European concerts at daylight/Curfews?

The friendliest place on the web for anyone that follows U2.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
See posts with no answers
C

Chino

The Fly
Joined
Apr 28, 2005
Messages
168
Location
Mexico
There were many shows in Europe where the band hit the stage while there's still daylight. U2 has awesome intros to their concerts but, personally, I am not sure if I would get as excited if no stage props were used because of the daylight :|. Sure, just seeing our boys hit the stage with a light bulb is enough but with that big 360 stage, I WANT TO SEE IT ALL FROM THE START! :)

How was your experience seeing U2 in Europe while there was still daylight? So far, I have always seen U2 at night time right from the start.
 
Chino said:
There were many shows in Europe where the band hit the stage while there's still daylight. U2 has awesome intros to their concerts but, personally, I am not sure if I would get as excited if no stage props were used because of the daylight :|. Sure, just seeing our boys hit the stage with a light bulb is enough but with that big 360 stage, I WANT TO SEE IT ALL FROM THE START! :)

How was your experience seeing U2 in Europe while there was still daylight? So far, I have always seen U2 at night time right from the start.
Click to expand...

quite frankly i didnt really mind that it wasnt dark yet when they hit the stage. It actually made the u2 live experience more deep when the sun deifnately got behind the horizon and the gig got into its second third when City of Blinding Lights started to play and the lights started to do its job...

it made your day much longer ... and expectation growing ....

wouldnt bother too much to be honest. Saw Radiohead last summer in Berlin (was raining as well, quite normal for Radiohead gig) and it was a blast... when the darkness came it all got even more magical ...

is it summer already?
 
I'm a bit concerned about this too.. Planning to head to Dublin if I can get tix, but it seems it woun't be completely dark there until 945 or so, which is much more than halfway into the show.
 
If its a really nice summer's evening then it only adds to the excitement and general good atmosphere I think. In 2006 I saw Roger Waters at Hyde Park on what turned out to be the hottest day of the summer and it was broad daylight when he came on at about 8.30pm or so, but it had descended into full darkness and a full moon almost bang on when he ended playing 'Dark Side of the Moon'. It was such a magical moment, I dont think I'll ever forget it.

For those in the UK - Cardiff will surely be in darkness from the start won't it, if its undercover? I'm so tempted to try and get tickets but Cardiff is so far away from me compared to the other UK dates!
 
Any official curfews for European cities?

As mentioned in another thread, 21.00 starts of the shows put at least a third of the performance with some natural lights still on ...

any chance for a later start to enjoy all the light show? any official curfews?
 
MikeyJB said:
If its a really nice summer's evening then it only adds to the excitement and general good atmosphere I think. In 2006 I saw Roger Waters at Hyde Park on what turned out to be the hottest day of the summer and it was broad daylight when he came on at about 8.30pm or so, but it had descended into full darkness and a full moon almost bang on when he ended playing 'Dark Side of the Moon'. It was such a magical moment, I dont think I'll ever forget it.

For those in the UK - Cardiff will surely be in darkness from the start won't it, if its undercover? I'm so tempted to try and get tickets but Cardiff is so far away from me compared to the other UK dates!
Click to expand...

I was at Hyde Park for that gig too. It was superb :up:

Cardiff was great last time around, and having the roof closed meant it was dark from the word go. Like you though Mikey it's now too far for me to go, when Wembley is right around the corner.
 
on the Dutch LiveNation website it is stated that "Since U2 decided that the normal ending time of 23.00 is too early for them, they will play longer than other bands in the ArenA"

Well they say they will play longer, but I guess they will start later. Maybe this has smth to do with lightning. Last time they stopped at 23 in a'dam...
 
phommel said:
on the Dutch LiveNation website it is stated that "Since U2 decided that the normal ending time of 23.00 is too early for them, they will play longer than other bands in the ArenA"

Well they say they will play longer, but I guess they will start later. Maybe this has smth to do with lightning. Last time they stopped at 23 in a'dam...
Click to expand...

It says the concert starts at 8, but that's probably the support act then.

What time do you reckon they stop? :uhoh: The last train leaves at 00.19 so if I don't get that I'm in trouble!
 
Lighting in the UK will be better than Vertigo Tour as the vertigo tour was basically on during the very longest days in the UK (Mid to end of June) these shows are August so it starts to get dusky at about 8.45pm and not 9.30pm as on Vertigo which will be perfect! Also at Wembley expect them to put on the full stadium lights and then switch them off a couple of mins before they come on stage to make the effect of darkness greater.

At the Millenium stadium this does not make any difference as it has a roof!
 
Though the start dates for Croke are early...6:30! Even for an opening act it's going to be super bright...:down:
 
I wouldn't worry. My experience is that the concert becomes more memorable because of the darkness kicking in.
And U2, or should I say Willie, make sure that the show is adepted to the light circumstances.

The atmosphere with daylight is so different than later on in the show with darkness, that it is an enhanced experience.
 
maybe willie can incorporate one of these into the stage design

simpsons-sun-744577.png
 
Galeongirl said:
It says the concert starts at 8, but that's probably the support act then.

What time do you reckon they stop? :uhoh: The last train leaves at 00.19 so if I don't get that I'm in trouble!
Click to expand...

Yes probably it's the suppport act. I remember for the Vertigo Tour the start was 18.30 and that was when the first support act started.

about the last train...they advice people to arrange a bus or whatever since indeed there will be no trains anymore. in Dutch they say:

"U2 heeft aangegeven de normale eindtijd van 23.00 uur te vroeg te vinden en gaat dus langer door dan andere bands in de ArenA. Regel eenvoudig je vervoer van en naar de Amsterdam ArenA met het georganiseerde touringcar vervoer van TripTicket. Houd deze pagina in de gaten voor meer vervoersinformatie."
 
for me there is something exciting and special in opening the gig when there is still some daylight...
Did anyone see some intros from Zooropa during daylight - the best would be Berlin and those early dates on Zooropa....pure thrill and magic
 
Marko said:
for me there is something exciting and special in opening the gig when there is still some daylight...
Did anyone see some intros from Zooropa during daylight - the best would be Berlin and those early dates on Zooropa....pure thrill and magic
Click to expand...

Yup, in Oslo. Outdoor gigs in Oslo June/July are 'horrible' due to midnight sun.

It only gets semi-dark the last 30 minutes of the gig and thats spoils most of the show.

As Bono said Zooropa Oslo 93; its just like watching TV on the beach:)
 
During Vertigo I saw 2 shows starting in the daylights (Berlin and Zurich) and it was crap compared to the one I saw in Nice (started at night!).

Night is so much better.

London start at 5 pm... wtf.... :hmm:
 
I think the only thing that let down the Manchester 1 Vertigo show was the daylight spoiling the lighting,Bono even pleaded with the Mayor to extend the curfew during the Vertigo encore,I didn't see the following day's show but I believe they started 1/2 an hour later and it made a big difference.
 
phommel said:
Yes probably it's the suppport act. I remember for the Vertigo Tour the start was 18.30 and that was when the first support act started.

about the last train...they advice people to arrange a bus or whatever since indeed there will be no trains anymore. in Dutch they say:

"U2 heeft aangegeven de normale eindtijd van 23.00 uur te vroeg te vinden en gaat dus langer door dan andere bands in de ArenA. Regel eenvoudig je vervoer van en naar de Amsterdam ArenA met het georganiseerde touringcar vervoer van TripTicket. Houd deze pagina in de gaten voor meer vervoersinformatie."
Click to expand...

Ah that's really early then, the venue opens at 18.00 right?

I really hope that they end in time, otherwise we'd probably end up taking a cab or so.
 
I wonder if that was the reason why the played Vertigo twice in many European shows on the last tour to show the stage lights at the end of the show considernig that Vertigo had some nice visuals on the screen as well as stage lights. But then again, I might be wrong, I mean, they didn't play TheFly twice during the Zooropa Tour even though it had some nice visuals on stage.
 
adypole said:
apparently, according to my comformation email, wembley starts at 5 oclock. no way.
Click to expand...

That is probably for the support, last time they had 2 support acts...

The actual band will probably play from 8ish onwards

You have to remember public transprot in London (i.e tube trains) close around midnight so there is no way they would finish a show like that at 11.30 or something

I saw them in Cardiff last time when it started dark but they didnt make much extra use of the darkness for the first few songs, they just had some generic ligghts for the first few songs til CITY OF BLINDING LIGHTS kicked in
 
adypole said:
apparently, according to my comformation email, wembley starts at 5 oclock. no way.
Click to expand...

That would be about right. Woudl guess something like this -

Support Act 1 - 5 - 5.30
Support Act 2 - 6.15 - 7.15
U2 - 8.15/8.30ish - 10.30

They will need to be off by 10.30 at Wembley or face a fine. Both George Michael and Madonna were fined for breaking the curfew. The late finish for Madonna caused alot of problems with people getting home, loads of extra tubes laid on but all scheduled to run for a 10.30 finish. She didn't finish until 11pm,the net result was thousands of people being stranded at Wembley Park after the final tube had gone.
 
getting fined 50k is nothing for these bands, its only revenue from a few thousand seats - almost worth playing on for

the major problem is transprot after the gig - also you end up with people leaving early if it goes on too late, which is never good of course
 
I'm going to Dublin 1 and 2 and that would be weird seeing them play in the daylight
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

K
U2 Show Logistics Question/Theories
Replies
7
Views
836
lazarus
lazarus
O
Better late than never “they” say…
Replies
1
Views
353
Headache in a Suitcase
Headache in a Suitcase
C
Hello Hello... Hola!
Replies
1
Views
686
prbiker15
prbiker15
N
Hello From Alberta, Canada
Replies
4
Views
429
NormB
N
Digital Spy 2
I am back
Replies
2
Views
310
Digital Spy 2
Digital Spy 2

Latest posts

Back
Top Bottom