Live Moments In U2's History That Still Bring A Lump In Your Throat

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A little outside the ordinary, but the first time they broke out Ultraviolet on 360 - I think Barcelona? - gave me chills. One of my all time favorite songs, Bono's voice strong and clear, singing it straight-up without any talk-singing or mucking around. Nailed the operatic part. Loved it. Made the band feel alive and vital.
 
^ It's funny you mentioned this but my first 360 Show with Ultraviolet was pretty awesome.
 
The_acrobat said:
Bad from Rattle & Hum is what made me a U2 fan for life. I got into them and thought "this is a good band!" Then I saw that performance, and every other band/artist would always be 2nd at best. U2 were Untouchable in my eyes. All the live performances from RH are amazing.

LIB Sydney zoo tv... I credit that guitar solo as my main motivator for wanting to pick up and learn the guitar. I've been playing guitar for over 20 years now, and while I never made it as far as the Edge, it is something that has enriched my life in so many immeasurable ways.
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This
 
Montrose said:
A little outside the ordinary, but the first time they broke out Ultraviolet on 360 - I think Barcelona? - gave me chills. One of my all time favorite songs, Bono's voice strong and clear, singing it straight-up without any talk-singing or mucking around. Nailed the operatic part. Loved it. Made the band feel alive and vital.
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That was an incredible performance. I've probably watched the U2gigs recording of it a thousand times.
 
Rhiannon64 said:
There are so many moving moments in U2's live performance history. To me the most iconic moment was the leap at Live Aid. I can't remember anthing like that happening before that concert. That was an OMG moment. It really showed Bono's humanity for that poor girl that was being crushed.

So, some other moments that have left an impression on me:

This is an audio of One from the Tacoma show from April 21, 1992. This one to me is very emotional. I love the high F# Bono hits in falsetto voice towards the end. I haven't found a live video of this performance yet.
U2 - One (Live Tacoma 92 GREAT VERSION!!) - YouTube

The next is With or Without from Sao Paulo 1998. This video wrenches at my heart. The whole exchange between Bono and the fan is intense. He seems so broken up at around 1:30 that he can't get the words out. He also seems to be crying.....:sad: (or he's sweating). In either case it's very moving.
U2 - With Or Without You - Popmart Live From Sao Paulo 1998 - YouTube

I think that version of Dirty Day posted above is one of my new faves. I've never seen it before.

What a great band. :heart:
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Wow thanks for sharing that Tacoma version of One I've neverr seen that before... Another moment was Kite at Slabs Castle and weirdly enough it took my dad passing away to really get what Bono and his mate's were going through.... "I'm a maaannn not a child..." the hurt the grieving is palpable.. Whatta moment
 
I was thinking... You kmow what would pretty cool? Is there a resource out there that you could look up great performances of certain songs or great sequences of songs that are a little more obscure. Take that Tacoma One performance. That was fantastic I would never have watched that if not for this thread. I remember there was an unbelievable version of WOWY during the Joshua Tree Tour which included shine like stars and love will year is apart snippets but it also had a great Edge performance....I wouldn't want to say it was a solo but he extended his part in the outro... Does anyone know where or what I'm talking about?
 
shewahlemon said:
The Intro of the fly Boston 2001! Well actually all of it too!!! SO AMAZING!
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That was great! I can't believe I hadn't seen it until now.

In the intro, am I hearing it wrong, or does he finish with, "And mum, you fall like a burning star.." ?
 
Irvine511 said:
Wow. That Tacoma “One” is fucking fantastic.

I miss that Bono.
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It's devastating.

I had found a version of One where Bono ends with '..hear me coming Lord.. ' on MP3 way back when you needed to rip WAV files from CD to your hard drive, then l3enc to MP3, then look through IRC for someone hosting it on an FTP server, play it on Winamp.. lol.. and I lost it when my hard drive failed. But when I had it, it was my definitive version of One .. Tacoma sounds more wild, and awesome, but I think the one I fell in love with was this one:

 
Holy crap Montrose... That's. Unfucking believable....Just absolutely blew me away, thanks for sharing Whatta find!
 
Montrose said:
It's devastating.

I had found a version of One where Bono ends with '..hear me coming Lord.. ' on MP3 way back when you needed to rip WAV files from CD to your hard drive, then l3enc to MP3, then look through IRC for someone hosting it on an FTP server, play it on Winamp.. lol.. and I lost it when my hard drive failed. But when I had it, it was my definitive version of One .. Tacoma sounds more wild, and awesome, but I think the one I fell in love with was this one:

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Which show is that 1997 version?
 
I missed the Tempe $5 show for Rattle & Hum. It is legend in my world, but I grew up in Northern Arizona and it snowed pretty significantly the day my friends went down for it. I was 15 and at the mercy of my parents, and they were not merciful. I have my untorn ticket.

So, for me, 3...


1. Zoo TV. Public Enemy came out and played "By the Time I Get to Arizona" then dismissed themselves as we were still dicking around with the MLK day. We had a vote that was sure to pass, then the NFL threatened the Super Bowl that had been awarded to the state, causing a bunch of dumbasses to cut their nose off to spite their face. We had one shortly thereafter, but we had a racist governor (See U2-US Joshua Tree tour opener) that fucked us, and Chuck D and co did the right thing, leaving us with too much Sugarcubes. Then, that massive fucking thing called Zoo TV happened. What moment exactly? Bono saying he was ready for what was next after that guitar intro...and the rest. But that moment. My first U2 show, my favorite album, and the only time in my life U2 was actually "cool".


2. 2001. Phoenix. AWA. The names. 9/11 was still goose bump real. The whole show was transformative...I laughed, I cried. I was just stunned by Zoo...this show moved me like church, which is what I have referred to it as since. I was on the floor for one of only 2 times in my 12 or so seeing them. We were close to the edge of the heart, and that made it pretty cool, but the names...

Then Randy Johnson and some asshat that later pitched for Boston came out with the World Series trophy, Phoenix's only major sporting title. It was a weird juxtaposition, and worth cheering...


3. The opening notes of Red Hill Mining Town at the Rose Bowl 1. I understand why people might not like that version. I love it. I felt it in my soul. I started crying. Softly, but I did. I got to relive that with my best friend/godfather of my oldest at the Glendale show months later...he was the friend who I was supposed to attend the $5 show with. But for Rose Bowl, it was me and my wife on a 2 day trip to Pasadena and it was magical and I listen to it over and over and I always get goosebumps. Exit was maniacal, One Tree Hill an OK job but also transcendent, and the Streets intro was everything I wanted and more. But Red Hill melted me.


Honorable mention - Brandon Flowers coming out in Vegas to sing In A Little While, nailing every word, every inflection, and driving Bono to a competitive "Turn me on" off...
 
The opening show of the Elevation Tour, 24 March 2001, Sunrise, Florida (the Miami region). We had superb seats, the so-called "Golden Circle" if memory serves, Edge's side about 15 rows up.

Early on in the show Bono walked right off the edge of the heart stage and dropped straight down, hitting the floor. I had a damn good view of it. I remember thinking, "that had to hurt."

That brought a lump to my throat. A lump of dread and fear and "Holy fuck! The tour's over before it even began!"

Dude crawled back up on stage and finished the show, and beautifully too. Tough guy, our man Bono.
 
Didn't realize it then, but that was a sure sign Bono had really bad eyesight. He just kept walking, right into the air. Then gravity said hello, followed by the cement floor.
 
With or Without You- Rattle and Hum
Angel of Harlem on Fallen (I really liked this version..."go tuba")
 
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Wide Awake n AZ said:
I missed the Tempe $5 show for Rattle & Hum. It is legend in my world, but I grew up in Northern Arizona and it snowed pretty significantly the day my friends went down for it. I was 15 and at the mercy of my parents, and they were not merciful. I have my untorn ticket.

So, for me, 3...


1. Zoo TV. Public Enemy came out and played "By the Time I Get to Arizona" then dismissed themselves as we were still dicking around with the MLK day. We had a vote that was sure to pass, then the NFL threatened the Super Bowl that had been awarded to the state, causing a bunch of dumbasses to cut their nose off to spite their face. We had one shortly thereafter, but we had a racist governor (See U2-US Joshua Tree tour opener) that fucked us, and Chuck D and co did the right thing, leaving us with too much Sugarcubes. Then, that massive fucking thing called Zoo TV happened. What moment exactly? Bono saying he was ready for what was next after that guitar intro...and the rest. But that moment. My first U2 show, my favorite album, and the only time in my life U2 was actually "cool".
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I'm a little jealous. I'm a huge fan of Public Enemy, mainly from their holy trinity of albums - Nation, Fear, Apocalypse - and being unable to see them open for U2 was a bummer for me. Knowing they did their thing and walked off after that tune was exactly the band I loved.
 
AndrewCowley said:
Hmm... I have always been suspicious of this. It sounds too good to be true. Have listened to countless JT live shows and even the top notch sounding ones don't go anywhere near the R&H version. I suspect there is a lot of studio overdubs here.
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Don’t take this from me!!!!!!!!!!


(I’ve suspected that too but until proven otherwise...I’m holding on to this).
 
I just found this mini documentary on U2's Superbowl show, which I have always regarded as one of their best live moments. I remember watching this and Beautiful Day was really good and they nailed it but then MLK started with the names and I was frozen with "wait, what is going on" and then they kick into Streets with the names scrolling in the background and it was like "fuck, THIS is U2, THIS is why I love this band". And even the opening of the jacket reveal of the American flag was nothing short of PERFECT and epic in every sense of the word. If they did that in the 80's, 90's, or today it would have been a cliche fail(see doing the peace sign in front of the Statue of Liberty during a pre-recorded performance) but it was just the right time for that moment and I believe that shot was on the cover of Time magazine.

Every so often they would have a performance of a song like this and magic happens. Its not just the venue or the song or how they nailed the performance…its all of that and more.

This is a real cool video if you have some time to watch it and watch it in the context of February 2002 and not February of 2018. As far as I am concerned, you can lock this thread because nothing is more(better) magical than this:

 
Never mind U2 history,I was at the first Twickenham show last year. And during the streets intro I was holding back the tears,always spine tingling.
 
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