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  1. Well just did my '360' double and thought it was truly amazing.

    First night I did the sit at the back for the whole experience/stage/lighting and then partied second night in the inner circle.

    First Night Highlights:
    I Will Follow - First time hearing it live
    Ultravoilet - Hearing how good it is and finally getting to experience
    Bono introducing the boys and Larry Mullen Jr saying that the Irish and Australian people use the expletive like an art form
    Moment of Surrender - Closing your eyes and letting it flow through you.

    2nd Night Highlights:
    The Inner Circle!!!
    HMTHKMKM - Bono swinging everywhere
    Bad

    Overall:
    Although there were less people there on the 2nd night (although not that many less really) felt it was more alive, even Bono thought it was something special. The Claw is simply magnificent and am very impressed by the whole thing. Really makes you think if you will ever get to experience another concert like it again. I only hope!
  2. They’re multiplying. I got proper chills at the show tonight, despite the balmy temperature.

    I was down in the middle of the pit on Edge’s side with my overly-generous Welsh mucker Brendan. One of my personal peeves about some shows is that I see them “on my own” (as such), or with a non-U2 fan couchsurf host. Therefore it was great to share seeing the show with a big U2 fan, and from a terrific spot in the pit.

    And I had two of the most magical moments of the entire tour.

    The first, and biggest, was during Bad. I’ve seen U2 play Bad six times on this tour but I’ve always been quite far from the stage - before tonight. And it was a glorious, extended version, more cohesive than Melbourne 1, and doubly, delightfully crescendic, nudging me deeply in that thing we loosely call our soul. But I also felt the intensity and beauty of the song physically like never before, and had goosebumps on my arms. At one prolonged stage during the song I felt a delicious chill float through my head and body, like a mild, musical MDMA rush. I quite possibly even had goatee goosebumps on my chin. (No, I hadn’t had a drop.) When the song finished I had only one response: “AGAIN!” It’s a song about the dangers of drug addiction but by golly it sure left me craving another immediate hit.

    The other major highlight was standing below the bridge when Bono sang the operatic part of Miss Sarajevo. The stadium shrunk to a very small room at that moment. It was a real privilege to see him perform so majestically, at his absolute limit, so close.

    And Bono may well have been ill! I noticed Bono go back to talk to Sam or Phil early in the show, and put his hand over his mouth and nose. I thought for a second that Bono might be asthmatic and he needed an inhaler. Later he was wearing a towel around his neck for a few songs. I banged into Auckland Dennis afterwards (he was centre on the outer rail). Dennis speculated that Bono had a cold and had something to keep his breathing clear on the towel. Perhaps the lack of snippets after ISHFWILF and Walk On are other clues. But if Bono did have a cold then he still sang spectacularly well. Miss Sarajevo, Bad, Amazing Grace, With Or Without You were all sung perfectly. And he was in his usual charming form, continually cracking jokes with audience and band, and energetically prowling the stage to engage the crowd, both collectively and individually.

    I must say, I think U2 are playing phenomenally well on this leg, their base standard is very high. I’ve seen a few uninformed comments online that they are lazily phoning gigs in. No chance. The setlist doesn’t change much, but neither does the standard of their performances, although a couple of songs could definitely do with a refreshing wee rest.

    My one big gripe with the show was the crowd in the pit. The atmosphere around us was mostly morguely, except when people were tasered into responding by specific well-known hits. Far too many people were standing passively watching the show with their arms folded, not singing or dancing, nor seemingly breathing. It reminded me of football fans mournfully watching their team lose a cup final or relegation decider. A few people even pushed past Brendan and me at the start of Bad! Bad was their pee or pint song. What an ignorant travesty.

    There should be an entrance test to the pit consisting of two questions:

    1) Have you a pulse?
    2) Which world-famous music act wrote a song called ‘Bad’ in the 1980s?

    But when the atmosphere was up, it really was up. God it’d be great to be in a pit packed with U2 fans who know Mercy and Bad. Or even Magnificent and Boots.

    The band were beaten by the early Brisbane curfew, dashing urgently offstage with barely a g’night after a slightly longer version of With Or Without You. (They came onstage at 8:25pm, a little bit later than Brisbane 1.) So a slightly truncated gig, but only in time, not in intensity or enjoyment.

    (Oh, and there were a lot of empty seats. The top tiers in both stands along the pitch were closed. Brisbane’s loss.)
  3. Okay, here's my flickr set from last night: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sonialastrega/sets/72157625563021826/.

    It was an amazing night. We lined up from 0530am and ended up on the front rail, just right of centre between Adam and Bono. Bono spent a lot of time in front of us, with a disconcerting amount of interaction happening. I loved the setlist, but it felt really different without MOS as the closer. We had the best, best time, totally losing our shit during Bad and HMTM.It was just one of those nights where every plan came together perfectly to create a night we'll never forget.
  4. Great pics and great reviews guys
  5. And good to know they're playing Bad more often...Hope to hear it here in SP
  6. There are Places I Remember / Instant Karma snippets during Bad, by the way. That sound quite good
  7. Originally posted by cathalmc:
    (Oh, and there were a lot of empty seats. The top tiers in both stands along the pitch were closed. Brisbane’s loss.)


    Great review, even though this happened, I got a strong sense that it was a better crowd on night 2.
  8. Could not believe how close I got on Wednesday considering I didn't line up for very long! I got 2nd/3rd row right in front of Edge!!

    Thanks for the great night all who attended, and of course the band!
  10. Glad they haven't forgotten about this potential gem.
  11. I really hope some bootlegs become available (not that I can whinge cos I was there and didn't record)!

    Also regarding crowd numbers, I dont think it was that bad really. The first night was sold out and there was something like 52,000 to 55,000 people there. I heard estimated of 35,000 to 40,000 2nd night but you couldn't really tell as it was essentially the top tiers on the sides they had closed.

    Think of it this way, Brisbane has 2 million people. So U2 played to 95,000 or 4.75% of the population. If this happened in London, that means that U2 would have to play to 380,000 to get the same coverage.

    Or better yet, if we include cities/areas within 2 hours of these places, Brisbane population increases to jumps to 3.5 million, meaning U2 played to 2.71% of the population within 2 hours driving distance. For London, as England is smaller in comparison, the number jumps dramatically to like 40 million people within driving distance so U2 would have to play to 1084000 people before they reached the same percentage! Thats about the number of people who have been to U2 concerts this year!
  12. Originally posted by Scott_McD:I really hope some bootlegs become available (not that I can whinge cos I was there and didn't record)!

    Also regarding crowd numbers, I dont think it was that bad really. The first night was sold out and there was something like 52,000 to 55,000 people there. I heard estimated of 35,000 to 40,000 2nd night but you couldn't really tell as it was essentially the top tiers on the sides they had closed.

    Think of it this way, Brisbane has 2 million people. So U2 played to 95,000 or 4.75% of the population. If this happened in London, that means that U2 would have to play to 380,000 to get the same coverage.

    Or better yet, if we include cities/areas within 2 hours of these places, Brisbane population increases to jumps to 3.5 million, meaning U2 played to 2.71% of the population within 2 hours driving distance. For London, as England is smaller in comparison, the number jumps dramatically to like 40 million people within driving distance so U2 would have to play to 1084000 people before they reached the same percentage! Thats about the number of people who have been to U2 concerts this year!


    Night two was noticeably smaller, but from where I was (in Red Zone) I couldn't tell the difference. I actually felt night 2 crowd more than made up for the smaller number. They gave the band some really good ovations throughout the night and the band were clearly appreciative of this.

    For those who attended both nights, I'm interested to get people opinions on which was the better show. Even with the shorter setlist, I thought night 2 lost nothing and I had a better overall experience although I was in a much better spot.

    Also about the overall show I couldn't help but think of this as their "retirement" tour. I know these are bad thoughts to have but there was a lot of their old "home video" footage played out especially during One and Streets - very nostalgic and the setlist was more a greatest hits run down than an album focussed performance.

    I suppose if you add another four or five years which is roughly the gap between Aussie tours they are going to be in their mid-50's. I do hope they return at least once though.