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, 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

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