Celebration
The Fly
The sound was so bad in the upper deck at Fed-Ex I thought it deserved a thread to see if there's a remedy before the show hits other large, vertical stadiums. I was actually on the floor (like most on this board) and had a terrific time at a fabulous show but many of our friends were in the upper deck and had a miserable time, as did many, many others based on reviews on various sites. I've never had so many so people say they didn't get their money's worth at a U2 show - heartbreaking. And I've never seen such variety in reviews - great time for those below - almost worthless time for those up top. The band would be devastated to know so many people couldn't connect with the show due to poor sound.
The particular problem at Fed-Ex was the combination of the vertical rise of the stadium and the configuration of the speakers on the claw. The sheer rise of the stadium kept too much of the echo inside the stadium. I wasn't at the Paul McCartney show but I've heard the sound was much better - probably because the sound WASN'T 360. Stadium sound is rarely great but it's manageable when one bank of speakers overpowers the others - if the speakers are all competing at near equal volume you have serious problems.
Some ideas for the crew:
1) Walk around the upper deck during soundcheck to get a feel for the sound - you may be appalled.
2) Consider adding another bank of speakers somewhere, somehow to cut through the echo - I doubt this is feasible but it should at least be consider. Again, Fed-Ex itself was at least 50 percent of the problem but other stadiums with a high vertical rise could be a problem as well.
I'm a lifelong U2 and was really shocked at how many people had a terrible experience. It was so bad that many casual fans won't give the band a second chance if they want to continue to play in stadiums. Sorry to be so negative but I know the band and everyone on the crew are professionals and want to give EVERYONE a great experience (that's the whole point of the tour)
The particular problem at Fed-Ex was the combination of the vertical rise of the stadium and the configuration of the speakers on the claw. The sheer rise of the stadium kept too much of the echo inside the stadium. I wasn't at the Paul McCartney show but I've heard the sound was much better - probably because the sound WASN'T 360. Stadium sound is rarely great but it's manageable when one bank of speakers overpowers the others - if the speakers are all competing at near equal volume you have serious problems.
Some ideas for the crew:
1) Walk around the upper deck during soundcheck to get a feel for the sound - you may be appalled.
2) Consider adding another bank of speakers somewhere, somehow to cut through the echo - I doubt this is feasible but it should at least be consider. Again, Fed-Ex itself was at least 50 percent of the problem but other stadiums with a high vertical rise could be a problem as well.
I'm a lifelong U2 and was really shocked at how many people had a terrible experience. It was so bad that many casual fans won't give the band a second chance if they want to continue to play in stadiums. Sorry to be so negative but I know the band and everyone on the crew are professionals and want to give EVERYONE a great experience (that's the whole point of the tour)