RARE AUDIO: The Parkway, Limerick, October 3, 1991

February 20, 2018  |  22 Comments  |  by Webmaster  |  The Cranberries

As you know, we recently had the opportunity to digitalize recordings from Limerick fan Alan Martin’s early years collection. As he says, “I collected everything I could get my hands on over the 1st couple of years”. We can fairly say that Alan must be the first Cranberries fan, thus owning a unique collection.

The first time he saw the “The Cranberry Saw Us” live was on 25 October 1990 at Cruises in Limerick. A shy singer, who he could barely hear, yet, from this, “average performance”, “Dreams” caught his attention!
Alan then got to witness the band getting more confidence on stage as he saw them twice later that year, going from support act to headline. As the band grew better and better, he kept on following them in 1991 from “The Cranberrys”, to “The Cranberries” and it became obvious to him the band would get big, especially on that night of October 3rd 1991, at Limerick’s Parkway, where they gave, he believes, a perfect performance in front of a 400 people crowd. Incredibly enough, and for our greatest pleasure, Alan decided to record this performance on his walkman, and is sharing it with the fan community today.

Here’s the YouTube link to discover this absolute gem:

The recording is approximately 57 min long. The bootleg appears to be a complete recording (including the encore and the outro!) as Alan used an extended 120 min tape, with 60 minutes per side, which did not require him to cut the record at any time. It is, of course, an audience recording, which means that those who are not too familiar with this kind of recordings may find that it leaves something to be desired, yet the voice is very clear and the rarities this recording features make it exceptional.
Let’s note Alan was standing front row, in front of Mike, so the sound he recorded was probably more like that of the feedbacks from the band’s amp than that of the venue’s PA system. This won’t prevent you from enjoying the show and appreciate the unusual versions of the songs we all love so much.

The Parkway 1991 – Alan’s mastertape

Interestingly, Alan’s treasure is the second earliest audience recording of a Cranberries performance known to this day; the very first one being the “The Town And Country Club” bootleg recorded in London on 31 August 1991.

The recording is shared as “raw files” and was not edited to improve sound at any time.
Here’s the recording process: Mastertape => JVC CA-E33L equalizer at zero => Sony PCM-D50 => WAV file 48kHz 16bit => Youtube

The Cranberries at The Parkway

Setlist
1. Them
2. Nothing Left At All
3. How
4. A Íosa
5. Serious
6. Put Me Down
7. Pathetic Senses
8. Reason
9. Uncertain
10. Linger
11. I Still Do
12. Liar
13. Same Old Story
14. Dreams
………………………………..
15. A Fast One
………………………………..
16. A Íosa

One may note that the band played “A Íosa” (their one and only track written in Irish) twice on this show as, during the encore, crowd asked for more shouting “arís, arís, arís” (again in Irish), Dolores thus re-entered stage saying, “Since ye said Aris we are going to play the Irish one again”.

A damn lucky crowd for sure, but thanks to Alan, today, we too can feel like we were part of the audience 🙂

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22 Responses to RARE AUDIO: The Parkway, Limerick, October 3, 1991

  1. emerald

    Thanks Alan, her voice it’s all we got now and we treasure every bit of her.

    THANKS

  2. Gary

    Love how raw this is. Thank you!

  3. Billy

    Could Not Have Said it Better

  4. Mochino

    Thanx.
    Could u post link to wav 16 bit files?

  5. Luca

    Thank you, this make me back instantly in 1990… time flies…
    Thank you again.

  6. Dmitry

    Thank you for this rare recordings!
    But could you share version in FLAC or maybe in another lossless format (or WAV files), please? It would be great!

  7. WarChild/Human Spirit

    Thank you! I have this cassette as well, so glad to have it on you tube to listen easier!

  8. Itxaso

    Thank you very much for sharing. This is a treasure!

  9. mario

    Dolores’s voice is so tender , so young and its beauty is right its Shyness.
    Simply Beautiful!
    I’d like to have this record to be a complete Cranberries’s fan.
    Thank you for sharing Alan!

  10. M

    Beautiful. No word. Thank you Alan. Is there a way to extract the audio from youtube?

  11. dawie

    Awesome Alan – thanks for this rare recording. This is ‘gold’ to the ultimate Cranberries fans. In ’91 I was only 10-years old, but only a few years later (between ’93 and ’95 I was completely hooked on the sweet voice of Dolores and her band – got the first couple of albums during that time. Always said to myself if they come to South-Africa one day – I’M THERE. True as bob, in 2000 we were lucky to see them perform on stage – AMAZING! RIP Dolores, you will never be forgotten….

  12. Mary S.

    Dolores was just 20. Such a young and beautiful voice on this recording. Hard to believe she’s gone. Thank you Alan.

  13. Robert Verger

    Thanks to all involved. By sharing this true gem & the RTE special you help us cope with the loss.

  14. viktor

    thank u friend!!!

  15. viktor

    serious sound like a alanis morissette’s song

  16. Isaac

    Thank you Alan for share this recording!, and thanks to The Cranberries World for the hard work they do to keep the cranberries legacy alive!

    Here is a front cover I did with the images you have shared, hope you like it!
    https://flic.kr/p/EZWs6F

  17. alexverveboy

    Great thanks to Alan and team of Cranberries World!=D

  18. Steve

    Thank you Alan n team , I feel like I missed out on over twenty odd years of our beautiful Dolores ( haven’t been much of an Internet user !) but this helps a massive amount I cried from beginning to end ,she sounds just so natural, absolutely beautiful, can’t thank you enough.

    Forever in your debt

    Steve

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