U2 after Glastonbury thoughts and chats

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mama cass said:
i must be one sick bitch because the thought of them being terrified just really tickles me :D
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it is pretty amusing for all the band have accomplished in their career that they'd be so scared of this show. granted, I know it's different from what they've done in the past by a large degree and the audience is different - but still. It's U2! they've got the Joshua Tree, Achtung, ZooTV, Popmart and the 00s lovefest under their belts.
 
i think it's nice that they can be terrified still after such a long and successful career... it shows they can still take risks, they haven't got it all in the bag, they weren't complacent, and still felt they had something to prove, but most of all that they're 100% human and naturally petrified of a potentially hostile audience and still tried to give it their best shot... :hug:
 
I actually hope this encourages them to do some more festivals. It's nice to see them in a different setting and under a bit more pressure.

I doubt it though with all the nerves they seemingly had for this one. It's also impossible for most festivals to pay them.
 
nielsgov said:
I actually hope this encourages them to do some more festivals. It's nice to see them in a different setting and under a bit more pressure.

I doubt it though with all the nerves they seemingly had for this one. It's also impossible for most festivals to pay them.
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Would be nice wouldnt it
 
I always thought it was pretty fucking cool of U2 that they quit doing festivals as soon as they could
the quality of music doesn't fit the top 5 reasons of why most people go to festivals and bands go solely as a marketing tool

result is U2 playing Streets as #6 in the setlist so it fits the BBC 2 10pm broadcast
a good performance, but not their best by a longshot
U2 album sales up 700+% in UK

I still thought it was cool and the band worked hard
but I don't need a repeat
 
It's very surreal thing being a manical U2 fan right now!.

A) Seeing arse bandit gutter press in the UK, actually throwing up in their mouths a bit, by saying that U2 were very good :ohmy: Even today the Scum picking up on Bono's fears in a "Poor Bono way", when normally they would be kicking him in the guts!!

B) Hearing work colleagues go on about how good U2 were on Friday after listening to me for years yabbering on about U2 and them dissing me for poor taste :angry:

C) (Knowing full well how they fecked it up BIG TIME. Plus how obviously nervy Bono was on stage) Reading some of my freinds posts on FB who compeletly hate U2, SUDDENLY go on about this brand new magical band they discovered at Glasto?? like they have just turned up from outer space or something. :ohmy:

I can actually see U2 going away but not thinking it up again very soon, so I will be enjoying my boys highs and lows until that day! :sad:



Oh and if Larry made that comment he needs a tight slap! :doh:
 
Salome said:
result is U2 playing Streets as #6 in the setlist so it fits the BBC 2 10pm broadcast
a good performance, but not their best by a longshot
U2 album sales up 700+% in UK
Click to expand...

From a post in atu2.com regarding the sales spike:

Top 200 Rock Songs
With or Without You - 3
Beautiful Day - 4
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For- 5
One - 12
Vertigo- 32
Stay (Faraway So Close- 36
Where The Streets Have No Name- 40
Pride (In The Name Of Love) - 54 (+13)
Moment Of Surrender- 58
Sunday Bloody Sunday - 80
EBTTRT- 83 (+123) (!!!!!!!)
With or Without You (AGAIN) - 87 (N/A... I guess? Would probably be #1 if you combined them both- this is from Joshua Tree and Best of the 80s)
Streets (AGAIN) - 93 (Same deal)
Elevation- 131
One- 132 (AGAIN! Cheesy )
Sweetest Thing- 143
Beautiful Day- 150 (AGAIN!!)
Out of Control - 151 (First appearance in top 200)
Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own- 154
Bad - 161 (First appearance)
City Of Blinding Lights- 167
Mysterious Ways- 178 (First appearance)
The Fly- 183 (First appearance)
All I Want Is You- dropping out of the top 200.

Rock Album Chart
Best of 1980-1990- 4
U218 Deluxe- 7
U218 regular- 9 (Oh God, not again)
AB- 16
JT- 38
JT (Again) - 54 (Yes, it's happening again)
Under A Blood Red Sky- 66
R&H- 75
Zooropa- 81
Best of 1990-2000- 85
The Joshua Tree (AGAIN) - 128
Live From Paris- 130
The Unforgettable Fire- 131
No Line On The Horizon- 142
Under A Blood Red Sky Again- 150
War- 151
The Best of 1980-1990 Again- 158
All That You Can't Leave Behind- 175
Wide Awake In America- 176
Boy- 177
How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb- 181

Clearly it struck the right chord, or introduced Brits to a side of U2 they have never seen before. <------ I am talking to you 'The Fly'.

Haven't seen this amount of positivity relating to U2 music for a long time. It did look mighty impressive watching it on TV, mistakes and all.
 
Anji said:
It's very surreal thing being a manical U2 fan right now!.

A) Seeing arse bandit gutter press in the UK, actually throwing up in their mouths a bit, by saying that U2 were very good :ohmy: Even today the Scum picking up on Bono's fears in a "Poor Bono way", when normally they would be kicking him in the guts!!

B) Hearing work colleagues go on about how good U2 were on Friday after listening to me for years yabbering on about U2 and them dissing me for poor taste :angry:

C) (Knowing full well how they fecked it up BIG TIME. Plus how obviously nervy Bono was on stage) Reading some of my freinds posts on FB who compeletly hate U2, SUDDENLY go on about this brand new magical band they discovered at Glasto?? like they have just turned up from outer space or something. :ohmy:
Click to expand...

that is wonderful! :up:
 
I am AMAZED this photo hasn't fronted every U2 article over the past few days. How can the UK media have missed it?

11044031.jpg
 
Some great comments here and like a fair few fans I have mixed feelings about the concert.

Even after it finished I still had that niggling thought at the back of my mind saying 'it should have been more, it had so much potential.'

Throughout the whole 2 hours the band were straining towards epic but couldn't quite get there. I had a feeling they might be nervous (I still remember Bono before Live8 saying how unwell he felt) but even so I was surprised by just how uneasy he looked. After a short burst of rock star machismo, he pretty much remained rooted to the spot throughout the first few songs. I did quite like the idea of starting with Real Thing though, the message seemed obvious 'give (us) one more chance (Glastonbury) and you'll be satisfied...you won't be denied.'

If I'm being honest, I don't think Bono ever relaxed enough to really enjoy it, even during WOWY, he still seemed unable to really communicate much with the audience. I felt the enormity of the gig (understandably) terrified him and the fact they were going toe-to-toe with a potentially hostile crowd rather than the adoring U2 fanbase was something that weighed heavily on their minds. I was kind of holding my breath all the way through the gig.

I think Earnie made some great points, the band did seem out of place, it did seem strange to see them up on that stage, looking so much out of their comfort zone. You got the impression of them looking around and thinking 'what on earth are we doing here?' It just wasn't an easy fit. Glastonbury is just not a U2-kind of place.

Performance-wise, they were inconsistent, but their passion was undeniable. It's been a long time since we've seen U2 fight so hard for acceptance, Bono in particular looked liked he'd had the stuffing knocked out of him around the time of Vertigo, he's perhaps not used to working this hard with the usual concert-goers. I can't remember the last time I saw him so focused, so determined to really give the songs his all.

I can see what they were trying to achieve by playing One and Streets back to back, but I agree with everyone else, the latter should have served as the big finale.

I was overjoyed they played Bad, but it should have been much longer. Here was an opportunity to really whip up the crowd, to replicate the kind of chanting unity the band execute so well on tour, but the trajectory was curtailed. The version at Live Aid was obviously too long, but it had that sense of ever-building momentum, that relentless tidal-wave of emotion spiralling higher and higher before the triumphant climax. You can just picture Bono leaning over the crowd in the rain and bellowing out those big nights. That would have been a truly defining moment, and that's kind of what it lacked. A Live Aid-esque moment of unrehearsed reality to cut through all the hype and spectacle. With that said, I did like the new lyrics he incorporated, and isn't it funny how Bono's singing suddenly improves when he he puts a new spin on an old song?

On the plus side, what Glastonbury did prove to me was that U2's songs are much more culturally relevant that I realised. I had a fear the crowd wouldn't particpate in the sing-alongs but they were right there alongside them belting out pretty much every tune. It was wonderful to hear them on I Still Haven't Found, One, Bad and WOWY. They was no hostility there, just a bunch of people wanting to be taken on a huge rollercoaster ride. It's this kind of thing that made it all worthwhile.

I almost hope this kind of gives the band the incentive to maybe give Glastonbury another go in a few years. Now they know what it entails and the kind of audience they're playing to, another run at it might produce a more confident and genuinely lengendary performance. I'm probably dreaming though.

Still, I'm happy with what we got and proud that the band braved the odds and, for the most part, came out on top.
 
:lol: Oh god I"m saving that photo for future use when someone posts a bullshit thread again.


I did see the outrageous claims that U2 are racist because the N word was on the screens for a split second. :rolleyes: Yeah, they're also Nazis because that was on the screen as well!
 
DevilsShoes said:
Some great comments here and like a fair few fans I have mixed feelings about the concert.

Even after it finished I still had that niggling thought at the back of my mind saying 'it should have been more, it had so much potential.'

Throughout the whole 2 hours the band were straining towards epic but couldn't quite get there. I had a feeling they might be nervous (I still remember Bono before Live8 saying how unwell he felt) but even so I was surprised by just how uneasy he looked. After a short burst of rock star machismo, he pretty much remained rooted to the spot throughout the first few songs. I did quite like the idea of starting with Real Thing though, the message seemed obvious 'give (us) one more chance (Glastonbury) and you'll be satisfied...you won't be denied.'

If I'm being honest, I don't think Bono ever relaxed enough to really enjoy it, even during WOWY, he still seemed unable to really communicate much with the audience. I felt the enormity of the gig (understandably) terrified him and the fact they were going toe-to-toe with a potentially hostile crowd rather than the adoring U2 fanbase was something that weighed heavily on their minds. I was kind of holding my breath all the way through the gig.

I think Earnie made some great points, the band did seem out of place, it did seem strange to see them up on that stage, looking so much out of their comfort zone. You got the impression of them looking around and thinking 'what on earth are we doing here?' It just wasn't an easy fit. Glastonbury is just not a U2-kind of place.

Performance-wise, they were inconsistent, but their passion was undeniable. It's been a long time since we've seen U2 fight so hard for acceptance, Bono in particular looked liked he'd had the stuffing knocked out of him around the time of Vertigo, he's perhaps not used to working this hard with the usual concert-goers. I can't remember the last time I saw him so focused, so determined to really give the songs his all.

I can see what they were trying to achieve by playing One and Streets back to back, but I agree with everyone else, the latter should have served as the big finale.

I was overjoyed they played Bad, but it should have been much longer. Here was an opportunity to really whip up the crowd, to replicate the kind of chanting unity the band execute so well on tour, but the trajectory was curtailed. The version at Live Aid was obviously too long, but it had that sense of ever-building momentum, that relentless tidal-wave of emotion spiralling higher and higher before the triumphant climax. You can just picture Bono leaning over the crowd in the rain and bellowing out those big nights. That would have been a truly defining moment, and that's kind of what it lacked. A Live Aid-esque moment of unrehearsed reality to cut through all the hype and spectacle. With that said, I did like the new lyrics he incorporated, and isn't it funny how Bono's singing suddenly improves when he he puts a new spin on an old song?

On the plus side, what Glastonbury did prove to me was that U2's songs are much more culturally relevant that I realised. I had a fear the crowd wouldn't particpate in the sing-alongs but they were right there alongside them belting out pretty much every tune. It was wonderful to hear them on I Still Haven't Found, One, Bad and WOWY. They was no hostility there, just a bunch of people wanting to be taken on a huge rollercoaster ride. It's this kind of thing that made it all worthwhile.

I almost hope this kind of gives the band the incentive to maybe give Glastonbury another go in a few years. Now they know what it entails and the kind of audience they're playing to, another run at it might produce a more confident and genuinely lengendary performance. I'm probably dreaming though.

Still, I'm happy with what we got and proud that the band braved the odds and, for the most part, came out on top.
Click to expand...

This pretty much summes up my thoughts after the performance. thank you :up:
 
I think a simple mistake was playing the set so short. The usual 25ish songs would have given them the opportunity to craft it a bit better, make the flow better, make the bigger songs bigger. They seemed to be racing to hit that 1hr30 bang-on, which suggests they were playing to the BBC more than the crowd (not surprising really, but still.) I knew it was going to go very short the moment Bad popped up, in fact, I think as soon as I heard the intro start I looked at my watch ("WTF?") The crowd were also certainly surprised it was so short.

Anyway, it really did have so much more potential.
 
Earnie's posts win this thread. Great stuff as usual, good sir. :up:

Sken said:
Clearly it struck the right chord, or introduced Brits to a side of U2 they have never seen before. <------ I am talking to you 'The Fly'.
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The Fly? A side of U2 the Brits had never seen before? They sent The Fly single to #1!

Now if this were a festival in the US, the country that let The Fly stall at #61, then the point may be valid.
 
DevilsShoes said:
On the plus side, what Glastonbury did prove to me was that U2's songs are much more culturally relevant that I realised. I had a fear the crowd wouldn't particpate in the sing-alongs but they were right there alongside them belting out pretty much every tune. It was wonderful to hear them on I Still Haven't Found, One, Bad and WOWY. They was no hostility there, just a bunch of people wanting to be taken on a huge rollercoaster ride. It's this kind of thing that made it all worthwhile.
Click to expand...

This didn't really surprise me at all. They were never going to face a hostile crowd. They never had to prove that they had big songs, what they had to prove was all in their performance of those songs. They had to prove that they were a great band who can deliver a really great performance on a stage that levels them with many other great bands/artists - but everyone knows they can and do write great, huge, anthemic stadium and field filling songs. People were looking forward to those, very much so, but they wanted to see... well... Bono called Glastonbury 'the World Cup Final' of gigs, and to follow his analogy, U2 have been playing exhibition games for 25 years. Here's their first competitive match. Any good?

And the Glastonbury crowd is hyper-enthusiastic. Super keen to have a great time, always emphatically willing the bands on to go higher with them. They were never going to be sitting on their hands, waiting for U2 to warm them up. That the crowd jumped right in with them from the get-go wasn't surprising, and that the crowd there was more well versed than even an average U2 crowd wasn't that surprising either. It would be fair to say - and not condescending at all to suggest - that a large portion of any big U2 stadium crowd will just be there on their "if you only see one concert this year" night out, sold on the brand and spectacle and idea that U2 have a huge catalogue, even if they don't personally know it that well. But a Glastonbury crowd is a full-on music crowd. Would on average attend many gigs in a year, devour music of all sorts, many attending more than one festival just this summer. That they busted out Bad and Stay word for word actually shouldn't be that surprising.
 
Don't get why people were expecting this over-passionate, positively electrifying performance a la "fuck the revolution"/Zoo/white flags/etc. They are 50.
 
Anji said:
I know, I saw that and flinched. I don't know what has happened over here, but our press seem to love this new band called U2 :lol:
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Its like a breath of fresh air isnt it? i mean even someone in work came upto me yesterday and said "He's got a great voice hasnt he" :lol: i mean its not like its been hidden for the past 11 years,
 
cobl04 said:
Don't get why people were expecting this over-passionate, positively electrifying performance a la "fuck the revolution"/Zoo/white flags/etc. They are 50.
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In regards to that sort of thing - of course no fuck the revolution/climbing the speaker stacks - but for anything even 5% of that, blame the weather. Off their extended stage, they had steps running down to the pit/barrier, that he never used. Surely he would have if it wasn't four inches of mud down there. You can imagine the lift off from Bad being tenfold if he was up on the barrier leaning over the crowd screaming his Wide Awakes. And you know that in better conditions he would have been doing that sort of thing.

Oh, and Janelle Monae was awesome :up:
 
super fly guy said:
I have spent the last half hour in my work defending U2 to one of my work mates,he says they are just business men in it to make money.
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Shouldn't that be the last 2 1/2 hours? :)

And well, U2 do want to get paid for what they do. So while they are not only in it for the money, it isn't something they refuse.
 
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