordings, the ambient room reverb was partially removed to give me more sound to work on. Then, some rebalancing of the stereo image was required, and then I had to remove a really odd noise that appeared loudly in 1 of the first 3 songs, which took a while - completely gone now. After all that, it was onto the studio tools including EQ, to create more space between all the instruments, bring up the sound of the band and tighten up the sound.

Really pleased with how this sounds now - a must for any Ultravox fan, I would say (and I am one). You can now download this restored show exclusively for free, right HERE as one 320kbps MP3 file.

Or, if you would like to have separate, fully tagged MP3s or lossless FLACs, head on over to the Donations tab to see how you can obtain these for a very small donation towards the site costs. Absolutely no obligation to do so of course. Either way, enjoy the show! 

Also, check out all the OTHER restored Ultravox shows before you go!

And finally... don't forget to SUBSCRIBE TO THE FREE NEWSLETTER so you never miss news on which new gigs are going to be restored and uploaded here; any news will be delivered to your inbox and I guarantee you no spam - and of course you unsubscribe at any time.

Setlist
Astradyne
New Europeans
Passing Strangers
Quiet Men
Face To Face
Mr. X
Western Promise
Vienna
Slow Motion
Hiroshima Mon Amour
All Stood Still
Sleepwalk
Private Lives
King's Lead Hat


I am indebted on this occasion to someone referenced in the note accompanying the source files for this show simply as "RH", who originally taped this from the audience on the night. For an audience recording, it was far clearer than most (incidentally, you might see this same source elsewhere on British bootleg sites dated "10 April 1980" - that date is wrong, purely down to the American source tape being labeled "10/4/80" - Americans write the month first, not the day - it's definitely October 4, 1980).

Friday 2 July 2021

Show 167 - Dire Straits - Live At Leeds Polytechnic - 30 Jan 1978

 


A quick request. If you plan on downloading this and putting it on your YouTube channel or your own bootleg page - I don't mind. But a credit to this website where you found it, and a link back to this page would be really appreciated. It helps me gauge which artists are popular - ie more chance of other restorations coming. Don't just steal it and take the credit. Thanks.

A rather wonderful snapshot of very early Dire Straits, in this soundboard recording taken from a date on the Talking Heads tour of the UK in early 1978, where Dire Straits were support band. The original bootleg I received was dated "31 January 1978" but every source online I found points to this gig actually being on the 30 January, so that's what I've gone with here.

Someone at some point had cleaned this up a little - there was little hiss and "Southbound Again" fades out before the end, with Eastbound Train fading in - but the recording was still unbalanced at times, and quite flat and dull, like most soundboards can be. 

So I got to work on the stereo image, rebalanced that, then got to work improving clarity and punch with EQ and other studio tools. There is now "air" between the guys in the band, so you can hear everything much more clearly, and it sounds far clearer and, well just more "live" and exciting. A little final mastering and the work was done.

You can now download this restored show exclusively for free HERE as 1 MP3 file.

Or, if you would like to have separate tagged MP3s or FLACs, head on over to the Donations tab to see how you can obtain these for a very small donation towards the site costs. Absolutely no obligation to do so of course. Either way, enjoy the show!

And finally... don't forget to SUBSCRIBE TO THE FREE NEWSLETTER so you never miss news on which new gigs are going to be restored and uploaded here; any news will be delivered to your inbox and I guarantee you no spam - and of course you unsubscribe at any time.

Setlist
Southbound Again (fades out)
Eastbound Train
Down To The Waterline
In The Gallery
Water Of Love
Setting Me Up
Me And My Friends
Real Girl
Sultans Of Swing