Has any one ever been underwelmed by a U2 show?

[Zooropa]

You know, expectations can be so high sometimes that it may be impossible for them to live up to expectations. Thats not to say that the show was bad or anything but... So have you ever felt this way after a U2 gign (or maybe a better question would be if you would admit it

)?

*Ducks and runs away from all the people ready to knock my block off for uttering such a blasphimist question*

------------------
Don't let the bastards grind you down.

Zooropa FTP

[This message has been edited by Zooropa (edited 05-10-2002).]

[This message has been edited by Zooropa (edited 05-10-2002).]

 

[Salome]

not yet

------------------
Salome
Shake it, shake it, shake it

 

[She Is Raging]

Only once.

It was my first Elevation show and I was so excited for so long that I couldnt sleep for like a week ahead of time... anyways, my seats were behind the stage, and so bad that I couldnt even tell what song was playing half the time - talk about the mother of all letdowns. Other than that, no complaints.

------------------

What in God's name have you done?
Stick your arm for some real fun...
Rest in peace Layne.

Get on board and have some fun -
Take What you need to turn you on...

 

[tiny dancer]

Not at all. At the most I have been overwelmed, especially at this past Vegas show!

 

[u2loopy]

Never underwhelmed by the group! But, maybe by the seats I've had, which have always been real sucky!!!!!

------------------
What are we going to do now It's all been said,
No new ideas in the house and Every book has been read....

 

[Angela Harlem]

Only Pop. But my seats were so poor I may as well have been sitting a few suburbs away. In fact, Im sure my part of the stadium had a different postcode to the stage...

 

[jezebel]

yep, I admit it....

I wanted to see U2 for years and years and finally caught the final North American Zoo TV show at Anaheim Stadium. Really lousy seats to the side, so there was no frontal assault of the TV screens. Yes, and my expectations were so high that I was ultimately let down. And I can only admit that here in Interference

PopMart and Elevation were outstanding, however!

 

[Monkey79]

Maybe the ZooTV Outside Broadcast show I saw was a bit of a letdown. I think a lot of it had to do with the sucky opening bands. I actually walked out during Public Enema's set, and BAD II wasn't that great either. That put me in a foul mood for the show. And it was in a dome with pretty bad sound. However, U2's set was awesome (as usual)

 

[Sicy]

Nope.

 

[kobayashi]

the ninth time i watched the boston dvd i became disappointed.

 

[meegannie]

No, even when I was WAY up in the rafters at the first DC show.

 

[jphelmet]

yes. one out of 15 concerts. very beginning of popmart tour, in clemson, sc. it showed that the band was not ready for the tour to start. that sounded very poor on a few songs, i remember during if god will send his angels, what are they trying to do with this. bono's voice was almsot completely gone, and having seen the setlist for the other popmart show i was disappointed they dropeed a few songs from the set (was the first night they quit playing do you feel loved) they did redeem this self on the other three opmart shows i saw, especially on the last leg- they were in far greater form. all that said a diasappointing u2 show is still better than 99% of all other bands, and rage against the machine did play a killer set to open.

jp

 

[lazyboy]

Boston DVD leaves me a bit underwhelmed sometimes. As great as it is, it just seems a bit.....I dunno....lacking in raw energy or something. That's strange for a U2 show.

Slane1 was a tiny bit of a let-down. It was awesome, an unbelievable gig, but getting crushed, seeing people crying(not cos of Bono either) and my friends having to leave our spot cos of the uncomfort and impossibility to see anything. Slane2 more than made up for it though!

London on the Elevation tour was my second time ever seeing them. At the time I was a tiny bit let down, cos for 4 years I was living with the memories of Popmart, my first ever live gig, and it didn't have the same WOW

effect as that, but it was never gonna. So not the gigs fault, it was superb itself, took a while to sink in though

 

[ouizy]

As much as I do not want to admit it, I kind of was.

See, I had pretty shitty seats for Popmart and was very close to a bank of speakers that were off to the side of the stage (kind of behind) - not the orange cluster.

As excited as I was to hear Bono in Mono, it really wasn't as the speakers were so close to my head. Anyway it was so damn loud that I could not really hear the vocals - it was very weirdly mixed.

OK - so maybe not underwhelmed as the visuals were superb, but the sound was not great for me.

 

[Judah]

I'm not sure about "underwhelmed," but I didn't feel as connected to the band at its PopMart show in Vancouver (1997). I loved the stage and the presentation (and the album), and i was blown away by the spectacle of it all, but i felt emotionally distant from the band, unlike all the other concerts (i.e. JT, ZooTv, Elevation). Maybe it was the bald-Bono effect...

 

[ericb]

I've only seen 2 U2 shows, both on the Elevation tour. The 2nd show I was let down by. The 1st show I saw in June in NJ was great and went 2hrs and 10 minutes. The 2nd show I saw in Philly Nov. 2 only went 1 hr and 43 minutes. And they dropped With Or Without You, along with a whole bunch of other hits. I could understand getting tired of some songs, but I never thought they would drop With Or Without You.

sv, I'm a Springsteen fan too. I saw 9 shows on the Reunion Tour. Bruce was doing nearly 3 hour shows. I wish more artists would do that. And Bruce is in his 50's! Some of the shows I thought were really good, and it was great seeing the setlists get changed around so much, but some of those setlists I thought were kind of so/so.

[This message has been edited by ericb (edited 05-10-2002).]

 

[LarryMullen's POPAngel]

Out of the 5 times I've seen them in my life, never.

------------------
Bend me, break me
Anyway you need me
All I want is you

 

[BAW]

No, 3 out of 3 were everything I hoped they would be and then some.

------------------
Just as you find me
Always I will be
A little bit too free
With myself

 

[Jayhawk]

Denver on the 3rd leg of the Elevation Tour left me feeling underwhelmed but part of it had to do with the venue staff. They were just complete jerks to everyone and roughed up some of the crowd on the floor. U2 seemed to be on auto-pilot that night as well. I was fortunate to see them play KC a few weeks later and they were just on fire. Great great night.

 

[sv]

I was underwhelmed by each of the four Joshua Tree Tour shows I saw, especially the fall leg shows. The audience was great (especially that first leg), but Bono seemed to want to concentrate on microphone-vocals more at that time, and I had been expecting the War-tour energy/Bono-in-the-crowd antics, etc. To make things worse, I went with a couple longtime Bruce Springsteen fan - they appreciated the U2 performances but laughed at the idea that U2 were anywhere near the same league as Bruce live (of course, who was?) - which Bruce promptly confirmed when I saw him in early 1988 (which wasn't even Bruce's best in most fans' views).

Also, at the time the only previous U2 performance I had seen was their Amnesty International benefit appearance in Chicago 6/13/86, which was truly magnificent (perfect) in every respect.

At the first of the three Chicago Popmart shows (6/27/97), the audience was awesome but the band were (relatively) flat, from my perspective.

All the Elevation and Zoo shows I saw were great. My least favorite Elevation show was Tampa, but that show would blow away any JT show I saw - the garden-variety Elevation show was just SO great. The Elevation and Zoo TV Outside Broadcast tours are the only tour legs in which I think U2 performed at the Springsteen level consistently (just my view) - the first leg Elevation Tour might have been better than Bruce (though this is very subjective).

 

[Angell]

Originally posted by lazyboy:
Boston DVD leaves me a bit underwhelmed sometimes. As great as it is, it just seems a bit.....I dunno....lacking in raw energy or something. That's strange for a U2 show.

I agree here--couldn't get into the show, and therefore still have not watched the whole thing (bought it the day it came out!)

I was underwhelmed opening night....was my first U2 show, and the seat I had paid $135 for was on the side of the stage (almost directly across from the main stage) and I came out of the show with the main feeling being "I paid $140 for THAT?". My disappointment was with the whole seating deal, not the show itself (although I think that was the least of the 5 that I saw).

We had GC for closing night in Miami, and they were fabulous seats...end of the arena, but oh so closer than you would think!

------------------
"Love is a verb..."
enterangell@cs.com

 

[Popmartijn]

I thought the third Arnhem concert was a bit of a letdown. I was expecting/hoping for a radical show like fourth night Chicago or Boston, but instead it was a regular setlist(although they did play Pride instead of New Year's Day). Nevertheless, I still enjoyed myself (although I also was annoyed by some persons in the heart who were very irritating (maybe too much drinks)).

I can also remember that I though my second Popmart concert (2nd night in Rotterdam) was not as good as the first night in Rotterdam, but I still thought it was a great spectacle.

C ya!

Marty


------------------
People criticize me but I know it's not the end
I try to kick the truth, not just to make friends

Spearhead - People In Tha Middle

 

[spinninghead77]

"I was underwhelmed if that's a word... I know it's not cause I looked it up... it's one of the skills that I learned in my school"....

Sorry... only Canadians, or Sloan fans would know WTF I am talking about...

------------------
***Spinny***
"I don't know about you, but I feel good about the fact that I still haven't found what I'm looking for"-Bono, 1987

"Be uncool, yes be akward!"

 

[moon_is_playing_tricks]

Originally posted by LarryMullen's_POPAngel:
Out of the 5 times I've seen them in my life, never.

*EXACTLY* what she said. Same amount of shows, same overwhelming experience.

Moonie

 

[pop_mofo]

I must say that I have been let down by a U2 show. My first U2 show was PopMart in Toronto on October 26, 97. It was a great show, but it just never seemed to take off. I can't put my finger on it. i had a balst, but it didn't blow me away like I had expected.

However, I was there for night 2 in toronto on the 27th and it was surreal! It absolutely blew my mind! Since then, I have never ben let down by a U2 show. Not even close to being let down. And I have seen 9 shows in total. I am now on an 8 for 8 streak. I hope I didn't just jinx it

Anyway, that's my story.

Peace.


------------------
Peace on Earth.

 

[cass]

only seen them twice,
more than happy both times.

[This message has been edited by cass (edited 05-15-2002).]

 

[Carmanah]

I'm not sure about "underwhelmed," but I didn't feel as connected to the band at its PopMart show in Vancouver (1997). I loved the stage and the presentation (and the album), and i was blown away by the spectacle of it all, but i felt emotionally distant from the band, unlike all the other concerts (i.e. JT, ZooTv, Elevation). Maybe it was the bald-Bono effect...

Judah, I was at the same show and I felt the exact same way. In fact, that was my first ever U2 show (as I became a big fan a few months AFTER they played their last Vancouver Zoo TV show).... yet, while I wasn't let down, I didn't feel a connection. My seats were 47th row on the floor. I was standing on my chair all night trying to see ahead, but usually to no avail. The sound was alright... the songs were great, but I felt I was missing out.

I did catch them again in Vancouver for the Elevation tour... and that show left me speechless with tears in my eyes... it was all I hoped it would be. But the PopMart show? I too felt emotionally distant... like an outsider looking in.

 

[elevatedmole]

Denver on the 3rd leg of the Elevation Tour left me feeling underwhelmed but part of it had to do with the venue staff. They were just complete jerks to everyone and roughed up some of the crowd on the floor. U2 seemed to be on auto-pilot that night as well. I was fortunate to see them play KC a few weeks later and they were just on fire. Great great night.

YES!!!!

Someone who was there and UNDERSTANDS how horrible the staff acted!

Ugh. In case people who reading this didn't know, they put us in a corral (yes, a corral, as I fondly refer to it) in the rain/snow. Then they kept saying every 15 minutes that they would let us in.. 6:20.. 6:45.. my legs are dying.. my limbs are way past going numb.. and the entire time, the staff INSIDE the arena is sitting there. Doing nothing. Absolutely nothing. Just standing there waiting to take our tickets. But noooo.. there is several sets of doors in front of that. At about 7 they finally let us in (not apologizing) -- it made me so mad.

Out of all 8 times I've seen U2, that was the only time I was very upset. It wasn't their fault at all, however. It was a fantastic concert Just.. a stupid staff. *sigh*