Alternative View of the 360 Tour

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The Rolling Stones when they were the same age the members of U2 are now
Paul McCartney
Elvis Costello
Phish
I've only seen the RS once and they played about 2 hours.
Paul McCartney was brought up in another thread and I kept asking how long he played but all I kept getting was how many songs he played, but I know he does a lot of abrreviated/medley type of stuff so I never actually got a time.
Elvis suprises me that he plays that long.
For all the jam bands listed all I have to say is "no shit", it's what they do, but they also play for extended periods without singing, it's quite different for a band like U2.



Pearl Jam 2 1/2 hours
Willie Nelson will play 3 hours
I've seen PJ about 10 times since 92 and their shows seem to get shorter every tour(which makes sense), and they also aren't the most consistant I've seen shows where they play 2 hours and then the next night an extra 20 minutes. It use to really suprise me how Eddie could do it, sing that long while drinking and smoking on stage, but as of late I can tell it's starting to take a toll.
I've seen Willie several times and never never close to a 3 hr show.

But this show is not intimate just because of the claw. It is really about selling 20% more seats for each show.:hmm:

It can't be both?
 
i've always wanted to see willie, but i'm pretty sure he doesn't play that long

over the summer he was doing a minor league baseball tour with mellencamp and dylan

-dan
 
The last time I saw Willie I don't think he played one song in it's entirety and two songs he played twice because he forgot he had played them :lol:
 
Rolling Stones, Carter Finley Stadium, 1989 - a solid 2 1/2 hours and 27 songs

Elvis Costello, Portsmouth, VA, 2002 - closer to 3 hours than 2 1/2
Elvis Costello, Norfolk, VA 2005 - we left after 2 1/2 hours because my wife had to get up at 5:00 AM, and she had a migraine
 
Oh, and I'll tell you what I didn't know about Elvis Costello - that guy can play the shit out of a guitar. Had no idea. Not relevant to this topic, but dayum!
 
Rolling Stones, Carter Finley Stadium, 1989 - a solid 2 1/2 hours and 27 songs

Elvis Costello, Portsmouth, VA, 2002 - closer to 3 hours than 2 1/2
Elvis Costello, Norfolk, VA 2005 - we left after 2 1/2 hours because my wife had to get up at 5:00 AM, and she had a migraine

:eyebrow: that Stone's gig was 2 decades ago :lol:

that most recent Elvis gig I will give you, do you know if he's still doing this?
 
U2 just needs to play 2 more songs a night. Make it a solid 24-25 songs every night. What I don't understand is why are the encore breaks so quick?

Adam needs to smoke again so they have longer breaks. :doh: jk
 
Yes, that Stones gig was 2 decades ago. And their members are more or less 2 decades older than U2's. Oops, sorry for talking about the "members" of the Stones and U2.

Seriously, my point is guys Bono's/Edge's/Adam's/Larry's age can do a 2 1/2 hour show. And, oh by the way, Mick, Keith, and Ronnie were all the heck over that stage like monkeys all night. Bill, of course, stood in one spot and didn't crack a smile.

What I am willing to consider is that Mick's singing style may not take as much out of him as Bono's.
 
U2 just needs to play 2 more songs a night. Make it a solid 24-25 songs every night. What I don't understand is why are the encore breaks so quick?

They get the break for the Desmond Tutu schpiel...that eliminates the need for the encore break.

Seriously, cut the film clips, video montages, etc. and just f*cking play. We could play two more songs in the time all the filler takes up. If you're up against a local curfew, don't cut into that time with video. Really.
 
a friend just mentioned Green day playing after midnight on this tour.. So that had to be over a 2 hour show.

health issues are probably the cause for a lot of the 2 hour limit. I remember Larry wearing patches on arms last tour. Flying back to NYC after each gig makes for a rough day following especially eating BBQ that late at night.

Restaurant cooks up 'cue for U2

RALEIGH Debbie Holt was ready to close Cooper's BBQ for the day when she got a call. From U2.
Well, from U2's private jet services coordinator, a man she knows only as Maurice.
Holt, who co-owns the landmark Raleigh barbecue joint with her husband, Randy, was shocked early Saturday evening when she got a call from Maurice, requesting enough food for 25 people: barbecue, pork rinds, five fried chickens, pig skins, ribs, cole slaw, hush puppies.
The band was 30 minutes away from landing at RDU and then dashing to its performance at Carter-Finley Stadium, but could she please have the food ready for them at 10:50 p.m. sharp, just before the band's scheduled departure?
Why, yes, Holt said calmly.
The band had heard all about Cooper's, Maurice said, and they were hoping to get some of what they'd heard was the nation's best barbecue before they left town. Would she take a credit card?
Nope. Cooper's doesn't take credit cards, Holt said. The cost of the order would be $276.77, including a $50 delivery fee.
Maurice said he'd check to see if there was enough cash on the plane and call her back. A few minutes later, he called back, still airborne, and said the food mission was a go. He hung up, and Holt screamed.
"I had to be a grown-up on the phone, but I haven't been grown up since," she said.
Holt and her husband scrambled to cook everything fresh and fried to perfection. Randy Holt and cook Chess Smith heated the chopped, Eastern-style barbecue and made sure the hush puppies were properly greased.
"We close at 6 every day," said Holt, who once managed the restaurant for an owner who bought it from the founder of the place, the late Clyde Cooper. "But when U2 calls you, you do what you have to do, honey."
They threw in fresh banana pudding for good measure.
Debbie Holt and her 14-year-old daughter, Ashley, took their van to the private lot at RDU where U2's jet was waiting.
"I screamed like a little girl," she said.
The pair was escorted by eight security guards into the back of the jet, near ovens and kitchen space. They worked in the tight confines of the jet while the band was roaring through the final moments of their stadium show.
Debbie Holt was still holding on to a pan when guitarist Dave "The Edge" Evans appeared, fresh from the show, standing six inches in front of her. He was the only band member they met.
"He said, 'Hi, how are you? Did you bring me food?' I lost it when I saw him," she said. "If I would've known he would move that close, I would've kissed him."
The Edge and staff members tore into the pork skins and loved the banana pudding, said Holt, who has co-owned the restaurant with her husband since the summer of 2008.
This isn't the only time Cooper's, which opened on New Year's Day in 1938, has seen celebrity attention. The Rolling Stones, Pat Benatar, Joan Jett and the Allman Brothers have visited the restaurant, Debbie Holt said. Just last week, Clay Aiken dropped by for a bite, she said.
Holt and her daughter left the jet after about 20 minutes. Maurice handed them $300. Not much of a tip.
"But U2 is something else, honey," Debbie Holt said. "I don't care, and I've been a crazy woman ever since. I'd much rather serve them than go to the concert."


They tour every 3-4 years for for about 6 months over 2 years and then make an album. Not quite the busiest folks in music business. Poor Dylan and BB King having to play 200 nights a year just to feed the family.

The music business will do just fine with or with out stadium tours or festival shows that bring large crowds together. I do agree we need to have bands playing in all size venues so people can afford to enjoy the music. I woulld not be a u2 fan if it weren't for them playing small venues with no special effects creating music and energy that when you left the show the entire crowd was singing How Long must we sing this song. Haven't seen that response to this tour anywhere because the band and the choir did not connect as in past concerts.
Playing songs from every album should be a requirement for a band like U2 as there is one on each that would make each live show better then the real thing.
:applaud:
 
Any major act with a considerable catalogue of songs that I've seen in the past few years (other than U2) has gone 2 1/2 to sometimes 3 hours. These include The Who, Elton John and David Gilmour. I honestly can't remember how long Radiohead played for in TO (elfa?), but I think it was around the 2 hr mark or just over. Maybe 2 1/2? I've said since before the tour started that I can't understand why U2 aren't doing this, especially since they have more off days this tour than during the last few.

To the original poster, I'm sorry that you didn't enjoy your show as much as you thought you would. I fully agree that Live Nation should not be selling side view seats at top tier prices. I do also think though that as a veteran concert-goer, you should have known better than to buy them, which you probably acknowledge yourself at this point. However, I also think that U2 shouldn't be marketing this tour as 360 when all they're doing is giving a cursory glance to the seats at the back of the stage every few songs (okay, I know I'm exaggerating a bit there, but did the back of the stage get any more attention than a song or maybe two?). I have a friend who was with people, non-hardcore fans, in behind the stage seating for one of the shows, and they were awfully disappointed, they expected more, and rightfully so IMO, when the tour is being sold on the basis of it being 360 degrees. While the seating is 360 (as was the Vertigo tour), the show itself certainly isn't.

All that said, I had a great time. GA really is the way to go for huge fans looking to not spend their life savings, and who are going to be attending more than one show. I'm sort of morally opposed to spending $250 for a concert ticket (or in my case, $500+ for a pair), but I do appreciate that they offer hardcore fans another option. I was on the back rail inside the pit for the first show, and had a great view. I could have had front row between Bono and Edge, but thought I'd have a better view from the back rail. The only problem I found with it is that the "show" is so immense that being so close, you're missing out on a lot. The members are so spread out a lot of the time that you can only focus on individuals as opposed to watching the band. Next time I'll opt for front row, outside rail, where I spent most of my Vertigo shows. The second night I was at the back of GA on Edge's side of the soundboard, and I found it to be a phenomenal spot, really enjoyed it. The sound was immaculate, and although I couldn't see facial expressions or anything, having a complete view and tons of space around us more than made up for that.

While standing at the back, I was taken by the intimacy of it all, and contrary to the original poster's point of view, I thought that U2 had achieved what they set out to do - increase the intimacy of a stadium setting. While I was thinking all this, my daughter came up to me and said that unlike the Vertigo arena show we spent at the back of GA, this one felt like we were much closer, and I have to agree.

Anyway, interesting thread. It's nice to hear people's opinions in a non-defensive way. Kudos to the thread starter for setting that sort of tone. :)
 
Vintage Punk, you also raise some good observations here. As for my having known better than to buy those seats, you're right. It was "panic buying". It really appeared the show was selling hot, so I jumped.

I can add some more context as to why I did this. We picked up high priced seats for Elevation in Charlotte. They were fine. Not great, but fine. Fantastic show (even if the band was having to much fun in the Miami area, flew out late, almost didn't make it to Charlotte, and cut I Will Follow and Gone from the setlist that night - a separate beef I have with them).

For Vertigo, closest feasible show was Atlanta, so we grabbed the pemium seats again, and they were truly not great. They were 200 level. I looked for drops for that Atlanta show for months - and with increasing frequency in the weeks and days before the show. Nothing. I decided I wasn't going to pay that much to see U2 from 200 level seats, so I sold them to a friend in Atlanta (at cost).

We saw U23D, and we were kind of like "man, we should have gone". So, this time I signed up for the fanclub (never had before - never did Propaganda - my mistake), and based on the pace of sales for shows past, the lack of drops, etc, I decided "well, I hate these seats, but I am putting my faith in the fan club that these are the best of what's left", and I grabbed them. This time out, there were lots of drops, but I saw no way to sell my originals at even close to cost.
 
After months of staying mostly in the dark about the tour, we finally saw the show in Raleigh. We have seen U2 a few times going back to the mid 80s, and we were fairly disheartened by many components of last night's show. Since there seems to be fairly universal praise for this tour on this site, I'd like to engage others, those who agree and disagree, in a discussion on certain points.
It all starts with the tickets: prices, seat locations, etc. Though my wife and I spent our time on GA floors at shows (for lots of bands) in the 80s, we've hit a point where we are not convinced it's worth the hassle. As a result, since U2 moved to the GA floor model in 2001, we've gone for the high dollar seats. We are OK with the extravagance as we value experiences over things, plus we have friends who go to multiple shows whereas we only go to one per tour. However, I was quite skeptical from the get go about the seats we ended up with through the presale, since, according to the seating chart, they tended toward the back of the stage, and they weren't particularly close to the field.
Meanwhile, I started to hear that people were getting into the inner circle as late as 7:00 or 7:30 and getting decent spots on the back rail with a reasonable amount of space. I decided that that was the solution to our perceived problem, and I grabbed 4 GAs during a drop.
So, the "best seats in the house are among the cheapest"? We got into the inner circle about 5:45 or 6:00, and we did get a spot on Adam's side near the back rail. We started to talk about whether we were going to be happy in the pit or in our seats, and a group of ladies next to us earnestly told us to stay where we were. It didn't take long for the density of people to get to a point that ensured my wife and daughters, all 5' 2" could not see at all. That brings me to the first point: why in the world is everyone here convinced that GA is so fantastic? Is everyone who posts on this site 6 feet tall? Unless you have the luxury of spending significant time waiting in line and are lucky enough to get front rail, or you are 6 feet tall, the GA seats are horrible. As I suspected, the GA area was packing them in all the way to the end zone opposite the stage. Does anyone really get a kick out of seeing (or, more accurately, not seeing) a band they love on a video screen? Obviously, since my wife and daughters could not see at all, we went to our "premium" seats right after Muse left the stage.
I suspected from the seating chart that our premium seats were not so nice, but they were really worse than I expected. We were at the 2:00 position on Adam's side and all the way up in row W. This was essentially a rear stage view, nowhere near the field, and miles away from the stage. These were $250 seats. So, my second question is, does everyone on this site really think U2 is fair to charge these prices for crappy seats? Does everyone here think the seats I described are not crappy?
The last observation concerns the stage and the lack of use of the outer ring. All we've heard about is how U2 was trying to get closer to more people with the 360 concept, or, as Bono put it last night, they were going for "intimacy on a grand scale". Our observations? The main stage is small and more akin to an arena stage than a stadium stage. Further, the band rarely used the outer ring, and, when they did, it was in a perfunctory mode, and they seemed in quite a hurry to get back to the main stage.
I sum it up like this. Given the small stage, the distance of that small stage from the closest seats, and the fact that the outer ring was all but not used, there are really no good seats to be had in the stadium at any price. That leaves GA as the only option, but unless you invest the insane amount of devotion and time required to get on the front rail and/or are 6 feet tall, you are going to have a limited view if you can see anything at all. My conclusion is that this setup, and its execution, has resulted in the band isolating itself from more of its fans, not the other way around. Only a very, very few (we're talking in the 100s) fans are getting a good spot at these shows.
Does anyone here agree with me? Does anyone here think my points are entirely without merit?

Why do you care about being able to see the band, getting so close, etc?

You are at a U2 show! It's about the music, and being with others that enjoy it! I got GA because I knew I could dance there. I didn't have the best spot, I didn't get to see a whole lot of the band, but the event was the best of my life! It's about the music!
 
I don't think wanting to to actually see the band is an unreasonable request.

I was a smidge disappointed in the $250 seats. I guess they were as close as you can get in a stadium, but I didn't feel like for where we were, they were worth $250. Not sorry I did it, but glad I have lower-priced seats for the rest of the shows I'm seeing.

I'd probably pay that much for close seats for an arena show, because I'd feel like I was closer than I was in the stadium. If I'm going to have seats and be close, I want to be $250 worth of close. :wink:

I saw my second show from the back of the field, and while it didn't feel intimate by any stretch, and I could only intermittently see the band members' heads (I'm short), I had a really great time back there, and had some good fun interacting with some of the people around me. And I love being able to see the whole Claw doing its awesome Claw thing.

Not a big fan of stadium shows myself, but you know, it is what it is.
 
Vintage Punk, you also raise some good observations here. As for my having known better than to buy those seats, you're right. It was "panic buying". It really appeared the show was selling hot, so I jumped.

I can add some more context as to why I did this. We picked up high priced seats for Elevation in Charlotte. They were fine. Not great, but fine. Fantastic show (even if the band was having to much fun in the Miami area, flew out late, almost didn't make it to Charlotte, and cut I Will Follow and Gone from the setlist that night - a separate beef I have with them).

For Vertigo, closest feasible show was Atlanta, so we grabbed the pemium seats again, and they were truly not great. They were 200 level. I looked for drops for that Atlanta show for months - and with increasing frequency in the weeks and days before the show. Nothing. I decided I wasn't going to pay that much to see U2 from 200 level seats, so I sold them to a friend in Atlanta (at cost).

We saw U23D, and we were kind of like "man, we should have gone". So, this time I signed up for the fanclub (never had before - never did Propaganda - my mistake), and based on the pace of sales for shows past, the lack of drops, etc, I decided "well, I hate these seats, but I am putting my faith in the fan club that these are the best of what's left", and I grabbed them. This time out, there were lots of drops, but I saw no way to sell my originals at even close to cost.

I get the panic buying thing, I did that last tour, and way overspent. I promised myself I'd never do that again, and this leg I resisted, held out, and got what I wanted at face through the fan club presale and a trade - only two shows this leg, but I plan on more next summer, and will play it the same.

Part of the reason I'd never pay $250 is that even if some of the seats are worth it, there are much fewer than are actually sold at that price, and by luck of the draw, you're likely not going to pull up really, really great seats through TM. I'd feel ripped off for having paid a premium price for mediocre seats, which I suspect is what you're feeling. The difference is, I know this about myself, so I don't even bother. Also, I don't know if anyone could have predicted the surplus of tickets available when tickets went on sale. The economy had just begun to tank which meant that many fans who overbought with the intention of trading were left either selling tickets at less than face, or eating the cost entirely. On the plus side though, scalpers didn't fare any better, and there were some great deals to be had. I suspect people will be more conservative in their ticket buying on subsequent legs.

Another thing I've noticed that helps in making ticket/seating decisions and forming ticket buying plans is, it really helps to be plugged in to a fan site like this. I've learned so much about all aspects of ticket buying and trading since I've been a member here. I kind of feel sorry for the average fan, because there are many tricks to getting the seats you want that they might not necessarily be aware of. I've carried this over to other bands, too. I'm not really an active member at any other band site, but I do lurk on their boards a bit before tickets go on sale.

Anyway, I hope that your experience won't adversely colour your opinion of U2 as a live act too much, and that you'll give it another shot next summer. I almost think that from what you've said, you and your family might be happier with back of GA than premium seats. Even lining up this tour, with the additional space of stadium GA, you can line up relatively late (mid to late afternoon) and still get a decent spot up front. Good luck!
 
Does Bruce do this every night?

Yes! On 10/02/09 at Giants Stadium he jumped/climbed the wall to get into the first section of seats to have a young girl sing Waiting on a Sunny Day with him (Dont forget he's 60 years old as well.) For 3 shows in 4 days at Giants Stadium he played 30 songs 3 hours everynight and each show spent a great deal of time in the Ga section. Also during each show he goes into the stands where fans are holding up signs and takes requests from the audience. These requests can be anyone of his songs and on some nights he even played Satisfaction and JailHouse Rock. It's amazing because these songs arent rehearsed and the band plays them to perfection

I know Bruce comparisons arent fair as even BVS calls him an anomoly and even jokingly threw out it may be performance enhancing drugs but for three hours every night the man does not stop. He's amazing in that the band actually doesnt get the setlist until 20 minutes before every show and no setlist for anyshow is the same. Again for three hours every night he does not stop. I wish I could have seen him when he was younger when he played the legendary 4 hour shows.
 
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