July 5, 2011 - Soldier Field - Chicago, IL

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30+ shows for me on 360. That was the best setlist Ive witnessed. I dont know they can improve much on tonights show.:drool:
 
I just want to say....I saw U2Brother wearing a sparkling hat.

I saw the band live for the very first time September 13, 2009. That concert was stunning and was the best night of my night. This show was even better. More to come later. I have just traveled four hours from Soldier Field.
 
Posted in the tour dates thread too, but also pasting here.

Quick notes on the bus ride home...

Front row to Edge's left. Really liked seeing all the young faces inside the circle too! Lots of college aged kids, teenagers, and young children in the crowd here. It was hot that day but the security there was really good with bringing people inside and making sure people were in the shade and stuff.

Overall, I liked theshow, but probably liked Chicago 1 two years ago a bit more. Highlights for me were the Achtung opening numbers for sure, all of which I never heard livebefore. I FINALLY was at a show where they played UTEOTW live,which wasamazing for me. When I heard the opening synth, I screamed "Thank you God! About f'n time," haha. I was thrilled to finally hear my favorite song live. Loved that they played OneTreeHilllivetoo. It wasrough in parts, but I liked thespontinuity there and it was great to hear a song I never thought I'd hear them play.

So yeah, I had a great time and can't wait for the next show. See you
guys again in Minneapolis!

Regarding how One Tree Hill came about.

When Bono mentioned Greg's anniversary and how they wrote a song around it, a few of us -myself included - started screaming for it. Bono then said they'd have to ask "the professor" and spoke to Edge quickly, but it seemed likethey shot it down until after he sung the last verse at the end of MOS. Then they quickly decided to do it after all.

U2BRTHR, I wanted to say hi to you earlier in the line, but I didn't get the chance to. Hope you enjoyed the show and I really liked the helmet you wore!
 
I wanted to say as a U2 fan I was blown away by their performance.
It will always be the best concert I have ever seen.

I also wanted to say that I am ashamed to be a U2 fan after seeing how some of the "hardcore 'first in line' fans" behaved. I'm not talking about the "6 that jumped in line".

I'm referring to the ones that acted like a pompous ass. I'm talking about the ones that got to the outer rail and stretched their arms and legs out to save spots for those that had numbers much higher than mine.

There were people with 150 and up numbers that got a better spot than I did because their "friends" saved a space for them at the outer rail.
When I approached the rail it was like a chain of paper dolls, all spanned out... keeping eligible fans away.

Disappointed.
 
Yeah, there was enough room for ALL those within the first 100 to get on the rail.

I did meet some good people.

U2BROTHR... So good to meet you. Stacy, I hope your nephew enjoyed his first show. To the girls beside me in the concert.... GREAT company!

I got some great pics of The Edge, Bono, and Adam. Larry was too elusive. His pics are blurry.

I guess I just didn't expect this at a U2 concert. Maybe Metallica or Tool has aggressive "uncool" fans like that... but U2 shouldn't.
 
I think it's one thing to save a spot for someone who was with you or near you all day in line but can't run as fast, and quite another to save a spot for someone who was farther down the line.

Saving a spot for someone in the line is generally not cool, and this really isn't any different. I think GA can sometimes bring out some poor qualities in people, unfortunately.

But glad the concert was amazing. :)
 
Thought I'd share a pic from last night

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Here's one a-hole who tried, with his equally drunk girlfriend, to push their way as close as they could go in GA. Thanks to all the true U2 fans who backed me up in getting them pushed back. They both were 6 feet and tried to stand in front of three girls who were 5 foot....not cool. What a great show!!!

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bulletproof ~ those are some amazing photos :up: thanks for sharing :)

as for the a-holes :sigh: you're gonna get em in every crowd :( (I will never ever understand getting completely bolloxed at any concert . . . what's the point in wasting all that money on a ticket if all you have to show for it is a headache and a vague recollection of some pretty lights and maybe remembering the opening trio of songs :der:)
 
What made East Lansing so nice is that it was alcohol-free. I'll never understand people like that guy in the picture.
 
bulletproof ~ those are some amazing photos :up: thanks for sharing :)

as for the a-holes :sigh: you're gonna get em in every crowd :( (I will never ever understand getting completely bolloxed at any concert . . . what's the point in wasting all that money on a ticket if all you have to show for it is a headache and a vague recollection of some pretty lights and maybe remembering the opening trio of songs :der:)

Yes guys, wasting money on the ticket...but also(at least at Soldier Field)spending $8 for one beer. And who knows how many they had. And then waking up the next morning as "what did we do last night? We saw U2? Cool! I just don't remember it."

But it was an amazing show...looking forward to people's photos!
 
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It was a university stadium, and that's their policy for stadium events. Minnesota's show will be the same.

(Can't remember if Vegas was alcohol-free or not - I don't want to assume all universities have the same policy.)
 
My thoughts on the concert:


1.) The GA Line: If you go into the tour forum and read the Chicago meet-up thread, you're going to see a great deal of threats and bitching about some people who apparently line jumped. 1) There were six of them, they are not going to ruin your evening 2) They were there in person at 5 AM, you were lined up somewhere else in your fan line and Soldier Field said they were honoring THEIR system 3) At least they were in the damn fucking line ALL fucking day. Not rushing back from their naps in their hotel room when security moved us inside.
I've always enjoyed going GA, but this experience really put me off of it. Starting a list three days prior to the event, telling people in the line who were upset that if they'd've been on Interference they'd've known about the line (a flat out lie, as there was no mention of it on Interference until it was already 75 people deep). Not actually standing in the line, completely going against the spirit of GA. Seriously, the fan base, in this regard, can go fuck itself. I'll continue to play by the rules and have fun and NOT be on the front rail, because I value my neck

2.) The Pit: Never again. Never ever again. I tried to convince LeMel that I didn't want to go in the pit before, but he really wanted to experience it for himself, and I'm glad I got to as well, it was an interesting experience, but never again. Through some poor choices of my own that afternoon, I ended up walking about six miles before 10 AM, and my feet were already in pretty bad shape. But see, I have some severe anxiety issues with crowds. Usually I can handle it at concerts, but this was a significantly bad experience, because we were up on the outer rail, and for the first time, I really felt like, "Oh shit, I can't get out of here." and really began to panic, so, unfortunately, I spent the majority of the encores turned around with my head over the rail so I could breath properly and have a visual on a means of escape. I was finally about to give up and have LeMel shove us out of there during MOS, but then OTH started, and then I kind of forgot how the last 45 minutes had gone for me and had a fucking blast

3.) Space Oddity: I don't know if it's the usual for the spaceman to be Gabby Giffords' husband or not, but it was, and he was VERY sweet. He was one of the reasons why Space Oddity got brought up so many times. At the end of his broadcast he said, "Tell My wife I love her very much.' and I got a little choked up at that. Then, of course, Ali was in the crowd, so Bono was in a VERY good mood, and he sang it a bit to her as well, I do believe. Then you have the Zoo Baby who always uses it, and the intro, and there you go = A Lot of Space Oddity.

4.) Bono: Oh my God, I really wanted to yell, "Are you loose?!" at him, but never got a chance, if he's acting the way he was last night in Minn. someone will have to do it for me. I don't know if he was drunk as fuck, high on life, or just high, but he was in the goofiest mood I have ever seen him in. Going on long-"rants" about this or that. There were a few times where he found himself unable to think of anything else to say, so he'd pause for a few seconds and then they'd just start the song. And I don't mean they were rants in the sense that he was talking about the One Campaign or anything like that, he was going on about when the band first met, how he met Ali, why he loves Chicago, Larry attending a Sox game (This received a SHIT TON of booing, and Bono couldn't understand why, he thought there were a lot of Kansas fans in the crowd or something. I couldn't tell if that was a joke or not), and general other stuff like that. It was WONDERFUL.

5.) The Show itself: It was great. I'm sorry I had to ruin it for myself by being so panicked the whole time, but it was still fantastic. Bono did a bit of the Life on a Distant Planet dance during EBTTRT and I about died laughing, then Edge held his "gay headset mic" while singing his part on the Fly, which was equally hilarious. Bono tried to do the water geyser, and it didn't mist right, and fell right back in his face. They were completely on, the Achtung Baby stuff was brilliant. I kind of wish they'd stop being pansies and just play the whole damn thing if that's what they're wanting to do instead of just packing it all in at the beginning, but oh well. There was a snippet of TTTYAATW, which was pretty awesome. Snippet of Promised Land for Clarence, which choked me up, and just a lot of wonderful moments throughout the course of the show that I will treasure very much. U2 loves Chicago, Chicago loves U2. It's great.

6.) Leaving Soldier Field: Never again. Unless it's U2. I won't even go there for a Packers game. What an awful awful place. It took us nearly an hour and a half, I would guess to get back to our car. The Death March, I believe Mike called it (I think we're referring to the same thing) is possibly one of the worst constructed exits I've ever seen. What if there had been an emergency? Holy shit. Awful. But there was a saxophone and a drummer playing "In the Mood' outside the stadium and that made it a little better. Love that fucking song.

7 (Finally).) Soldier Field Security: People can bitch and bitch all they want, but I thought they handled the GA line brilliantly. They (and U2's people) decided to let us in to the stadium around 12 because half of the line (not the half we were in) were sitting straight up in the Sun. We were then supposed to be taken back outside at 4:30 to be scanned in at Gate 6 to go into the GA, but then they decided, fuck that, how about this, this makes more sense. What they did was take us straight in in groups of 50-100, and only let the next group in once the one before was there. So, if you were 50th in line, you were getting the spot you wanted, and no one could POSSIBLY line jump you at the last minute and get in front of you. It was great.
 
I have gotrten les than two hours of sleep the last two nights combined, and now I'm in Montreal without a chance to gather my thoughts. But I know this for sure: This was my favorite show of the tour (of 13 so far). It had a better song choice than Seattle, more emotion than Anaheim 2, and just as much a party atmosphere as the first Chicago shows of 2009 (my other favorites). It's 4:40 p.m. and I'm ready to crash for the night.
 
Just got home and I just loved this show! My first of the tour, loved Chicago and the energy of the show along with the setlist...
Was lucky to get Edge's autograph and pics before the show and then when they played OTH, just blew my mind!!
Unfortunately my seats just plain s**ked then had a run-in with a nazi security guard because we moved over one section so we could see the top of the claw, then he almost kicked us out along with another couple, totally bs...
I agree about leaving the stadium, what a mess!!
But all and all was a great show, now can not wait till Minneapolis...
 
Last night was the first time that I've done U2 GA and it was absolutely amazing. I thought it might've been just me, but after reading what a lot of other people have said I see that I'm not alone.

My mom and I got there around 2:30 and were able to sit in the shade until they had us move into the stadium. We ended up getting second row outer rail, skewed towards Adam's side. I didn't experience much drama with our spots or the line, besides two women and one of their sons who showed up right before Interpol and tried to get in front of us. The mother made a huge deal about her 11 year old not being able to see...sorry but in my opinion if your son is too short, either get there early like everyone else or get seats. There was a family next to us in line outside the stadium with kids around the same age so it's possible to wait all day. Also, one woman tried to get past us when we were being moved into the stadium :down:

Other than that, it was fabulous. Bono and Edge sang the end of Mysterious Ways and B sang a verse of SBS both directly in front of me. And I got a smile from Larry. I don't know why I've never done GA before :lol:

I was a little disappointed we didn't get AIWIY (although I do enjoy singing ISHF with the whole stadium)...but then OTH made up for that. Oh, and I LOVED the AB opening. I thought of you guys during WTSHNN :heart:; it started lightly raining out of no where at the end of it which is why they put the umbrellas up before the last encore.

Last night definitely reinforced my love of this band (if for any reason i doubted it). During The Fly of all songs I got a little choked up. I hadn't actually watched many recent videos, so seeing the old video clips used during One and Streets were a special touch as well.
 
I've always enjoyed going GA, but this experience really put me off of it. Starting a list three days prior to the event, telling people in the line who were upset that if they'd've been on Interference they'd've known about the line (a flat out lie, as there was no mention of it on Interference until it was already 75 people deep). Not actually standing in the line, completely going against the spirit of GA. Seriously, the fan base, in this regard, can go fuck itself.

:applaud:

These entitled assholes make me embarrassed to call myself a fan of the band.

If you're one of these people and are reading this, please die.
 
I've always wanted to make the cover or issue of Rolling Stone. I guess I will have to settle for this.

U2: Impromptu 'One Tree Hill' in Chicago | Rolling Stone New and Hot Videos


Pictures!
Not gonna lie, but for some reason, this time, I had a difficult time with my camera. More than any show I've shot before, some of my pictures are grainy despite adjusting the settings. Oh well.... here they are.

GA line moved inside
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Nice pictures. :up:

I'm glad that they were able to move the line inside and that it worked out for getting inside from there. That was cool.
 
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