heres a nice review of Fordham:
Fordham Gets A Big Kiss
@U2, March 06, 2009
Cara Vox
When I was in college, we got Hootie and The Blowfish. The students at Fordham University this year got a little bit luckier. They got a free show by a little combo from the north side of Dublin televised live on Good Morning America. They also went as crazy as I've ever seen a crowd go for "Vertigo." The future needs a big kiss, indeed.
We all know that U2 is intent on playing to and wooing a younger generation of fans. (We know this because they are constantly telling us this.) The way the new songs energized the crowd of college students at Fordham on Friday morning, there's no doubt U2 can still play for "the kids" if they want to.
I was lucky enough to be standing in the middle of the crowd in the front section of Edwards Parade, the quad in front of Fordham's Keating Hall, where U2 played this "secret" gig. It may be a tad presumptuous, but I'm guessing that not many of the fans in attendance had yet memorized the lyric sheet to the new album. Still, by the end of the show's third song, "I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight," the majority of the fans were singing the chorus back at the stage with their fists pumped in the air.
U2 played four songs on-air for Good Morning America: "Get On Your Boots," "Magnificent," "I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight," and "Beautiful Day." The band also played "Breathe" and "Vertigo" for the crowd after the televised portion of the concert ended.
Entrance to the concert was limited mostly to Fordham students and staff. A Fordham ID was required for entry. Though security was tight, with New York City cops surrounding the campus, there were at least a few fans inside (I can personally attest to this) who managed to slip in without a Fordham ID. There was plenty of room on the quad for more fans as most of the entire back third of the field remained empty for the entire concert.
There were only a few spots left to be had in the front section of the field by the stage at about 6:30 a.m., an hour-and-a-half before the band took the stage. Many of the Fordham students in the spots closest to the stage had been there since 2:00 a.m. or so.
It was interesting to talk to people as we all waited for the band. A freshman near me told me this was his first concert ever. Not his first U2 concert. His first concert. Can you imagine? Your first concert ever? And it's U2? On the quad at your college? For free? Another person near me was unaware that U2 were from Ireland.
They all knew Bono, though. I heard "Bono this" and "Bono that" and "Is that Bono?" "Where is Bono? "When is Bono coming?" And of course, once he did arrive (with those other three guys), it took a half-second before I heard, "Woah, Bono's pretty short." I share this not to paint the whole crowd with a broad brush of newbieness or to seem elitist or whatever, but more to emphasize how cool it was to see how psyched up these same people got once the band did arrive.
The Good Morning America cameras spent the 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. hour panning the crowd for reaction shots and encouraging the students to cheer as loudly as possible for these pre-taped shots. This was all happening an hour before U2 even arrived. Turned out not many of those "faux enthusiastic" shots were likely necessary. Once U2 arrived, they created some authentic energy of their own.
The band arrived on stage just after 8:00 a.m. Before kicking into "Get On Your Boots," Bono pointed at his watch and asked the crowd "What time is it?" He answered his own question with "It's F.U. time!" (F.U. as in Fordham University. It had the students next to me laughing their heads off. Well played, Bono.)
After "Get On Your Boots," Bono addressed the crowd again, introducing the band as "a little combo from the north side of Dublin." Then they played "Magnificent." David Letterman is right -- you can feel this one in your chest live. Wow. Next they played "I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight," which -- of all the No Line On The Horizon songs they played at Fordham -- this one seemed to amp the crowd up the most. It probably helped that Bono told the crowd that he wrote the song with Friday nights at Fordham in mind. Just about everyone near me was singing the chorus as enthusiastically as Bono was by the time it ended.
The band also did a brief interview and played "Beautiful Day" before the televised part of the concert ended. The sound seemed a bit off during "Beautiful Day," but the song got a hugely enthusiastic crowd response. Larry's deadpan line about his dad was the highlight of the interview. He noted that Mullen Sr. would be thrilled when he saw the Fordham performance and saw that "his son Larry finally made it to college."
After the televised portion of the concert ended, the band played "Breathe" (awesome) and "Vertigo," which, hello, hello, got by FAR the biggest response of anything they played all day. The crowd chanted for "one more song" after "Vertigo," but the band gave some waves and then took off up the steps of Keating Hall and disappeared. Presumably, into the future. You know, to give it a big kiss.