Uh oh, Is Chicago 1 slated to be the DVD relese of this tour?

[Layton]

Both Bono and Edge have been quoted in recent articles admitting that they weren't on for that show. Now I might be wrong, but I thought that was the show they were filming for release. If so, that's a real downer.

 

[hluvslmj]

They taped the 9th and 10th. Too bad they didn't tape the 12th - that was a great show. I enjoyed the 9th also but missed the encores b/c my sister fainted in GA - too hot in there.

 

[ayearwome]

No worries. They didn't have all the cameras setup on 5/7 like they did on 5/9 and 5/10.

 

[dsmith2904]

Remember the first Boston show the band taped for the Elevation DVD was not great but the other night was and the DVD ended up being fantastic. By editing together three shows, U2 and Hamish and Solo Too will surely come up with something fantastic.

 

[Reggie Thee Dog]

Remember they used the Chicago shows for the Good Morning America Summer Concert Series. According to reports regarding Bono's voice being somewhat off during "Vertigo" it appears that they used the May 7 show for the GMA.

Also remember people were reporting they were interviewing fans outside for that show, and I bet that was the GMA reporter doing that too. All just educated guesses.

 

[mikal]

why is it that i keep hearing that Bono and Edge have said that they weren't on for that show, but exact quotes are never posted?

if that's true, i feel kind of bad, because i was there, and i thought the band was really on.

 

[Chizip]

the GMA footage was definitely from the 10th

bono really fucked up vertigo on the first night and it came up out really funky

supposedly they were having sound problems all night, bono couldnt hear anything in his ear piece and the timing was off, and it was most noticeable during vertigo

im pretty sure most of the footage on the DVD will be from the 10th, with some footage from the 9th edited in. the 10th was the show where they seemed the most "on," plus on the 9th there was a string of the light curtains that was fucked up and a different color. that probably wouldnt want that on the dvd.

plus there were added visuals on the 10th

as for a quote from bono about the show on the 7th, here ya go "I didn't have the fire in my belly, and I thought well, I'll push it, and I'll get it. And I couldn't."

but you shouldnt feel bad about it, even a u2 show where they arent at their best is still an amazing show.

 

[Chizip]

another quote i found

After the review appeared in the Tribune, Bono invited me to attend another show. Later, he would acknowledge that my review of the first concert wasn't off base. "We weren't at our best," he said

 

[ShellBeThere]

another quote i found

After the review appeared in the Tribune, Bono invited me to attend another show. Later, he would acknowledge that my review of the first concert wasn't off base. "We weren't at our best," he said

Where was this one from? prefacing the interview somewhere (couldn't see it...)?

call me crazy, but i'm not sure the first quote you cite refers to the 5/7 show. it's from that interview bono did with kot...don't know when that took place exactly but earlier in it kot says this:

Kot: It helped when you put "Original of the Species" in the set last night. It made me want to hear what I missed on the record. That's what was lacking in the first show [at the United Center].

and then later Bono says...

"One of the reasons I respect these men I've been in a band with for 25 years is that on a regular basis they turn down enormous sums of money for obstinate reasons, sometimes we don't even have a reason. … In this band, oftentimes I want a certain thing, I get another one. Even last night [at the concert], I went out and misfired. I didn't have the fire in my belly, and I thought well, I'll push it, and I'll get it. And I couldn't. And then something else happened, and it became very special. Something really happened. You have to accept what you're given, and make the most of it. "

so, was he refering to lacking fire in the belly for 5/7, or for this next concert (5/9?) that he invited Kot to?

I would love to see any specific references about their sound problems/other issues with 5/7, which to me might explain some of the little flubbies and/or slight tentativeness/caution-y feel I felt at times. I still thought they were really on in lots of ways that show...

cheers all!

 

[Chizip]

they are both from the kot interview

for some reason, when the article got posted here the first part of it wasnt posted

Bono is steamed.

It's not every day that I answer my cell phone and hear the lead singer of U2 expressing serious disagreement with something I've written, but that day has arrived.

"You've offended us," he says as I weave up Lake Shore Drive during evening rush hour, trying not to crash into a concrete barrier while I reach for my notebook. "There's a dark cloud over us and we need to talk."

I've covered the band for 15 years, interviewed Bono a half-dozen times and attended virtually every one of U2's Chicago concerts since the Irish quartet first played at Park West in 1981. Along with R.E.M., U2 is the most important mainstream rock band of my generation, a band that set a new standard for how an arena rock concert could feel and what it could communicate. In the '90s, Bono, guitarist The Edge, drummer Larry Mullen Jr. and bassist Adam Clayton gave their well-honed approach a twist on such adventurous albums as "Achtung Baby" (1991), "Zooropa" (1993), the "Passengers: Original Soundtracks I" side project (1995) and "Pop" (1997).

But "Pop" bombed commercially by U2 standards, and the band seemed to lose its nerve. It made two consecutive albums, "All That You Can't Leave Behind" (2000) and "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb" (2004), that retreated from the innovations of the '90s and settled for a retro '80s sound. In February, the Tribune published an article in which I chastised the band for a series of dubious artistic and business decisions. It was prompted by a flood of irate e-mails from fans who had paid $40 to join U2's fan club in order to gain access to pre-sale tickets for the band's North American tour. The sale was a public-relations disaster. Some fan-club members reported they couldn't even get tickets, or paid nearly $200 for third-balcony seats, while scalpers were selling tickets on eBay for more than $600. It was the latest in a series of missteps that prompted me to question whether this once-vital band was turning into the Rolling Stones, more of a corporation focused on perpetuating itself than a creative force.

There was the ubiquitous television ad (for which they were not paid) in which "Vertigo," the first single from "Atomic Bomb," was turned into a commercial for Apple's portable music device, the iPod. There were the unusually conservative albums, evidence that the band had run out of ideas or the will to challenge itself and its audience. There was the live appearance at the Super Bowl halftime in February 2002, the type of marketing opportunity that presented even the most idealistic brand of rock as just another product.

It was these criticisms that prompted Bono's Lake Shore Drive call. A day after that conversation, I attended the first concert in U2's four-night sold-out run at the United Center. My review focused on the tired set list. U2 played some new songs early in the two-hour performance, but instead of building a case for the new album and possibly redeeming it, the quartet reserved all the big-bang moments for its greatest hits, songs that had been in the set list for a decade or more. They sounded more than ever like the bands they once arose to replace, the dinosaur acts of the '60s.

All of this is part of what should be the relationship among the artist, the critic and even the audience, which at the United Center was wildly cheering (as they always do) every note. Critics, on the other hand, are not cheerleaders. They are paid to honestly and passionately react to what the artist does -- for better or worse. When it's the latter, audiences are often more vocal in their defense than the artists. But Bono was different.

After the review appeared in the Tribune, Bono invited me to attend another show. Later, he would acknowledge that my review of the first concert wasn't off base. "We weren't at our best," he said. When I attended the final show of the four-night stand, the song deck had been shuffled, and the band grew more daring. A new song that wasn't in the first night's set, "Original of the Species," was a highlight. It's a soul ballad with a melody so suggestive that it compelled me to go back and hear what I had missed the first time on the "Atomic Bomb" album. If not a return to the old boldness, the performance certainly made me aware of something that I had missed about the album several months before: the classic beauty of some of the less-immediate songs.

The next morning, Bono and I met at a corner table in a swanky restaurant overlooking Michigan Avenue. "Stick 'em up," he rasped as he approached from behind, finger on an imaginary trigger pressing into my left kidney. It was 9 a.m., and the previous night's concert had left the unshaven singer a touch hoarse. But he was in a spry mood and claimed to do all his best work before noon. "I sometimes wish we could play our concerts right after I wake up," he said, peering out from behind his tinted wraparound glasses after ordering a breakfast of poached eggs and toast. The ire in his voice of the previous week had softened to a contentious but melodious brogue.

and i think youre crazy, im pretty sure the first quote refers to the 5/7 show too...

Even last night [at the concert], I went out and misfired. I didn't have the fire in my belly, and I thought well, I'll push it, and I'll get it. And I couldn't.

last night meant 5/7...

 

[ShellBeThere]

oh, okay...thanks for clearing that up!
so, he had Kot come for the final night, the one everyone thought was great! (hearing the boots it sure sounded good!)...I forgot which shows they played OOTS at for Chicago (not for first night, unfortunately...)...but then, if Bono was talking about first night's show, why did he say 'last night' when they were meeting the day after Chicago IV? Or do you read it as the 'later, Bono would admit I wan't off-base about the the show...that they weren't at their best' indication? I was focused on the 'last night' and the 'and then something special..' part...so, maybe he was talking about the *succession* of concerts, with a misfire the first night and then the "..and then something special happened" stuff for subsequent nights?! It felt like he was talking about a single event, with a change from lack-of-fire to something-special, but it's maybe not clear...

gosh I'm getting a little obsessed clearly..
cheerio!

 

[Chizip]

hmm, after further analysis, maybe you're right and im the crazy one

well at least i had one quote right

 

[ShellBeThere]

well, whether the lads and/or Kot thought they were 'off' on Chi I or not, this first part of the interview piece I hadn't seen before is really pissing me off...I've already processed the degree to which Kot had some 'baggage' going into the show...
But jeezus it seems he decided what he thought of HTDAAB after listening maybe once, no?!
Oh, I heard OOTS in the show, and it made me go back to hear what I was missing...wtf? You write goddamned reviews, people listen to your stupidass opinions like you know what you're talking about, and it goes from retro 80s rehash cookiecutter to a soulful ballad with a sweetly suggestive melody, classically beautiful?!
yeah, asshole, it was on the album when you first heard it and got paid to tell us what it was like, but it wasn't "immediate" enough for you to consider back then?!
wait, so U2 should aim to be 'immediate" in their songs, so you'll listen to them, or else it's to the shelf with a tidy little evaluation spat out for the public saying it's the sameold sameold?! "immediate" to whom?!
But I thought you were railing against the appeal of the 'immediate'?!
I swear I bet he listened to the album twice max...'less immediate'. ..
I think critics should be required to tell us how many times they listened to a fucking album before they tell us what it "is".
okay, rant over...sorry..

 

[sociopathetic]

The DVD will most likely be edited to be a compilation from the best of the four shows. I recall reading a thread a while back that the cameras were not even fully set up for the first show and that of the Chicago performances it was the weakest. I’ve heard the boot and it sounds okay to me though I think that some of the criticism was that the show didn’t “flow” as well as the subsequent performances.

 

[kakvox]

The DVD will most likely be edited to be a compilation from the best of the four shows. I recall reading a thread a while back that the cameras were not even fully set up for the first show and that of the Chicago performances it was the weakest. I’ve heard the boot and it sounds okay to me though I think that some of the criticism was that the show didn’t “flow” as well as the subsequent performances.

The cameras weren't there for the 4th night, either. I believe they will use the 2nd and third show for the DVD, the nights the cameras were in full action. Oh, how I wished they were also using night 4, but should be a pretty great DVD anyways.

 

[ayearwome]

Yeah..it will be a great DVD. But no performance of Bad

 

[ShellBeThere]

maybe maybe they'd put the Bad from night 1 (or night IV, but I prefer night I's !) on it as an extra!!!
I can hope...

cheers...

 

[U2FanPeter]

Makes you wish they could just use the Vancouver performances - which were professionally recorded and partially filmed with a 9 camera crew.

Won't happen

U2 might just have a videotaping in another city - they've fully videotaped many shows on each of their tours. Though never with 22 cameras.

U2FP

 

[govikesU2]

Bad from Chicago 1 was amazing! That should be on the DVD but I'm sure it won't. It's really unfortunate that Bono "Wasn't feeling it that night". I drove 16 hours at a great expense and waited from 4 am till showtime to see them play hoping he would "Be feeling it" but I guess not. Oh well thank god I have tickets for Toronto and Minneapolis in September. Maybe he'll be "Feeling it" on one of those nights.

 

[ShellBeThere]

where are you quoting he wasn't "feeling it" from?
That kot article or elsewhere?

cheerio...