04th October Boston - Fleet Center

[dsmith2904]

Please post all reviews of the October 4th show here.

 

[erin4618]

Anyone else have thoughts?

The band was great, the music was great, Bono's voice was great (MS, SYCMIOYO), the crowd sucked. I was one of like only three peoplein the first three rows of my section (loge 16, GREAT view) standing for a good chunk of the set--and one of the others was my boyfriend who I told was NOT allowed to sit.

Solid band performance, can't compare to the greatness of BostonII in May.

And GA is the place to be

 

[randhail]

The main set was great. Encore was horrendously bad.

 

[innominata8]

the show overall was AMAZING, but have to agree...the encore left a bit to be desired. the original plan (my friend and i were front row & ended up with the band's setlist...) was to finish up with OOTS and Bad, but they dropped both of those for "40" again. i'm guessing they just ran out of time, as the entire show didn't wrap up until 11:15ish.

 

[AughrimFurey]

If I had not been to the Boston show on the 3rd, I would have thought that the show on the 4th was great. The problem is that they just did not change up the setlist a great deal. I know that they usually don't, but with a few exceptions (Crumbs, Stuck) the setlists were VERY similar. They have so many older songs (Gloria, I Will Follow, Out of Control, etc) that they have played in that spot early in the show. They played the exact same Electric Co and The Ocean they did the night before. My first gripe.

Yes, they played Crumbs and that was amazing. It seems like there was something missing from it, like there was not enough energy in it. I guess as they feel more comfortable with it they will get more energy behind it.

MS- it was a novelty to hear live, but is a energy vacuum. Bono's voice was amazing, but was the song that had people sitting back down in their seats.

Lastly and most importantly, they really need to do something about this acoustic encore. It sucks any and all energy out of the momentum of the show.

I would have been more pleased NOT to have heard Crumbs and Stuck if they would have played a more energy driven encore. At least, give us back Mysterious Ways, Zoo Station, and the Fly and drop this acoustic encore.

 

[GretzkyU2Yanks]

I was there on Mon and was shocked at the overall easy going encore because the crowd was so into that show. I personally loved the encore because I wanted to hear Wild Horses and the First Time, so Im not complaining one bit, but I was surprised they went with it on Mon. Now Im double surprised they did another soft one last night. Crumbs supposedly got cut from the Mon encore for time reasons.

 

[YBORCITY]

My official show review:

THINGS THAT SUCKED (finally all of the haters are rubbing off on me and I have to bad mouth them).

1>. Crumbs...although sounding great for pretty much the whole song, after Edge's solo type thing and the Bridge. Edge REALLY Fuc ed things up big time. He forgot to hit one of his pedals and Bono and the rest of the Band went on with the song and Edge had to catch up and finally when he did hit his "que" the band was already way past that part and you an actually here Bono's voice in the background singing and I was watching him - he wasn't. Both Adam and Bono while all of this was happening kinda ended up right near Edge looking to him to get himself back in line with the rest of the Band. This had a great ending though - Bono didn't give Edge one of this really pissed off stares like he used to and they all seemed to have a laugh on it. Bono said at the end of the song that it was the only the second time playing this song and he apologized for any of the INTERFERENCE (can't wait for the Boot so everyone could hear what I'm talking about, with my little knowledge of how things work in Edge World).

2>. Encores really sucked.... I mean really sucked the life right out of the Arena. I would have better off leaving after main set to beat the horrendous traffic. Where is The Fly and Zoo STation? I would always think that they'd want to really rock out to open the Encore?

3>. The lack of Bad, this is kinda personal bitch but I really miss that song big time. I wouldn't want them to play this song every night because it's so special to me but just once this tour I'd love to hear it.

THINGS THAT WERE GREAT

1>. Bono's voice was incredible last night. He never missed a note. He's starting to sound, dare I say, like the Bono of ZOOTV era.

2>. I know I read a qoute above about the crowd. In my section, Loge 1, we never sat down. AT times the crowd was deafening and Bono seemed to be taken aback by the sheer noise. At one point in between songs, he said that "This is Crazy, we sounded a lot louder than the night before". In fact there were people around me actually blocking ther ears because the cheering was so loud.

3>. The Band seemed to catch the audiences vibe and all seemed to be getting off on it. Edge was doing some of those shuffle/dance moves, Adam moving around the Elipse smiling and waving at the crowd.

4>. Keane..... Never really heard much from these guys but they were fantastic. If those AssClowns Coldplay could be so well received these guys should have a pretty bright future.


PERSONAL NOTES:

1>. In these threads I've bitched about these guys playing Pride every single show. I don't know if anyone else picked up on this but Bono sneezed right in between the first two lines of the second verse. Sorry I'm way too tired to to think of them right this second. He didn't sneeze right into the Mic, he turned his head, sneezed and sang the very next line. After which, it looked like he had to keep from laughing.

2>. The Ladies that sat next to me were just AWESOME, I was in the NorthEast on Business and went to the concert myself and I wasn't sure because I always attended with friends. They were really just great and we had a great time. They didn't know about Interference but I told them how much fun this was and they assured me they would check it out today!!!

PLEASE understand I'm in meetings this morning with about 3 hours of sleep so don't flame me for grammatical errors. Starbucks doesn't make a beveridge strong enough to wake me up enough to face this day.

Also keep my lack of sleep and a wee bit of partying last night in mind when you read these ramblings. I hope they make some semblance of sense to even a small population of Blue Crack Addicts. Flame On...............

 

[Kristie]

my $0.02

I thought it was fantastic show, Bono sounded great, and I disagree about the crowd not being into it. The only time anyone sat down in my section (zone 4) was the part of the encores between when the band walked off and when they came back. Last night was the first time at a concert that my ears hurt just from the sound of the crowd.

Slightly disappointed with the encores, I wish it was a little more rock and roll. Hearing the acoustic Stuck was a real treat but I was hoping they'd play Discotheque or... well, anything off Achtung except One.

It's U2 though, I'll happily listen to anything they want to play for me

 

[YBORCITY]

my $0.02

I thought it was fantastic show, Bono sounded great, and I disagree about the crowd not being into it. The only time anyone sat down in my section (zone 4) was the part of the encores between when the band walked off and when they came back. Last night was the first time at a concert that my ears hurt just from the sound of the crowd.

Slightly disappointed with the encores, I wish it was a little more rock and roll. Hearing the acoustic Stuck was a real treat but I was hoping they'd play Discotheque or... well, anything off Achtung except One.

It's U2 though, I'll happily listen to anything they want to play for me

Spot on with everything you said. The more I'm thinking of this what a great show. In another thread though I read that they were supposed to play OOTS and BAD and had to scratch both because of time.

 

[locomosquito]

so here's what I want to know. I was near the tip of the ellipse on the outside. Bono kept looking down at some paper during Stuck in a Moment. Did a fan slip some poem or other tribute on the stage (possibly the girl that got pulled up during WOWY) or, dare I say it, they were a crip sheet with the lyrics?

 

[Chizip]

it was the lyrics no doubt

 

[erin4618]

Grrr---now I wish even more I had been in a more energetic section--I love that feeling of being swept up with the crowd's energy, kind of the mob mentality, I guess, and I really wasn't feeling any of that where I was.

Have to agree about the tempo of the encores--wasn't even thinking about it when I stumbled out of bed this morning and wrote my first post--but I would have loved to have more stuff from AB....maybe the whole rest of the album?

 

[MrBrau1]

2 additional notes:

Bono sang a line from Please in Bullet.

And he sang the "Scream" in ABOY, which he usually skips.

 

[muh2o]

My wife and I arrived in the GA line very early (3:30am). After several successive front row experiences in the "ellipse", both this tour, and last, I felt as though luck was running out, and sure enough, "Proceed to Floor" was the response the computer flashed when our tickets were scanned. Actually, we were both looking forward to a different perspective of having the entire show in front of us, and in reality I think I preferred the view compared to the front row. Anyway, I want to say that the handling of the GA crowd by the "TD Banknorth Garden" staff is second to none. We ended up just a foot or two to the right of center of the tip of the ellipse.

Keane was incredible. The funny thing is that when I found out Keane was the opening band a few days ago, I asked my wife if she knew who they were. She replied "You've been listening to them for weeks. It's all I play lately". Finally, I thought to myself, not only an opening act I've heard of, but one I actually like. I actually thought she was listening to the Killers. Some of the stuff sounds similar, at least to me. They played a couple of unreleased songs, and I thought they all worked. I look forward to a nice career by this band.

Of all the U2 shows I have seen over the course of 21 years, this one was a bit surreal. I don't want to use 'dissappointing', because any time I hear the band play songs I have never heard live, it's anything but. I think they took the crowd out of it in spots with too much Bono chatter, too many long pauses between songs, and too many consecutive "mellow" songs. By the time "Streets" was played, the crowd was mellowed to death.

First Time and Crumbs. Worth the price of admission. I don't care that they screwed up Crumbs. I know I'll never hear it again, so I can say I heard it live. I really wanted to hear "Original of the Species", but as it was already mentioned, the band abandoned it and "Bad" due to the length of the show. My wife was handed a copy of the setlist by a security guard before the first encore was over. I set myself up for a huge disappointment when I saw that they were due to play "Original" and "Bad", and ended up playing "40", which the crowd blew in a bad way. Last time I heard "40" played live, 5/8/87, the crowd was still singing it in the freaking parking garage at the Hardford Civic Center. I'll never forget it. Last night the song ended when Larry banged his drum for the last time. I did think it was neat that Adam played guitar, and Edge played the bass.

The highlight in my mind was "Miss Sarajevo". Holy crap. That was the first time I ever heard Bono SING. What a voice. Great story behind that song as well. Amazing.

Another highlight was "I Still Haven't Found". Far from a favorite, I loved how Bono let the crowd sing the first verse.

It was a good show, but far from the classic that was May 28, 2005.

I was a bit saddened to learn that while my wife and I were across the street having dinner and watching the Red Sox get stroked, 3/4 of the band came out of the arena to hang with the fans by the GA line. Talk about pouring salt on a wound.

 

[AughrimFurey]

What he was looking at was the lyrics. If you sit next to or behind the stage, you can see Bono's teleprompter. His right stage monitor is actually a teleprompter. It is used for every song. And I just discovered, unfortunately, that it is used for all of his stories. I saw the teleprompter scrolling as he was talking about the Miss Sarajevo story, the story about Edge from the future, and even his rant before One.

 

[KUEFC09U2]

What he was looking at was the lyrics. If you sit next to or behind the stage, you can see Bono's teleprompter. His right stage monitor is actually a teleprompter. It is used for every song. And I just discovered, unfortunately, that it is used for all of his stories. I saw the teleprompter scrolling as he was talking about the Miss Sarajevo story, the story about Edge from the future, and even his rant before One.

how can he use it when he is out on the ellipse?, also everyone knew that bono's "staple" speeches were all on the teleprompter,

 

[Ocean]

My wife and I arrived in the GA line very early (3:30am). After several successive front row experiences in the "ellipse", both this tour, and last, I felt as though luck was running out, and sure enough, "Proceed to Floor" was the response the computer flashed when our tickets were scanned. Actually, we were both looking forward to a different perspective of having the entire show in front of us, and in reality I think I preferred the view compared to the front row. Anyway, I want to say that the handling of the GA crowd by the "TD Banknorth Garden" staff is second to none. We ended up just a foot or two to the right of center of the tip of the ellipse.

Keane was incredible. The funny thing is that when I found out Keane was the opening band a few days ago, I asked my wife if she knew who they were. She replied "You've been listening to them for weeks. It's all I play lately". Finally, I thought to myself, not only an opening act I've heard of, but one I actually like. I actually thought she was listening to the Killers. Some of the stuff sounds similar, at least to me. They played a couple of unreleased songs, and I thought they all worked. I look forward to a nice career by this band.

Of all the U2 shows I have seen over the course of 21 years, this one was a bit surreal. I don't want to use 'dissappointing', because any time I hear the band play songs I have never heard live, it's anything but. I think they took the crowd out of it in spots with too much Bono chatter, too many long pauses between songs, and too many consecutive "mellow" songs. By the time "Streets" was played, the crowd was mellowed to death.

First Time and Crumbs. Worth the price of admission. I don't care that they screwed up Crumbs. I know I'll never hear it again, so I can say I heard it live. I really wanted to hear "Original of the Species", but as it was already mentioned, the band abandoned it and "Bad" due to the length of the show. My wife was handed a copy of the setlist by a security guard before the first encore was over. I set myself up for a huge disappointment when I saw that they were due to play "Original" and "Bad", and ended up playing "40", which the crowd blew in a bad way. Last time I heard "40" played live, 5/8/87, the crowd was still singing it in the freaking parking garage at the Hardford Civic Center. I'll never forget it. Last night the song ended when Larry banged his drum for the last time. I did think it was neat that Adam played guitar, and Edge played the bass.

The highlight in my mind was "Miss Sarajevo". Holy crap. That was the first time I ever heard Bono SING. What a voice. Great story behind that song as well. Amazing.

Another highlight was "I Still Haven't Found". Far from a favorite, I loved how Bono let the crowd sing the first verse.

It was a good show, but far from the classic that was May 28, 2005.

I was a bit saddened to learn that while my wife and I were across the street having dinner and watching the Red Sox get stroked, 3/4 of the band came out of the arena to hang with the fans by the GA line. Talk about pouring salt on a wound.

Ditto on just about everything above. One exception being that the classic, for me anyway, was the May 26, 2005 show. That show was my absolute favorite for so many reasons, one of which I will touch on later.

The only thing to top that experience for me was getting into the Elipse for this show...and we did...along the rail right in front of The Edge (first time ever with GA tix). While the show itself didn't quite measure up, the experience of being at the stage to watch these guys perform up close more than made up for it.

Bono singing Miss Sarejevo was simply amazing, and the crowd rightfully showed its appreciation. Crumbs was a treat as was ISHFWILF. I honestly thought we were going to get An Cat Dubh/Into the Heart, which would have been a first for me since they didn't play them on 5/24 and 5/26. Prior to the show, Dallas was tuning Edge's guitars and it looked like he was following the set list as he went. Oh well, we always have December. Having said that, I will be sure to hang out by the GA entrance in the afternoon with the hope that the band does another meet and greet. To think, we spent three hours at The Harp drinking beers and watching the Cards/Padres game instead. What were we thinking?

I was also at that May 8, 1987 show and fondly remember singing 40 as we exited. What is significant is that a good friend of mine who has gone to at least one show from each tour with me since 1985 mentioned that moment on the way to the 5/26/2005 show. When I told him that they ended the show two nights before with it, he was so stoked. Unfortunately, the same didn't happen on that night as Bono simply sang a couple of lines of the chorus during Bad. In an attempt not to see a friend leave the arena wanting, I proceeded to scream the chorus at the top of my lungs as the band left the stage. What followed (after about 8-10 repeats of the chorus) was something I honestly never expected.

I'm sure there are probably dozens of others on that night who had the same idea, and perhaps collectively we managed to get the rest of the arena to sing, but for me it was the single most amazing experience of my U2 life.

Well, that and getting one of The Edge's guitar picks from Dallas the other night.

 

[AughrimFurey]

how can he use it when he is out on the ellipse?, also everyone knew that bono's "staple" speeches were all on the teleprompter,

Sorry, I have been to more than a handful of U2 concerts and was not aware that the teleprompter was used for his speeches -I thought it was only for the songs. Please forgive my ignorance. But, I am sure that there are many here who did not know this either.

I mentioned the use of the teleprompter as an explanation why the lyrics were on a paper out on the ellipse. If he has to have the teleprompter, then it would be reasonable to assume while he is away from the teleprompter and playing a song that has not been played on the tour, that he *might* need a little help.

 

[hibricc]

I'll post a lengthier review later, but I have to echo Ocean's point about being in the ellipse for the first time: Bono probably could have passed gas into the mic for two hours and I would have been thrilled just to be so close!

I'm a little embarrassed to say how easy it was for my wife and I to get a great spot inside. We arrived at the Garden just before 6pm and went to the end of the incredibly long fanclub line (which still had at least 100 people in it when the other GA line was already gone). After a few minutes of friendly conversation with the guy in front of us (Rob from St. Louis who bought his ticket on the street an hour or so ealier!), I remembered the "group of 3" advice someone posted here earlier in the tour (groups of three people usually get admitted together if only one ticket scans). Rob quickly agreed to take both my wife and I if his ticket should be picked for the ellipse, and we made the same promise to him. Worked like a charm: Rob's ticket got beeped, and we all three got in, stood right on the rear rail of the ellipse just to Adam's side of the tip. Mind-blowing view, I can't imagine how December (rear stage Loge) will possibly compare....

 

[GarfieldTheCat]

1>. In these threads I've bitched about these guys playing Pride every single show. I don't know if anyone else picked up on this but Bono sneezed right in between the first two lines of the second verse. Sorry I'm way too tired to to think of them right this second. He didn't sneeze right into the Mic, he turned his head, sneezed and sang the very next line. After which, it looked like he had to keep from laughing.

thats odd. in the other fleet center review, someone mentioned bono doing the same sneeze/cough thing during the same part in the song. i wonder if this was planned?
or did you mean to post about the other show?

 

[Carek1230]

 

[YBORCITY]

thats odd. in the other fleet center review, someone mentioned bono doing the same sneeze/cough thing during the same part in the song. i wonder if this was planned?
or did you mean to post about the other show?

No, I was at just the 10/4 show, I haven't read that other post but that's very uncanny, I wonder if he did do it on purpose because he caught Edge's eye after he did it.

 

[Carek1230]

 

[GarfieldTheCat]

what else is on this teleprompter? like.. when to go and hug or kiss edge? or little jokes he might make to the crowd?

or just the speeches.. like for "one".. and.. "Sarejevo.." etc?..

i know things like when he'd do macphisto... on the zootv tour and the whole "fuck the revolution!" speeches were obviously scripted.