I have now watched the whole broadcast, and I can understand why so many people here – especially those who haven’t watched many (any?) Glastonbury headlining sets before – thought they nailed it. It paints a very rosy picture! Which is good, because far, far, far more people were watching it on the BBC than were actually in the field. But I can assure you, from the field, they came within an inch of crashing that into the wall. As Mikey said above, it was nerve wracking to watch.
I have actually been surprised to read a lot of the great reviews. From punters there it seemed to be mixed - very mixed. But as I was walking away from it, I actually thought the whole thing was very exciting from a fan perspective – you never, ever see U2 so raw and real, so terrified and panicked, running on pure nerves and adrenalin – but that from a casual perspective, I thought that they had probably tanked it.
So it’s nice to read and hear that so many think they didn’t, although weather + gremlins + poor setlist (Moment of Surrender – what the fuck were they thinking?) really did hold it back. They never really got the massive lift off everyone expects from a Glastonbury headline set. It all peaked with the Achtung run. If they’d been on one night later (with the better weather, sound and field conditions Coldplay enjoyed), and if that was all that was holding Bono back from really working with the crowd (and if it was the weather that seemed to weaken his voice significantly song after song), then that plus just a two song different encore could have really knocked them over the top. Real shame.
But yes, this U2 fan right here thought that ‘realness’ was fantastic. The Fly was my standout. They were super nervous, super edgy. Even Better failed to take off with the whole band looking like a deer in headlights, possibly rattled by such a shonky start, and perhaps the realisation that this is going to be fucking tough. But then they seem to throw all of the adrenalin, fear, frustration into the next song and ripped into The Fly. Again, this was certainly not technically the greatest version. I don't think Bono got *any* of the chords right (and they actually had him turned up quite high) plus Edge flubbed it in a few spots - but - the raw energy to it was just unreal. Again, something not picked up on the BBC, but at the very end, when the camera is focused on Bono facing Larry, I remember thinking at the time that people 'here' watching this online must be loving this moment, but the BBC didn't catch it - the three of them were huddled around Larry as they did in Anaheim for the finish, but properly banging it this time, like a much, much younger band. It was fucking great. Edge is hitting the wrong notes, Bono is just hitting whatever chord, but they're absolutely going for it. All of this, and I'm there in the pit and I'm looking up at seven big screens flashing the rapid-fire words and slogans. Where am I? When is this? Fuck nostalgia complaints, for five minutes there I was at ZooTV. This absolutely wins my All Time U2 Live Highlight Award. I was a pig in mud, in every way, as it was.
But yes, sadly, for several reasons - some their own fault, some not - as I said before, they competently landed this gig, which in itself was amazing given the truly awful conditions, and it was very special and unique for U2 fans, but it failed to get lift off, failed to be something bigger. It will probably end up settling as being one of the better/best of the weekend, but definitely not an all time great. Their inexperience with gigs and crowds and events like this, and the truly awful conditions, proved to be too much.
Great review