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This was the only show that I was seated for the residency. Got seats in section 305.
Going from the bridge from the Venetian to the Sphere was smooth enough, and there was no trouble getting through security. This was my first time seeing the lobby of the Sphere, and it struck me how much attention to detail there is, with the architecture, the math equations everywhere, and the spherical/curved aesthetic.
The upstairs merchandise stands had virtually no line, and the bathrooms were clean. In-fact, I believe I saw Pavel Sfera leaving the men's room on the 300 level. I just saw his back-- wearing the big gray coat Bono wears, the same glasses, and the hairdo. Then again, it could have just been another impersonator.
The show itself was great. Video from the 300s makes the band look tiny, but the view of them was still good. The 300 sections are also the perfect height for the visual-aid (which looks very sharp). Couldn't help but glance at the video control monitor on the left, to see what was up, every once in a while. It's also worth noting that the perspective of the Fly and Even Better is significantly different than GA, due to the shape of the screen. The former looks curved outwards, and the latter looks more three-dimensional. Also, the illusion of the stone dome was broken when the light is reflected off the frame, which isn't apparent from GA.
The haptics randomly fired during Pauli The PSM's set, and again during the Zoo Station "reveal" and Vertigo helicopters flying in. The haptics weren't by any means necessary, but I was surprised how silent they are.
Sitting so high also allowed for more careful observance of the graphics... For instance: noticing the ZOO TV logo and Adam during Zoo Station, the balloon before the show, the stars during Streets, and The Fly Changing the last word sequence from "IT'S YOUR WORLD YOU CAN CHANGE IT" to "ALL OF US IS BETTER THAN ANY OF US". It was also nice actually seeing the stage effects during Acrobat/Vertigo/Atomic City. The only visual bug that I noticed was some screen tearing during With Or Without You
The 2024 Ultra Violet visuals aren't as good as the violet bursts or gold rain, but it's still awesome... I just hope Discotheque shows up last-minute with those visuals.
Also, the little bit of MacPhisto during Until The End Of The World was a nice touch.
Overall, it was a strong show, glad they mixed it up a bit with Angel of Harlem instead of LoveTown. The audience was questionable, but the performance was great.... However, it doesn't even compare to Sunday's show.
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One of the most incredible things I've ever seen! Finally seeing The Edge play the guitar solo for "Love..
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I felt like a zombie after the previous night's show, staying up late, and checking out in the morning. But..
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First U2 show I've seen- absolutely insane show. I went into the show spoiler-free, the only thing I knew was..
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After 24 hours of processing last night’s performance, here are a few of my thoughts on Bono’s “Stories of Surrender” show.
THE ART OF OVER-DELIVERING
This event was promoted ONLY as a “book tour”. Expectations were that Bono would make an in-person appearance, possibly participate in a moderated interview/conversation, and maybe perform 2 or 3 acoustic songs at the most. This would have been a compelling event that would have satisfied and pleased both fans and critics alike.
No one was expecting this to even be “a concert” much less a fully imagined, tightly scripted, choreographed, staged theatrical production that told a cohesive overarching narrative story showcasing completely new and reinvented musical interpretations.
The theatrical dynamic of this show was a complete and unexpected surprise that no one saw coming.
AMBITION & THE INHERIT RISKS
Bono was clearly NOT “winging it”. This show obviously required significant preparation, planning, and practice. From the script, to the stage and lighting design, to the blocking, to the casting of the supporting musicians - this was not Bono simply phoning-in his version of “Springsteen on Broadway”.
This ambitious storytelling vision was VERY HIGH risk. I can’t think of many artists that would even dare to try and attempt to pull something like this off with a straight face without the safety net of irony.
This bold creative choice required FULL commitment and a fearlessness of slipping into the pit of pretentiousness (i.e. “Turn Off the Dark 2.0” with a young Paul Hewson as Peter Parker’s understudy.)
MONEY DOESN’T MAKE THE WORLD GO ROUND
This is the smallest tour in Bono’s career in the smallest venues he’s played since the second leg of the “War” tour in 1983. Producing and performing a show with this scale and creative risk with relatively minimal financial gain for a proven stadium act only adds to the shock and awe.
Call me naïve, but in an age of cynicism with art in the midst of a long losing streak versus commerce. Maybe it IS possible to "dream it all up again". Now, more than ever, “We need new dreams tonight”.
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Little can be said about Bono that hasn't already been said a thousand times. Rivers of ink have been poured..
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A truly memorable evening that it was a privilege to be at. It was great to hear Bono sounding and..
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The venue was situated in the centre of Cheltenham in Montpellier Park in a temporary festival setting. It held around..
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I was born in February of 1999 and basically ever since then i have been listening to this band, especially the Joshua Tree album. My parents were U2 fans so i got my interest from them and once i learned how to work the CD player, i would listen to them non-stop. So when this tour was announced i decided to do as many shows as possible, meaning crossing the pond and heading over to Auckland.
I came alone and had no idea what to expect. I was told at a fan meet up about the check-in system and the 8:00 wrists band so i made sure i got to the ground early. After getting the wristband and and getting some rest, at 1 i headed down to the stadium to line up, buy merch (which i bought everything there was) and great ready for a great show. i got to know some people and found that socializing with U2 fans was easier than people i went to high school with. We got let in at 5 and went straight for the Tree stage, that way i had a good view of the screen and could still be close to the band.
at 7 Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds came on, i was not an oasis fan but i did know Wonderwall and Don't Look Back In Anger, i had bought Noel's latest album, but hadn't listened to it much so i wasn't really aware of his solo stuff either. "Wow" i said at the end, it really surprised me how good he was and his interactions with the audience was nothing i had ever seen before. He made a real good impression on me and i was looking forward to seeing him at the other Australian shows.
8:45 rolls around and The Whole of the Moon starts, which was cue that U2 were about to start. Finally after waiting 9 years i finally get to see my favourite band and also i'm seeing them in a different country, this idea was ludicrous to me just a few years ago and yet here i am in Auckland waiting for Larry to walk out and launch into Sunday Bloody Sunday, which he did. I'll never forget when the syth to Bad started, i lost it, this was one of my favourite U2 live songs, i have never heard a version of Bad that didn't stop me in my tracks and made the world disappear, and this was no exception; this was amazing, i still struggle to find the words for that moment, you could have come up bend me and stabbed me as many times as you like and i still wouldn't have paid attention to you, i was going to live in this moment for as long as i could.
After Pride had finished the intro synth to Where the Streets Have No Name started, again i was gone. This wasn't like any other concert where U2 were about to play streets; They were about to start The Joshua Tree. One by one the songs came along, Still Haven't Found, With or Without You, Bullet the Blue Sky and on and on. Bullet is one of my favourite U2 songs, but i though version was a bit flat (there would be better versions to come); Running to Stand Still, however, brought me to tears again, except this time it was unexpected. I'd always loved the song but in that moment something happened and any emotions i was feeling just came out, love, anger, joy, remorse, it all laid bare to see. The album continued on, i enjoyed every minute, but once was got to One Tree Hill, things got serious. Part of the whole reason i came to NZ was to hear them play One Tree Hill in that country, and it didn't disappoint. Exit was next that was amazing, the Trump reference and Bono playing the character of this dark, mysterious cowboy was fantastic and how he adapted to stage movements to the dynamics of the song was amazing to see, he truly is one of the great front-men. Finally ending with Mothers of the Disappeared was just perfect, however that didn't end the main set, they decide to celebrate Rattle & Hum and the Lovetown tour by playing Angel of Harlem, which was fantastic, no complaints here.
The encore was a reference to the eXPERIENCE + iNNOCENCE tour from last year, it had a short version of the show from when the intermission ends. Bono came on in his MacPhisto get up (from the e+i tour) and they did Elevation, Vertigo and Even Better Than the Real Thing. they then went into Every Breaking Wave, returning to the proper tour setlist for the first time since the end of the iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE in 2015. Then did the feminist section with Beautiful Day, Ultra Violet (so happy to hear that, love that song) and Love is Bigger Than Anything In Its Way. That was rumored to be the end of the show but i noticed out of the corner of my eye, while the band was bowing, Dallas put Edge's Les Paul on the Guitar stand. Bono gave a speech about the terrorist attacks in Christchurch earlier this year and how it was great how NZ responded with such grace, then Edge begun the riff for One. On the screen behind them they had a Muslim symbol and then slowly all the names of the victims appeared on the screen. This was the perfect way to end a great concert.
This was my first time seeing U2 since the second Sydney show of the 360 tour and it easily topped that show. Everything was great so far, the people were awesome and i had a great time talking to every single person and then seeing this show feed an appetite i had been working up for the last 9 years. Although there were better shows to come, this night, still, was amazing and a night I'll never forget.
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U2's first performance at the sacred Adelaide Oval - and their first in Adelaide since the Vertigo Tour in 2006..
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Organization of lines for seated, GA, and Red Zone were amazing. The staff really knew what they were doing! My..
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Having missed seeing U2 over the years for a variety of reasons (family, work), I made sure I got the..
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Love this band, these shows, and my experience.
We had seats for night 1. After relaxing and enjoying dinner and listening to The Joshua Tree tribute band at Hurricane’s across the street, we walked into the arena and to our seats around 7pm. Once we realized that security wasn’t really paying attention and people without wristbands were just walking onto the floor, we did the same thing and ended up center of the screen on Adam’s side, second row off the rail.
Thinking I could do the same thing again the second night, I bought a cheap balcony seat the morning of the second show. But security was a lot tighter – there were only a few entrance open for floor access, and there was one guard at the top of each entrance and two at the bottom, and they were each checking the wristbands pretty diligently. So I enjoyed night 2 from the very top row of the arena, which was a totally different but still awesome experience. I sat next to and chatted with a wicked nice family from Texas; the husband told me he had seen them on every tour since Joshua Tree all over the country, and now he and his wife were bringing their daughters to see them. This was their first show in Boston. Even though we were in the seats, our entire section still got into it and stood up for a lot of the concert. A super fun, casual, but enthusiastic vibe all around, and it seemed that way for most of the entire arena, both nights.
The opening is perfect. LIAWHL with just Bono underneath the screen is great. Blackout is killer. The images, the reveal of the band under the screen, the song itself – unbelievable opener. I wish they played the strings part and Edge’s guitar up way more during Lights of Home, but that was still amazing.
From my vantage point both nights, I Will Follow got the biggest crowd reaction of the night. Insane feeling to scream and jump along with an entire arena and to see the band love playing it so much. I think Gloria got a bigger reaction than ABOY, but both are great high energy songs. I get now why Beautiful Day follows there – to keep up that energy. It’s needed, because The Ocean then kills every last ounce of it. It stopped everyone dead. I understand that it’s the start of the innocence narrative, but wow is it a buzzkill. Even going straight into Iris would be better.
Seeing this version Sunday Bloody Sunday up close was more intense than I thought it would be – the entire band still get really into it, even though it’s not the regular version. Edge and Adam had their eyes closed for a lot of the song.
Until the End of the World is still my favorite song live. It can stay in whatever incarnation it’s in for every show from here on out and I would never get sick of it. I didn’t miss Streets, but I would’ve missed UTEOTW.
The HMTMKMKM comic on the screen is fucking awesome. Even better would be the band actually playing the song live while they show it…
Acrobat. Acrobat. ACROBAT. I thought I died last year when I heard Exit live. Nope. That was last night. I’m so glad they’ve never played this live before. It’s a fucking monster. My favorite live performance of the show.
I love SATS but I think in every way – thematically, musically (acoustic) – it could be replaced with Please. Or even rotated with SATS.
When I had seats the second night, I had full view of the screen, and I got the clearest sense of the narrative of the show from here, way more than in being in GA and more than listening on the mixlrs. The images of the current KKK and pure filth going on in America right now was stark, and I expected those to be the most impactful on me. But nothing made me scream louder during both shows than those images immediately giving way to Pride and images of MLK and protestors. There’s no other song that could come after those images (angry songs like Bullet or whatever) – the feeling of being lifted up by love after seeing that was unreal. By far, my favorite part of the show is Pride – GOOYOW – American Soul – COBL.
One is a crowd pleaser, but I really wish it was rotated with something else. I was way more excited to sing along to Love is Bigger, which is fresher. 13 is as gorgeous live as it is on the album, but it ended so abruptly that it ends the concert on a weird, very mellow note. I get that it’s the end of the narrative – but still…
Since this was definitely a Bono album, it’s definitely a Bono show. I understand it’s the story, the journey, the narrative, etc. – but it seemed that this was more tipped towards Bono’s storytelling rather than four men playing together on a stage, and I was left missing more of that balance between the four of them. I think the narrative can still come through even without a lot of the inter-song stuff, like Bono’s “phone call home” as he’s taking off Macphisto’s makeup, and The Ocean, which the way it’s played is not even a song. Even just one more rotational song spot would make a difference.
Still, yet another awesome live U2 experience I will never forget.
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We made our way to the concert way too early, but the rain had stopped, and we had little else..
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After two amazing tours in the previous three years, could the band POSSIBLY top themselves? Yep! To paraphrase the man..
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We are from the Chicagoland area, and were very excited to travel for a weekend getaway to St. Louis. ..
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“FULL CIRCLE”
A circle:
-a perfectly round shape
-a line that is curved so its ends meet and every point on the line is equally far away from a single point inside.
I was thinking about many things after the show in Toronto on Friday June 23rd. A U2 show is a lot to process and I’m not sure I have even fully done that yet. I am, however, very thankful I will get to see the show again from a different vantage point. This night, I was fortunate to be front and center on the floor by the main stage. Being close enough to see the band member’s faces is something I know I will never forget. Even so, I know there are nuances that I missed. Reflecting back, somehow I kept coming back to the idea of circles and the various ways they were represented in this show.
It began with a crack in the ceiling then a strip of light as the Dome began to open shortly before U2 went on. This wasn’t a given as it had been raining earlier in the evening. Letting the light in was powerful agent for change, shifting and lifting the mood inside the stadium. That semicircle of light transformed the Rogers Centre from a concrete cavern to a hemisphere cradling thousands that literally got a breath of life and light. It was so fitting, then, that Bono had Leonard Cohen on his mind that night.
“There is a crack in everything.
That's how the light gets in."
When the “twinkles” for Bad began, the Rogers Center became its own galaxy. During Bad (with an extended snippet of Cohen’s Suzanne) we were all points of light in some semicircular constellation pulled inexorably into the band’s orbit. The spirit of Leonard Cohen, I’m sure, was present in our galaxy that night too.
A cycle is such because when you reach the end, you begin again. Sunday Bloody Sunday, New Year's Day and Pride feel as powerful and anthemic as they did when first released.
"I, I will begin again..." proclaims a new cycle and by singing the album lyrics the song gets a new twist in live performance.
One narrative thread of the show seen most clearly during Sunday Bloody Sunday, Bad and One, In God’s Country and Miss Sarajevo has Bono encouraging us to break cycles of addiction, behavior, violence, governance and negative power structures. Many of the organizations supported by the band recognize the cyclical nature of these issues and work to break and interrupt them to promote positive change.
That gorgeous, endless highway seen during Where The Streets Have No Name is like a circle that has no beginning and no end but in the context of the giant screen filled with Anton Corbijn’s sparsely beautiful imagery, manages to undo itself into a linear path that for multitudes stretches to another, higher place in our hearts and souls.
Black and white Joshua trees fill the screen for I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For reminding us of the tree as it lived and stood tall in 1987. Seeing these vigorous live trees and knowing the original Joshua tree has fallen brings to mind cycles of living and dying. The album tree’s image is echoed in outline towering above the stage, its fallen counterpart the footprint that makes up the “tree stage” used at the opening and closing of the show.
Bono releasing the songs to the fans during With or Without You, "These songs are yours now! Sing your heart out!" takes them out of the stars, out of unreachable orbit, and brings them back down to earth, to us, the fans, both those who embraced and believed in them thirty years ago and those who continue to do so today. For a gift like that, I'll give up a coda.
Bullet the Blue Sky is a shape-shifter, spiraling into a new version to fit the times and tone of the day. Always pointed, poignant and hard-hitting, its many iterations over its 30 year existence are described in-depth in the Tour Book.
The beautiful oxymoron that is Running To Stand still describes that circle of destructive behaviour, like a dog chasing its tail. How Running to Stand Still winds up being bleak but not hopeless is just one of the musical miracles in this album.
With the invitation of "Welcome to Side 2!" the circle flips. This has been a nostalgic moment during the show hearkening back to albums and cassettes for fans who remember the interaction of having to turn the media to keep listening. Hearing Bono say, "This band is finally getting to know this album – Side 2 of it anyway, which we haven't played in all these yrs." is an absolute highlight!
Bono's delight with his performance of Red Hill Mining Town was clearly evident this night. Singing, "From father to son..." invokes the circle of family succession - another layer of meaning that must be an element in this presentation of the Joshua Tree tour. Perhaps the theme of family wasn't so much at the forefront in 1987. Certainly a song like Mothers of the Disappeared takes on new weight when you have children of your own. I missed watching for the visual of Bono's son and Edge's daughter on the screen at the end of the show. It is a nod to the future and the circle of life.
Side 2 has another circle supported very clearly with visuals on screen. Witnessing this one is much more fun: That circle of a lasso looping around - circling, circling, never touching in the sexy courtship dance that is Trip Through Your Wires.
During One Tree Hill the full, round, red orb of moon shines; the perfect shape of a circle is a fitting tribute to those who have left us too soon.
Then suddenly, there’s a break and another narrative takes over:
Life imitating art. With the help of an obscure black and white 50s film clip, our Irish shaman is preaching in his latest incarnation as the Shadow Man. Bono swirling and circling around the mic stand / pole has us mesmerized. When he calls, “Hold out your hand!” - we comply. We are transfixed as the show reaches its zenith. Repatriating Exit to the live set is exhilarating and satisfying.
The encore brought to mind concentric circles rippling out from a pebble thrown into a pond illustrating the effects of individual and corporate activism during One, Ultraviolet and Miss Sarajevo. It’s said the victor writes history. During this tour, Ultraviolet undergoes a metamorphosis from an intensely personal song to become an anthem for the cause of starting a new lap in the race that is human history with “Herstory”.
This tour has me thinking about the circle is a round disc of vinyl. Pressed with grooves, it makes an album. Respecting that body of work that is an album by performing it in its entirety, in sequence, opens an interesting dialogue for planning shows and perhaps opens a door for future album performances (feel free to read Achtung here!).
Indulge me for a few other circle references in closing:
A circle of trust between fans helping other fans to get tickets.
Arms encircling friends old and new with hugs as fans met each other for the first time or again after years.
Fans echoing the chorus to Mothers Of The Disappeared after the band left the stage for the encore break looped me back to the October 3rd, 1987 show singing 40 while exiting Exhibition Stadium after the show.
Calling for I Will Follow which was not on the printed set list closed the show and brought it full circle. "Your eyes make a circle..." had the band simultaneously looking ahead to Songs of Experience and glancing over their shoulder in a nod to their genesis with Boy.
Thirty years ago I was pulled into the band’s orbit on the first Joshua Tree tour and I’ve been pulled by the gravity of their music ever since. For myself, and many other fans, this tour brings us full circle.
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American landscape in Belgium
That show has been special to me. I went to USA for the first time in May-June..
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This was the first of two shows at the Rose Bowl, and the first two night stay of the tour...
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Thoughts of a fan (not Uber) that has not missed a North American Tour since TJT87 and been following them..
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#4 of 4. This was U2's last night in Spain.. and I was there! Got up nice and late - it was quite breezy, so I took an overshirt with me: coat still not required, of course. I headed into Placa de Catalunya, figuring I'd take it from there. Google Maps was kind enough to inform me that my handiest route there was to take either the L94 or L95 bus, which headed to just off the square. And I put my ticket in the machine the right way around, for once. :-)
I was somewhat concerned that the LCD display showing the stop names was practically illegible - both on the outward and return journeys, the text was in a watery yellow that blended nicely into the black background. But as we passed a stop on the way in, I noticed the departure board, which said that the destination of my bus was, in fact, Placa de Catalunya. Lovely - the terminus.
I got off and wondered where to go for brunch - my first priority. A quick look around didn't reveal much, and I didn't want to spend too long looking - I was too hungry. I finally decided that the huge department store, El Corté Inglés, might be my best bet - they surely had a café, and it would surely be both reasonably priced and have fairly standard dishes, so no translation problems.
It turned out I had to go all the way to the ninth floor.. where they have a restaurant, which I considered, but the people in front of me exchanged some words with a waiter and left, and it looked very much as though they needed to have reserved. Instead, I queued for the more casual café - still with table service, but no tablecloths, no glasses or cutlery left on the tables, and paper placemats and boxes of napkins. I didn't really have to queue for long, despite how busy the place was.
Despite the busyness, service was decently quick. I dithered between the chicken, which sounded tastier, and the beef escalope with spaghetti and chips, which sounded more filling, and which my hunger chose. Same brunch as Tuesday, in fact! And a glass of wine. And it was very nice. The chips were actually terrific - you know how good chips can taste, but rarely do? These were such chips. For dessert - by which time things had calmed down a bit - I, of course, had the "death by chocolate" (I can rarely resist that), which in this case was a chocolate sponge slice with chocolate filling and dark chocolate beads on top. And it was sooo good.. I'd definitely go back there for that alone!
By this time, it was too hot to be bothered exploring any more, and I waited in the shade, in a cool breeze, for the bus back to the hotel. Still, it was a relief when it came, and again when the aircon started. I recognised my stop from the buildings we passed - the indicator board was useless again.
After a relaxing afternoon, which featured another nap, I headed out. I must be getting fit - the walk didn't knock as much out of me that evening! Bought a Cedarwood Road t-shirt, which had caught my eye the day before.
So, I was in the front row of my section. This time, however, it was towards the back - more so than the night before. The people at the very back, who are at the wrong side of the vidi-wall, get a smaller, dedicated screen, at right angles to the vidi-wall, showing footage of both stages and the vidi-wall. From where I was sitting, I had a good view of both screens. And I noticed that Bono spent much of his time on the "e" stage singing directly to the people at the back.
It's becoming something of a hobby of mine to watch the crowd's reaction to something they weren't expecting to happen. It seems that the word has gone around that when the band say goodbye, they don't mean it, there's more to come - but it was nice to see that several things in the concert still surprised them. And they STILL don't know that the band don't come on until People Have the Power starts to play.. and even then, not immediately..
Once they'd started, I noticed something I hadn't noticed before on this tour - as usual, the further away you are, the more of the spectacle you get to see. Being too close has its disadvantages. People with seats at the back, take heart. Now, a funny thing happened to me tonight - I'm finding that, the more of these concerts I go to, the more into them I'm getting. In fact, for the first four songs, I lost it completely that night.. For their second song, they cycle among three - Gloria, The Electric Co., and Out of Control. For my money, Gloria holds the crown, among these three, of Best Live Song. I always loved seeing it live, and I'm stoked that it's such a regular on this tour - doesn't usually happen! Again, Mrs. Bono was in the house, as mentioned by Bono at the start of Song For Someone, written for her.
Now, the pattern thus far has been that, for Mysterious Ways, Bono brings a girl onstage to dance with him, then she films the band doing a number, which is streamed live on Meerkat. Sometimes, they bring a guy up from the audience to play guitar on that number. Well, Bono was in a mischievous mood, and ever the champion of equal opportunities, he brought up a girl to play guitar, and a guy to dance with. The guy wore one of those glittery cowboy hats and a feather boa, and threw some real shapes. Until his irate wife appeared onstage, ordering him to get down! He complied, after making sure she got a shot of him with each member of the band. Bono got her to do the Meerkat stream - half of which came out upside-down! Then he had a chat with her. "Are you local? Are you from Barcelona?" "I'm from Spain." "What's your name?" "Penélope"..
"So, that would be.. his Bardem-ness?" teased Bono. Yes, these were Penélope Cruz (in a wig) and her husband, Javier Bardem, who - I guess - stayed for the after-show party. Turns out they're enthusiastic supporters of the Red campaign. We may not have had the tv crews there like the night before, but what a show they missed! And then Bono sang Spanish Eyes, for Penélope of course. About time - I was wondering whether he'd ever get around to it in this, the only Spanish city on their tour!
On this occasion, it was October that moved me to tears. And it seems that rounding off the show with Bad and 40 is a staple for the last night in any city. What a night! What a week! What a city! Truly memorable. Oh, but I can't wait for the tour to hit London, on the 25th (you know I'll be there..)
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Hello, hello.. last U2 concert in Britain this year! After an amazing show the night before, I was hoping for..
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The Edge side
Fourth U2 show for me, the first one in my own country. I was there with two friends..
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So, I ended the week with another U2 concert! I swung by home first - I wanted to shop on..
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A Magnificent birthday
My third U2 gig, still in France stadium but this time we were far away from the stage. We were in A9 block. Like the previous time there were me, my father, my mother and my brother but also an uncle and two friends. We left Belgium in direction of Paris. After getting in the stadium and found our seats we bought usual tee-shirts and drinks and the waiting started. Oh by the way this concert took place six days after my 18th birthday so it's a nice birthday gift I had.
About setlist songs I never had in live before and that I got at this show were : "Return of the Stingray Guitar", "I Will Follow", "Mysterious Ways", "Until the End of the World", "North Star", "Mercy", "Miss Sarajevo" and "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me"
The opening act was Interpol and well I didn't really appreciate them. I prefered Snow Patrol or Kaiser Chiefs. Stage and stadium were still very huge. At 20:45 we can hear "Ground Control to Major Tom" so the song "Space Oddity" of David Bowie. It meant showtime.
Band arrived on the still massive and impressive stage. It's seems simple to say but as simple their enter was it was quiet amazing. Imagine a full stadium of 96,540 people becoming wild and throwing white ballon when the screen showed U2 walking to the stage with all lights on. They then started to play a new song "Return of the Stingray Guitar" and Bono did his showman walking on the B-stage circle, jumping and talking to the crowd and screaming "Allez c'est parti". He then made the stadium screaming "Oh, oh" and all the stadium turned the light off (Willie) at the same moment "Beautiful Day" began. Classic song but nice effect and good show introduction. Bono ended it on a "Edge is beautiful".
I knew then that it would be either "I Will Follow" or "New Year's Day". My father was hoping for "New Year's Day" as it's one of his favorite one. Both of them would be fine to me and the band played "I Will Follow" wich was the first time hearing it for me so I was happy and I jumped like lot of people in the stadium. "Get on Your Boots" followed then and well quiet energetic but not my favorite song. A much better song has been played then "Magnificent". I like that song and guitar parts as well as bass and drumming parts are really good. I remember that Adam Clayton walked off behind the stage and played for the back of the stadium. Bono did a quick look to see where was he and said "The magnificent Adam Clayton" at the end of the song and was close to him in the next song. I also remember watching the solo of The Edge with my binoculars.
A song I never saw in gig before followed it "Mysterious Ways". I did appreciate to heard it for the first time live. Bono who was energetic since the start of the show played with the crowd on one of the two bridge and made the people waves with their hands. He then sung the song on the same microphone as The Edge, nice moments.
Band energy, crowd playing and Bono show was still there for "Elevation" with a Bono full of energy who took a ballon to change his voice and played with it before doing the same with a hat from the crowd. "Until The End Of The World" followed for my great pleasure as I like this song and never saw it live before. Light show was amazing so was the bridge moves. Bono played to annoy The Edge and Adam Clayton for fun. Guitar solo was great and I watched it with my binoculars. Band was in playfull mood.
"I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" was the next song. Before it there was the first calm moment since the start of the concert. Bono thanked Interpol in French before introducing the band. "Je vais vous présenter le groupe, à la basse, le renard d'argent, Adam Clayton, à la batterie, notre beau gosse, Larry Mullen". When he saw Larry Mullen didn't get it Bono told him "I'll explain later" and both laughed. "À la guitare", the crowd already applaused strongly. "Le mystérieux, énigmatique, le Louis Pasteur du Rock 'N' Roll, le père de Hollie and Arran pour n'en citer que quelques-uns, The Edge". Bono then introduced himself as "Votre humble serviteur, le Bossu de Notre-Dame" and the song started. People sung the first verse with a bit help from Bono and the chorus.
Two next songs were unreleased new songs and so people listened them and kept quiet. "North Star" was a quiet one played only by The Edge and Bono while "Mercy" has been played by the whole band and has more energy.
"In a Little While" and "Miss Sarajevo" were the two next. Two good songs and nice to hear them especially the second one which was the first time for me. On the first one Bono took a lucky girl on stage and layed down his head on her legs. He then made her a walk on stage and ended dancing with her on the bridge. Frank De Winne apperead then on the screen saying the last lyrics of "In a Little While" and during that the first note of "Miss Sarajevo" started. Bono received applause after his scream during the song.
Screen growed for "City of Blinding Lights" and we had the same sequence as in 2009 show with "Vertigo" "I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight" "Sunday Bloody Sunday" with a nice snippet of "Get Up Stand Up", "MLK" and "Walk On". Songs were nice, band full of energy especially Bono and crowd reacted positively. Only change between 2009 and 2010 band skipped "Pride (In The Name Of Love)" wich was a good thing. I love that song but you can't hear it each time you see the band because if you do then you have less chance of hearing a song you never heard before.
Time for first encore (I remember my brother asked me if the gig was over. Not yet I told him) with the same Desmond Tutu speech that lead us to "One" who started with an improvised small guitar solo from Bono. Classic song with nice guitar parts and all lights from mobile phone from people gave a nice visual.
"Amazing Grace" introduced "Where the Streets Have No Name". As soon as first organ pipe sound started while Bono was still singing "Amazing Grace" the crowd reacted. All was beautiful in that song. Guitar parts, bass parts, Larry had a powerful drumming and Bono had so much energy. The visual, the light, the stage and the crowd were amazing. Bono and The Edge came to the back of the stage playing for the back people. It was a really good moment and so much positivy in that song. At the end Bono thanked the crowd "Vous avez été formidable".
Second encore was there then. I remember my brother asked me "So now this is the end" and me "Still not yet". A video showing two extraterrestrial people in a small rocket travelling in space apperead on the screen. Then the claw (name of U2 stage) flyed over the two extraterrestrial people rocket and took their place on the screen. Baby Zooropa face apperead then asking "What's time is it in the world" and then singing something that I honestly can't remember. I know he said something like "Baby, baby, baby" but I can't remember the rest. Anyway that lead us to "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me". A nice surprise to hear it. The band hasn't played it in a tour since the "Popmart" one so definitely a good song to hear live. Light show and jacket was similar than 2009 show for "Ultraviolet (Light My Way)". Guitar parts and Bono performance were great.
End of the show was the same as 2009 gigs "With Or Without You" and "Moment Of Surrender" closed the set. Similar songs, similar lights and visual. Crowd appreciated and phone lights were seen in stadium. Good atmosphere and people made the "Oh, oh". We could cleary see that U2 enjoyed to be there, enjoyed the show and the crowd. They were in a good day with lot of energy and happiness. The crowd also really enjoyed the show. At the end of the show Adam Clayton said "Thank you Paris, you have been great", Larry Mullen Jr said "Merci, au revoir, bonne nuit" while The Edge was laughing. Then the guitarist said "Thank you Paris, thank you" and for once Bono said nothing. They then took all their times to leave the stage and waves the people. End of a great night.
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This was my 1st GA show for any U2 show, i'll say that this was my greatest concert experience ever...
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When U2 played Glasgow in 2009, it was less a '360 degree' experience and more a '220 degree' one. As..
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It's my first U2 concert, so how can't I give this a 5! But seriously, it's a great bootleg. The..
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An impressive bloody Sunday
I remember that day, I was 12 years old and I was going to see my favorite band. Four years before it I already tried to see them during their Elevation Tour but I couldn't have ticket. This time my father got two tickets by doing queue at a real shop (not on internet) and on the D-day we took the road from Belgium direction Paris. The night before I had difficult to sleep because I was so much excited and on the morning of the concert I woke up with a headache but I was still very much happy. We took the road and I was so excited that I couldn't stop talking and we listened U2 music during all journey. It was not my first concert ever. I already saw Peter Gabriel in 2003 and 2004 but my favorite band of that time was U2 and so being able to see them in concert seems nearly impossible for me (We tried twice in 2001 and in 2005 we didn't have ticket for Brussels or for Paris 1). So it was nearly impossible for me to see them and however I was on the road to the gig.
A dream was coming true. I remember how impressive I felt when I saw the France Stadium from the highway for the first time. The building seems huge to me. We drove the car under the stadium and after some security check on the car and on my father and I (three day before there were the London terrorism attack) we walked to the Z gate of the stadium. It was about 2pm and I remember I was feeling impressed by all small shops selling U2 articles and U2 music could be hear anywhere (in each bars, each shops) and everything, everywhere was like a huge U2 party. It's something that even now make me think that atmosphere at a U2 concert is particular. Now I saw about one hundred of gigs and even if we could hear some music of the band near the concert place, it's never as huge and impressive as we could see or hear around a place where U2 will play a gig. It's different, more intense, more shops, more bars, more music, more excitement. I remember that before that day I already hear some comments saying that atmopshere around a U2 concert is unique and I can say that on that day when I was walking around the France Stadium those comments hitted me and seems really appropriate. I was impressed. Then We reach the Z gate and just sat down waiting for the opening. I remember my father calling my mother and brother to tell them we were arrived safe. As a big reader I started to read my book "Bono by Bono" written by Michka Assayas and I was not the only one reading that book. A little bit before 4pm excitation was there for everyone. Everybody just stand up and rush near doors which were still closed. It was my first experience as an outdoor concert and I was impatient to come in but false alerts like my father said came often.
Then a bit after 4pm doors opened. I remember climbing steps and steps and I was almost in top of the stadium while going inside and I had my first view of the whole empty stadium and my first view of the stage. It's difficult to express the feeling I had when I saw that stage. I was 12, it was my first outdoor gig and there is a massive stage in front of me and it's on same time massive and impressive but also just like normal like the stage is just quietly there. It was a mix of the both feeling. I think seeing the whole stadium from the inside for the first time also astonished me. We walked down the stair to join the ground and tried to went as close as we could to the stage. Unfortunately there were two GA categories and we were not in the front one. Also as a 12 years old boy I was not tall and so couldn't see things very good but I didn't care I was there. After a while of course we wanted to buy a tee-shirt, drinks and need to use the bathroom wich where in the back of the GA. Since my father didn't want to let me go there alone (I was only 12) we lost our spot but when we went out of bathroom and walked to the front I realised that since there were less people in front of me my view was better on the stage. So we still went to the front but not as close as before and like that with less people in front of myself my view was correct. Even if we were not particulary close of the stage.
I don't really remember the first opening act, The Music. I have some memories of the second opening act, Snow Patrol. After that stadium was full and excitement was there. Some ola in the seats but also in the GA. It was the first time I was seeing that and it was huge to me to see so many people connected between them.
Then the song "Wake Up" of Arcade Fire has been played. Time for U2.
"Larry Mullen Jr, Adam Clayton now, say hello, bonsoir, hello hello" said Bono and immediatly the crowd repeated the hello, hello. "Un, deux, trois, catorce" and the show began. The band already caught the crowd in their hands, I was jumping and screaming lyrics of "Vertigo" in a bad English (I didn't speak it at that time). I also remember I phoned my mother and brother at home to let them hear the first song of the concert.
"Out of Control" when Bono kicked a glass of water in the crowd has been followed by "The Electric Co". It's during the solo of that song when The Edge came on B-stage that I saw him for real with my eyes for the first time. A few seconds later I saw Bono on the other B-stage. Seeing them in real for the first time was like a dream coming true for me.
After that very energic start band began to play "Elevation" and the crowd immediatly started to sing the "Ooh, ooh, ooh". Bono didn't need to lauch them. Right after "New Year's Day" started and my father pressed my arm and made me a wink and a smile because he loves that song (so do I). Adam Clayton walked on the B-stage during The Edge solo and I could see him for first time. "Beautiful Day" followed and it was indeed a great day for me and my father.
"I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" was also a good moment. At the end of it seeing and hearing for the first time a whole stadium singing a song togheter while seeing Bono walking on B-stage is kind of impressive for a 12 years old boy.
I learned a few years after that the band scheduled to play "Bad" at that moment but didn't. When I learned that I was dissapointed because it's one of my favorite song. But during the show I never been dissapointed and when "City Of Blinding Light" has been played I was still very happy. Screen turned on and it was very pretty.
"I want to say an happy birthday to my godchild who is here tonight, Hollie, it's her 21st birthday, happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Hollie, happy birthday to you" said Bono before asking to the crowd "En Français" wich the crowd answered by singing "Joyeux anniversaire" to Hollie who is The Edge daughter. This cute moment has been followed by "Miracle Drug" and "Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own" (when Bono made an appareance on B-stage). Great songs, nice singing by Bono and The Edge and of course nice guitar parts. I remember the giant character on the screen.
"Love and Peace or Else" was the opportunity to see Larry Mullen Jr for the first time since he was on the B-stage. Actually the whole band moved on two B-stage during that nice song. I could see them and I enjoyed the song that I found good with a nice guitar solo. Followed by "Sunday Bloody Sunday". It was a pleasure to hear it, sing it, scream the "No more" and jumped on it. My father really appreciate "Bullet The Blue Sky" and I did too. I clapped my hands in rythm at the end of "Bullet The Blue Sky" like the majority of the crowd.
I didn't know "Running To Stand Still" at that time but I enjoyed it and tried for the first time to do like everyone using a light during a gig. I was looking around me all the time to see that spectacular view of thousand and thousand of small light. I remember I burned myself at the end because the light became quiet hot after a few use.
Then one of my favorite U2 song of that time "Pride (In the Name of Love)" has been played and I was jumping and singing. I was also screaming the "Oh, oh" at the end and was impressed by all the crowd singing and didn't really realise I was a part of them doing the same. I hear Bono talking in French "Mais ce soir, c'est un rêve Africain". And all the crowd kept doing the "Oh, oh" until the first notes of "Where The Streets Have No Name" started. I also remember all the African flags. The crowd turned crazy during "Where The Streets Have No Name" and I was not the only one then jumping and screaming the song. That moment definitely put a great ambiant during the show.
Just before "One" Bono did a French speech to the crowd. I remember me and my father applausing and thinking "well said, he is right". "One" was truly a great song that night.
The band then left the stage with a "Bonsoir Paris".
After a few minutes a screen divided in four turned on with Zoo TV era pictures. Then like a slot machine four faces of four unpopular people at that time appeared on the screen. I remember Michael Jackson was there. Crowd reacted badly to those faces. Then two faces were replacing with the Zooropa face and two other faces apparead and once again crowd reacted badly to them. Those two faces were replacing by Zooropa faces to make four Zooropa faces on screen. Crowd was finally happy and "Zoo Station" began with lot of positive reaction from the people. Bono on screen was acting like in the introduction of the Zoo TV show and came into the B-stage again (for my great pleasure since I could see him again even if it was far away from me). The Edge also came on the other B-stage.
When "The Fly" started both my father and I were happy because we loved the "Elevation Tour" version. Screen was a reminder of the Zoo TV era it was astonishing and song was energic, The Edge solo was good, crowd was happy and I was jumping and singing. I remember I was still jumping and screaming when "With Or Without You" started and I saw a woman looking at me with a smile on her face. She maybe thought this kid is crazy but I think she was more like smiling like an adult sometimes do when they see a child being very happy. Anyway "With Or Without You" was good. I used the light again and burned myself again. I remember Bono took a girl from the B-stage with him and leading her to the main stage. She said hello to each member and I thought she was lucky. I sing most of the song too and like all the crowd made the "Oh, oh". We learnt at the end of the song that the lucky girl was Fanny. Band left the stage and it was time for a second encore.
It began with "All Because Of You" which was followed by a wonderful acoustic song "Yahweh " who has been singing by the crowd too. Just before singing it Bono thanked The Music and Snow Patrol for opening the show. The last song of my first U2 gig was the same as the first one "Vertigo". It's weird to play twice the same song and I wished we could have another song to conclude but oh well I was happy to see that band. Words "The End" then apperead on the screen to conclude the show. Crowd of course applaused the band long time after the end of the concert.
My day dream didn't end yet. My father bought me a poster and I recorded some songs of the show on my old Sony Ericsson and listened them while talking about the show to my father on the way back home. I remember we paused on a highway shop. He took a coffee and I took a tea. There was a sign "Out of service" on the slot for money and I was so tired I didn't get it and removed the sign and was about to put my money in the machine but my father stopped me and lead me to another machine where I got my tea. I was exhausted but truly happy and it's on that funny little story that my review end.
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I was there , that amazing night. I'll try to be objective . Bono s voice is not the best..
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The show was brilliant; we were standing for one hour straight after the guys came out with their flashlights. The..
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Its great..I would give it a 5 but..the 3 missing songs make me take off a notch.This is a MUST..
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U2 in Chicago is always a good combo. U2 playing the last night in a city is always a great combo. So I had high expectations for this show. I had listened to this before but I didn't remember anything in partucular. This is a very good show but for me it lacks that special element that can "elevate" (:P ) a concert and take it to another level. Anyway, as I wrote, the performance is really good, there are very few mistakes and Bono almost gets all the lyrics right. Bono is also in a festive mood because his son John Abraham will be born soon. Anyway, on to the show.
The first part of the setlist is pure ZOO TV revival. Songs 2-7 are the exact same as they were in 1992/1993. In addition to that, you also get 6 new songs (almost everything you could get at the time with the exception of In A Little While and The Ground Beneath Her Feet). Elevation starts the show in the right way with a good snippet of Be My Baby. Then there's the ZOO TV set which is performed really well. The Fly has a shorter intro than usual, Even Better Than The Real Thing makes one of the last appearances in its traditional arrangement, One sounds really good this early in the setlist and it has an amazing snippet of Wake Up Dead Man. New Year's Day is another highlight of the show that brings us to the more familiar part of the setlist. The surprise here is the great performance of New York. It has a strange tin whistle intro and Edge makes a small mistake at the beginning but it just rocks. Bono's low notes at the start are amazing, Adam shines in the middle 8 and the ending is pure gold. Then on to I Will Follow which has a great middle 8 improvisation by Bono about the early days in Chicago. Sunday Bloody Sunday is very good as well with a funny moment at the start of the solo. Then comes the true highlight for me: Sweetest Thing is performed in a perfect way with an amazing bass part by Adam and a very good piano playing by Bono. The acoustic part of the show sees a good (although a bit slow) performance of Angel Of Harlem followed by a reinvention of I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For (played here for the only time in the first two legs of Elevation Tour). It has a funny intro and the harmonics created by the voices of Bono and Edge are just incredible. All I Want Is You (with Bono playing some acoustic guitar) followed by Streets (with a great drum part by Larry as usual in the Elevation Tour) and Pride (In The Name Of Love) end the main set. The encore is a standard one with the exception of Beautiful Day (very rarely played this late in the setlist during the Elevation Tour) and a great Joey Ramone tribute, the cover of I Remember You. Bullet The Blue Sky sees a very inspired The Edge who gifts us with a stellar solo.
HIGHLIGHTS
One
New Year's Day
New York
Sweetest Thing (best performance of the night)
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
LOWLIGHTS
No real lows, just missing that "plus" that other shows have. Anyway, download this and I'm sure you won't be disappointed
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Maybe I’m too biased about this night. Some issues don’t ruin at all what was a perfect special magic night,..
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I had the amazing pleasure to have U2 play in my hometown on the only tour that really mattered to..
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A great find in the Elevation tour and one of the best setlists of the tour. Very electric start of..
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absolutely the best popmart gig in my opinion - there are a couple of other shows that might be considered equally as good but we've all seen/heard mexico 1000's of times and the other well known highlights from the final shows of the tour and of course sarajevo which were all great but this gig just has something else about it for me. the band seems to be relaxed but at the same time on TOP form, and refreshingly there are no serious moments, not even from bono who just seems to be having a great time.
every song is awesome but the (many) highlights are"
mofo-i will follow are the best you will ever hear them bar none, new years day is as good as it ever got in 97, miami-bullet will blow your face off (i have never heard a more brutal sounding first few bars of bullet). please is intense, discotheque with its whole lotta' love outro is my favourite version of this song ever, velvet dress has the extra verse, HMTMKMKM is perfect, mysterious ways is also my favourite version ever - the george harrison outro just works SO well!! and the the closing cover of rain is the icing on the cake.
if you're a fan of the popmart era this has to be in your top 3 MUST HAVE shows! you will listen to it over and over again
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My brother and I started off with nosebleed seats and while Smash Mouth was playing we found the Ticketmaster girl..
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On Thursday, June 12th, 42,270 U2 fans were ready to welcome the band to the prairies. It was the Canadian..
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No lows, just highs really!
This was one of the first bootlegs I listened to and is since then my..
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17/3/1992 - Boston, Massachusetts - This review has spoilers
Here we see the first major variations in the Zoo TV setlist as both Van Diemen’s Land and a cover of Dirty Old Town, sung by Larry (and here, Edge too) make their debuts in the set, and both are a huge treat, giving more breathing space between the two main parts of the main set. It’s also St. Patrick’s Day, so Bono constantly changes up lyrics in reference to it (the first line of Zoo Station is literally “I’m ready for St. Patrick’s”) throughout the show. Both of these things combined give this show big points for uniqueness and make it stand out from every other NA Zoo Inside show I’ve heard so far. Another important thing to mention is this is the first show with a transition between Until The End of The World and Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses, as every other show just had one song ending and the other starting with no link at all, which is a surprisingly large milestone in the evolution of this incredible tour. Larry takes a verse to himself at the end of Angel of Harlem which is a nice treat, and Edge is also having a fantastic night here, as of course he got to sing his own song and gave us incredible solos on both Bullet The Blue Sky and Love is Blindness. Where The Streets Have No Name and The Fly have a few errors but they can be easily looked past here. The encore is once again fantastic, With or Without You and of course Love is Blindness being the standouts here. Overall, this is a huge milestone for Zoo TV and we’re really starting to see the tour coming into its own here.
9/10
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Overall, a performance nearing the conclusion of the indoor European leg of Zoo TV that is nothing short of phenomenal...
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15/3/1992 - Providence, Rhode Island - This review has spoilers
This show alternated to the band trying new things out in..
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I couldn't be arsed posting on this show because there isn't a lot that can be said about this show..
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A very special show for multiple reasons: they had to evacuate the venue due to a bomb threat (sounds familiar?), but eventually they let the people in and we had one hell of a show. You can hear the announcement in the bootleg, to add more drama.
But when the band kicked in everything was forgotten. This is one of a few shows with Hawkmoon 269 as the opener and it was great. No time to rest because then we have one of the greatest performances of Desire ever. Very similar to Rotterdam 4 with Edge indulging in a long solo and So You Want To Be A Rock N' Roll Star. Brilliant. This is segued into AATW and it was awesome as always.
During the whole show Bono made jokes about the bomb threat: "Bomb scare? Don't Care!" "Everyone goes out of here alive!" These were also the days of the fall of the Berlin Wall, and there are plenty of references here. Knockin' on Heaven's Door was played because of the special days, and Bono improvised a whole verse about this event. Genius.
Can you imagine a U2 show post 1987 without Streets? This is the only show where Streets was dropped, and still it was great!
During NYD Bono sang the "maybe the time is right" line and it made my day. In the encore, BB King's band was brilliant as usual. Love the Midnight Hour snippet in WLCTT.
The show ended with 40 and a great snippet of Give Peace A Chance, very fitting to the times. If you are in the mood for a Lovetown show (and you should), try this one.
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Highlights
* The upside down setlist
* Bono playing audience cop as he was prone to do during this era. I don't..
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What a way to start Lovetown in Europe! The crowd was already going nuts even during the PA songs and..
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I like Lovetown because it throws up some real surprise sets and this tops the lot. Opening by playing..
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The atmosphere was very foul. It was my first U2 concert, but not my first stadium concert, and I remember it well. The rain had started in the afternoon, but in the morning and around noon it had been very hot. There was a terrible pushing and shoving of the audience waiting at the entrances for doors open, and many seemed to be well drunk and I did see many, many empty drinks containers, beer cans, wine packs and bottles outside. The doors open seemed badly organised. Some a few yards away opened before others did, the seemed to be little coordination. People were pissed off by that, they wanted an equal chance in the run to the centre stage spots.
The openers, I remember The Pretenders, Big Audio Dynamite and Lou Reed, were all booed and generally badly accepted, at least in the part of the audience I happened to be stuck in, which was third, second row, slightly to the right of centre stage. The place looked like an open battle for the first row and of course I participated first, being rather stoutly built and not one to back off easily. This concert had meant the world to me, after I had gotten hold of a ticket, through a multitude of different lucky concurrences.
I believe, I cannot be sure anymore about it, that The Daltons opened last. I might confuse that, though, with a show I might have seen on the internet of that time, after all, it's been 28 years.
When WTSHNN began with its droning synth-sounds and the guitar's delayed arpeggios, and the band appeared one by one, the crowd went mad and the stifling squeeze got worse. But when the bass and the drums joined and slowly built up the song's hard pushing, driving beat the crowd went berserk. I had a fight with an American, a GI by his crew cut and confidence, and the security did not notice. He hit me in the nose, but luckily he could not swing properly, for lack of room to move. I could not get my arms up enough, so I hit where I could. The security were highly unprofessional (I did that job later in life myself) and completely taken aback with the sheer violence of the crowd's pushing forward, the yelling and the screaming of girls who obviously were in acute fear. The waves of people’s shoving often moved me ten or more yards away from where I had been before. I remember the moment when the band jumped into the first song and the red lights flooded all over the rain-drenched crowd. The heat from the electric lights washed over the people and actually felt quite warm on the face. Seconds afterwards clouds of vapour of the drying rain partially took away the sight of the stage.
I had had enough by then. I withdrew to the seats ranks, found myself a place and watched from about a hundred yards away. I was deeply disappointed with the on-goings and felt betrayed and let down. I had thought that we had all been there together to celebrate the same thing. I had been wrong. U2 had become a phenomenon and had stopped being a rock and roll band. They were a sensation, not music to dance and sing the lyrics and to feel alive by, because the songs spoke to you about your life and you inner self. This was a spectacle, not a concert. No one danced. They all fought. No one sang. Everybody screamed. No one had fun. They all tried to hold on to their place or get a better one by being more brutal than the opponent, because that is what everybody was, an adversary and a rival in trying to be as close to the band as possible. Do not think that I was naive about it. I understood as I do now that people want to be as close as possible to their lucky stars. But I wasn't expecting the brutality I encountered, and it did not seem to make sense, and I was not prepared to put up with it, as I would not be today. I do not think that it was anything else but sheer good fortune that there wasn't anyone killed in the throng in front of the stage. It was brutal enough for that. None of my later U2 shows had that quality and quantity of ruthlessness and viciousness.
When 40 began I was on my way out, walking outside the stadium trying to hitchhike my way back to where I was due. I remember feeling like hell. It took me weeks to be able to enjoy the music again.
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First concert I ever went to age 17. I haven't missed a U2 tour since. Listening to this was like..
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I was at this show! I was 15 and I had a friend of mine from our small town who..
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My first time watching the boys and is still my favourite.
Travelled from Liverpool as a 17 year old with my..
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Oh my fu...in` goodness what a brilliant show.
Today first time Iistened/watched this awesome concert. What an oustanding performance, especially Bono is freaking out during Bad. So much energy, his dancing is from another world, the snippets made me speechless...the whole Band is in best mood, good times 1986 - pure energy.
Sunday bloody Sunday...the first two verses sung slowly with Edge´s beautiful picking guitar, Bono´s voice is from another star. Maggie´s Farm...without words - goosebumps time !!! Pride...it is never been my favourite song...but here...Chapeau !!!
Please download this Show...it is like drinking a very good wine.
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Everything I WASN'T looking forward to about this show, I loved. "Pride" and "Maggie's Farm", I wasn't all that cracked..
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We were all young. The place was crammed. U2 were already massive in Glasgow by the end of 1982 and had played bigger venues (the legendary Apollo). In 1984 it was a difficult ticket to get.
The Barrowlands is essentially a dancehall with a spring-loaded wooden ballroom floor but quite a low ceiling. This all made for much 'bouncy-bouncy' and the very definition of a sweat-filled room! Condensation was literally running down the walls and dripping from the ceiling (I even remember it dripping from my elbows !). You could wring it your t-shirt.
The Watherboys were support who were also very big at the time& they did sing of course All of the Moon !
The energy in the crowd and from the band was incredible. New songs from TUF and older songs went down a storm. Jim Kerr and Charlie Burchill (from Simple Minds, local Glasgow boys and friends with U2) were at the back and the crowd all spotted them & sung to them. (Bono a month later in January 1985 joined the Minds on-stage at the same venue for New Gold Dream which blew the roof off).
We only had tickets for the first night but it was so good we went back up the next day and queued up for on-the-door tickets with probably 100 or more others. I remember a scuffle broke out in the queue as some people started singing sectarian/Irish Celtic songs. They were quickly shouted down by others stating '...we are U2 fans, we are not here for that, the band would not want it, we are better than that'! We got in again having barely recovered from the previous night dehydration.
...and U2 brought the house down again.
A mere 7 months later they would conquer the world at Live Aid and everyone would know what all the fuss was about.
...and 34 years later I still want to get tickets for the next tour in 2018 !
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mazing! It was the first ever Unforgettable Fire tour bootleg I listened to. It exceeded my expectations. It’s a very..
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I was 19. I didn't drive.
We were more or less 10 kids from my neighborhood who went to this show..
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This has quickly become one of my favourite U2 recordings. The crowd are wild and the show is excellent. All..
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So, for my 1st ever show I've done from the War tour and the Pre-tour leg in particular I have to say that I enjoyed this performance a lot with a lot of great performances from the band tonight while displaying a fantastic amount of energy during the song performances tonight, hearing 3 songs from War before the album was released was a nice touch as well for this show as it shows you what the band were doing right as they were about to release their third-ever album to the public so, the audience basically got a sneak peek of what was to come in the near future here.
Song Highlights included the following:
Twilight
Surrender
A Day Without Me
An Cat Dubh / Into The Heart
Sunday Bloody Sunday
The Electric Co. / The Cry / Send In The Clowns (snippet)
New Year's Day
A Celebration
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The show is plagued by tech problems but was oddly funny, specially after first 6 songs!!
Highlights: Out of Control..
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A must-have. Excellent quality bootleg, probably the best I've heard from the early tours.
Highlights:
-Surrender (best performance, somewhat different than the..
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In the late afternoon easily 4 or 5 hours before the performance I was riding my yellow bicycle past Ritchie..
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Excellent early October show, just about up there with the Lido Beach gig the following month. That one benefits from better sound, but this one has got a longer setlist.
The very ending of Stories For Boys is cut, which is a shame as it was very strong. The sound is good throughout (barring Gloria) but does waver somewhat here and there.
Ultimately, I was on the fence between 4.5 and 5 stars, but given the strength of the performance went for the full 5. The sound quality is decent enough that it's not much of a setback.
Highlights:
- I Threw a Brick Through a Window/A Day Without Me
- An Cat Dubh/Into the Heart
- With a Shout
- Rejoice
- The Electric Co.
- 11 O'Clock Tick Tock/The Ocean (very long and excellent!)
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This and Lido Beach are perhaps the best October bootlegs you'll find. The setlist is great and some songs had..
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U2 playing in Werchter for the first time (they eventually became the headliners just 3 years after) and they gave..
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A good friend of mine was at this show and was billed as U2's homecoming show in Dublin in January..
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As I remember it, this was a free show or cost next to nothing to attend. It was held in the student union ballroom of San Jose State University. This room was built to be earthquake proof and the floor was suspended on something like springs. When the floor got packed and the music started and people started moving in time with the music the floor started to act like a trampoline. No kidding. If you timed your jump you could launch yourself 3 to 4 feet off the floor. They had to have crew guys hold the P.A. system in place as everything started to wobble. I saw XTC, Huey Lewis, Fabulous Thunderbirds and more in this room and all the shows were amazing with a very intimate vibe. I miss those days.
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I rediscovered this gig and it is truly fantastic. I listened to the old source a long time ago and..
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Very strong performance with great sound. The only possible complaints would be that it's kind of short (only 12 different..
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Simply spectacular. One of the best Boy bootlegs and a must-have for any fan. One source misses Things To Make..
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2/26/1980 - Dublin, Ireland
Executives at Island Records saw this show, and after it, signed U2. Ireland Records choice was understandable, as this gig contains so much energy from all four of the guys. Though, even though how much energy there was, Bono's voice is no where near as good as it would be in the coming months on Boy, and its tour. A funny part of the show is when right before Trevor(which would later become Touch) some guy gets on stage and starts swearing at the band. Security was good at National Stadium though, and he was taken off stage in a matter of seconds. After this incident, Bono makes the cheeky remark of "Thank you, dont mention it". The crowd, besides the guy that stormed the stage at the beginning of Trevor, were absolutely loving up the show. It is very cool listening to a lot of U2's early unreleased / not released in its form played songs.
Some of the examples of these songs that would be vastly changed are the previously mentioned Trevor, and Silver Lining(which would eventually become 11 O' Clock Tick Tock).
A must listen for that, because they are all great versions, along with Shadows and Tall Trees (the only Boy song not played on the Boy Tour), Another Day (U2's actual first single, and also wasnt played on the Boy Tour), Twilight (which is surprisingly better than the single version), Out of Control, and Another Time Another Place (which along with the other Boy songs played, sounded very different from their Boy counterparts), and also because of how significant the show is in U2's history. A great first taste of U2.
Official Release: Cartoon World on the Boy Deluxe edition
Fun Fact: Allegedly The Electric Co. made its debut at this show and was great, though there is no recording of this encore
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One of the first recordings that exist from the band in its earliest stages. Just for that, this concert should..
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One of the earliest known bootlegs and a fun one to listen to. As many have said, only here you..
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Silver Lining is an early version of 11 O'Clock Tick Tock. Musically it's nearly identical (except a few neat little..
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We were one the few radio station winners to win this contest. Each radio station only had one grand prize winner (SF, KC, HOS, MIL, DC, NY & BOS) but last two cities were able to bring more guests (NY+10 & Bos+20) but didn't get flights or 2 nights at 5 star hotel like the remote station winners. So there was probably around 50 radio winners and rest were radio people and sponsors of the show all of whom were very nice to us (probably less than 150 in all). Very intimate show with Bono being very relaxed and very talkative the whole time.
Having seeing six shows on the current tour I knew this would be a very unique experience. The morning of the show they transported us remote winners by train to Cape Cod and then by a luxury transport van. We were taken to a another beach house where we spent most of the day there until the band arrived at main beach house. I must say I was thrilled with the show and my entire time there. Special thanks to my friend Wendy for picking me to join her on this once in a lifetime experience.
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A true raw outdoor performance. Engagement with the crowd takes place at some level on almost every song. Three..
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I didn't have a ticket to this show and I got a single 5th row ticket as a return at..
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Having seen a tweet late last Thursday afternoon from U2ComZooMods inviting a reply with just my name to maybe get..
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