9th December 2006, Aloha Stadium Honolulu

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It will be awesome. :giggle: There will be much merriment, shaking of hula hips, fruity drinks with teeny little umbrellas, tropical print attire, bathing suits and LOTS of pictures! Aloha!
 
Review

I will post a "review" later, but I have got to say this was the best show, the most intimate show, the most impulsive show, that I have ever had the honor or seeing this band perform.
 
I agree...this show was pretty special. It felt pretty intimate, despite it being a Stadium setting. And, it was simply put, a lot of fun. I'll leave the reviews to the more eloquent folks, but, this show ranks up there for me....one of those shows that you had to attend to appreciate, a set list party simply does not give the show justice. Red Eye to LA tonight, sad to leave Hawaii....snorkeling....the waves of the North Shore....meeting some interference people (great people).....Diamond Head....waterfalls....amazing scenery every where you turn, and on and on.....then, saw Pearl Harbor and Pearl Jam in the same day....then watched my favorite band have a great tour end, just as I saw it begin.....I have to say, I'm a happy and content person today, this was an amazing trip for me and I reluctantly return.
 
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No spoken words said:
a set list party simply does not give the show justice.

Does it ever?
Hopefully never will too!
That wouldn't be good, if the setlist party was better than the actual show.

Thanks for both your quick words from Hawaii!

:up:

&

:applaud: for the last show of the Vertigo tour.
 
There have been plenty of posts in different forums/topics regarding people having lined up at 12 noon Friday for Saturday's show. Some say yay and others say nay. The truth is, the "lineup" (BIG QUOTES) started at about 9pm on THURSDAY...2 days before the show. So...I stopped down at about 4am to find 6 people in line. No biggie, I thought, I'll go back tomorrow and be in the top 100-200. So I asked the "linekeeper" (an un-named Zoo-Top) about the status of the line. "You're 91," he/she said. "Really," I replied, noting that there were six people in line.
Then I was treated with indignance...the old, "Someone has to keep the list," blah-blah-blah.
85 people were given numbers and allowed to leave for the ENTIRE NIGHT.
What a joke.
The result? About 500 people ended up WASTING an entire day in beautiful Hawaii because a dozen or so self-righteous, self-centered hypocrites felt this need to start the line two days early (and hold countless spots for others...some of whom spent the ENTIRE NEXT DAY FRIDAY AT THE BEACH...and curiously still made the inner rail) because they have this warped perception that the show can't go on if Bono can't see their face (or they're just absolutely relentless attention hounds).
Well, anyway, those who started the line in Hawaii and had 91 on the list while 6 were in line...I am calling you out here and now. You are pathetic hypocrites and, while you claim to espouse and follow the views, etc., of Bono and the band, the Hawaii lineup was a pathetic joke. I only wish Bono himself would have showed up in line that night, as I did, to see 85 positions being "held" ahead of others who were willing to lineup and wait.
Yeah, you're real followers, y'all. You sure know what the band stands for.
What a joke.
Despite having lined up for over half a dozen shows, I decided that this one I would sit out. I bought seats to the show out front and watched from a far. It would have ruined the show for me had I been stuck stannding on the rail with a line of phony delusional hypocrites who care for nothing more that the chance to be in the soptlight.
So, make your retorts, and take your stabs but...please don't change the subject. The fact are the facts and the lineup procedure for that show was a pathetic joke. Most everyone would have been content to lineup late Friday night--instead, tha ridiculous "list" that was formed put everyone in a panic and wasted thousands of hours of people's time in such a beautiful land.

(I might mention in passing that the 1st pen--where nos. 1-500 stayed--at Aloha Stadium was left in such disarray it was embarassing. Bottles, cans, papers, bags, sleeping bags, clothes, etc., were just strewn everywhere-similar to how animals would act. Yet, there was a Salvation Army station set up by the venue--it was a big pile (tents, sleeping bags, clothes) just outside of the 1st pen--where people could put their leftover things that they wouldn't be taking home. There were also countless garbage cans). Yet, when I walked through pen #1 after the 1st 500 were admitted to the floor, it was tantamount to a disaster area. Why did pens 2 and 3 clean up so well and stack all of their eftover clothes in the Slavation Army pile? Hmm, maybe they cared more about poverty and ecology than they did about their place in line at a concert.

To those of who preach "Zootopians (or whoever) United Against Poverty" and similar slogans...keep in mind: These mantras are not cigars--you're not supposed to just take a puff and blow your smoke all over the room for others to breathe. If you want to smoke this pipe and be credible about it, you have to inhale. I am confident Bono would agree.

I'm out.
 
I arrived at Aloha Stadium about 8:30pm on Friday night, a day before the show. My intention was crazy and many might view it as irrational, but it was my first U2 show in GA and worth the chance to get up close to one of my favorite bands. Actually, this is the furthest I’ve traveled to see a performer. U2 officially takes my top spot.

In spite of arriving 22 hours before show time, there were already hundreds of people there. Numbers were given in order to prevent line cutting. I was marked near the mid 500th in line. I was glad I wasn’t the only insane one.

Pearl Jam and U2 performed their sound checks that night which sounded absolutely brilliant! After the bands left, the first 600 were led to the proper gate entrances where were could set up ‘camp’ for the night. Hell, I’ve camped in the freezing temps for the Rose Parade…I think I could handle 70degree nighttime Hawaiian weather for my favorite band.

I met some friendly and cool people along with some weird ones along with unfriendly ones.

Some folks were equipped with chairs and air mattresses while others like myself went the minimalist route and had a thin yoga mat. The concession stands were open throughout the entire night so that was cool.

I actually knocked out for a good 6 hours and when I woke up, I was happy to discover that there were about 1,000 by 8am. I would’ve been PISSED if by the time I had woken up there were only like, 2 more people there. Ha ha ha!

The time finally came when we were lined up and ready to go. Thousands of people were already there by 3pm. The fatigue and heat had drained us all. Once I entered the stadium though, my breath was taken away. I’ve never seen anything like this. No string of beads like in the arena tours. This was the big shit! The stage was so big with over 100 speakers a few stories high.

It was so hard not to run! But security was being strict with their no running policy. We made it into the inner pit (there was an outer one as well) and snagged a spot on the railing by the runway on Edge’s side. It was so close! We did it !

Rocko and the devils performed first. Rocko is one of U2’s roadies, so it was cool to know that U2 gave them the spotlight for all of their hard work. They were pretty good. When that set ended, the lights dimmed and the beginning music from Ten began.

I see Eddie Vedder’s gorgeous hair and I lose it. Luckily not too many that surrounded me were into Pearl Jam except a few guys in front of me. Mike, the lead guitarist pointed directly at the guy to my right and then to me since we looked like a couple of pogo sticks among a fairly calm ground by PJ fan standards. Even flow, Alive, Elderly woman…were the absolute highlights for me. I had so much fun singing World wide suicide at the top of my lungs! Eddie was drinking a bottle of wine throughout the show and when he ran on our runway, I seriously thought he was going to fall over.

One of the best moments was when a good part of the audience was singing along
“hearts and thoughts they fade. fade away
hearts and thoughts they fade. fade away”

I began to tear up a bit. I knew this experience was going to be over in a blink of an eye. Literally.

The man’s voice is amazing and one of the best live voices out there!!! Nearly stole the show!

This one drunk lady almost ruined it for others though. She was absolutely plastered and eventually was literally dragged out by police and arrested for striking the officer. LOL. It took like 3 guards to get this little lady out.

I began talking to those around me. The nice ones helped me get closer
I took many pictures of people’s banners, and costume gimmicks to grab the bands attention. Many hula dancers, belly dancers, and signs that read “dance with me!” I loved it all.

Security begins to scramble around my area. Bono usually opens from one of the runways. We were with our cameras ready and pointing towards our entrance just in case.
On stage a scrolling marquee shows every city U2 played on this tour. Last but not least was Honolulu. Show Number 131.

Then he appears on the other side (aw!) with a GIANT American flag as it flowed while running onto the main stage. City of blinding lights was the opener. The lights were spectacular!! The wailing of Edge’s guitar began. He was so close!!! (Well, close in spite of the huge gap between the stage and the pit barrier.)

The transition between the 1st song and Vertigo was awesome. I’m not a huge fan of the song, but the energy that song carries live has even the non-fan jumping. The song had the same effect with Elevation. OOOH ooh…OOOH oooh OOH.

The next song was I will follow. As soon as Edge played the opening notes I SCREAMED!
In my immediate area I was the only one really LEAPING to the beat as if my life depended on it. I had the biggest smile on my face.
The Edge saw me and flashed the BIGGEST smile at me! I’ve never seen him smile like that. I even turned around to confirm it with someone behind me. She smiled and said "I saw that!!"
He was so happy to be there! When he walked back up from the runway he turned and WINKED at me!!! My heart sank to the floor.

Larry was also smiling a lot ( I wish it was at me) :wink:

The notes for ‘I still haven’t found what I’m looking for began. I needed to hear this. The lyrics meant so much to me and the whole audience sang. People came from all over. This was a bit of a pilgrimage of all fans. It was a total ‘religious ‘experience. 44,000+ people singing together.

I was SO excited when he sang some of In a little while.Bono was so close on our runway!

With the exception of Angel of Harlem (never been fond of the song), every song was amazing!

Billy Joe was on fire during Saints and Mike and Eddie came back on to perform Rockin the free world. They started singing WE LOVE THE EDGE. It was AWESOME!!

All I want is you was the closer... they could've picked something else in my opinion.

When the show ended security wasted no time in rushing us out. I wanted to take it in. All of it. But I couldn’t.

I couldn’t believe it was over. It was almost midnight. A 24 song set Zoomed right by. Why is it that the enjoyable things don’t last? And the painful ones linger to what seems like forever?

For a full day and a half I forgot my worries, my bills, my hurts, my future...When the show ended the mixture of frustration (traffic), immediate U2 withdrawal, and sadness of returning to the real world hit me hard.

I will forever treasure this experience and I hope to god that this isn’t going to be the last time. I know they can’t do it forever. But we’ll just have to wait and see how much longer they can.

:drool:
 
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Why no reviews? Simple?

There is East coast time... West coast Time, and yes my friends, as I am experiencing this week.. Hawaii time!
 
I was the guy who played "Wild Horses" on stage. You can read more about it in the "fan moments" thread under the vertigo tour subject.

If anyone has any photographs or video of this, please PLEASE email them to me. thanks so much. Mahalo!
Michael
mikeisi@AOL.com
 
michaelwmitchel said:
I was the guy who played "Wild Horses" on stage. You can read more about it in the "fan moments" thread under the vertigo tour subject.

If anyone has any photographs or video of this, please PLEASE email them to me. thanks so much. Mahalo!
Michael
mikeisi@AOL.com

I have a video of the performance, at least most of it, I did catch the end when Bono asked your name and said you rock.
 
Overall, this was an incredible show - the audience, whom I suspect were at very large percentage of diehards like me who traveled to the show, really made the show memorable. The seats were literally bouncing up and down and shaking so hard during the fast songs I couldn't believe it.

Having Pearl Jam open and join the boys for an encore was great, as was Billy Joe from Green Day on Saints. Loved Window in the Skies, it sounded fantastic live! The only thing I wasn't thrilled with was the choice for closing song, while All I Want is You is a great song, I don't think it packs the power of a 40 or Bad as a closer. Would have also like a few more of the oldies that were pulled out this tour, this set list could have really used a New Years Day or Out of Control or Electric Co. I also missed the emotion of Miracle Drug.

But, despite this, it was still a great show. So sad that this is the last show of the tour, and can't wait to see what they dream up next!!
 
Just got back home last night. Great reviews & comments from everyone. It was great reliving these memories again.

A few observations about the concert "Experience" :

A big shout out to Hotpepper (Lori) for organizing the bus from Waikiki to Aloha Stadium and back. That was a great idea and saved us a big headache trying to park.

Man - Pearl Jam was incredible! Never saw them before but I'm sure they made a lot of new fans Saturday night. Too bad that was the last show of their tour as well. I definitely will try and catch them next time they are on tour.

U2 - My 6th show of the Vertigo tour and first Stadium show. We were in section P row 1 and I was concerned that we might not have a good view of the stage. But we lucked out. Our seats were parallel with the front of the stage. So we could see everything just fine. Plus sound was great in our section.

I'm not going to do a song by song review but the band seemed to be in good spirits and having a good time. From our vantage point the whole field looked packed and the roar of the crowd coming back to the stage was impressive. The seats were definitely rocking &n shaking when U2 hit the stage.

Did they play every song I wanted to hear? No - but I look at it this way. U2 did not have to play this concert. They could have cancelled it. But they didn't - they played it for the fans! Is there a better way to finish a tour than Hawaii?

We saw Cindy Crawford and Kid Rock go into the stadium through the Media entrance right by Will Call. Cindy posed for pictures with a few fans.

A couple of downers: The Will Call left a lot to be desired. We had to wait over an hour to pick up our tickets. We missed PJ's first 2 songs and missed out on buying any shirts.

The Security in our section seemed to be overwhelmed. I was in seat 1 and the Security guy was right next to me. He was the gatekeeper in letting people on to the field. He kept turning people away because they did not have the right stamp on their neck or the right wrist band. It was a long walk back up to the top. This would cause a back up on the stairs. People were getting pretty pissed. And people keep trying to cut in through our row to bypass the logjam. Finally the Security told us not let the people go by and make them go around.

Finally, I can't figure out why the blond guy (mid-20s?) next to us got escorted from his seat for taking pictures. We were taking pictures all night and were not hassled. Not sure what happened.

Can't wait to do it again!
 
bfloxng said:
There have been plenty of posts in different forums/topics regarding people having lined up at 12 noon Friday for Saturday's show. Some say yay and others say nay. The truth is, the "lineup" (BIG QUOTES) started at about 9pm on THURSDAY...2 days before the show. So...I stopped down at about 4am to find 6 people in line. No biggie, I thought, I'll go back tomorrow and be in the top 100-200. So I asked the "linekeeper" (an un-named Zoo-Top) about the status of the line. "You're 91," he/she said. "Really," I replied, noting that there were six people in line.
Then I was treated with indignance...the old, "Someone has to keep the list," blah-blah-blah.
85 people were given numbers and allowed to leave for the ENTIRE NIGHT.
What a joke.
The result? About 500 people ended up WASTING an entire day in beautiful Hawaii because a dozen or so self-righteous, self-centered hypocrites felt this need to start the line two days early (and hold countless spots for others...some of whom spent the ENTIRE NEXT DAY FRIDAY AT THE BEACH...and curiously still made the inner rail) because they have this warped perception that the show can't go on if Bono can't see their face (or they're just absolutely relentless attention hounds).
Well, anyway, those who started the line in Hawaii and had 91 on the list while 6 were in line...I am calling you out here and now. You are pathetic hypocrites and, while you claim to espouse and follow the views, etc., of Bono and the band, the Hawaii lineup was a pathetic joke. I only wish Bono himself would have showed up in line that night, as I did, to see 85 positions being "held" ahead of others who were willing to lineup and wait.
Yeah, you're real followers, y'all. You sure know what the band stands for.
What a joke.
Despite having lined up for over half a dozen shows, I decided that this one I would sit out. I bought seats to the show out front and watched from a far. It would have ruined the show for me had I been stuck stannding on the rail with a line of phony delusional hypocrites who care for nothing more that the chance to be in the soptlight.
So, make your retorts, and take your stabs but...please don't change the subject. The fact are the facts and the lineup procedure for that show was a pathetic joke. Most everyone would have been content to lineup late Friday night--instead, tha ridiculous "list" that was formed put everyone in a panic and wasted thousands of hours of people's time in such a beautiful land.

(I might mention in passing that the 1st pen--where nos. 1-500 stayed--at Aloha Stadium was left in such disarray it was embarassing. Bottles, cans, papers, bags, sleeping bags, clothes, etc., were just strewn everywhere-similar to how animals would act. Yet, there was a Salvation Army station set up by the venue--it was a big pile (tents, sleeping bags, clothes) just outside of the 1st pen--where people could put their leftover things that they wouldn't be taking home. There were also countless garbage cans). Yet, when I walked through pen #1 after the 1st 500 were admitted to the floor, it was tantamount to a disaster area. Why did pens 2 and 3 clean up so well and stack all of their eftover clothes in the Slavation Army pile? Hmm, maybe they cared more about poverty and ecology than they did about their place in line at a concert.

To those of who preach "Zootopians (or whoever) United Against Poverty" and similar slogans...keep in mind: These mantras are not cigars--you're not supposed to just take a puff and blow your smoke all over the room for others to breathe. If you want to smoke this pipe and be credible about it, you have to inhale. I am confident Bono would agree.

I'm out.

I'm glad you posted that. Nothing burns me more that hypocrisy. Do people listen to the words Bono is saying, or do they just blindly sing along? And, moreover, do people live these words outside of the concert?
I've been incredibly fortunate to attend 9 Vertigo shows (including NZ and Honolulu this year), and I will be making my best effort to give to charity AT LEAST as much as I've spent on going to U2 this year. I don't want to get too preachy, but I'm glad someone brought this up. Texting your name to the ONE campaign is nice, but now get out and donate or volunteer.

Anyhow, the Honolulu show was great. We were in the front row of the balcony on Edge's side, section L (with the tiny red christmas lights).
I didn't expect any big setlist surprises, but at least Who's Gonna Ride...made my night. I agree with everyone who has said the show was intimate for a stadium show. The energy from the crowd was just awesome, and the band seemed to really enjoy it.
I think the highlight of the night was Bono acknowledging that Edge's family was the reason for the tour delay. He didn't need to say anything, but it was really touching. I wouldn't have been able to attend if it was back on the original April date, so I feel extra fortunate to have gotten to go (and to have gotten a U2 Hawaii T-shirt, thanks honey!).

Mark
 
kramwest1 said:


I'm glad you posted that. Nothing burns me more that hypocrisy. Do people listen to the words Bono is saying, or do they just blindly sing along? And, moreover, do people live these words outside of the concert?
I've been incredibly fortunate to attend 9 Vertigo shows (including NZ and Honolulu this year), and I will be making my best effort to give to charity AT LEAST as much as I've spent on going to U2 this year. I don't want to get too preachy, but I'm glad someone brought this up. Texting your name to the ONE campaign is nice, but now get out and donate or volunteer.

Anyhow, the Honolulu show was great. We were in the front row of the balcony on Edge's side, section L (with the tiny red christmas lights).
I didn't expect any big setlist surprises, but at least Who's Gonna Ride...made my night. I agree with everyone who has said the show was intimate for a stadium show. The energy from the crowd was just awesome, and the band seemed to really enjoy it.
I think the highlight of the night was Bono acknowledging that Edge's family was the reason for the tour delay. He didn't need to say anything, but it was really touching. I wouldn't have been able to attend if it was back on the original April date, so I feel extra fortunate to have gotten to go (and to have gotten a U2 Hawaii T-shirt, thanks honey!).

Mark

Speaking of Hawaii T-Shirts, I was really bummed out to think that they would run out of T-shirts. The concert was unbelievable. So for me the only let down was the shirt thing. Would of Loved to Have one since it was also my birthday :(
 
Kinsa said:
Overall, this was an incredible show - the audience, whom I suspect were at very large percentage of diehards like me who traveled to the show, really made the show memorable. The seats were literally bouncing up and down and shaking so hard during the fast songs I couldn't believe it.


Just to add a funny comment on the show, I had tickets in the reserved seats ( didn't want to be there I wanted GA, but I had to stay with my family who wanted reserved seats) anyway..my 13yr old niece said when she came back from using the "facilities" that even the water in the toilets was SHAKING because of all the jumping going on! It was incredible, and really felt like the stadium was made of elastic. INSANELY COOL! I was jumping the whole TIME! Didn't sit once. I wanted to be in GA so bad! Oh well, next time.
 
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