16th September Toronto - Air Canada Centre

The friendliest place on the web for anyone that follows U2.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
Review of Toronto III September 16th

What can I say, it was the best U2 show I've ever seen. It was also the first, but whatever.

Unbelievable show, I must say though that i won't be viewing setlists anymore when I know I'm going to a show. I found myself feeling let down because they didn't play NYD, when really I don't like it that much anyway, I had to shake myself out of it. Setlist bitching has really got me brainwashed.

Otherwise, great show, really would have loved Zoo Station, but i was in magic mode by then anyway. 22 Songs and I got to hear the Ocean, which was a little surreal. My girlfriend came along and she's not a huge fan and never reads setlist parties, and she loved the show.

The crowd was alive tonight, and while there may not have been tons of jumping, everyone in the arena was on there feet and singing so loudly, it was spectacular. Bono was also in brilliant spirits, and even if he's slowed down in recent years, he's still funny and moving as hell.

Here's a breakdown song by song of what happened:

COBL - Amazing opener, better than I can ever imagine Vertigo being, little guitar slip up at the beginning, but the crowd was very forgiving
Vertigo - Awesome song, the lightshow, everything. A lot of electricity
Elevation - Very good, the andticipation drives the song more than Larry's drums used to
Electric Co - No Cry, but still mind-blowing. I was so hoping I'd see this one. There was a Send in the Clowns snippet with changed lyrics, and a See Me, Hear Me, Touch Me, Feel Me by the who snippet at the end
The Ocean - Like I said, surreal. I don't think most of the audience knew what to make of it, but they played along anyway
Beautiful Day - This was perfect after the ocean, it got EVERYONE moving again, and there was this snippet at the end where bono reached even more beautiful heights.
Miracle Drug - better than I ever expected. Not a highlight and I don't think it will make it to other tours, but a great improvement on the album sound
Sometimes - Bono stopped to take a big drink before this one, and said something like "Edge, can't you see, I'm not ready" I have to mention how spot on Bono's vocals were this whole show, ready or not. I thought it would be noticable wear which is only natural for a middle-aged smoker, but it wasn't at all
Love and Peace - This song is so intense live, I can't stress that enough. Everyone was so blown away by the noise and the message. I really loved this one, one of my highlights.
Sunday - Nice transition, classic song, I'm glad its still in there. Nothing really out of the ordinary, except for the speach thrown in, it was way better than past versions.
Bullet - MUCH better live than just on bootlegs. This was my least favorite based on the bootleg performances, but OMG it was so fantastic live, that blues solo is Edge going to town!
Miss Sarajevo - Emotional highlight of the night. Bono hit every note. At the end he sang the lines "Is it time, to shut your mouth now, a time for human rights..."
Pride - Although everyone says a lot of things about this song, it was amazing live and perfect right where it was, I can't imagine a u2 show without it
Streets - Beautiful. What can I say, it was my first times seeing streets.
One - Very good version, especially with the "Do you hear me coming" and i love the long solo with Danny.

The Fly - They did the slots, which got my hopes up for Zoo Station, but they compensated with this kick ass version of the Fly. This IS the best version, hands down, and was the best song all night
WOWY - Silly transition from the fly, but despite everyone's nay-saying this was quite masterfully done. I was so happy to hear it, which i suppose is why they keep playing it

ABOY - Not a huge fan of this one, but its got such an energy to it that made it really great live.
Fast Cars - This was the first time that I'd heard the whole song, and the band totally ran with it. They were having a good time, and edge was even holding his guitar upright and doing a little spanish guitar dance
The phone call was a comedy of errors, and one of those moments that really makes your first concert feel special.
Yawheh - Bono stopped to talk to menew, the band that later got onstage. Tried to start part way through the first verse, but edge wasn't having that. Said something like "what are you doing, give them the whole song" but you could barely hear it. Very good song, I love the acoustic version and the way they get everyone in on it.
Out of Control - This was another one that makes you feel like this was a very special show. Bono said "the last time we did this, I swore I'd never do it again" Everyone was in good spirits, and after the singer couldn't remember the lyrics Bono jumped in and gave him a hand. Another highlight for me
40 - Sort of impromptu, everyone seemed to think it was over, everyone but larry anyway, who, despite the rest of the band, refused to stop the opening drum part. he just kind of said "I'm playing 40, and you can all go to hell if you want" and the crowd kept singing even after everyone left, which was magical

Highlights of the Night:
COBL, Vertigo, L&P, Miss Serajevo, The Fly, OOC, and my own little Larry moment; 40
 
Hey everyone,

This show was my first U2 concert ever. I've seen all of the official concert releases, I've seen and heard a lot of the boots (including the ones from this tour), so I'm not exactly a newbie to U2, but it definitely was a new experience.

I and my brother were pretty late getting to the ACC (Air Canada Centre). We had to find a mosque to pray (it was at Dundas & Bay) because we wouldn't be able to at the ACC we figured, and when we were finished it was about 7:35pm. We went to the falafel/shwarma place across the street to grab some food on the go (a shwarma for each of us and some french fries) and then we were off to the ACC. It was kinda funny because we're in Toronto all the time and we always pass the ACC but when we were walking toward Union Station, we were kinda confused and didn't know where to go exactly. My fear was we'd get to the show late and U2 would already be a couple of songs into the set. Also, while we were talking to the ACC my brother kept on bothering me about bringing the camera along, and bringing it in a large case that’s clearly visible to everyone. I tried to assure my brother that the good people at Interference have said that only professional cameras aren't allowed :), but alas, I did get very antsy as I walked up to the security section of the ACC. The security guard asked me to show him what’s in the camera case, so I showed him the camera, and then he checked to see where I was seated, and he let me in (I was guessing that it might have been because we were very far away).

So we ended up getting to our seats in section 306, row 3 around 8:20-8:30. When we first entered the arena I was just in awe that I was finally here, looking at U2's stage in person and about to see the band play in person for the first time. We missed Dashboard it seemed, they were playing a bunch of loud music from the arena speakers however. Despite being in some of the farthest seats from the stage, it still felt pretty close and intimate. It was also pretty cool to be inside the ACC since I’m a hockey fan (not exactly a leafs fan though :) ), and got to see all the little neat details of the arena.

We saw Dallas Schoo out tuning the guitars, and I was thinking there might have been a problem or something, because we were in our seats for almost an hour before "Wake Up" started playing. Before that happened, Dallas went around and gave a couple of guitar picks to lucky people in the audience when he was finishing up.

When "Wake Up" started playing it started to get really loud. I didn't recognize the song until the chorus kicked in. And then when the lights went off it was pretty crazy, the crowd was extremely loud, and then The Edge came out and started playing City of Blinding Lights, which caught me off guard because I was expecting Vertigo. The sound of the guitars were very ear piercing, it sounded like the sound was oversaturated, and the same with Bono’s vocals, it might have been because of the section of the arena we were in though, but it didn’t bother me after I got into the concert. I honestly don't remember much about the performance of City of Blinding Lights other than the great looking curtain of lights, because I was still in awe that we were at a U2 concert. When Vertigo started and the lights went red it was pandemonium! Everyone stood up and started screaming, and it was so wild and deafening that I couldn’t even hear myself scream at all. The lighting for this song was great, looked better in person than I’ve seen in the pictures and videos. Most of the people in our section sat down for the end of Vertigo and the start of Elevation, but when they kicked into full band mode, I stood up and started cheering and that got everyone else to stand up again in our section. Elevation was great, they really nailed it, Bono was jumping around like I’ve seen him do in the Boston concert of the Elevation tour, so he looked really energized. After that, Electric Co. was pretty good, I don’t think many people knew the song, but the crowd was energized after Elevation so they were still into it. Then after Electric Co, the first weird event of the night happened. The lights went blue on the stage, and Bono said something like “we wrote this song when we were 17”, and then they started playing something (I think it may have been “The Ocean”), and Bono was singing some lyrics but then he lost himself and said “Sorry¸ I guess we need more than 20 minutes to rehearse a 20 year old song”, and then Larry ended the song. The crowd really got into Beautiful day, Bono kinda screwed up the bridge in the song, but it was still great, I loved the ending he sung to the song. Miracle Drug and Sometimes kind of slowed things down, Bono thanked the doctors and nurses at the sick kids’ hospital. Sometimes was emotional as always, and Bono sung a bit of opera at the end. Love and Peace was a great performance as always, although I already knew about the drums part so it didn’t take me by surprise, but it was still very enjoyable. Bono was in fine form dancing around the edge of the ellipse during the song. When Sunday Bloody Sunday started, the crowd erupted, and this was probably the most memorable moment of the concert. Everyone in my section stood up again and we were all standing up until the end of the concert from here on in. They really nailed SBS; there was a lot of energy from the band. Bullet was great too with Bono nailing all of the high notes. The lighting was really good during some songs (Elevation, SBS, and Beautiful Day) but I think Bullet beat them all with the heavy red lights. I don’t think a lot of people knew Miss Sarajevo, but it was a great performance. Everyone went crazy again when Pride started up, and when Streets started, it was probably my second memorable moment of the concert; it was great finally to experience what everyone has been talking about. At the start of one, Bono wanted to see the Milky Way by getting us to hold up our cell phones. The end of One was unique. When Edge was doing the ending solo of One, some guy (who I now know was Daniel Lanois, I didn’t know what he looked like so I didn’t realize it was him) jumped on the stage out of nowhere, and Bono gave him his guitar, and Lanois started playing. The graphic that they had on the 4 video screens above the stage were very neat (it showed Bono playing the guitar, and then the image of him playing turned into faces of various people, and it zoomed into them, and then it zoomed out and turned back into Bono playing the guitar). I thought perhaps there was something wrong with Bono’s guitar and they were trying to fix it (before I knew that it was Lanois who was playing), because the solo at the end was very long, by far the longest I’ve ever heard (it seemed it went on for like 2 minutes) and then Bono sung the Zoo TV/Elevation tour ending to the song which was great because its my favorite ending to One (I was expecting the “oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh” ending). The crowd was again deafening when they left the stage.

When intro to encore started, I was surprised that it ended up being The Fly, and again it was a great performance with Bono going crazy on the guitar and jumping around with a lot of energy during the parts where he didn’t have to sing.

I believe after With or without you (another song which the crowd was really into), I think they may have gone off the stage again. And then The Edge was back and started playing the intro to All Because of You. A film crew of 2 women came up onto the stage and recorded this song and the next (Fast Cars). Bono was going wild during All Because of You, he probably wanted to give his best performance for the cameras, and he threw his tambourine into the crowd just before the final verse of the song. During fast cars, Bono was doing a little dance (he seemed to be mixing up a Latin dance with a Middle Eastern dance which was very interesting). Then they tried calling BB King, and Bono couldn’t get the speaker phone working, so then Bono said jokingly “You think it’s easy? With all the echo and shit?”, and then The Edge gave it a crack and Bono told the crowd that Edge was the scientist of the Band, and then after Edge couldn’t get it to work. So then Bono just talked to him and we couldn’t hear BB. But then we got to sing Happy Birthday to BB, and then after BB said something to Bono and Bono responded “I know it sounded white” (BB probably told him singing happy birthday was “white”, which I thought was classic BB). After the next song, Yahweh, Bono started talking to this Band at the edge of the Ellipse (which I guess he talked to before the concert), and then he brought 3 of them up and Bono said “The last time I did this I promised I’d never do it again”. I was expecting this to be a disaster. Edge was on the guitar and the other 3 guys were on Drums, Bass, and Guitar/Vocals. They started playing Out of Control, and then the guy from the local band sang the first verse of Out of Control, and everyone was really cheering him on because he was doing a great job as was the rest of his band. And then Bono jumped in and stole the mike for the rest of the song. During the bridge of the song, Adam took his bass, and then Larry took over his drums, and they finished the song. And then the band did 40, and Bono took his flashlight and shone it around the lower bowl and then did the upper bowl, and then he put it down and left, and then after Adam left, and then the Edge left, and then Larry did a Drum solo and left. Everyone in the arena was left cheering for more, but then the lights went on quickly after they left the stage.

The show was just incredible, the crowd was deafening, Bono was in fine form, and the set list was pretty good. I was hoping they threw Bad in the end, but I think the quality of the concert made up for the lack of any songs I wanted to be played.


[From U2tours.com]
September 16, 2005 / Toronto ON, Canada Venue: Air Canada Center
Opening Act(s): Dashboard Confessional
Main Set: City of Blinding Lights, Vertigo, Elevation, The Electric Co., The Ocean, Beautiful Day, Miracle Drug, Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own - (opera), Love and Peace or Else, Sunday Bloody Sunday, Bullet the Blue Sky, Miss Sarajevo, Pride, Where the Streets Have No Name, One
Encore(s): The Fly, With or Without You, All Because of You, Fast Cars, Happy Birthday, Yahweh, Out of Control, 40
 
Where were you seated? I was in the 300's, and the crowd was very very deafening, when Vertigo started it felt so surreal, everyone got up and started cheering so loud that when I was screaming I couldn't hear my own screams.
 
awesome awesome show! MUCH better than Wednesday!

Does anyone know the name of the song that they walk out of stage to? For lack of a better description the "oh oh oh oh oh" song...lol
 
i was in 311, right to edge's side of the stage, and i know what you mean, I couldn't hear myself sceaming or singing. amazing show
 
after bono mentioned that edge could do it because he was a scientist, everyone laughed, so bono said "what, you think that echo unit shit is easy"
 
Back
Top Bottom