biggest technical glitches of tour

[ponee]

After watching the Chicago DVD a few dozen times I was wondering if these guys ever made mistakes.

I'd like to see Larry drop both sticks and play bongo style in the middle of Streets! Or edge's guitar strap slipping off and dropping the guitar in the middle of something quiet like Yahweh or One!

Did you witness any imperfections on the tour? If not, what would be the funniest mishap on stage?

 

[U2FanPeter]

Bono hitting himself in the head with a drumstick on national tv?

 

[nurse chrissi]

Bono hitting himself in the head with a drumstick on national tv?

that one was pretty good

two of the funniest that I saw

9/20 Bono forgets the end of "Walk On" -after he asks Edge to finish the song (he didn't) he goes over to his tech who hands him a sheet of lyrics and then rips it out of his hands and seconds later gives him a new one

a couple of shows where the road crew had to make sure Bono didn't topple off the stage while blindfolded

12/14 during ISHFWILF - Larry fumbles a drumstick does one of these faces and then catches it midair - that one was actually pretty impressive. Then he laughed about it for the rest of the song

 

[Zooropa1310]

I think it was 4/10, Larry drops a drum stick at a pivotal point in New Years Day (I think at the solo), and all you hear is high hat cymbal for a few beatrs

 

[tryan101]

there are 2 obvious KERRANGS where Edge steps on some cat in the 5/12 audio. one during SYCMIOYO and the other during The Fly.

amazing it happens once, let alone twice in the same show. its still a great recording though.

 

[U2FanPeter]

BB King phone call in Toronto.

Flubbed note during UM at Live 8.

My personal favourite is them trying SBS in it's original key at the Vancouver tour rehearsals. Bono stopped during the second line. It was after midnight - and they had played close to 4 hours that day(not all songs with full vocals)

u2fp

 

[bfloxng]

Um, The Edge's acoustic guitar strings breaking at Vegas 1 (I think it was during Stuck in a Moment); Dallas bringing him a new guitar, yet it wasn't miked, so Edge jams with a mike-less guitar (no sound), then Dallas runs out another one--this time a Gibson Les Paul--to finish the song.

The repercussions of that glitch were were overlooked by many (and I do not believe it was a coincidence): Vegas 2, not a single acoustic song--all ROCK, no FLUFF (feel free to check the setlist--that concert rocked! First main set UTEOTW main set in the U.S.).

 

[tryan101]

Um, The Edge's acoustic guitar strings breaking at Vegas 1 (I think it was during Stuck in a Moment); Dallas bringing him a new guitar, yet it wasn't miked, so Edge jams with a mike-less guitar (no sound), then Dallas runs out another one--this time a Gibson Les Paul--to finish the song.

The repercussions of that glitch were were overlooked by many (and I do not believe it was a coincidence): Vegas 2, not a single acoustic song--all ROCK, no FLUFF (feel free to check the setlist--that concert rocked! First main set UTEOTW main set in the U.S.).

Yeah, he broke a number of strings in LA the next week too.

 

[U2FanPeter]

I thought it was extremely rare to see Edge snap a string.

u2fp

 

[4U2Play]

Oakland 2:

The lights curtains got stuck in the rafters during "Streets".

Us Vertigo Tour veterans in the Ellipse, who normally would be jumping up and down at this point, were kind of standing there looking upwards, wondering what the hell is going on.

Bono turned around a couple of times and looked pleadingly skywards, to no avail. He turned to us and grimaced a bit, but solidiered on.

It was weird seeing "Streets" performed with just the orange floodlights and no African flags, but most of the crowd had no clue about it, they sang every word as loudly as ever.

I wonder how the guys react to mistakes like that... do they let the lighting crew really have it, or do they just shrug and let someone else be the bad guy.

 

[kafrun]

During ABOY in Montreal(28th), the song started to go awry after a few bars and they stopped. Bono said "Larry has something he'd like to say" and handed the mic to Larry who said "There's been a technical faux pas, if you'll just give us a second" or words to that effect Bono then announced that it was the first time Larry had made a speech onstage

 

[U2FanPeter]

Delaying the start of the 4/28 show 20 minutes to fix the overhead "bono screen".

u2fp

 

[Chizip]

i think its more rare to see a show without any mistakes than a show with one

 

[chrissybaby]

Paris 1, half the screen disappeared during Bullet. Wrecked the gig for me.

 

[U2dork]

i think its more rare to see a show without any mistakes than a show with one

I concur.
2 of the (only ) 3 shows I saw had a flubbed up Stuck in a Moment. I also got an out of tune guitar for Sunday Bloody Sunday and a malfunctioning strand of lights at different shows. Little things, really...didn't hinder my enjoyment at all.

 

[MirrorballLemon]

Pittsburgh when Bono forgot the lyrics to SIAM and consulted with edge while the crowd sang. He said something like "just give us a second"

Buffalo when a part of edge's amp got caught in the screen and the top of it started rising up. Ive never seen a roadie that fat run as fast as he did....

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

there's a mistake on the dvd right in the first song... larry hits the cymbal early on city of blinding lights

 

[MTEdge]

This one's a bit difficult for me... As Chizip said, every show has a glitch. Some might be funny, some might be just plain out bad, some that no one notices.

My winners in each category:

Drum roll please!

Funniest moment: Tie between Larry's "look" when Bono hit Larry's cymbal in the Chicago DVD and Bono's screwup at the end of Sometimes at NJ2. (Bono skipped pretty much the entire last verse and ends the song early whereas the backing tack continued playing right through to the end forcing The Edge to pick up the pieces.)

Bad moment: Bono's obvious lipsynching for the "you speak" high notes in his performance of Crumbs on October 4, 2005 in Boston. (The boot bears this out.)

Unnoticed moment: The Edge playing variations of the D chord instead of the harmonics during the 11/22 performance of WOWY (just as Bono's singing the "And you give yourself away" refrain for the second time, i.e., after the "my hands are tied" stanza). To my knowledge, that was the first time The Edge did so since the JT tour.


Favorite all time U2 flubs:

1. Adam's significant ("What the FUCK was that?") flinch during the confetti money explosions in Daddy's Gonna Pay in the Sydney tour video.

2: Bono's look after The Edge hits the wrong note transitioning from the solo to the verse lick in Still Havent Found on the live Mexico Popmart telecast (the official video edits out the audio of The Edge's mistake).

 

[Grindstone]

mistakes

I saw a bunch of errors/mistakes on the Vertigo tour.

first time I saw them, during Bullet, the curtains didn't drop so the "Plane" backdrop didnt happen. I didn't even know about until the next night when I saw it thinking "I didnt see this last night". I believe that was first night Phoenix when it happened, I have that on DVD will have to go back and look.

there was one night (maybe Philly?) where Edge was having guitar problems and Dallas had to come out on stage during the song to help him.

at another show (cant remember which one) at the beginning of The Fly.. they missed each others cue.. it was just after the initial guitar chord Edge does, when he hits his pedal that just echoed the riff and next Larry starts hitting the drums and Edge and Adam (and Bono b/c he's playing guitar too) all come in together.

but they missed the cue.. Bono went "oh sh*t" just as everyone came in.

this was the funniest moment..

in Atlanta first night, during Stuck in a Moment acoustic, Bono and Edge out at the point of the elipse. Larry was supposed to come in with the drums about half way in, and Bono turned to him at the moment it was supposed to happen to play air drums and nothing happened. He and Edge both kinda looked up at the stage like "oops" and then the funny thing was at the very end of the song, when Bono's singing "Just a moment who's time . will pass" when he said "Pass" Larry hit the cymbal and bass drum once on the last note. Everyone around them at the point inside the ellipse noticed it and started laughing.. and Bono and Edge looked up and Larry and both laughed.

 

[KUEFC09U2]

the entire PA system cutting out twice during the braverys set at manchester 1

 

[jackbauer]

Bono getting elbowed by The Edge in the jaw while dancing behind him at the start of the Glasgow show - Think it was ABOY or The Electric Co.
Bono's head fired back and The Edge almost burst into a fit of laughter.

I think a problem occured with the lights during Bullet in Glasgow too...I've never been too sure but something didn't feel right about the lights not being used for a part of the song and having someone else say it happened to them makes me think I was right.

 

[chrissybaby]

the entire PA system cutting out twice during the braverys set at manchester 1

The guys from the bravery handled that pretty well i thought...

 

[U2FanPeter]

Overall, the tour seems to be relatively Spinal tap-free.

-They didn't get stuck in a Lemon in the middle of the show.

-They didn't have MTV go to commercial during the intro of their live performance

-Bono didn't fall off any ramps.

u2fp

 

[INDY500]

Does Patti Smith count?

 

[tryan101]

Does Patti Smith count?

yes, but she needs to use her fingers and toes.

 

[mackemlad]

Bono fucked up Bullet at Manchester 1 totally seemed to loose track of where he was.
The white lights went astray too on Adams side during streets.
That plus the appalingly bad seque from Pride spoiled streets for me.
Never mind we got the most amazing WOWY about half hour later which made up for everything.

I have a boot (not sure where from) form an Elevation show. I think it may be Notre Damne or Cleveland.Anyway, Bono fucks up New Years Day singing the wrong verse. Edge then does the same with SBS he plays the harmonics instead of louder chords.

Biggest one tho is the Popmart Mistake by Edge ob Still Havent Found.
Bonos look is Priceless as is Edge Laughing about it.

 

[EdgesKnitCap]

Vertigo - Montreal 11/26. The pre-recorded intro for Bad started before Larry was even back behind his drum kit. Larry got this funny, shocked look on his face as he looked over to the techs. It stopped then they restarted after everyone was in place. It was funny.

 

[Bewitched]

Vertigo - Montreal 11/26. The pre-recorded intro for Bad started before Larry was even back behind his drum kit. Larry got this funny, shocked look on his face as he looked over to the techs. It stopped then they restarted after everyone was in place. It was funny.

I've just gotta say...

Haha, made ya look .

Nice to see a friendly face. Jenny should be along soon.

 

[SenoraVox]

Vertigo - Montreal 11/26. The pre-recorded intro for Bad started before Larry was even back behind his drum kit. Larry got this funny, shocked look on his face as he looked over to the techs. It stopped then they restarted after everyone was in place. It was funny.

Hi!

 

[fandangamoq]

What about the start of City of Blinding Lights not playing during Anaheim 1. Bono saying "try that slide bit here." I think edge definately turned it up a bit that time and made it sound better imho.

~A.j.~