Our users have written a total of 4,878 show reviews. This page is a great way to explore new or old amazing shows or bootlegs, just refresh the page to see new things. The highest rated shows are based on shows with more than two reviews. You can also write a review if you have been or listened to a show, and we invite you to!
One of the most incredible things I've ever seen! Finally seeing The Edge play the guitar solo for "Love is Blindness" was the personal highlight for me. The visuals were of course amazing, but I'm more happy that I witnessed a lot of great songs that I never thought I'd see U2 play. LIB, Acrobat, TTTYAATW, So Cruel, WLCCT, Love Rescue Me. We walked in around 7:30 and got a great spot on the floor on Adam's side. I actually think if we'd have been much closer we wouldn't have been able to see The Edge at all.
Read full review »
I felt like a zombie after the previous night's show, staying up late, and checking out in the morning. But..
Read full review »
My second show at the Sphere & I think the band was better than the 10/7 show, which was, to..
Read full review »
This was the only show that I was seated for the residency. Got seats in section 305.
Going from the bridge..
Read full review »
Little can be said about Bono that hasn't already been said a thousand times. Rivers of ink have been poured about him and his band, he has transcended the boundaries of his own persona and is now in the public domain. Everyone has an opinion about him, good or bad (usually bad). But what almost no one knows is that this chubby little red-headed Irishman is capable of moving mountains with a simple gesture, capable of getting standing ovations just by stepping on stage, capable of making you cry just by uttering a word. He is our little shaman, our 1,67 m billy goat, and around him we feel at home. Because we are. U2 and everything around them is home. As ABBA says in a song, "Mother says I was a dancer before I could walk, she says I began to sing long before I could talk". And so it is, my friends. The first conscious memory I have of my life is sitting - at the age of 3 or 4 - on the parquet floor of the living room of our house in Peñagrande, in front of the record player, and asking my mother to play "the lemon record" (Zooropa) again.
The music, voice and lyrics of Paul David Hewson have been with me since before I can even remember, and to have him slitting open his chest literally in front of me to show us his weaknesses, his strengths, his worries, his triumphs and his defeats has been an absolutely unrepeatable experience. Halfway between micro-theatre and stadium concert, between the intimacy of telling in whispers how his father died on a hospital bed in front of his eyes and the grandeur of describing a Wembley stadium packed to the rafters? Life itself. For what is life if not that, a succession of contrasts and contradictions?
Monday 28th was a luxury, a rara avis, one of those times when everything aligns and life smiles straight out for a few hours. Thanks are superfluous because all of us who were there shared the privilege of having enjoyed our shaman looking us in the eye and convincing us that the streets have no name, that he is still out of control and that, in spite of everything, if you leave, if you leave.... We will follow.
And if, as fate would have it, Monday 28th ends up being our last event in the presence and under the baton of Paul David Hewson, I will be happy and grateful that it is so. If that brutal a cappella "Torna A Surriento" ends up being the last thing we hear Bono sing, we'll just have to say amen and thank you. Thank you for giving us a great life.
Read full review »
The venue was situated in the centre of Cheltenham in Montpellier Park in a temporary festival setting. It held around..
Read full review »
The show was great from start to finish. It was very entertaining when Bono told his stories, and exciting when..
Read full review »
Not having seen the standard show, I don't know how much of the "stories" I missed by only attending this..
Read full review »
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.
Read full review »
U2's first performance at the sacred Adelaide Oval - and their first in Adelaide since the Vertigo Tour in 2006..
Read full review »
Having missed seeing U2 over the years for a variety of reasons (family, work), I made sure I got the..
Read full review »
Organization of lines for seated, GA, and Red Zone were amazing. The staff really knew what they were doing! My..
Read full review »
We are from the Chicagoland area, and were very excited to travel for a weekend getaway to St. Louis. We left in the late morning, and went straight to Budweiser for the Brew Tour, which was fantastic and something we always wanted to do. I was wearing a U2 shirt on the tour and met a couple of very nice people going to the show that evening. We left Bud and went over to a bakery that had been featured on the Food Network (amazing btw)...then to a BBQ place (also was on the food network) to have dinner. We then checked into our hotel and walked to the show. We walked down to our seats and found two squatters in them. They acted annoyed that we asked to sit in our ticketed seats and reluctantly moved....I should have known how thing were going to go from there. We sat down though, and started talking to fans next to us. It was a mother and daughter who were super excited (as we were) to be at the show. They were pointing out tribute band members on the floor and we discussed all things U2. The Winter Beats started to play, and the excitement mounted. The lights dimmed, the MRI 'scan' began and we were ready to have list off with Love Is All We Have Left. We joined our section in standing to greet the boys, when suddenly I noticed my wife get pushed forward. We had real witch sitting behind us, who felt entitled because she was 60 and felt she could push my wife around....a real bully. I describe her in more detail in the audience area so I won't go into in any more. Luckily she left the show several times, at one point we even traded seats with her to appease her. Then she left at Acrobat...so a little early I would say. Not sure if she was mentally ill, drunk, or a bit of both. Anyway....the show overall was good, I wouldn't say U2's best (as described above), and after seen U2 2 more times after (in Chicago), there was no comparison in shows. The Chicago shows were way better....venue (the Scottrade Center was a dump compared to the United Center in Chicago), audience, acoustics/sound, the band, pretty much everything.
Read full review »
On the morning of 28.10.2018 I was with my family in the Titanic Museum and therefore drove past the SSE..
Read full review »
This was a special night in Hamburg. The band and audience were in great form, with the changes to the..
Read full review »
This was my 34th U2 show, and only one on this tour sadly, and I went with the mindset that..
Read full review »
Here is my report from the two Amsterdam concerts. I am quite late and it is probably impossible to write anything that hasn't been written many times before, but I feel like I need to write it all down for myself. I wanted to write a short review of the two gigs, but it turned out a bit differently :-)
Okay, let's get started. I have to start with the Friday evening, when the half secret video shoot took place. I arrived in Amsterdam on Friday at 2.25 pm. When U2 landed one hour later, I was still at the airport, which felt like a nice coincidence. I have registered for the video shoot happening, but didn't get the invitation. It didn't bother me at first, since the first info said it would start at 3 pm, but then, when I got to know it would start at 5.15 and where it would take place, I just kept on thinking about whether I should or should not go there even without the invitation. In the end I decided not to and went downtown, which made me think about it even more - the weather was bad, which made even such a beautiful city look gloomy and it had no atmosphere at all this time. I thought I might just as well had gone to the studios, since I didn't enjoy the downtown walk at all. So I am walking along Amstel, passing the opera house, these thought spinning in my head. Suddenly I am lying on the pavement and my leg hurts like hell. I don't recall any falling down and I am slowly picking myself up. There are people staring at me, obviously thinking I am drunk or something. I say I am okay, turn my head and realize I have overlooked a sign "STOP" in the middle of a pavement sticking half a meter up from the pavement. I had to laugh - yeah, I should really better stop before something worse happens - it somehow calmed me down - even though I bared my leg and got a big bruise, I was really lucky I didn't break it.
If I understand it correctly now, the actual video shoot didn't start until 9 pm and people were actually queuing there since 5.15. I am sure it must have been a blast, but looking back now, I was really exhausted and having those two concerts with long queuing ahead, I think it all actually happened the way it should.
I stayed in a hotel 5 minutes of walk from the ArenA, so later that the evening I went there to check the queue, which I knew started the previous day - 2,5 days before the concert! There were people sleeping in tents on the pavement (it was currently about 16 degrees and raining) and I was told that 230 people were in the queue so far, coming for the calls every 3 hours. As much as I love to be up in the front, I wasn't able to persuade myself to take part in this...I am too old for this...stuff. Well, I was surprised that most of the people in the tents were ladies older than me. Anyway, I had a plan to visit the Rembrandt house downtown the next morning and then join the queue, come what may.
The next morning the weather was even noticeably worse and I was actually in no mood for the gig. But when you are 1,5 an hour of flight from home, you just do what you planned to do. I went to see the Rembrandt house, which was excellent and the weather got somehow better. I had an early lunch and went to the queue. There were a lot of people, but it was not quite as bad as I expected. When we were let into the stadium, where I got at about 5.15, I actually got a very nice spot, which got way better as we all stood up at about 6.30 and moved towards the stage - I ended up in some 10th row, facing the Adam's spot on the main stage, a better place than I have actually hoped for. I was used to be in the 2nd or 3rd row on the I+E tour, but here, at a football stadium and with all the madness with the queue, I was just happy and now I was finally in the proper mood.
Noel Gallagher started to play at 7. I have never seen him before and even though I have only a general knowledge of the main Oasis hits and don't know any of his solo stuff, I was curious and looking forward to seeing him. Support bands are usually something one has to struggle through and survive and so Noel's band was one of the absolutely best support acts I have ever seen, but it really did feel as a support act and not as a gig of a rather big star. I guess that if you get up on such a huge stage without actually using it (okay, the screen on the right side was used, but still..) with only very basic lightning, it must feel that way. But they played very well, Noel sung great and I enjoyed the songs. So it was absolutely fine, but I can imagine that seeing a proper gig on a proper stage with proper lightning must be even better.
Most importantly - the sound was really good. Being first time in the ArenA and having read all those negative reviews, all agreeing on the ArenA having the worst acoustics in Europe, I was a bit worried, even though I knew about the acoustic adjustments that were adopted for gigs. I don't know how was the sound further back and on the stands (I read it was still really bad), but in front of the stage it was as good as one can get in a football stadium. And it was loooud! I was perfectly happy with it.
On with the show. One hour after Noel, at 9 p.m. U2 hit the stage. Since the first 4 songs are played on the B-stage, one doesn't get to see much from the place where I was, since one sees the band from behind and the B-stage is quite low, so it is difficult to see anything at all. But it is just time to jump up and down during Sunday Bloody Sunday and Pride, to enjoy New Year's Day and Bad (I have only heard Bad once before live, so this one was magical) and to wait for the band to move to the main stage, for the show to start properly :-) That happens really soon and we get the full Joshua Tree album. Now, it is impossible to write something new about it, so I guess I will just repeat what was said and written many times bore. One word - amazing. The live presentation of this 30 year old album is just amazing. It is such a consistent peace of music that holds together so well and the band does it a great justice 30 years after they recorded it. The songs from the first side have been played on most of the shows during the past 30 years, those are the "greatest hits," but hearing them in sequence and with those totally amazing Anton Corbijn's films on that huge and absolutely fabulous screen is something that makes you forget you have heard Streets, I Still Haven't Found What I am Looking For and With or Without You thousand times before, and you are just happy that you are at that precise place at that precise moment. Then comes the second side with all the "gems." Red Hill Mining Town - never played live before this tour, the most anxiously anticipated song - I though it was great, I loved Bono's vocals and even though I agree that it is somehow too clean and I would love The Edge to play guitar rather than keyboard, I enjoyed it a lot. Exit - probably the song all people love the most on this tour. I admit (don't throw stones at me) that I never cared much for this track on the album, but is amazing live and it was definitely one of the absolute highlights of the show. In God's country - that was the song that caught my ear most when I first bought the album 20 years ago. I never thought I would hear it live. Beautiful. Mothers Of Disappeared - Edge's guitar work, the stunning screen background, Bono's haunting vocals. Just...wow.
The band leaves the stage and comes back for the encores - well, 7 songs, so pretty much the last third of the show. They start with Miss Sarajevo and continue with Beautiful Day. One fan I talked to said he found it strange to play those two songs back to back - to play Miss Sarajevo with this heavy mood and message and then just kick into the party mode. Well, yeah, Miss Sarajevo comes before Beautiful Day, but it also comes after Mothers of Disappeared. There is the break of course, after MOD finishes, since it is the end of the Joshua Tree, but I think that it is more like with MS they say: "Okay, here is one more thing we need to get off our chest before the party starts." I think that the MOD - MS combo is really great and I disagree with all those who wrote, that Miss Sarajevo didn't work on this tour. It does. It does big time.
After Miss Sarajevo until the end of the show it is one big party. It starts with the Beautiful Day - Elevation - Vertigo sequence. Three songs that have been played to death, three songs most fans (including me) would agree that need to be put to rest at least for a while. I would not believe how those three songs would actually work on this tour. They all somehow got new energy. Beautiful Day in a new arrangement sounds great. The fans-organized balloons on the first night we beautiful and it obviously touched Bono. Elevation - everybody jumps. The Edge smiles and jumps - priceless. Vertigo - such energy, I guess the Vertigo Tour-like visuals play a big part in that.
In the end comes the Achtung Baby sequence - Mysterious Ways - Ultraviolet - One. The Edge finally plays the Mysterious Ways solo after 20 years! While the PopMart version still remains my favorite, this present one comes close second. As much as I love this song (the guitar part is absolutely out of this world), I thought it somehow didn't work on the I+E tour. It was such a pleasure to see this amazing version now. The first night closes with One. Again, one of my all-time-favorites. And again, the I+E stripped-down version mostly sung by crowd didn't do much for me, so it was nice to hear this "proper" version, which works perfectly even without Bono playing a guitar. And yeah, with the Hear Us Coming snippet!
So after the magnificent first show I felt like the second one would be a great bonus any way it would turn out. I kind of expected the queue for the second show not to be that crazy (though is started right after the first one ended, or was it even before?), but when I came to the stadium the next day at 3 p.m., I was really taken aback by how relatively few people were there. It was soooo easy. I went straight into the fence barrier, sat down and waited. Once inside the stadium I got a great spot of course, which again improved substantially once we got up - 4th row facing The Edge at the main stage - that's the dream :-)
The show itself was very similar to the first one in all aspects - setlist-wise, the performance, the atmosphere, I can't really say which one I enjoyed more, I really loved both. The setlist changes were scarce and predictable - we got A Sort Of Homecoming instead of Bad - the first and probably the last time I have heard this song live, so I was more than glad, since it really is one of my all-time-favorites, and while it is not as well known and so not such a crowd pleaser as Bad, it was fabulous. Of course, the price one has to pay is not having Bad in the setlist. Anyway, during the encores we didn't get Mysterious Ways, which is a pity, since I would have loved to hear it again, but then it was somehow given that there would be another song after One. I hoped for The Little Things, but when I saw Dallas bringing The Edge the Explorer, it was obvious that they would end with I Will Follow. I must admit, it was a little bit of a let down, since as much as IWF is a great song, I have heard it on several shows and felt like The Little Things would be way more special. Well, that was how I felt before the band kicked into the song. They stayed on the main stage and the whole place went totally nuts. The atmosphere was amazing during the whole show with the crowd singing and dancing all night, but with the first notes it shifted two gears up. The whole stadium was jumping, I can't recall whether I have ever witnessed a stronger crowd reaction. It was a magical ending really.
I stayed in Amsterdam the next day - went to the Anne Frank house, which was fantastic, I have stayed there for 3 hours, then walked around the town and in the afternoon I went to the Van Gogh museum, which was great as always (my 4th visit). When I went to the museum, I got off at the Weesperplein underground station, which is pretty much right next to the Amstel Intercontinental, where U2 had stayed. I passed it 3 or 4 times during the weekend, always stopped for 5-10 minutes. I didn't feel like waiting for hours for the band, I thought that if it was meant to be, then 5 minutes must be enough :-). Well, it was not meant to be. I thought the band left on Sunday after the concert, so this time I was surprised there were about 20 people outside the hotel. I went there and was told that they got a glimpse of The Edge just a while ago. It was half past three and I was about half an hour early for the Van Gogh Museum, so I decided to spend that time there, being sure, that there must be a reason why I set so early on my way to the museum. But again...it was not meant to be :-) Later somebody posted that The Edge was seen outside the Anne Frank house between 4 and 5 pm...
So during those 4 days I finally didn't get to meet anybody from the band (unlike Marcello - a Brazilian fan I stayed with in the hotel - who got his T-shirt signed by Bono and Adam and during the second show Bono gave him the harmonica he played on Trip) . True, I didn't put much effort to it, but... they landed before I left the airport, I was downtown when they did the video shoot, I passed their hotel several times (yeah, I would have to be really lucky if that happened without my waiting), I have visited the Anne Frank house before The Edge. Nevertheless I had a splendid time in Amsterdam and those two concerts...just WOOOWWW!
Read full review »
Day started with a whirlwind tour of Philly alongside my wife and our two oldest friends. Saw the Liberty..
Read full review »
I attended night 1 with seat tickets and this time I had GA tickets. Wow, what a completely different experience..
Read full review »
“FULL CIRCLE”
A circle:
-a perfectly round shape
-a line that is curved so its ends meet and every point on the..
Read full review »
The Edge side
Fourth U2 show for me, the first one in my own country. I was there with two friends and my father. We were there early because we had GA tickets and we did good. We were right in front of The Edge and we were like in fourth row so pretty close and we had a very good view on The Edge, Bono and Larry Mullen Jr.
It was the first U2 concert for my two friends, the fourth for me and the fifth for my father (he saw them in 1985 in Werchter). Not much to say about the before show. We just wait there, talked, drank, ate and bought memories. No opening act this time. Stage, especially the screen is massive.
Songs I never see live before this show were : "The Miracle (of Joey Ramone)", "Iris (Hold Me Close)", "Cedarwood Road", "Song For Someone", "Raised By Wolves", "Invisible", "Even Better Than The Real Thing (Fish Out of Water Mix)", "Angel of Harlem", "Every Breaking Wave", "October" and "Zooropa".
"People Have the Power" can be hear on the arena it's mean showtime. Everyone is looking at the B-stage and finally Bono is there. He walked to the main stage and the crowd repeated after him "Oh, oh" while the other members came on main stage. All lights are on and after the intro drumming of Larry Mullen Jr arena is in dark except stage lights wich were in red and guitar is starting so is "The Miracle (of Joey Ramone)". Nice song and Rock atmosphere is there even if crowd is a bit calm.
"Out Of Control" followed and crowd awaked and became wild. I already heard it live but it was in 2005 so it was nice to heard it again especially seeing The Edge making his solo at 3 meters from us. Like usual Bono throwed water bottles in crowd. He then introduced Adam Clayton as the jazzman of the group, said about Larry Mullen Jr "The man who give us our first job" and about The Edge he said something like he won against Univers because he surrendered to music.
For the fifth time in four show I had "Vertigo". Well the song has energy, it's not a bad song and crowd reacted good. The start of the show is wild and it's a good thing but if the band would skipp that song for another I would be happy.
When I was talking about an energic start of the show well the next song was a part of it "I Will Follow" made the people jumping so do I. Classic song and maybe overplayed but it's only the second time I heard it live so it was good to me and when I saw the crowd jumping I think it was good to the majority of them. During the song The Edge walked playing for the back of the arena and Bono sung for them too before walking in direction of the B-stage.
Time for the first quiet moment of the gig wich came earlier than before. In my previous U2 show they used to play six to eight energic songs before a first speech and here it was only four songs. I don't blame them thought they were older than "Vertigo" or "360°" tours.
Bono did a speech to introduce "Iris (Hold Me Close)". Screen turned on and an old short movie of the wedding of Bono's parents was on it. I like that song which show a good exemple of U2 sounds. Especially guitar parts. And visual on screen were pretty too.
The screen became even more impressive in the next song "Cedarwood Road" as Bono went inside it and the visual showed the street but also Bono walking in it as he was inside the screen. Great visual wich went along with a nice intense song. And since we were in front of The Edge on the fourth row we also had a good view on the screen but also on other members even if The Edge walked to the B-stage for that song and his guitar solo.
"Song For Someone" followed and I really appreciate that song and the guitar in it as well as the visual on the screen. A classic song but in a new version came next "Sunday Bloody Sunday". Like I said classic song, crowd was happy and sung the song. It was a different version wich was good to have some change. It was more quiet. Larry Mullen Jr was below the screen on the long catwalk between the main stage and the B-stage while drumming as well as all members. Song ended on the BBC news announcing three explosions wich I learned later was actually about Dublin and Monaghan bombings in 1974. Larry Mullen Jr was still drumming while we can hear news and witness and it's lead to "Raised By Wolves". Guitar parts in that song are just great really so are bass, keyboard and drums parts. Bono sung it quiet good too. The genius guitarist was back in front of us while Bono was still standing alone on the catwalk but at the end of the song he was on the B-stage reading a book (the bible ?).
"Until The End Of The World" started then for my great pleasure. As a guitarist myself I just love this song wich is truly a Rock song. Crowd was jumping on it. The Edge made his guitar solo inside the screen while Bono was joking his image on the screen spitting water on the guitarist. My eyes were on The Edge but then I turned my head back to the main stage as Adam Clayton came saying hello to our side of the stage. End of the song was wild and energic with incredible guitar parts and an impressive visual on screen while thousand of papers were falling from the ceiling in the arena. I kept a few ones as memories. Arena then has been divided in two by the screen but also a kind of wall coming from the ceiling. Visual was like a giant Berlin yellow wall. All of this still under end of guitar solo. First part of the gig ended on that under a torrent of applause.
"Everything You Know Is Wrong" was written on the wall and so during the break "The Fly" was played not by the band but in speaker and it was a remix version made by Gavin Friday.
Second part started with "Invisible" with band inside the screen. Visual were good. Song was nice even if U2 can do better than that I liked some guitar parts.
"Even Better Than The Real Thing (Fish Out of Water Mix)" followed, still inside the screen with a nice visual. I never heard that song live so I was quiet happy to saw the band played it. I would prefer to have the album version instead of the remix thought. For all those songs played inside the screen or on B-stage my view was not the best because I was in front of main stage The Edge side in fourth row so I had to look in my back with a weird angle but I still appreciate the gig. At the end of the song the band left the screen to go on B-stage.
"Mysterious Ways" has been played then. Second time I heard that song live but still a nice one with nice guitar parts and it put energy in the crowd. Bono took a girl called Helene on B-stage to dance. Cool moments and song. He kept Helene on B-stage to record the next song with a smartphone for livestream. Band played "Desire" in an electric version wich I really enjoyed. I saw the band playing it in 2009 but it was in an acoustic version so seeing them playing it in electric one was a good thing. Crowd reacted quiet good too especially when Bono started to sing "Love Me Do" from the Beatles. Next song has been "Angel Of Harlem" with a fan pulled on stage to play guitar. As a guitar player I wanted to be at his place. First time I saw this song live so good memory of course. Band played it on B-stage and my father was like "I hope they will be back on main stage soon" because of course they were far away for us. Crowd sung the song too and was jumping for some of them. People on seats place were almost all standing so yeah it was a good song.
Then we had a more intimate ambiant with almost no light at all. Bono and The Edge were alone on B-stage and the guitarist became a pianist. They played a quiet version of "Every Breaking Wave". I know my friends appreciated this version but my father and I would prefer the album version. I had feeling Bono just wanted his moment when he can show his voice and he doesn't need that. Song is much better in album version rather than this quiet one. Anyway "October" followed and this is the first time I heard it live and so I was glad they did it. Then we had "Bullet The Blue Sky" wich my father and I appreciated. We also appreciated to see the band coming back on main stage to be able to see them better. It was the second time I saw "Bullet The Blue Sky" live, first one was in 2005, so it was a nice one to listen. I also really like that song, the atmosphere it create and the guitar parts and solo. Pictures of war were visible on screen. I prefer when Bono sing in his microphone instead of in a megaphone because we can hear better what he is singing. Anyway the effect was not the best but it was decent and the song was good to hear. I talked about guitar parts but drumming and bass parts are also nice such as Bono singing and lights show.
"Zooropa" was next song in a version quiet different than the album version and I really liked it and prefer that version to the album one. It was calm but atmospheric with guitar sounds quiet like U2 sound and well for a first time hearing it live I really loved it as well as the transition to the next song "Where The Streets Have No Name". Transition that crowd could feel by the sound and the red lights and screen. Before first note of The Edge the crowd was already getting excited. About "Where The Streets Have No Name" well it's the song that made everyone in the crowd alright about the show and the band. I heard it to each U2 gig I saw so far but if the band play it at next show I would still be happy to hear it. Crowd was excited and happy, some were jumping and nobody in seats were actually sit. What I liked about it it's the fact the introduction and the first guitar parts seems to me lasting longer than in 2010 were the introduction seems too short for me. I think part of the magic in that song is the introduction and if the band do it too short it's less good and so that live version was great with a longer introduction than 2010. I also appreciate the visual of the Joshua tree on screen at the end of the song.
U2 then played "Pride (In The Name Of Love)" and well even if I like that song, even if I found it's a great one, even if it make the crowd happy and put a nice atmosphere, even if it's a classic one and even if I was not unhappy to heard it I was not happy to heard it too. I like the "Oh, oh" parts of the crowd and like I said it's a good song but I'm tired to heard it live at each tour. I saw it in 2005 and 2009, not in 2010 but here we go again in 2015. It has been played at each tour since 1984 so yeah I would prefer that the band play another one. Why not "A Sort Of Homecoming", "Wire", "Bad", "Elvis Presley and America" or even a song not from the same album like "A Day Without Me" or "An Cat Dubh" and "Into the Heart" or "Van Diemen's Land", "Heartland", "All I Want Is You", "Tryin' to Throw Your Arms Around the World", "Acrobat", "One Tree Hill, "Please", "Kite", "Fez — Being Born". I just said a few songs from a few albums but I could say more songs. But just to say that I liked this gig, I love U2, I liked to heard "Pride (In The Name Of Love)" and I do think it's a good song but instead of playing same at each tour when you have so much songs and a so large catalogue of great songs they could play different stuff and do better. "With or Without You" followed and I could say the same about that song. My fourth U2 gig and fourth time I heard it. I like the song really and I was glad to hear it again but if the band would play another one instead it would be good too. For my friends it was different, it was their first U2 gig and so hearing "With or Without You" was a good moment for them especially because they are a couple and they danced and kissed each other during the song, it was their romantic moment of the night.
"Stephen Hawking Global Citizen" made the interlude before the encore with pretty visuals on screen. "City Of Blinding Light" has been played then followed by "Beautiful Day". Nice songs even if it's the fourth time in four gig I heard them live. I was happy to heard them because it's good songs but if the band would play another I would be fine too. Crowd reacted good and visuals and lights were great especially on "City Of Blinding Light" with flashtube of lights everywhere on stage it was good and guitar parts were cool. Let's be honest even if I heard them for the fourth time I enjoyed them. "Beautiful Day" can put lot of energy in a gig and it's a great song. It's like a bridge song to me, the kind of song able to linked an 80's song to a 90's song, a good transition song. Then we had a speech of Bono and him and The Edge played "Mother And Child Reunion" with explanation on screen about HIV in Africa and about medication. Then I knew band would either play "One", "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" or "Bad" with "40". My favorite song is "Bad" and I never saw live yet. I haven't see "40" live as well. So of course I was hoping for "Bad". I'm a guitarist and I can play "Bad" and I was in front of The Edge in fourth row and had a good view on him and his guitar and I saw him putting his fingers on the way of playing the first chords of "Bad" but without the sound and he did it just before starting "Mother And Child Reunion". So at this point I was happy and thought I will hear "Bad" and maybe "40" as well, what a great end of a wonderfull night. But then the band played "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" as closing song. Well I had a little bit of dissapointment but only because I knew there were a chance they would play "Bad" and only because I saw The Edge ready to play it. I honestly wasn't dissapointed to heard "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For".
This song is a great one and most of the crowd sung it, The Edge had his eyes closed while playing it, people clapped their hands and it was a good moment to close the night. Band left the stage one by one by walking on the catwalk and going on B-stage and then leaving stage in the middle of the crowd like Bono made his enter two hours and 15 minutes earlier. Band left the stage under the crowd singing "But I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" and under their applause. Bono sung "People Have The Power" from Patti Smith while leaving the arena, same song as introduction one, circle is closed. In conclusion, it was a great night, good show, nice visuals and stage, good moment with friends, energic band, nice songs and on twenty-five of them eleven was first time hearing them live so no complainng about them. Of course if the band would skip some of them like "Pride (In The Name Of Love" to play another one it would be better and of course if the ending would be "Bad" and "40" it would be better but everyone in every gig of every band has preference and would like to hear that song or that song so for tonight show I would say it was still a wonderful gig and I enjoyed it with my friends and my father close of The Edge with a nice view so yes great memories no doubt about it.
Read full review »
So, I ended the week with another U2 concert! I swung by home first - I wanted to shop on..
Read full review »
#4 of 4. This was U2's last night in Spain.. and I was there! Got up nice and late -..
Read full review »
Not as many people looking for tickets tonight - unlike last night, where we had the guy mimicking the homeless,..
Read full review »
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.
Read full review »
A family Oddity
My second U2 gig. Like the first one it was in France Stadium, like the first one my..
Read full review »
Real Thing: I wish that Zoo Station was used to open 360 shows with the AB set. That would be..
Read full review »
This was my 1st GA show for any U2 show, i'll say that this was my greatest concert experience ever...
Read full review »
20 years of my life waiting to see them, and this is what I got.
The crowd was disappointing, even before getting to the stadium, maybe it's just anecdotal evidence, but there were a lot of people going because it would be cool to say "I went to see U2" even if they didn't know nothing but a couple of songs.
In the stadium, around me I was the only weirdo singing and screaming and jumping while everyone else just stared me from their own seats as if we were at some symphonic orchestra instead of at a U2 show.
In my mind it was just a "not-so-awesome" experience, but when I downloaded and listened to the bootleg it came back to me and no. It was not just "not-so-awesome". It was terrible.
The bootleg is even worse than reality with the few guys around the mic talking through the whole show.
Cielito Lindo was a bad choice itself for Bad, but it was worse that it was the only thing people decided to sing along. It looked like they didn't cared about Bad or anything else on the concert, oh but they can sing Cielito Lindo. I had forgotten how embarrased I felt at the moment (after the initial couple of seconds of "oh, that's cool!" when Bono started it), but the bootleg reminded it to me.
Finally, even after Love And Peace or Else had already started, the guys near the microphone in the bootleg are still discussing and betting that it's Desire what they're about to play.
I said finally because that's all that I could take and deleted it on the spot. Didn't even finished the song.
It was so bad I would find it funny if I hadn't been there. 
Read full review »
I was there , that amazing night. I'll try to be objective . Bono s voice is not the best..
Read full review »
An impressive bloody Sunday
I remember that day, I was 12 years old and I was going to see my favorite..
Read full review »
I have this same record but split into 4 parts, 5 or 6 songs in each one. so, if you..
Read full review »
From the outside, this is simply the best Elevation concert and the most special one. It was way more important than a show but at the same time, it felt like everyone wanted to be a celebration of the little ordinary things that we called life. It was 2 hours to heal, to sing until you lost your voice, to cry for a loved one, to fall in love (there was a proposal after ISHFWILF!) and to be part of a group, a city, a nation. The band was the conduit, the catalyst, and New York did the rest. Many songs acquired a new meaning. Kite was no longer about Bono's children or his father, but it was a song for everyone that lost someone. Stuck was sung by everyone and it never felt more personal. Say what you want about ATYCLB, but there was some magic, some soul and something about the human spirit in those songs that, during some months, a nation took them as if they were written for them. A lot of special moments in the show: the debut of Please (best Elevation version) with Bruce Brody on keyboards, a guy proposing to his girl after ISHFWILF (and we never hear what she said!), Bono talking about the special relation between the band and NY, etc. but the most special moment is during Walk On, when firefighters and medical workers come up on stage, the band plays Out Of Control as a special gift for the crowd, and some of the people tell their stories about the people they lost in 9/11. It was as touching as the ending of the Popmart shows in Chile/Argentina.
This is a must have.
Read full review »
It’s no secret that the band bring their ‘A’ game to Chicago. This run of Elevation shows culminates with a..
Read full review »
Even though the sound was the only thing meriting a 4.5 star recording, some of the treats throughout this show..
Read full review »
A great find in the Elevation tour and one of the best setlists of the tour. Very electric start of..
Read full review »
My brother and I started off with nosebleed seats and while Smash Mouth was playing we found the Ticketmaster girl and asked if we could upgrade our seats. We told her we were willing to pay. She refused money and gave us two floor tickets while warning us that they weren't the "best" seats in the house as the sight lines were obstructed by a speaker stanchion and they were about 40 rows back from the front.
Needless to say, we were elated and while Smash Mouth continued to butcher their one and only hit song we made our way to the concession in order to purchase this nice lady a pop and some chips just to say thanks.
We returned to her ticket booth and presented her with said food and said thank you and left to find our seats. Before we were too far away she hollered at us to come back and then proceeded to give us row 7 tickets right on the railing to the B-Stage!!!
What followed next was the most epic moment of that night as we made our way through the crowd towards our new luxurious seats and the sounds of MOFO starting to fill the arena. SO amazing!
Read full review »
It was raining heavily when we arrived and it never relented all day and evening. Proper lumpy Yorkshire rain too,..
Read full review »
No lows, just highs really!
This was one of the first bootlegs I listened to and is since then my..
Read full review »
absolutely the best popmart gig in my opinion - there are a couple of other shows that might be considered..
Read full review »
5/3/1992 - Atlanta, Georgia - This review has heavy spoilers
This show honestly caught me really off guard - there's some really interesting things here that I want to talk about. Firstly, something more minor, Bono’s ad libs are all over this show. I’m pretty sure every song contains at least one unique ad lib. Secondly the “fade away” section of Bad is super energetic and charismatic, as always, but there's something super charming about this version which makes it stand out from the pack. Even Better Than The Real Thing’s final verse has entirely different phrasing from Bono, and this is also one of the only times I’ve heard the “still running” verse at the end of Running To Stand Still on Zoo TV. There’s two other things to note mainly - Bullet The Blue Sky and Desire. Firstly, this version of Bullet goes on for quite a while due to the solo being extended and generally being ENTIRELY different to how it usually is on Zoo TV, and then, something I’ve NEVER heard before, Edge goes into the classic Bullet The Blue Sky solo after Bono screams “outside it’s America”, making this version incredibly special. I’m pretty sure this was done on the spot too, mainly from the completely random, yet humorous addition of Bono shouting “shut the fuck up” during this solo. It just seems very sporadic but it actually works incredibly well and I’m curious to see if they ever did it again on this tour now. Desire meanwhile features additional guitar work throughout the bridge of the song, an extended outro and the "Not Fade Away" snippets from Lovetown, all of which are very welcome additions and add a lot to this version. Overall, this show is hugely unique and its standout moments are nothing like anything I’ve heard from Zoo TV. There are a couple sloppy moments here and there, such as the beginning of Pride, but you can easily look past small moments like it and appreciate it as one of the best Zoo shows.
Read full review »
17/3/1992 - Boston, Massachusetts - This review has spoilers
Here we see the first major variations in the Zoo TV setlist..
Read full review »
Highlights
Even Better Than The Real Thing:
high note on the take me higher, but it's really strained.
Mysterious Ways:
had some subtle changes..
Read full review »
A great Outside Broadcast show, just after the 92 U.S. Presidential elections. Bono talks about that before and after ISHFWILF.
Let..
Read full review »
Sometimes I wonder why I was born in December 1988, one year before this lovely concert in Rotterdam. I was probably in my cradle as a 1-year old boy when Edge hit the first tabs of Where the Streets Have No Name in Ahoy Rotterdam on that special 6th of January 1990, 90 kilometres from my hometown.
I often ask myself the question: what would it have been like to be part of the audience during a Lovetown-show. I fell in love with the Point Depot gigs in Ireland, and the Rotterdam-shows from early January were even better, some say. Lovetown:the name itself explains it, like BB King spells during When Love Comes To Town: L-O-V-E. Yes, I love rock, I love U2, but I especially love Lovetown. Don't get me wrong, because I know the Joshua Tour was enormous and awesome. And Zoo TV was one big happening, followed by Popmart, whether you like it or not. Also Elevation gives me special feelings and was my favourite tour for a long time. But Lovetown is top-notch. The mix of songs between the Joshua Tree and Rattle and Hum, performed in small places with BB King's Orchestra makes Lovetown the best tour for me. I didn't take long and U2 didn't even cross the world with it. But the modesty of it does it for me. Like Bono says at a Point Depot show: 'After all these big places, we wanted to play a small place'Â.
Lovetown also marked the end of a decade in which U2 finally showed itself to the world in full glory. Live Aid in 1985 was a very important turning point, sealed by the release of The Joshua Tree. But U2 felt that every end had a start. U2 was looking for a new direction and needed time.
The energy and commitment of U2 was awesome back then. Bono was at his prime. His voice was a mix between the Joshua Tour and the upcoming Zoo TV. And U2 really enjoyed what they were doing. Lovetown was not a show, it was no entertainment like Zoo TV or Popmart. It wasn't a show with political context, like Vertigo. It was based on music, pure music, pure rock and roll. And you can feel the excitement and joy of U2 trough these shows. I guess they enjoyed every bit, like the audience.
U2's first European success was actually founded in Holland, where the single I Will Follow became a giant hit. Bono mentions this during this Rotterdam show when they start Love Rescue Me, when he says: 'And this is also a good place to end, because we more or less started here ten years ago. You've been very good for us, thank you!'Â. The crowd was ecstatic.
This show is awesome. It has reached a nice spot in my top ten favourites, I think. It's equal to the Point Depot shows, with U2 really on fire. I missed New Year's Day and Bad, but I know U2 played 4 shows at Rotterdam. The Bad from the 10th of January is one of the best there is.
This show is quite memorable as The Unforgettable Fire was played for the last time. I listened to this show trough my Sennheiser CX300 and my eyes shut. I transferred myself to Ahoy, Rotterdam, 18 years ago, being in the audience. I felt the energy, I experienced U2 in their best days
Read full review »
My very first U2 gig, was amazing!! But I've an even better story that I've been telling for years but..
Read full review »
A very special show for multiple reasons: they had to evacuate the venue due to a bomb threat (sounds familiar?),..
Read full review »
Very strong show!! Dirty Old Town at the end of RTSS always gets me. God Part II is excellent, Edge..
Read full review »
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.
Read full review »
I was at this show! I was 15 and I had a friend of mine from our small town who..
Read full review »
This was my first U2 show. Met Bono before the show. Hours before they were warming up and..
Read full review »
When the Where The Streets Have No Name organ sounded over the 125k people on the stadium and lights went..
Read full review »
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.
Read full review »
Everything I WASN'T looking forward to about this show, I loved. "Pride" and "Maggie's Farm", I wasn't all that cracked..
Read full review »
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 !
Read full review »
One of the most special UF shows and the best setlist of the tour! At the beginning Bono said they..
Read full review »
I recommend this bootleg for those wanting to capture U2 in full flight during their TUF period. They were in..
Read full review »
Second UF show I've done, first being Dortmund. This show is much longer so already better in my books, plus..
Read full review »
After a somewhat rough start to the show for Bono (it's the end of a six-day-run after all), his voice reaches INCREDIBLE heights after 'Sunday, Bloody Sunday' with several wildcard moments spread across the earlier songs as well. His falsetto is spotless here and many belts in almost every song makes this one of the strongest shows for Bono before the 'Conspiracy of Hope' Tour.
The band are also really tight both vocally and musically with the only noticeable exception being the already mentioned blunder during SBS. What really helps is the addition of 'Knocking on Heaven's Door' during the encores which is also played and performed absolutely fantastically with two additional musicians playing along.
Read full review »
A full-on fantastic early War tour performance with many great performances throughout the show. I went into this show blind..
Read full review »
In the late afternoon easily 4 or 5 hours before the performance I was riding my yellow bicycle past Ritchie..
Read full review »
A real gem for me. Loved the set list, especially the inclusion of Like A Song for the only..
Read full review »
This and Lido Beach are perhaps the best October bootlegs you'll find. The setlist is great and some songs had slightly different lyrics, like The Cry part in Electric Co. According to Bono, they were almost arrested that day for trying to get into the St. Patrick's parade!
Highlights: Another Time, Another Place, An Cat Dubh/Into The Heart, Rejoice, Tomorrow (not the best version ever, I prefer the early War versions. Bono lied to the crowd saying it was the first performance ever. Naughty Bono!), Out Of Control and 11 O'Clock (Bono talks about Irish stereotypes and does a great snippet of Give Peace A Chance).
Read full review »
A good friend of mine was at this show and was billed as U2's homecoming show in Dublin in January..
Read full review »
Excellent early October show, just about up there with the Lido Beach gig the following month. That one benefits from..
Read full review »
An interesting show. Not great, but not as bad as the band cracked it up to be. Many of the..
Read full review »
I rediscovered this gig and it is truly fantastic. I listened to the old source a long time ago and didn't think much of it, but after listening to the upgrade, it really brings the show to another level. One of the best sounding Boy bootlegs and an extended performance with non standard songs like Touch and Boy-Girl. The latter includes a snippet of Let's Twist Again and segues into Out Of Control, a great highlight.
The band was trying to get a place in the U.S. and this show has the "innocence" feeling that they mention nowadays in songs like Twilight.
Perhaps the highlight of this show is a very early (and rough) performance of I Fall Down (at the time still called "When I Fall Down"). The band were writing new songs in the back of their van, as Bono says.
There are very funny moments too, like when Bono opens a bottle of champagne but is hesitant to drink it (not so shy later at ZooTV, huh?). Between Twilight and I Will Follow, the lights went out and Bono has to play the entertainer to the crowd. Luckily for him, the lights returned promptly.
Listen to the 2nd 11 O'Clock. The energy is incredible here. Another Boy show you can't miss.
Read full review »
This is one of the best Boy tour bootlegs around and has all the songs you'd expect to hear at..
Read full review »
Excellent early show, with just about all the Boy Tour material represented. The band are energetic and really doing a..
Read full review »
Good show, good recording, good performance. Solid all round. How great is it to think that people in the audience..
Read full review »
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
Read full review »
Silver Lining is an early version of 11 O'Clock Tick Tock. Musically it's nearly identical (except a few neat little..
Read full review »
I love this show / recording. All the old, unreleased tunes are stellar Punk/New Wave and hint at what U2..
Read full review »
Nothing spectacular, fun but inexperienced performance and mediocre sound. The main selling point for this boot is the number of..
Read full review »
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.
Read full review »
Not a must-have, but an interesting look at U2's beginnings. For collectors of rare songs, this one has three unreleased..
Read full review »
I didn't have a ticket to this show and I got a single 5th row ticket as a return at..
Read full review »
Wow. Just wow. Of the little hype this act was given, the band certainly came out and hit it out..
Read full review »
.JPG)
