May 12, United Center in Chicago

[dsmith2904]

Please post your reviews of the May 12th show here.

 

[Axver]

I can't wait to read the reviews of this!

 

[BVS]

It was amazing. I had seats behind the stage and was pleasantly surprised how great the seats were.

The setlist was great. I really wasn't expecting much from songs like Pride or WOWY, I thought yeah they're crowd pleasers but I think in previous tours they've kinda lost their luster, but tonight they sounded as fresh as JT days. Bono's voice sounded great, the only problem I had was everyone around me was trying to sing along and Bono changed up things slightly like the wohs at the end of WOWY so the crowd was off...this is why I don't think the crowd should sing along with every song.

Bono was in a great mood and his voice was on, the mix wasn't always perfect and his voice was drowned out a few times. He even grabbed Adams ass while in passing. Adam was in fine form. Larry was the only one hidden from my view but he was amazing. But I have to say that The Edge was the man tonight. He was just thrusting his anger and sadness through his guitar. And his backup vocals were amazing. His piano on Original and RTSS was inspiring. I really got the feeling Edge is using this tour to deal with his personal problems. He had one little messup on Yahweh and Bono gave him a little smile but nothing big.

They did have technical difficulties with the human rights video. The words started scrolling before the girl started speaking, then they started the words over but her voice didn't come in till the second article but the guys voice never came in and they cut it short.

Oceans was great Bono reminisced about the first time they played Chicago he couldn't remember the name of the club and some audience members helped him out and then after his little talked just looked at Larry and asked, "well how do we end this", then Larry took over and finished it. You could also tell Original was not planned. Right before they played Bono turns to Edge who had already strapped on a new guitar talked to him and then went and talked to Larry and Adam, it was a beautiful version. Larry came in early once and Bono just made a hand motion said not yet. You can tell it's a song they really love but don't quite know how to do it live yet.

But I have to say 'Bad' was the highlight, at least for me. I've seen U2 8 times now, this is the one song I've always wanted to see but never have until tonight and then I was given an almost 10 minute version. They snippeted Norwegian Wood, Sexual Healing and 40! Bono had the crowd doing 40 chant for awhile, he scanned the crowd with the spotlight stopped on this guy dressed up like Elvis and sang "how long, how long to sing this song, until Elvis is here". Once again you could tell 40 was imptomtu because afterwards he looked at Edge like I don't know what to do from here, then the three of them got in a huttle in front of Larry and Larry did his thing and closed the show.

Well I know it's sporatic but I can't sit down and type a complete review right now.

 

[Raynman009]

BonoVon, Did you see Bono point one finger up to the crowd at the end of Bad right before they all huddled, as if they were gonna do one more? He did it twice. My $100 ticket was worth the price just to hear Bad!!! I liked hearing Gloria.

 

[unosdostres14]

How was 40 impromptu, they've played it at every concert.

 

[Raynman009]

Because Bono only added a snippet of "How long? To sing this song" during the song. It was AWESOME!!! I LOVED the ending.

 

[U2bpbear24]

just got home from the concert. i cant even find a word to describe how awesome it was.

i was in GA 3 people from the front.

best concert ever, but im tired, i'll post more tomorrow, i promise. and some awesome pics too

 

[frozenmuze04]

Yeah, I hate to sound like a bitch, but great timing, guys - find the perfect setlist the day AFTER you film the DVD. This setlist was the damn DVD, right here. Talk about dropping the ball.

I can't help but be a little irritated. They should have waited to film the DVD until they had the setlist flow together. Then again, it shouldn't have taken them this long to do it, either.

Grrr....

 

[BVS]

BonoVon, Did you see Bono point one finger up to the crowd at the end of Bad right before they all huddled, as if they were gonna do one more? He did it twice.

Yeah I did see that but couldn't tell if it was a one more or a 1 second we're trying to figure out how to end this...

But wasn't in amazing?

 

[hluvslmj]

Great show! I enjoyed this more than Monday night and the crowd was more pumped.
Loved the energetic opening of Vertigo followed by ABOY, Elevation, Gloria. I was when I heard Gloria. I swear I was the only one around me freaking when I heard the opening notes of Gloria. It didn't seem that the majority were familiar with it I would like to dub my VHS tape of Under A Blood Red Sky for everyone there.
Anyway, that was the one song I was praying I'd hear. Later my second choice UTEOTW was played
I thought The Fly was a little weird but it's interesting to hear songs changed up a little...and WOWY lost a little emotion the way Bono sang it.
From the start I had the feeling they were going to throw in some other songs.

 

[ayearwome]

Great show! I enjoyed this more than Monday night and the crowd was more pumped.
Loved the energetic opening of Vertigo followed by ABOY, Elevation, Gloria. I was when I heard Gloria. I swear I was the only one around me freaking when I heard the opening notes of Gloria. It didn't seem that the majority were familiar with it I would like to dub my VHS tape of Under A Blood Red Sky for everyone there.
Anyway, that was the one song I was praying I'd hear. Later my second choice UTEOTW was played
I thought The Fly was a little weird but it's interesting to hear songs changed up a little...and WOWY lost a little emotion the way Bono sang it.
From the start I had the feeling they were going to throw in some other songs.

I too was freaking out during Gloria!!! I was in the Ellipse and I'd say about 20% of the people were going crazy, but not too many.

 

[barrett]

VERTIGO- no stories. Great energy to open. Set the tone as an anything goes night like Chicago Elevation 4. I don't know why it took them so long to find the obvious opener.
ABOY- Perfect place for it since I don't like the song and the energy is already up from the Vertigo. I also knew right away the second encore would be special.
GLORIA- wonderfully played although I thought more folks would recognize it.
THE OCEAN- horrible. slowed down the show, but I had never seen it before. Bono talked about his first time playing this song in Chicago and he asked the crowd for the name of the club. Someone said "Mexico" and Bono said it wasn't Mexico. He finally got Park and then Park West.
OOTS- Phenomenal. Bono blamed the Edge for not performing this song more. After the song Bono looked at Larry with a huge grin and nodded his head with joy. This will be a permanent.
UTEOTW- same slot machine graphic and Bono uniform as Zoo Station. Done great. The whole crowd goes nuts with this song unlike Zoo Station where very few people in the arena recognize it.
WOWY- Bono brought a girl up from the front row on Adams side at the end and hugged her quite tightly
YAHWEH- Seemed to be done quicker than the other nights- maybe I'm wrong.
BAD- Best Bad I have ever seen (first tour was Joshua). very short snippets of Norwegian Wood/Sexual Healing and then "How Long" chants for a few times before returning to the music to close the show. After Bad they huddled at the drums and I thought we would get one more. But hen, how do you top Bad?

I really wish they had filmed this show. No more energy than the previous 2, but the band was way more relaxed and the setlist just worked. I would place this show as being just a tad below the Elevation shows. Hopefully the band adopts this setlist structure and keeps the variety coming. After the lame Night 1, U2 is back on top.

 

[Flyin E']

Songs

Vertigo Rocked!! I don't even like that song. Very happy about Bad and Gloria. They should lose Beautiful Day (yawn).

WTSHNN gives me goosebumps in concert, and SYCMIOYO made my wife cry.

Running to Stand Still was powerful, and all of the Joshua Tree songs were spectacular.

I don't think I need to hear 'Pride' any more...

 

[U2bpbear24]

UTEOTW was awesome.... this concert was definately the best...ever.

but it was kinda weird because WOWY wasnt very emotional/powerful, but it was still good.

the semi-circle at the end of Bad was awesome. i got a geat pic of it here--> h*tp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v713/U2bpbear24/U2%205-12-05/U2concert5-12-05007.jpg

i am still in shock from the show. I can now die happy.

 

[joyfulgirl]

VERTIGO- no stories. Great energy to open. Set the tone as an anything goes night like Chicago Elevation 4. I don't know why it took them so long to find the obvious opener.

I've said it after each of the 4 shows I've seen...why the hell don't they just open with Vertigo. I personally don't particularly like the song much but the crowd goes nuts everytime they play it. They love the friggin' countdown. Can't wait to hear the bootleg to see how it sounded as an opener. And follwed by ABOY! And UTEOTW! And Bad! Best setlist and flow so far, it seems. Wish I'd been there.

 

[U2bpbear24]

Re: Songs

WTSHNN gives me goosebumps in concert, and SYCMIOYO made my wife cry.

yea, i was 3 people from the front... and Bono's expressions and emotion during SYCMIOYO was so powerful... i got a little teary eyed myself. at the end when he was walking back to the stage, on the last note, he paused, slowly looked back over his shoulder, as if he was looking for his dad, and then kept walking... it was so powerful, i think Bono was gettin emotional at the end of it too.

 

[u2forlife]

It was amazing. I had seats behind the stage and was pleasantly surprised how great the seats were.

They did have technical difficulties with the human rights video. The words started scrolling before the girl started speaking, then they started the words over but her voice didn't come in till the second article but the guys voice never came in and they cut it short.

I was behind the stage on 5/12. I was in the section with the Elvis. Were you there too? BTS seats are the best seats in the house. You get so close to the band and Bono definitely showed us lots of love last night. You get to see things that no one else does like when Bono pinched Adam's arse!

With the human rights video, the girl's voice never starts until about Article 3. I went to 3 shows in Chicago and that happened each night. Was there technical difficulties on all 3 nights?

 

[BVS]

I was behind the stage on 5/12. I was in the section with the Elvis. Were you there too? BTS seats are the best seats in the house. You get so close to the band and Bono definitely showed us lots of love last night. You get to see things that no one else does like when Bono pinched Adam's arse!

With the human rights video, the girl's voice never starts until about Article 3. I went to 3 shows in Chicago and that happened each night. Was there technical difficulties on all 3 nights?

I was about three sections to your right. Ok maybe her voice is suppose to start on the third but it was definately out of sync at first and then corrected also I was under the impression that a guy comes on reads out a few as well. Maybe I'm wrong.

 

[2Hearts]

UTEOTW- same slot machine graphic and Bono uniform as Zoo Station. Done great. The whole crowd goes nuts with this song unlike Zoo Station where very few people in the arena recognize it. [\QUOTE]

Zoo Station is the 1st track on an album that has sold 17 million copies. How the heck can people not have heard it???

 

[kakvox]

Zoo Station is the 1st track on an album that has sold 17 million copies. How the heck can people not have heard it???

Because it isn't a radio staple. A shame, really.

 

[cleazer]

Hi folks, I caught all 4 Chicago shows (my first ones on this tour), and I think that fourth one was really something special.

From the very opening song, it was obvious the band was planning on mixing things up for us (and for them), and the setlist didn't disappoint.

I will say this though: The show started with what seemed like a slight lack of intensity. I have a feeling that a number of folks were just plain tired, from seeing them all week long, and it just took a while to get going.

Vertigo was a sweet opener, but ABOY was a bit of a letdown. A nice surprise, mind you, but far from everyone's favorite. Elevation was cool, but Gloria seemed like it was lost on a good portion of the crowd. Oh well.

The Ocean was weird. That was obviously the first time I'd heard the song on this tour, but it seemed like Edge missed a few notes at the start of the song. Then, in the middle of the song, Bono just started talking to the crowd. Have U2 been playing long versions of The Ocean elsewhere on this tour too? Anyway, while Bono was talking to the crowd, and asking about the name of the club, the other 3 just kept playing along, keeping the song going.

After Bono mocked the girl who said Mexico, he finally got the correct name of the club a few minutes later, and the crowd gave a big cheer. Presumably, both for naming the club, and for finally figuring it out. He basically called a huddle back by Larry's drums, and it was funny to hear him ask "How do we end this song?" Larry showed the way with his drums, and from that moment on, it just felt like a very special concert to me.

During much of RTSS, Bono kept looking back at the Edge playing piano (I think that was the song), and for a bit there, he just stood there staring at Edge with a very sympathetic look on his face.

I totally went nuts when they played UTEOTW, since its my favorite song, even though I knew it was coming. I was sitting right next to a young lady who had some special connections, and she was kind enough to provide me with a copy of the playlist for the night. But I still went nuts for UTEOTW. I love Zoo Staion and all, but after hearing it for three straight shows, I'd be more than happy if they replaced it with UTEOTW for the rest of the year. Of course, I'm sure there's a lot of fans who haven't heard it yet this year, so it won't be totally replaced, but hopefully this won't be UTEOTW's only appearance this year.

WOWY was a fantastic way to end the first encore. The crowd went absolutely nuts, and was singing along quite loudly during the ending, and continued to be very loud while making noise for the band to come out for a second encore.

Bad, as a final song, was just awesome! Talk about saving your best for last, and sending the crowd away with smiles on their faces. Once again, the crowd went absolutely nuts after it was over, hoping for another encore. I have to tell you, hearing the crowd reaction to those two songs (WOWY and Bad), as the band walked off the stage, I have to wonder if U2 will be seriously tempted to try that more often. The crowd loved it, and I'm sure the boys appreciated the reaction.

After the show last night, I seriously can't believe that I have to wait until September to see them again. I wish I could sneak off to the Boston or Philly shows.

 

[cleazer]

You could also tell Original was not planned. You can tell it's a song they really love but don't quite know how to do it live yet.

I have a copy of the playlist sitting in front of me right now, and I can confirm that OOTS was not planned! Everything else is listed exactly as it happened (4 songs in 1st encore, only 2 in the 2nd), but OOTS is not listed. But they were having fun last night, and decided to give us an extra song!! Thank you, U2!!

Chicago 3 was the first time I heard OOTS live, and honestly, I wasn't that impressed. However, it was GREATLY IMPROVED for Chicago 4. They just nailed it last night! Obviously, its still a work in progress, but the work is clearly progressing nicely! Once they get it down, hopefully they'll move on to Crumbs.

I have to say, after the first 3 shows, hearing Yahweh twice and OOTS once, I really didn't have any preference between them. Neither song did that much for me, and they both just seemed kind of so-so. However, after hearing OOTS last night, it was clear that it was a superior song, and for the sake of the folks yet to see them this tour, I hope they decide to play OOTS more often. It really is (or at least it will be, after more practice) a better song.

 

[cleazer]

I was in the section with the Elvis.

I was in Section 118, row 1, seat 1. Elvis was the second person in 117, row 1, so I was basically just two people away from him.

What an awesome character! Bono spotted him during the show, and pointed him out to the rest of the band. Adam seemed to get quite a kick out of him. Bono hit him with the spotlight during Bad, and right after the show ended, as the band walked out from underneath the stage wearing bathrobes, Bono looked up and gave Elvis one final acknowledgement.

By the way, when I first saw him walk in wearing that gold suit, the first thing I thought was MacElvis. The gold suit made it close.

 

[atikicat]

I really wish they had filmed this show. No more energy than the previous 2, but the band was way more relaxed and the setlist just worked. I would place this show as being just a tad below the Elevation shows. Hopefully the band adopts this setlist structure and keeps the variety coming. After the lame Night 1, U2 is back on top.

I'm actually glad they didn't film it. It's for this reason that the band was more relaxed, the setlist was so mixed up/varied and we weren't subjected to the staged theatrics and rambling speeches of the previous night. The 10th was an amazing show too, but the 12th was clearly more spontaneous. Even the events leading up to the concert on the 10th seemed staged and hokey due to the cameras being there. They filmed fans in the GA line singing Vertigo and Happy Birthday to Bono...not once, but a couple times in order to get the best take. When Bono arrived for soundcheck and stopped to meet the fans, the cameras were rolling too. As Bono got back into his car the camera person signalled the fans to make more noise. During the concert, Laura the giant, is brought back up to play Party Girl (since the night before apparently didn't go too well). Khelia is brought up to dance yet again with Bono during Mysterious Ways (as she had in a previous city). Why? Because she knows the drill and Bono knows she'll put on a good show (which she did) and not freak out or freeze-up. Nothing wrong with any this of course. It'll all look great on the dvd, but the 12th just seemed more genuine and spontaneous to me. Does this make it better? Not necessarily. I'm really glad I got the chance to see both shows, as they were both great and very different.

 

[Louis]

For some photos of nights 1, 2, and 4,
go here:

home.uchicago.edu/~romy

copy and paste.

Enjoy!
Louis

 

[mofo82]

I was in Section 118, row 1, seat 1. Elvis was the second person in 117, row 1, so I was basically just two people away from him.

What an awesome character! Bono spotted him during the show, and pointed him out to the rest of the band. Adam seemed to get quite a kick out of him. Bono hit him with the spotlight during Bad, and right after the show ended, as the band walked out from underneath the stage wearing bathrobes, Bono looked up and gave Elvis one final acknowledgement.

By the way, when I first saw him walk in wearing that gold suit, the first thing I thought was MacElvis. The gold suit made it close.

I got such a huge kick out of that guy. I was leaving the United Center and he was out in front of me, so I had to let out a big 'Ladies and Gentleman, Elvis has just left the building'

 

[ShellBeThere]

wish I was there for the 12th, was there for the 7th, which I thought was a great show but it felt decidely un-spontaneous, gorgeous yes but not relaxed, and no wonder. Of course they'd relax after the filming, and listening to the boot you can hear it...not just in bono's vocals and commentary but also somehow in the instrumentals.
Just finished listening to WOWY and my god...
gorgeous energy and it sounds like everyone, band and audience, had a great time!

edit: Bono pinching Adam's arse?! that's some video that would be cool to see!
cheerio...

 

[u2grace]

I was there on the 7th (sec 108) and 12th (GA - not in the bomb shelter, but right at the very center of the walkway, 1 person deep). I thoroughly enjoyed Saturday, but Thurs was just amazing. The band was so much looser and I was thrilled with the setlist (also that it just wasn't the same as I'd seen Saturday). I'm driving everyone crazy back at home (in Ohio) about the whole thing - they think I'm a bit goofy at this point!

 

[NamelessStreets]

Please please please play UTEOTW at Twickenham. PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[villavarian]

I have been listening to your show and it sounds awesome. Elevation is probably the best live version I have ever heard of the song. Bono handed a lot of it over to Larry and the crowd.