June 21st Glasgow - Hampden Park

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Just literally back to my flat after seeing U2 (for only the 2nd time in my life) at Hampden. I wasn't disappointed! I'm still a bit hyper to write anything coherent but highlights for me were "I still haven't found what I'm looking for" and "Who's going to ride your wild horses". I know they did these recently but it was amazing to hear them live. Bono was on top form and the section about Africa was really good especially "Where the Streets have no name". An encore of Zoo Station totally rocked (why has that ever been out of the setlist) and to have "With or without you" when I had lost all hope of hearing it was just the icing on the cake. A great version of Yahweh was to follow (like the images on the screen) before the high of vertigo again. If you don't have tickets for a show then get them of a tout...it might be pricey but I feel sorry for anyone in Scotland who missed U2 tonight!
 
I've had about exactly 12 hours to chew the fat on the Hampden gig without typing anything. So with a clear mind I begin.

Interpol left the stage at exactly 8pm & we had the usual flurry of guitar & drum techs doing their stuff. I'd advise anyone going to any future statium concerts to get their hotdogs or whatever at this point as you'll be waiting a long time for the setup to be complete. U2 came onto stage at 8:50pm to the usual thunderous applause. They hit the ground running & had the crowd on the side straight away but it wasn't until Elevation that Bono got them eating out of his hand. The 2 note intro was repeated way into the song with the crowd trying to predict when the big guitars & chorus would kick in. One big misjudgement by the crowd left Bono laughing & saying "down boy".

The next stand out moment was City of Blinding Lights where the full use of the very impressive screens kicked in for the first time, an amazing sight nearly worth the admission alone. This might start to sound like a glowing review but I'm afraid it's not. After that we were pretty much at a political rally for 45 minutes. From Sunday Bloody Sunday through to One it was like a party political broadcast on behalf of the "Bono for God" party. I know I will probably get slated for this but when I paid my hard earned I expect to to entertained, not to be sermoned by some self appointed second coming.

Zoo Station, The Fly & especially Yahweh restored my belief that they are the greatest band on earth. It's just about time they concentrated more on their rock n'roll side than trying to engrave their legacy for history.

I'm expecting to be shreded for this but It's what I believe.
 
RABIDLAMB said:
I've had about exactly 12 hours to chew the fat on the Hampden gig without typing anything. So with a clear mind I begin.

Interpol left the stage at exactly 8pm & we had the usual flurry of guitar & drum techs doing their stuff. I'd advise anyone going to any future statium concerts to get their hotdogs or whatever at this point as you'll be waiting a long time for the setup to be complete. U2 came onto stage at 8:50pm to the usual thunderous applause. They hit the ground running & had the crowd on the side straight away but it wasn't until Elevation that Bono got them eating out of his hand. The 2 note intro was repeated way into the song with the crowd trying to predict when the big guitars & chorus would kick in. One big misjudgement by the crowd left Bono laughing & saying "down boy".

The next stand out moment was City of Blinding Lights where the full use of the very impressive screens kicked in for the first time, an amazing sight nearly worth the admission alone. This might start to sound like a glowing review but I'm afraid it's not. After that we were pretty much at a political rally for 45 minutes. From Sunday Bloody Sunday through to One it was like a party political broadcast on behalf of the "Bono for God" party. I know I will probably get slated for this but when I paid my hard earned I expect to to entertained, not to be sermoned by some self appointed second coming.

Zoo Station, The Fly & especially Yahweh restored my belief that they are the greatest band on earth. It's just about time they concentrated more on their rock n'roll side than trying to engrave their legacy for history.

I'm expecting to be shreded for this but It's what I believe.


I totally understand what you're saying but I agree with what Bono says about Africa etc so it wasn't really a hassle for me.
www.makepovertyhistory.org
 
Fair point & I do agree fully with his causes but I believe his roll as a rock star should be kept separate.

Do you think any or all of the politically themed performaces will be copied for the Live 8 gig. That's the time & the place, IMO.
 
Well just what can you say about this performance at Hampden Park. Probably hard to really put into words just how good a gig this was.
From the 4 dublin lads walking on stage, to the "uno, dos, tres" of Vertigo, thro a blistering set list to once again the closing bars of Vertigo the crowd just lapped it all up.

Last night was the 6th time of seeing U2 which stretches from PopMart Leeds & Edinburgh, Elevation Tour Manchester and Birmingham and a previous Vertigo night in Manchester and to last night in Glasgow I have probably seen one of the best live performances I've ever witnessed with only the first time in Leeds being up there for in my memory.

There are some songs that I am often not a fan of, but when they play them live they just re-invent it and blow you away. Elevation was one of those. Following a rip roaring burst thro Vertigo, ABOY and Electric Co. (how good was Edge during that btw?!) they move into Elevation and re-invent from a song that I previously thought was weak and re-invent it as "building an orgasm" (as the girlfriend described it after Manchester last week!!) with Bono taunting the crowd with "down boy" as they all get ready to go for it when they expect to only to be held back.

New Years Day I can never tire of hearing, and following it with Beautiful Day is only let down by one thing.... where's Dirty Day??!

Variation from the Manchester set I saw comes next when they bring back Still Haven't Found, and the crowd are singing along and hanging on to every word... what next... Oh yes.... here's it comes..... I recognise the into immediately... we've got Wild Horses running through Hampden Park!!!
At long last they seem to of found the formula and Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses kicks in and sends me into overdrive at least. Great to hear a full band electric version of a song that you know has not been aired very often. Bono informs us at the end that he thinks its only the 2nd time its been played in its entirety and asks "I hope we did okay with that for you". Yes, yes and yes. Not like Bono to understate something. Amazing would of been a better way to describe it.

This led superbly into another 3 songs from the bomb with Blinding Lights, Miracle Drug and Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own. Its obvious from Miracle Drug and explaining about the future and scientists, and medicines, doctors etc that it means a lot to him and Miracle Drug is a heart rendering song, but is topped by Sometimes which is just so personal for Bono (and the rest of the band I suppose). Bono makes his way down the BStage (Adam side) just in front of us during Sometimes and it was some feeling to see his eyes as he sang this with his heart so heavily into it, and you can just tell that he loses himself with his thoughts during this song. No picture could ever do it justice.

After this it seems such a natural transition into "Coexist" section which is opened by Love and Peace (perfect to follow a song about his father with a song about Love and Peace in the world). Love and Peace is a song that I am personally not a big fan of on Atomic Bomb, and also not a great fan of Bullet these days, but they sit perfectly together and make an integral part of the show with Bloody Sunday sandwiched in between leaving no doubt as to what the message is. Despite the serious nature of this though, we still got a laugh from Bono as he struggled to find the mic with the blindfold on during Bullet and he seemed to struggle for a short while to keep the words coming as he tried not to laugh too much about it.

Streets is up next, and its not the usual slow build up to it this tour, and the segue from Pride is not as natural as what we have had previously from the likes of Please (PopMart), Running (ZooTV) etc, but it works well tonight as the crowd are so into the show that they need no invitation from Bono to keep Pride going with the "oh oho oh's" as Streets builds up and the African Flags replacing the traditional blood red screens and as soon as Streets kicks right in the Crowd are away again, singing to every word and at times taking over from Bono.

How do you close out a set after all of that? Well suppose you couldn't go far wrong with a song like One, as the lighters and mobile phones are out in the air (and fingers texting in to make poverty history at the same time), and before you know it thats the main set over in what seemed like 5 minutes.

Screens and lights kick into action again though as we are thrown back in time to ZooTV and the intro to Zoo Station starts up. Why has this song been missing from set lists since the ZooTV years? Certainly gets you thinking that after hearing it performed live and then followed by The Fly. Two songs that are made for the live loud stages and bring the place alive again as we are flooded with information overload.

Mr. Clayton gets that base going as we move straight into to With or Without You, and this is by far the most memorable version I've ever heard of this great song. In Manchester I was amazed at the amount of people standing near me with hands in pockets and not even singin along to this one. This week I am standing in amazement at hearing the crowd behind me up in the stands clapping and singing along to every word. Seemed surreal to kind of here the crowd clapping and singing from way behind you and about 1/2 a second behind to U2. Just had to stand and look round the stadium and take it in as it felt so good.

Unfortunately, after WOWY you just know its nearing the end of the stage, and the place is quiet as we get the slow burning Yahweh and the visuals again fit perfectly with the moment and allow everyone to take a breath and take it all in. No pause at the end tho as Edge cracks open some more Vertigo, we're told what an Encore really means and "uno, dos, tres" we've come full circle, the crowd know this is it, its almost over so lets go for it and enjoy the closing moments of a truly momentous night.

Oh for more of this tour, but for me its going to be the consolation prize of seeing them do a short set in Hyde Park at Live8! :-o

Vertigo is over for me, and its time to start hoping and searching for a download of this performance. Be missed if this performance has not been caught on some recording device to be heard time and time again.
 
WASTID said:
Well just what can you say about this performance at Hampden Park. Probably hard to really put into words just how good a gig this was.
From the 4 dublin lads walking on stage, to the "uno, dos, tres" of Vertigo, thro a blistering set list to once again the closing bars of Vertigo the crowd just lapped it all up.

Last night was the 6th time of seeing U2 which stretches from PopMart Leeds & Edinburgh, Elevation Tour Manchester and Birmingham and a previous Vertigo night in Manchester and to last night in Glasgow I have probably seen one of the best live performances I've ever witnessed with only the first time in Leeds being up there for in my memory.

There are some songs that I am often not a fan of, but when they play them live they just re-invent it and blow you away. Elevation was one of those. Following a rip roaring burst thro Vertigo, ABOY and Electric Co. (how good was Edge during that btw?!) they move into Elevation and re-invent from a song that I previously thought was weak and re-invent it as "building an orgasm" (as the girlfriend described it after Manchester last week!!) with Bono taunting the crowd with "down boy" as they all get ready to go for it when they expect to only to be held back.

New Years Day I can never tire of hearing, and following it with Beautiful Day is only let down by one thing.... where's Dirty Day??!

Variation from the Manchester set I saw comes next when they bring back Still Haven't Found, and the crowd are singing along and hanging on to every word... what next... Oh yes.... here's it comes..... I recognise the into immediately... we've got Wild Horses running through Hampden Park!!!
At long last they seem to of found the formula and Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses kicks in and sends me into overdrive at least. Great to hear a full band electric version of a song that you know has not been aired very often. Bono informs us at the end that he thinks its only the 2nd time its been played in its entirety and asks "I hope we did okay with that for you". Yes, yes and yes. Not like Bono to understate something. Amazing would of been a better way to describe it.

This led superbly into another 3 songs from the bomb with Blinding Lights, Miracle Drug and Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own. Its obvious from Miracle Drug and explaining about the future and scientists, and medicines, doctors etc that it means a lot to him and Miracle Drug is a heart rendering song, but is topped by Sometimes which is just so personal for Bono (and the rest of the band I suppose). Bono makes his way down the BStage (Adam side) just in front of us during Sometimes and it was some feeling to see his eyes as he sang this with his heart so heavily into it, and you can just tell that he loses himself with his thoughts during this song. No picture could ever do it justice.

After this it seems such a natural transition into "Coexist" section which is opened by Love and Peace (perfect to follow a song about his father with a song about Love and Peace in the world). Love and Peace is a song that I am personally not a big fan of on Atomic Bomb, and also not a great fan of Bullet these days, but they sit perfectly together and make an integral part of the show with Bloody Sunday sandwiched in between leaving no doubt as to what the message is. Despite the serious nature of this though, we still got a laugh from Bono as he struggled to find the mic with the blindfold on during Bullet and he seemed to struggle for a short while to keep the words coming as he tried not to laugh too much about it.

Streets is up next, and its not the usual slow build up to it this tour, and the segue from Pride is not as natural as what we have had previously from the likes of Please (PopMart), Running (ZooTV) etc, but it works well tonight as the crowd are so into the show that they need no invitation from Bono to keep Pride going with the "oh oho oh's" as Streets builds up and the African Flags replacing the traditional blood red screens and as soon as Streets kicks right in the Crowd are away again, singing to every word and at times taking over from Bono.

How do you close out a set after all of that? Well suppose you couldn't go far wrong with a song like One, as the lighters and mobile phones are out in the air (and fingers texting in to make poverty history at the same time), and before you know it thats the main set over in what seemed like 5 minutes.

Screens and lights kick into action again though as we are thrown back in time to ZooTV and the intro to Zoo Station starts up. Why has this song been missing from set lists since the ZooTV years? Certainly gets you thinking that after hearing it performed live and then followed by The Fly. Two songs that are made for the live loud stages and bring the place alive again as we are flooded with information overload.

Mr. Clayton gets that base going as we move straight into to With or Without You, and this is by far the most memorable version I've ever heard of this great song. In Manchester I was amazed at the amount of people standing near me with hands in pockets and not even singin along to this one. This week I am standing in amazement at hearing the crowd behind me up in the stands clapping and singing along to every word. Seemed surreal to kind of here the crowd clapping and singing from way behind you and about 1/2 a second behind to U2. Just had to stand and look round the stadium and take it in as it felt so good.

Unfortunately, after WOWY you just know its nearing the end of the stage, and the place is quiet as we get the slow burning Yahweh and the visuals again fit perfectly with the moment and allow everyone to take a breath and take it all in. No pause at the end tho as Edge cracks open some more Vertigo, we're told what an Encore really means and "uno, dos, tres" we've come full circle, the crowd know this is it, its almost over so lets go for it and enjoy the closing moments of a truly momentous night.

Oh for more of this tour, but for me its going to be the consolation prize of seeing them do a short set in Hyde Park at Live8! :-o

Vertigo is over for me, and its time to start hoping and searching for a download of this performance. Be missed if this performance has not been caught on some recording device to be heard time and time again.

Can't disagree with any of that, excellent performance.

The Edge was on fire and during Zoo Station and The Fly were Bono's mic seemed really low i wasn't too bothered aslong as you heard the massive wall of noise from the Edge.

Just hope we can get some good quality bootlegs of it, a dvd bootleg's probably asking way too much but there's always hope!:wink:
 
awesome gig. it wasnt just a gig tho, it was a proper show with just the right balance of music and visuals. before this i had seen oasis, travis, coldplay,rem, stereophonics at stadium gigs & u2 at indoors at the secc but last night made all those gigs look amateur in comparison! seeing u2 in glasgow really is a close 2nd to u2 in dublin. lets just hope its not 4 years before they're back again!
 
Good gig but the sound was appalling. Bono's preachiness didn't go over well with the glasgow crowd and I think it will fare similar in dublin.
 
popshopper said:
Good gig but the sound was appalling. Bono's preachiness didn't go over well with the glasgow crowd and I think it will fare similar in dublin.
to say it didnt go well in your section is one thing, but to say the it didnt go well with the whole crowd is weaird, because many people have already said that the preachiness went over with alot of respect
 
Glad someone mentioned the sound. Maybe it was just where i was (just left of the sound desk) but the acousticts were appalling. Everytime larry hit the drums the sound bounced back off the stand across from the stage and you heard each note twice. As i say it may just have been where i was but what did others think? Having said that, the gig was amazing and U2 were at the top of their game and so were all us Glaswegions.
 
KUEFC09U2 said:
to say it didnt go well in your section is one thing, but to say the it didnt go well with the whole crowd is weaird, because many people have already said that the preachiness went over with alot of respect

There was a brief clap when bono tried to dedicated Running to stand still to the Burmese president under house arrest but when he tried to get the crowd to sing along to happy birthday it fell flat. The cellphones at one similarly didn't work. The only time the crowd really responded was during Sunday Bloody Sunday, Pride and Streets and lets be honest Bono could ask the crowd to sing "kill all Africans" during those songs and still get a positive response.

Personally I agree with Bono on the subject of Africa. But it sticks out so much on this tour and having seen the production a few times is so obviously contrived its laughable regardless of Bono's obviously heartfelt sentiments.

As for the anti-war segment, it works but only just. Love and Peace rocks, Sunday Bloody Sunday (the simplistic Coexist nonense aside) likewise, Bullet's a bit tired sounding (and the amatuer theatrics after the guitar solo are probably the most cringeworthy moment in u2's history). Running to Stand Still fell a little flat with Bono going on about the Burmese leader, and trying to get the crowd to sing an almost impossible chant.

It was a good show, but the staginess of the political section makes it fall a bit flat. It doesn't have to be that way. Bono's a good public speaker but his speeches last night didn't make a whole load of sense and seemed rushed and contrived.
 
That was an awesome gig although like most people i thought the sound was below par, as it bounced off the main stand. But apart from that it was great, the stand out track forme had to be ZOO Station:drool:
 
super fly guy said:
That was an awesome gig although like most people i thought the sound was below par, as it bounced off the main stand. But apart from that it was great, the stand out track forme had to be ZOO Station:drool:

The sound was awful for the support band but i thought the sound for u2 was really good (and i have been to loads of concerts to compare it to). Maybe i was just in the right spot (in the middle about 5m back from the edge of the elipse
 
we were slap bang in front of "adams" b-stage & yes we could hear the drum echo during quieter sections (ie no loud guitars) but it was hardly reason to complain! at the end of the day there was nothin that could be done about it. with speakers that big & loud there is always going to be echo to a small degree inside a sports stadium, especially an enclosed stadium like hampden
 
I took my digital dictaphone but it came out really bad! I have some photos along with 10 second video clips of streets, WOWY and ONE if anyone wants me to email them an invitation to look at them on the Kodak website. I tried posting my photos on this website but it won't work!
 
andrew_farrell said:


Thanks for sharing those pics and videos. The videos are really good! Nice to relive part of a great night :rockon:

No bother glad you liked them. The annoying thing is I had ordered a new memory card that could have got 50 mins of video but the company messed up the delivery! Was raging but still had a great night! Just think could have had the full version of all of those songs!
 
Could i see the photos and any videos as well please !!

Thanks..

wclark67@aol.com

I agree with the sound problems mentioned earlier... if you were standing to the far left corner of the pitch to the rear the first three songs were at some points unrecognisable !! And ive been to alot of gigs and have heard good/bad sound quality in the past... as the gig went on we moved forward and it became alot better by wild horses... We were at the second barrier for support bands and speach was difficult to make out and you heard the echo no problem.... yikes !! Maybe it was too much alkeeeehol !!!! Ha Ha. would of almost thought the sound from stage speakers was turned up by wild horses to try cancel things out!!... This must have been recognisable from stage... surely??!! excellent gig... but sound probs made a bit of a downer..... so glad vertigo was played again because it was awsome the second time !!!!!!

What didnt help was the fact that the pitch was so full i think.... i dont think we should of been standing so far back....... i think we had a few extra friends on the pitch who didnt like seated tickets!!

Ta for now !!!!

:wink: :wink:
 
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