dsmith2904
ONE love, blood, life
Please post all reviews of the October 11th show here.
11th October New York - Madison Square Garden
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U2248
Babyface
Last night was very good. I think I've seen better jury is still out on that. They opened with COBL, Vertigo, Elevation, and Out of Control and the place was going nuts. I have to say that was most exciting. Even Bono commented on how noisy the crowd was... "New Yorkers, even on a Tuesday night!" Miss Sarajevo was good and Bono sang Pavarotti's part to perfection. Fast Cars was also good with Edge doing a bit of dancing. Last encore was Crumbs, All Because of You, and 40. I would have preferred to hear Bad, but Crumbs was really special.
All in all I was not disappointed.
All in all I was not disappointed.
I have a lot to say, since last night was my first U2 concert, and I'm still all bouncy about it. I don't want to ramble too much, but I'll tell about what I remember the most.
Yes, the crowd did go crazy for a lot of the songs, even Bono seemed taken aback by it. He had the crowd sing a lot of the songs, such as the first verse in "Elevation". Before "Elevation", Bono was lying on the ramp, and some guy in the ellipse offered him a beer. Bono just looked at him for a minute and said, "why thank you!" and had a drink. That made the crowd crazy too.
I'm trying to remember all the songs in order. One performance that stood out for me was "Bullet the Blue Sky". Bono put on the blindfolf, and sat on the stage, rocking back and forth. On the screen, you could see him muttering some things. Then he got up, stretched his arms out in front of him, and staggered over to the microphone, singing "oohh ohhh ohh". It was very eerie.
When the band started playing "Fast Cars", someone in the audience gave Bono a flower, and he put it into his mouth like a flamenco dancer and Bono danced a bit as a flamenco dancer around the ramp back to the stage. This was when he pulled a girl on stage. She started dancing to him, shimming her shoulders and shaking her hips at him. Everyone was cheering her on because Bono was certainly entranced by her. He was about a foot away from her when she first started dancing, and then at the end, he slowed dance with her a bit. It was so sweet, and the girl was really into the song. And the Edge got really into the song as well. That was probably the most fun people had during the show.
When the band played the last song, "40", for some reason Adam and Edge switched places. I don't know if this is what they've been doing for the entire tour, but it seemed odd.
Bono sounded great, he didn't screw up on any of the lyrics. The rest of the band sounded great as well.
OK, that's about all I can say now. I can't say how great of a show it was since this was my first U2 concert. But for a first time, it was very good! I have no complaints. I took pictures, so when they develop, if they came out good, I'll post them.
Yes, the crowd did go crazy for a lot of the songs, even Bono seemed taken aback by it. He had the crowd sing a lot of the songs, such as the first verse in "Elevation". Before "Elevation", Bono was lying on the ramp, and some guy in the ellipse offered him a beer. Bono just looked at him for a minute and said, "why thank you!" and had a drink. That made the crowd crazy too.
I'm trying to remember all the songs in order. One performance that stood out for me was "Bullet the Blue Sky". Bono put on the blindfolf, and sat on the stage, rocking back and forth. On the screen, you could see him muttering some things. Then he got up, stretched his arms out in front of him, and staggered over to the microphone, singing "oohh ohhh ohh". It was very eerie.
When the band started playing "Fast Cars", someone in the audience gave Bono a flower, and he put it into his mouth like a flamenco dancer and Bono danced a bit as a flamenco dancer around the ramp back to the stage. This was when he pulled a girl on stage. She started dancing to him, shimming her shoulders and shaking her hips at him. Everyone was cheering her on because Bono was certainly entranced by her. He was about a foot away from her when she first started dancing, and then at the end, he slowed dance with her a bit. It was so sweet, and the girl was really into the song. And the Edge got really into the song as well. That was probably the most fun people had during the show.
When the band played the last song, "40", for some reason Adam and Edge switched places. I don't know if this is what they've been doing for the entire tour, but it seemed odd.
Bono sounded great, he didn't screw up on any of the lyrics. The rest of the band sounded great as well.
OK, that's about all I can say now. I can't say how great of a show it was since this was my first U2 concert. But for a first time, it was very good! I have no complaints. I took pictures, so when they develop, if they came out good, I'll post them.
Nice review Pearl. I think Fast Cars is quickly becoming a highlight of the shows where it's played. 
The way I understand the reasoning for Edge and Adam switching intruments is Adam was not there when they first recorded the song so Edge had to play the bass part. Since then, they have always played it where they switch instruments. They also assume eachother's position on stage which is cool.
LDG
The Fly
I went with my daughter and we had decent seats (SEC 112) just off Edge's side of the stage. Keane was playing when we got seated and I was hoping not to miss "Somewhere Only We Know" (we didn't...it was nicely done). Keane mentioned that as teenagers, it was the Achtung Baby album that inspired the band to make a go at writing and performing for a living. I found that funny. As Tom Chapin was setting up that comment, I thought back to how I felt when I first heard the Boy album, so it elicited quite a chuckle when he came out with Achtung Baby...just made me realize how young Keane are.
We listened intently to the preshow music, knowing that "Wake Up" by Arcade Fire meant it was finally showtime. The crew seemed to be doing really well getting set up initially, but then it seemed like Dallas was taking forever with Edge's equipment (forever = 15 minutes longer than I expected). Of course when the band emerged, everyone roared. Since the set list has been posted all over the place, I'll limit the rest of my comments to items that are not necessarily "highlights", rather "remembered moments".
Bono's voice seemed quite hoarse in the beginning of the show, particularly when he was inviting everyone to join in on the "Woo-hoo" intro to "Elevation", but we complied willingly. He would later completely redeem himself singing Pavarotti's part so respectably in Miss Sarajevo. Not that I claim to know anything of the sort, I remember thinking that his father (whose love of opera Bono often cites) would have been immensely proud of his son at that moment.
Bono reaching down and accepting a swig of someone's beer from a plastic cup while making his way along the ellipse was pretty funny. I wondered if that person would bother to finish it or just try to sneak out of the Garden with it as a souvenir!
The inclusion of "In A Little While" seemed to be lost on the rest of the band. Bono practically sang an acapella version of it while the band was doing something else entirely. I noticed that Bono seemed to be apologetic, and was directing his comments to Larry when it was over (something to the effect of, "next time, I'll try to let you in on that".)
When he was introducing "Out of Control", Bono started to tell a story about being young and in New York. He was referring to how huge and exciting being in America was for the young band, and marveled at the size of the car they were being chauffered around in. When he related how he asked Paul McGuinness who was going to pay for this huge car, he seemed to forget what story he was telling and after a several "ums" and "erms", he blurted out that Paul said it was going to be charged to the record company, then Bono apologized for taking so long to remember his own story. Is he starting to have senior moments already?
During "Sunday Bloody Sunday", he started talking to a little girl (who looked to be about 7 years old) in the pit about the importance of the meaning of COEXIST (which was on the bandana he was wearing after "Love and Peace"). She was passed up to him on stage and he offered to let her sit on one of the monitors. When he encouraged her to add a "NO MORE" refrain during SBS, it sounded (and looked on the screens) that she was saying "WHY MORE". Bono tried playing along once, but ultimately coaxed her into reverting to "No More".
Edge was ON FIRE. I seriously think he gets better everytime I see them. The leg stomp and his familiar guitar solo during SBS always spins the crowd out of control, and his blistering solo during "Bullet the Blue Sky" was classic-yet-still innovative Edge.
At one point during the show, something foggy shot out of two pipes along the outer rims of the ellipse and made everyone around me cough. I'm sure it was purposeful, but I still have no idea what it was.
The inclusion of "Fast Cars" was EXCELLENT. Bono clapped with a yellow rose in his mouth during the intro and later danced with Edge, who was holding his acoustic up high and to his left while strumming madly. The flamenco act was an appropriate addition to a great song. I was suprised by how many people were able to keep up with the relatively rapid fire lyrics. He brought up the same girl to dance (a la "Mysterious Ways") that I've seen several times in the PLEBA thread. (Lucky gal! How does she do it??!)
The addition of the infamous third verse during "With or Without You" seemed so natural and yet so foreign at the same time. (The part that goes, "We'll shine like stars in the summer night...")
Lastly, I must confess that we left before "40", which I haven't heard live since forever, but when you live in Connecticut and you depend on Metro North to get you home, you make crazy, insane decisions.
All in all, we enjoyed ourselves and I look forward to the December show in Hartford.
We listened intently to the preshow music, knowing that "Wake Up" by Arcade Fire meant it was finally showtime. The crew seemed to be doing really well getting set up initially, but then it seemed like Dallas was taking forever with Edge's equipment (forever = 15 minutes longer than I expected). Of course when the band emerged, everyone roared. Since the set list has been posted all over the place, I'll limit the rest of my comments to items that are not necessarily "highlights", rather "remembered moments".
Bono's voice seemed quite hoarse in the beginning of the show, particularly when he was inviting everyone to join in on the "Woo-hoo" intro to "Elevation", but we complied willingly. He would later completely redeem himself singing Pavarotti's part so respectably in Miss Sarajevo. Not that I claim to know anything of the sort, I remember thinking that his father (whose love of opera Bono often cites) would have been immensely proud of his son at that moment.
Bono reaching down and accepting a swig of someone's beer from a plastic cup while making his way along the ellipse was pretty funny. I wondered if that person would bother to finish it or just try to sneak out of the Garden with it as a souvenir!
The inclusion of "In A Little While" seemed to be lost on the rest of the band. Bono practically sang an acapella version of it while the band was doing something else entirely. I noticed that Bono seemed to be apologetic, and was directing his comments to Larry when it was over (something to the effect of, "next time, I'll try to let you in on that".)
When he was introducing "Out of Control", Bono started to tell a story about being young and in New York. He was referring to how huge and exciting being in America was for the young band, and marveled at the size of the car they were being chauffered around in. When he related how he asked Paul McGuinness who was going to pay for this huge car, he seemed to forget what story he was telling and after a several "ums" and "erms", he blurted out that Paul said it was going to be charged to the record company, then Bono apologized for taking so long to remember his own story. Is he starting to have senior moments already?
During "Sunday Bloody Sunday", he started talking to a little girl (who looked to be about 7 years old) in the pit about the importance of the meaning of COEXIST (which was on the bandana he was wearing after "Love and Peace"). She was passed up to him on stage and he offered to let her sit on one of the monitors. When he encouraged her to add a "NO MORE" refrain during SBS, it sounded (and looked on the screens) that she was saying "WHY MORE". Bono tried playing along once, but ultimately coaxed her into reverting to "No More".
Edge was ON FIRE. I seriously think he gets better everytime I see them. The leg stomp and his familiar guitar solo during SBS always spins the crowd out of control, and his blistering solo during "Bullet the Blue Sky" was classic-yet-still innovative Edge.
At one point during the show, something foggy shot out of two pipes along the outer rims of the ellipse and made everyone around me cough. I'm sure it was purposeful, but I still have no idea what it was.
The inclusion of "Fast Cars" was EXCELLENT. Bono clapped with a yellow rose in his mouth during the intro and later danced with Edge, who was holding his acoustic up high and to his left while strumming madly. The flamenco act was an appropriate addition to a great song. I was suprised by how many people were able to keep up with the relatively rapid fire lyrics. He brought up the same girl to dance (a la "Mysterious Ways") that I've seen several times in the PLEBA thread. (Lucky gal! How does she do it??!)
The addition of the infamous third verse during "With or Without You" seemed so natural and yet so foreign at the same time. (The part that goes, "We'll shine like stars in the summer night...")
Lastly, I must confess that we left before "40", which I haven't heard live since forever, but when you live in Connecticut and you depend on Metro North to get you home, you make crazy, insane decisions.
All in all, we enjoyed ourselves and I look forward to the December show in Hartford.
RademR
Rock n' Roll Doggie VIP PASS
I've been to 5 shows now on Vertigo, and this was the best one. What a great show.
The crowd was incredible tonight, there seemed to be a sign of disinterest in the middle of the set but overall it was pumping.
"COBL" and "Vertigo" started things off, COBL was good but Vertigo was amazing. Really rocking. The crowd as usual went off to "Elevation." Bono really got the crowd involved.
It's funny how a lot of the crowd must not know "Out of Control" when the band rips into it but by the end of the song are all jumping to it. They nailed the rarely played song and it was perfect.
First time I heard ISHFWILF on this tour, it was awesome!!! The crowd was louder than Bono at some point, I think he made us sing almost a whole verse if I can remember. Some of that might have to do because his voice seemed to struggle at some points in the show. But who cares? Bono not at 100% is still better than anyone.
They played IALW snippet at the end, which didn't really seem in place to me. Don't like the transition.
"Beautiful Day" was typical, really solid and a regular performance. It's a classic. Honestly, had to take a bathroom break so I don't have much to say on that
MD, Sometimes, and L&P were all next, nothing that special about the performances. Bono did that whole Chris Nolan speech before MD. I'd have to say this was the only section of the list where the crowd seemed kind of out of it.
But they REALLY came back for SBS. I've always been a fan of this live because even though it's played out, who cares? The crowd just goes nuts to it. Everyone was into it.
Also, I have to say, I'm not a big fan of the whole "Jesus Jew" thing.....not really because of the politics behind it, but because everyone is jumping and rocking to it, and then theres this like 2 minute break of Bono talking and doing that "father abraham" thing which I don't like. I like his angry rants better. But tonight, he brought up a little girl and she sang it with him. It was a GREAT moment. I just hope he doesn't start doing it at every show and it becomes cheesy.
BTBS was horrible...if you know me on this board, you know how much I despise that they play it every night. I mean, it wasn't horrible because the song rocks, but it's amazing how when that opening riff starts the crowd is like "oohhhh yaa!!!" and then everyone settles down and sits in their seats. It just needs to be put to bed.
I can't believe people complain about "Miss Sarajevo". The song is soo beautiful and they really nailed it last night. Especially Bono's opera part, he carried that note for so long!! I think they should switch it out with RTSS every other night, but it's great.
Pride was regular, I'm tired of it but you can't help but sing at the top of your voice to it. "Streets" was real special tonight, I think the best of the 5 nights I've been to. From this point on, the crowd really went to another level.
"One" ended it. It's funny I've seen that cell phone thing many times now and it still hits me everytime like its the first. Great moment.
Then the encore. "First Time" was amazing, Bono and Edge came out by themselves to perform it without LArry and Adam in sight. Great version, I love how Bono makes the crowd repeate "LOOVEEE!!!"
"Stuck" was perfection!! Acoustically done, and people have got to get the boot to this. The crowd was SO LOUD to this song, I was shocked really. They really love it, at least from behind the stage (I was in section 118, great seats). Then LArry and Adam came out toward the end and kicked in and started a full band version at the end. Really spectacular.
"Fast Cars" was the highlight of the show for me. The crowd was intrigued by a song that didnt even make the album. Edge's guitar mix seemed to be extra loud, he was at the top of his game all night. Bono brought a girl onstage to dance with him at the end. Edge put his guitar in the air and started dancing in circles, it was awesome.
You'll never see me complain about the boys playing WOWY, its a favorite for me. But the versions on Elevation and Popmart werent that great. This one was last night was like a flashback!! It was INCREDIBLE.
Once again, Edge's guitar seemed a little louder and the band was really into it. I looked around at the arena (I like doing that) and everyone was really into it. To top it off they extended it and played the "shining stars" verse which made it perfect.
They came out again for ABOY, which I thought was pretty weak. It's an awesome song but I didnt really like this performance. "Crumbs" came on next, great performance. Really wanted to hear this and I got my wish.
40 ended the night, which was perfect. The crowd kept singing "how long.." long after the band walked off stage.
I flew in from D.C. and got to NY around 7:00. Took the train to MSG, went to the show, then to a bar for a couple hours with some friends, and then took the train right back to JFK and left at 5:00 this morning. Well worth it.
Overall, this might be my only show on the third leg and so if it's my last Vertigo show, it was a great way to go out. What a night!!!
The crowd was incredible tonight, there seemed to be a sign of disinterest in the middle of the set but overall it was pumping.
"COBL" and "Vertigo" started things off, COBL was good but Vertigo was amazing. Really rocking. The crowd as usual went off to "Elevation." Bono really got the crowd involved.
It's funny how a lot of the crowd must not know "Out of Control" when the band rips into it but by the end of the song are all jumping to it. They nailed the rarely played song and it was perfect.
First time I heard ISHFWILF on this tour, it was awesome!!! The crowd was louder than Bono at some point, I think he made us sing almost a whole verse if I can remember. Some of that might have to do because his voice seemed to struggle at some points in the show. But who cares? Bono not at 100% is still better than anyone.
They played IALW snippet at the end, which didn't really seem in place to me. Don't like the transition.
"Beautiful Day" was typical, really solid and a regular performance. It's a classic. Honestly, had to take a bathroom break so I don't have much to say on that
MD, Sometimes, and L&P were all next, nothing that special about the performances. Bono did that whole Chris Nolan speech before MD. I'd have to say this was the only section of the list where the crowd seemed kind of out of it.
But they REALLY came back for SBS. I've always been a fan of this live because even though it's played out, who cares? The crowd just goes nuts to it. Everyone was into it.
Also, I have to say, I'm not a big fan of the whole "Jesus Jew" thing.....not really because of the politics behind it, but because everyone is jumping and rocking to it, and then theres this like 2 minute break of Bono talking and doing that "father abraham" thing which I don't like. I like his angry rants better. But tonight, he brought up a little girl and she sang it with him. It was a GREAT moment. I just hope he doesn't start doing it at every show and it becomes cheesy.
BTBS was horrible...if you know me on this board, you know how much I despise that they play it every night. I mean, it wasn't horrible because the song rocks, but it's amazing how when that opening riff starts the crowd is like "oohhhh yaa!!!" and then everyone settles down and sits in their seats. It just needs to be put to bed.
I can't believe people complain about "Miss Sarajevo". The song is soo beautiful and they really nailed it last night. Especially Bono's opera part, he carried that note for so long!! I think they should switch it out with RTSS every other night, but it's great.
Pride was regular, I'm tired of it but you can't help but sing at the top of your voice to it. "Streets" was real special tonight, I think the best of the 5 nights I've been to. From this point on, the crowd really went to another level.
"One" ended it. It's funny I've seen that cell phone thing many times now and it still hits me everytime like its the first. Great moment.
Then the encore. "First Time" was amazing, Bono and Edge came out by themselves to perform it without LArry and Adam in sight. Great version, I love how Bono makes the crowd repeate "LOOVEEE!!!"
"Stuck" was perfection!! Acoustically done, and people have got to get the boot to this. The crowd was SO LOUD to this song, I was shocked really. They really love it, at least from behind the stage (I was in section 118, great seats). Then LArry and Adam came out toward the end and kicked in and started a full band version at the end. Really spectacular.
"Fast Cars" was the highlight of the show for me. The crowd was intrigued by a song that didnt even make the album. Edge's guitar mix seemed to be extra loud, he was at the top of his game all night. Bono brought a girl onstage to dance with him at the end. Edge put his guitar in the air and started dancing in circles, it was awesome.
You'll never see me complain about the boys playing WOWY, its a favorite for me. But the versions on Elevation and Popmart werent that great. This one was last night was like a flashback!! It was INCREDIBLE.
Once again, Edge's guitar seemed a little louder and the band was really into it. I looked around at the arena (I like doing that) and everyone was really into it. To top it off they extended it and played the "shining stars" verse which made it perfect.
They came out again for ABOY, which I thought was pretty weak. It's an awesome song but I didnt really like this performance. "Crumbs" came on next, great performance. Really wanted to hear this and I got my wish.
40 ended the night, which was perfect. The crowd kept singing "how long.." long after the band walked off stage.
I flew in from D.C. and got to NY around 7:00. Took the train to MSG, went to the show, then to a bar for a couple hours with some friends, and then took the train right back to JFK and left at 5:00 this morning. Well worth it.
Overall, this might be my only show on the third leg and so if it's my last Vertigo show, it was a great way to go out. What a night!!!
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