It pains me to say this but.....

[dietcokeofevil]

HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

ahhh.....

Actually yeah. Maybe I should rephrase that as "a community that SHOULD be able to handle positive and negative reviews

 

[neilm]

As a massive long term fan of u2, I gotta say I am scratching my head after seeing them in concert last week in Brisbane Australia.

I understand the band have had an extended break from the Vertigo tour, but last weeks performance was disappointing to say the least.

Having last seen them on their popmart tour I could not wait to see "the worlds greatest band" sell their wares by way of the Vertigo tour. Sure I went with high hopes, but this is U2 we are talking about right????

From the moment the band walked on the stage, Bono's voice was sub standard, he found it incredibly difficult to hit the higher notes and at points to even stay on tune.

Throughout several songs the band made some serious blunders. Walk On, was basically butchered until they reigned it back in, well into the second verse. Bono made little attempt to walk out into the heart and merely hovered around the band lacking much of his characteristic charisma and showmanship.

To be short they looked tired, dis-interested and like they'd much rather be somewhere else.

Granted there was so really high points of the concert. Some songs were brilliant like the amazingly high note Bono hit and held in SYCMIOYO and Kite. Not to mention the incredible operatic outburst in Miss Sarajevo. But for the most part I would say it was 50 50...definatley not a statistic I'd expect from U2.

What has happened to my beloved u2? I hate to reduce this down to a financial arguement but paying $200 AU ($152.00 USD) a ticket (and I had two), I seriously don't think (and I've thought about this over the past week) that I got my money's worth.

To put it simply, I know that bands and muso's have bad days. But ultimatley if things are not right to go don't do it half baked. Especially considering the last time the band was in Australia was over eight years ago.

Bono - it's time to stop telling us how "u2 is the greatest band in the world" it's time to prove it again, cause there are others clawing for that title...and I don't wanna see anyone take that from my favourite band!


Would love to hear from anyone who also went to the Brisbane concert and get their thoughts.

air_man

Hi air_man....

I've seen U2 somewhere between 40-50 times in total and have seen them play on every tour from the UF - Vertigo and I was at the Brisbane Vertigo show. A couple of comments to your post would be:

"Sound issues"...nope, I can't say there were any real issues with the sound.

"Several blunders," I counted two from memory (not including where Edge lost his guitar sound for about two seconds during Vertigo). There was the start of Walk On, which corrected itself up before the first chorus and there was the transition from SBS to Bullet.

I also did not have any issues with Bono's voice. It sounded fresh after a six month rest and was far from sub standard.

I'm obviously not having a pop at you. I'm just commenting on a couple of things from your post that I think were incorrect, in my opinion.

Maybe your expectations of what you were going to see were too high? Don't get me wrong, you pay for a ticket and you want to be blown away, but remember the days of seeing a show that you've never seen before with U2 came in the days of Zoo TV & PopMart with all the screen and props. Elevation and Vertigo Tours have been far more about the music than the props and to be fair the music was far from sub standard in Brisbane. Believe me, I've seen them play far worse than that.

As to how the Brisbane show compares to the others on the Australian Tour so far, I haven't been to them all so I'm not really qualified to judge, but going on the reviews, it's right up there with the best.

At the end of the day, it's each to their own and you are entitled to your opinion. It's a shame the show didn't live up to expectations, but hopefully the next one (if you've not been put off) will!

Cheers

neilm

 

[BobaFett]

I'm with air_man. Paid the big bucks, but didn't feel I got what I was expecting from U2 - an absolutely top-notch show. As I've said elsewhere, I thought the sound at the show I went to (Sydney II) was appalling.

And the presentation of the songs was a little lacking I thought. I suspect there are a bunch of songs which U2 have been playng non-stop for years. You cannot tell me the a song like Bullet the Blue Sky is delivered with the same level of passion that it was in the late 80s and early 90s. It's a song the band have been playing non stop for almost 20 years!

Desire was lame - that's a song that needs to be put out there with such life for it to work properly. It came out as if it was an afterthought.

It would be interesting to se U2 choose a whole bunch of obscure songs they haven't played in years, work them up and do a tour - that's a tour that would have some spark!

Remember folks - just opinions...

 

[bgmckinney]

It would be interesting to se U2 choose a whole bunch of obscure songs they haven't played in years, work them up and do a tour - that's a tour that would have some spark!

Remember folks - just opinions...

Vertigo tour has seen the return/debut of:

An Cat Dubh
Into the Heart
Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses
The Ocean
Gloria
Zoo Station
Out of Control
The First Time
Party Girl
The Electric Co
"40"
Love Is Blindness
Discotheque
Stories for Boys (as part of Vertigo)

Analyzing setlists of course would be another debate, another thread. But this tour is far and away the most diverse the band have ever done. I think they're only keeping it a bit more conventional in the last leg because these countries haven't seen U2 in so long. Of course I can't know, but I'd bet that seventy-five percent of people at the Brisbane or Adelaide shows don't want to hear An Cat or The First Time - they want to hear Walk On and Desire.

 

[BobaFett]

Very true. The vast majority of people want to see the hits. And that's fine - most of the time, so do I! But I do think that it does get to the point where a band's performance lacks the fire and passion because the majority of the set is the same set of songs they've been playing for years (sometimes decades!).

I for one would prefer a band to put on a fantastic show full of obscure songs over a bland one that's full of hits.

But I do accept that I'm in a very small minority...

 

[4U2Play]

Funny that BobaFett thinks the Sydney 2 show was crap.

I've been hearing the exact opposite from friends who are in Oz right now, attending loads of shows.

They're saying Sydney 2 was one of those U2 concerts that simply took off, when everything rose to another level.

These are from people who have seen U2 dozens and dozens of times all over the world for the past 20+ years.

It's interesting how varied the perspectives are of people who witness the same event.

 

[bgmckinney]

It's interesting how varied the perspectives are of people who witness the same event.

I have sometimes wondered how many people who saw, for instance, the Rattle and Hum shows (McNichols Arena) or Red Rocks said afterwards, oh, I saw them back in '80, they were so much better. It would have been interesting if there had been internet threads back then. Who knows what the reactions were?

 

[tourist]

I was at the Brisbane show and while there was a little bit of rust. Bono sounded great. And the Brisvegas crowd was awesome.

I saw Vertigo Adelaide last week and while the Perfomance was much tighter, the crowd were'nt quite as mad for the occasion as Brisbane. So many variables go into making 'the next level' and we're one of 'em.

I would be interested to know how many of the 'thumbs up reviewers' were GA or seated. Your experience can be influenced by those around you. Was everyone up out of their seats and dancing? The few occasions i glanced into the stands in Bris it apepared that way. But not in Adelaide. There was def a sense of community down on the field (particularly in Bris). I'll never buy seated tickets for U2 regardless of what time i knock off work.

I suppose in Brisvegas we all revelled in the occasion. Opening night of any leg, rusty or not, is something pretty special. And Brisbane knew it....at least the GA'ers did.

 

[tourist]

No offence to Radelaide folks. I met some very nice locals and made some new friends. And they went off!! But Brisbane was louder. fin.

 

[belbelchic]

one thing i noticed on the tour, that bono sounded a bit nasally escpecially during vertigo??