June 24, 2011 - Glastonbury

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Gareth, you got a ticket??? Now just need to start thinking about how soon to start waiting down the front of the Pyramid Stage on Friday. I'm thinking probably from early on, but I'll be going it alone without my mates (who aren't as big fans as me hehe)
 
yeah got a ticket! :) really excited, just needed it confirmed...was worried the rumours would fly around and they'd announce in May that Dizzee Rascal or someone was headlining....!!

as for what time to go down i'm personally going to wait until the full line-up's revealed. I spent ALL of sunday in 2009 to slowly get to the front for Blur because there was nothing else i wanted to see on the other stages. I imagine it'll pretty easy to get pretty close during the last couple of bands before them though.

maybe we'll have to get a bit of an interference meet going
 
I'm also planning on getting down to the Pyramid Stage quite early. The rumours are that Arcade Fire will be on before U2..would be up for meeting other fans as well.
 
Yeah its looking pretty unlikely that Arcade Fire will be there at all. Elbow into U2 will mean there are even more people in front of the Pyramid Stage earlier on (as opposed to what was gonna happen last year with Dizzie Rascal on before - an artist with a pretty different fanbase).
 
aaah MAN! really?? out of curiosity where did you read that?

that's a really interesting idea, I know they sometimes did on Joshua Tree and Lovetown?? (is that correct? i#m happy to be wrong) but I honestly cannot imagine a U2 gig these days OPENING with Streets, least of all glastonbury!

Even if U2 are playing their best one of the entire tour, Streets still feels like the ace up their sleeve to pull out at the end of the 'main' set to just blow everyone away.
They could play an hour of amazing songs, best performances of their professional lives, but when that intro for Streets fades in, it's unbelievable. absolutely something else.....however amazing the encore may be afterwards, the gig has just slowly been building to that climax!

I was 16 when I first saw U2 in cardiff during the vertigo tour and it was the best gig I'd ever seen but Streets just pushed it over the edge and were I not there with my Dad I would have been in absolute fucking tears. I welled up, let's put it that way.

MikeyJB said:
Yeah its looking pretty unlikely that Arcade Fire will be there at all. Elbow into U2 will mean there are even more people in front of the Pyramid Stage earlier on (as opposed to what was gonna happen last year with Dizzie Rascal on before - an artist with a pretty different fanbase).
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I agree Dizzee has a very different fanbase but his performance the year before he was supposed to open for U2 was in the middle of the day and the crowd was huge! He's got remarkable 'crossover' appeal as some may put it and he really was the ideal act to get a crowd warmed up for the headline act. and by that I mean he's a great artist in his own right but still not 'headline' material (depending on the festival) hence my comment a few posts back...

ignore half this post by the way it's nearly 4am, i've just got back from the pub, i tend to ramble a bit when drunk.
 
gareth ~ Bono last year gave an interview after Glastonbury passed, and he was talking about how disappointed he was that the band wasn't able to perform due to his back surgery.

He said in the interview that they were "planning to open with Streets".

I'll look around, if I find it, I'll be sure to post it in here. Unless someone else knows what I'm talking about and wants to confirm in this thread.
 
gareth brown said:
Even if U2 are playing their best one of the entire tour, Streets still feels like the ace up their sleeve to pull out at the end of the 'main' set to just blow everyone away.
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Yeah I agree, its a bit like shooting your load too early :wink: They should kick off with something like Beautiful Day or I Will Follow and save Streets for that euphoric climax later on in the set.

What do people think they'll do by way of stage set-up? When Springsteen played he had a specially constructed bridge from the stage to the crowd which was pretty cool, I can see U2 having something similar to that, which technically would allow Bono, Edge and Adam to wander out nearer the crowd. If they are unable to do that and are restricted to the stage I can't really see them playing something like Crazy Tonight, which is primarily used for all of them to get a bit of a walkabout.
 
gareth brown said:
Even if U2 are playing their best one of the entire tour, Streets still feels like the ace up their sleeve to pull out at the end of the 'main' set to just blow everyone away.
They could play an hour of amazing songs, best performances of their professional lives, but when that intro for Streets fades in, it's unbelievable. absolutely something else.....however amazing the encore may be afterwards, the gig has just slowly been building to that climax!
Click to expand...

That’s exactly why they were going to open with it. It’s about attitude. There was a huge sneering attitude toward U2 playing Glastonbury. And it was all setting them up so that it was about proving themselves. Are they even relevant to this kind of crowd anymore? Can they win them over? First festival for U2 in 25 years. Why? Why now? Trying desperately to regain something? Are they just using Glastonbury, trying desperately to look relevant and cool? Can they even put on a decent show without all of the mega-show theatrics anymore? What does Bono want from us? What did we ever do to him?

So what would have been the point of opening with Streets? Fuck you, here’s our best song, here’s what you all thought would be our highlight, our best live number, the ‘moment’, what you thought was the only weapon we have, the stadium mega-anthem. And we’re opening with it. So, again, fuck you, that was Streets. Done. Now lets get on with it.

Brilliant.

But, having said that, I don’t think they’ll open with it this time. I was at Glastonbury last year, and there really was that very sneering attitude about U2 all the way from announcement on, then the celebratory reaction to them canceling, which was definitely there at the festival. Lots of signs and flags and t-shirts and banter all bagging U2, and bagging Bono. Thank christ they cancelled! was the general feeling, the comments you heard everywhere. But when the Gorillaz failed to deliver to mainstage headline level, you could sense there was a bit of regret. There was actually a rousing singalong to With or Without You being played over the PA just before the Gorillaz came out – 150,000 very very loud on the woah-oh-oh-oh’s, and when the song ended, everyone spontaneously cheered. I thought at the time, now you little shits understand. Talk around the place shifted a bit the next day. Then the following night when Muse busted out Streets with Edge and in the process brought the house down, the change of heart was open and everywhere. Actually, U2 would have been kind of awesome, it’s a bit of a shame they weren’t here.

U2 last year would have been walking into a hornets nest. Their performance, in a way, would have been an aggressive argument with the crowd. Fuck you, we’re good enough, we’re worthy. That feeling, I think has passed, and this time it will be a lot more celebratory. That + Streets by Muse/Edge was universally regarded as one of the singular highlights of all of last years festival, meaning that this time it will be something people are genuinely looking forward to, not something that is just an expectation, or a framing, that U2 should break from.

I don’t think they’ll open with it. I think it will be back in it’s regular type of spot. I wouldn’t be surprised actually if its right at the end. Finish on Streets/WOWY. Leave the place at the peak of the mountain, no MOS, Love Is Blindness type neat ‘closer’. One, WOWY, or perhaps All I Want is You will close it out. BIG singalong, with WOWY and AIWIY being good candidates because they leave the crowd singing at the end of both. I think that’s how they’ll leave – crowd still singing (and not 40, which is just a U2 fan thing - one of the big songs.) I reckon now they’ll open with with a straight rock punch, maybe Vertigo, or I Will Follow just to make a statement. And the set will be punch after punch after punch. Never let the crowd go quiet. No bullshit. Nothing rare or left field. Punch, punch, punch, punch - for two and a half hours.
 
MikeyJB said:
What do people think they'll do by way of stage set-up? When Springsteen played he had a specially constructed bridge from the stage to the crowd which was pretty cool, I can see U2 having something similar to that, which technically would allow Bono, Edge and Adam to wander out nearer the crowd. If they are unable to do that and are restricted to the stage I can't really see them playing something like Crazy Tonight, which is primarily used for all of them to get a bit of a walkabout.
Click to expand...

I think they'll have something like that, but I don't think they'll go over the top. There's the big gap between the stage and the crowd, and I think they'll try and do something about that so Bono can get closer, more easily (almost every singer at some point gets off the stage and goes right up to the crowd, but it takes an effort, and it becomes a highlight, they can only really do it once and Bono will want to spend half the night there). I think they will try and limit all the 'extra' stuff though. They'd be keenly aware of everyone expecting them to bring the stunts.

I don't think Crazy Tonight stands that much of a chance of being played.
 
Yes, they definitely will just keep it coming with the rockers....and they better.

If they play IALW or Miss Sarajevo I'm going to rage.
 
Earnie Shavers said:
I think they'll have something like that, but I don't think they'll go over the top. There's the big gap between the stage and the crowd, and I think they'll try and do something about that so Bono can get closer, more easily (almost every singer at some point gets off the stage and goes right up to the crowd, but it takes an effort, and it becomes a highlight, they can only really do it once and Bono will want to spend half the night there). I think they will try and limit all the 'extra' stuff though. They'd be keenly aware of everyone expecting them to bring the stunts.

I don't think Crazy Tonight stands that much of a chance of being played.
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Yeah I agree with pretty much everything you posted, including the stuff about the change of heart around the Glastonbury site after the Friday/Saturday, it was tangible.

I think Crazy Tonight is one of those maybe/maybe not song choices. It'd be a shame if it didn't get played cos it shows a different side to them (a Pop-era side they seem frustratingly unwilling to show otherwise). I'd be happy for them to drop it, only if in its place they were gonna pull out something like Mofo, Discotheque, or The Fly. Yeah, I agree with you big version of With or Without You to close, that would be epic.

And if Bono is gonna spend most of the time down front like you suggest, I think I'll have to try getting on the barrier :wink:
 
Would kill to be there, but BBC will hopefully broadcast it like they did with Muse last year :)
 
Anybody looked at the tour schedule around glastonbury time?

22nd and 26th June...us gigs
24th June..glasto.

That's some tight scheduling!
And knackering
 
I hope they get to check out some of the site instead of just flying in and out. BB King is a strong rumour to play at some point over the weekend. Fingers crossed he'll play on the Friday, then there we're pretty much guaranteed for the two to hook up for 'When Love Comes To Town', either Bono joining BB or the other way around. :D
 
Yeah - and Glastonbury is collaboration crazy. Pretty much no set by anyone that doesn't include a "Give it up for my good friend....!" moment. But with the fly in/fly out nature of this, don't know if they'd have any time to rehearse anything? Beyonce will be around - at least in London. Wouldn't mind betting that at least Mr Beyonce hitches a ride on the U2 chopper for the Friday night for SBS. It will be interesting to see the lineup, particularly for the Friday, flesh out and guess who, if anyone, might stand a chance of popping up with U2.
 
Earnie, you should give the band a motivational speech the day of the show, that post before was damn inspirational! :applaud::)
 
there was a story that there will be joined on stage at Glasto 3 times during their set.. As Elbow will be on before then I wouldn't be surprised if Guy Garvey shows up somehow.. oh and BB King was confirmed for this year yesterday too ! do you think they'll roll out WLCTT?
I'm going this year (already over excited) and last year they had Seasick Steve and Willie Nelson take afternoon slots on the Pyramid Stage so it's feasible that BB will be on the big stage the same day as U2.
 
Yeah, there'll definitely be a couple. I wouldn't expect anything amazing, because they won't have any time to rehearse. Just 'guest singer' busting out a verse or two on a U2 song, kind of thing. Elbow have done a very decent cover of Running to Stand Still. BB King sounds like an obvious one (although again, rehearsal time? They would need it.) If Jay Z follows Beyonce to London (likely) I would think him popping up on SBS would be more than a decent bet. Otherwise - will be fun to see the lineup flesh out and take guesses.

Real shame the Prince rumours weren't true. If you were to think of the ultimate Prince/U2 collaboration, which song would it be? There's only one choice, and if they pulled it off, it would pretty much be the greatest thing ever.
 
oh my god it's going to be awesome! i'm so excited and i'm not even going!! will definitely be watching live on tv though haha

really really really hope they play that once in a lifetime KILLER gig!!
 
Yeah. I haven't got tickets either. Went last year and it blew my mind, was absolutely desperate to go back again this year, completely regardless of U2. I was in Spain with friends when the tickets went on sale, and I held them up for 2hrs hitting refresh, and just had to let it go. Fucking U2 fans! So I'll be one of the 200,000 trying for 1,000 tickets in April, and/or my girlfriend works for a large media company here and is trying to get a couple of media passes for us, which might just work.
 
Earnie Shavers said:
Fantastic article from the UK press here. They're all over it.

Hot Insider Tip 1: U2 will not set the claw up at Glastonbury.
Hot Insider Tip 2: U2 will probably play Streets and With or Without You.

Glastonbury warning for headliners U2 - mirror.co.uk
Click to expand...

"It means they'll only play a couple of songs off their last album and instead focus on the glory days.

"Songs including Where The Streets Have No Name, Sunday Bloody Sunday and With Or Without You have already been put on the short-list."
Click to expand...


So they're basically going to play the same setlist from South Africa
 
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