July 21, 2009 - ArenA Amsterdam - NETHERLANDS

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Sicy

Sizzlin' Sicilian
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Please post your pics, reviews, and experiences for this show here.
 
Wow.. great show tonight! Lots of energy and power.. lots of first timers on this tour (Elevation, UTEOW, Bad!!!).... They did drop Unknown Caller and Unforgettable fire.. which makes me glad I went to see them yesterday as well, would have been sad to have missed those two at all!
We had Seats, which was a good thing after yesterday's GA craziness...perfect view of the enormous stage, gotta love it!
I wish they would use the outer ramp and the bridges more though.. guess they're still settling into a routine or something.. especially Bono seems outer-ring shy.. which is unusual for him!
Can't really say there was anything wrong in their choice of songs..Would have loved to hear more.. but thats only logical with their enormous catalogue..Highlights for me were Ultraviolet (very powerful), UTEOW (good to hear it again, bono going crazy on the bridge and MOS..beautiful!
Hope they're coming back to these parts next year!!!

Oh and I have to say it (for all the nay-sayers).. sound quality in the Arena was actually pretty good... we were first ring facing Adam.. crisp and great sound! Improved a lot since the good (well bad) old days:)
 
It was my first time seeing two U2 shows back-to-back in the same city and I think I jammed out on throwing a double six. As they may say in other parts of Amsterdam - what a pair!

Tonight was very different to last night on many levels, the shake up of the set list being the greatest. Bad! Bad is back! I was hoping it might appear later when I heard One brought forward. It was bloomin great too mostly. Bono sang the first verses on his back. I thought I heard a slight change of tempo halfway through and Bono gestured something to Larry. The song itself seemed to fade away a bit at the end. I reckon they'll have it perfect if they play it in Dub.

Other random memories:

- UTEOTW: not a huge fav of mine usually but I loved it cos it was fresh, and the light show and imagery on the video screen were dazzling at the end, with Bono singing a snippet of Break On Through

- Edge pogoing during Elevation and the people in GA copying

- some new artistic video imagery of the Iranian election protests was used during the start of SBS, this seems to be the new issue for the tour, with a wee snippet of Rock the Casbah at the end

- I think Bono almost inadvertently walked backwards off the stairs at the back of the stage when he was singing Don't Stop Till You Get Enough at the end of Desire, he may have got a tap on the ankle from his minder behind him

- the crowd seemed a bit flat at the start, until Elevation, and weren't quite as raucous as last night, at least where I was sitting towards the back; I think there were more curious day-trippers tonight than hardcore fans, very few people near me took photos or recorded parts of the show, or even sang along

- the GA queues outside were MASSIVE - and soaked by the short but torrential downpour during the electrical storm

- up at the top and back of the arena was sweltering, proper sauna-like conditions

But from Elevation on it was a top U2 concert. I love their gigs even more when there's an element of "what's next?"
 
Oh, and just remembered, one for the snippet obsessives: Bono also spoke a few lines of Oh Come All Ye Faithful, or maybe it was the Black Grape version, at the start and end of Crazy Tonight (instead of Bowie's Let's Dance)
 
ah, how cute, Chelyn!:cute:

Last night was really amazing, I really liked the setlist a LOT.
Some of my pics ( none of Edge and Larry, I couldn't see them:crack:)

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Amsterdam 2 was superb! We were at the Red Zone (1), in the back near the RZ seats.
And we took our daughters and my mother, 3 generations of U2 fans, for us this was very special.

Shot some vid's, both my daughters also filmed a few songs. :D

Here is my 8 year old, who loves Vertigo as you can see. :hyper:
YouTube - U2 amsterdam Arena 21-07-2009 Vertigo (incomplete)

More video's on my youtube channel

that's awesome! thanks for sharing!

and wow, that Intro with the alarm sounding guitar tone is sounding even better now.
 
Wow.. great show tonight! Lots of energy and power.. lots of first timers on this tour (Elevation, UTEOW, Bad!!!).... They did drop Unknown Caller and Unforgettable fire.. which makes me glad I went to see them yesterday as well, would have been sad to have missed those two at all!
yeah, we felt the setlist 'worked' better the 2nd night
but, come on, they have to get UF and UC back in there!!
even though UF, IMO, lacked crowd response somewhat
 
Amsterdam 2 was superb! We were at the Red Zone (1), in the back near the RZ seats.
And we took our daughters and my mother, 3 generations of U2 fans, for us this was very special.

Shot some vid's, both my daughters also filmed a few songs. :D

Here is my 8 year old, who loves Vertigo as you can see. :hyper:
YouTube - U2 amsterdam Arena 21-07-2009 Vertigo (incomplete)

More video's on my youtube channel

Very cool :up: :cute:

There was a family of 6 infront of us on the first night and it was really cool to see them all enjoying the show together. They even turned round a few times and joined in singing with the people in our row.
 
Just got back to the UK from Amsterdam after going to both shows - we were catwalk rail second night and seats first night.

This night blew the first one out of the water, the crowd and band seemed much more in tune and the setlist felt improved.

Organisation from the arena was awful... doors were meant to be 5.30 but we didn't get in till past 6.30 and it was absolutely pissing down. Unbelievable how people crush in and rudeness which I haven't experienced in my previous UK GA shows. Inside the arena was incredibly hot and humid and a lot of the crowd seemed worse for wear initially.

By the time it gets to the massive warhorse block of SBS, Pride, Walk On, Streets the crowd are absolutely exhausted.

Difficult to know what to say, the show was great and a much better experience than night one in all respects.
 
amsterdam 2 was the most amazing show, and thats saying something since i just got back from dublin and thought dub 3 was phenomenal as well.
but seriously - the first real shake up of the setlist - they bought one in so early we were all like "wtf is going to happen now" and it was unbelievable.
by the time pride came round i could barely stand anymore - the level of energy was amazing, if i had one word to describe the show it would be ferocious!
still my best so far, although dub 3 is a very close second
 
maybe a little late .....
GREAT GREAT 2 nights in Amsterdam. I've never ever seen U2 playing like this.
So much too tell about Amsterdam 1 and 2
Twice at the front row in front of the edge.
Had a slide with me with "bad" painted on it. Edge looked and made a sign like "it is gonna be OK buddy". 06:00am at the stadium twice.


pictures : http://picasaweb.google.com/edgeplaytheblues

Elevation, until the end and bad .. amazing amazing. I still get the goose bumps when I think back ....
so many things happened. The queue in the rain at gate G. I was number 3 in line. When I see myself running on the youtube movies I get a big smile.
 
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