April 15, Glendale Arena in Phoenix

The friendliest place on the web for anyone that follows U2.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
See posts with no answers
i just like when a woman uses that word in certain moments or appropiate contexts and/or locations.:wink:

so yes, it's understood.;)

db9
 
Last edited:
Just returned from my 5 1/2 hour drive from SD to Phoenix, and boy was it worth it!! I saw the Anaheim 2 show, and honestly didn't think the show could get much better so quickly, but amazingly, it has! (not that it needed to get better - if you read my review of Anaheim, you will see I was blown away by that show)

First, the set list last night was on point. It flowed beautiful, it didn't seem like anyone in the arena sat down the entire night! I think a main difference was no An Cat Dubh, but addition of Gloria and New Years Day. Cat just seems to lose the audience, whereas this mix of Gloria/The Ocean/NYD was fantastic.

Bono's voice was fabulous, he sounded incredible all night, but especially in Miracle Drug and SYCMIOYO. Sometimes the sound seemed to drown him out, which was a bummer, but this was mostly in the first few songs, it cleared up after this.

The Edge was on fire - how amazing is this man? In one song (can't remember which one it was now) he was playing keyboards, the guitar and was singing at the same time. He is incredible.

I still wish they would play even more songs from HTDAAB. The songs they do play sound amazing, and I would love to hear even more.

In Anaheim, we were in the "cheap seats" in the back of the arena. The staging from back there was great - the lights, etc. really have a great effect for the people back there. This time, we were so fortunate to be 5 rows up from the stage and it was amazing to see the musicians at work. Both viewpoints had their benefits, and I would encourage anyone who is going to go more than once to see the show from different vantage points.

I think the Phoenix crowd must be a more conservative crowd in that they didn't seem to appreciate Bono's Africa message as much as the Cali audience did. As a result, I think Bono toned it down a bit, which to me is a shame - it is a very important message, and it should be shared with his full passion, even if the entire audience would rather not hear it. He speaks the truth - it is shameful that we in the more fortunate countries do not do more to help the overwhelming poverty in the Third World, and we need to hear it more.

To let you know how great this show is - I was able to convince my hubby, who was not even a real U2 fan prior to seeing them in Anaheim, to take a day off work, drive 10 hours round trip and plunk down lots o cash to see this band again. If you knew my hubby (he would rather lay on couch with rhe remote permanately attached to his hand LOL), you would know that this speaks volumes for U2 and this show. They truly are amazing, and I hope everyone gets to experience this show!
 
Last edited:
wow! It's been 16 hours since the concert ended and I'm STILL on Cloud 9. Couldn't sleep last night. Hardly have much of a voice left. And STILL haven't taken off my wristbands. What an amazing concert! One of the performances I've seen U2 give in the Valley since I started going to U2 concerts in '87. The setlist just flowed beautifully last night. And the crowd was just awesome! The band fed off the energy and gave us the best performance of the tour so far. What made it even extra special was my sister and I were front row center inside the ellipse! I still can't believe it. We arrived at the venue at 7:45am with the expectation of not getting into the ellipse but getting a spot on the outside rail near the tip. Neither of us have ever been lucky when it comes to lotteries, so the thought of getting into the ellipse didn't seem to be something within our reach. When they scanned my ticket and Vertigo appeared on that laptop screen, our jaws just dropped. Then we get down into the ellipse and find there's only a couple of other lucky fans in there. We went straight for the front rail in the center and didn't budge the rest of the night. I've never been dead center first row for any concert. I was in the heart a few times for Elevation but never got to the GA line early enough to be at that coveted center rail location. It was just as big a thrill for my sister. She's as big a U2 fan as I am. We both became fans after seeing U2 perform Bad at Live Aid in '85. Bad is both mine and hers favorite live U2 song. To have Bono singing Bad just a couple feet away from us was a mindblowing experience. I don't think that'll EVER be topped. I can die happy now!! Thank you Bono, Edge, Larry and Adam!!!

God how I wish I could have brought my Canon Digital Rebel SLR to the show last night. I consider myself an amateur photographer and could have gotten some amazing photos had I been able to bring that camera with me into the concert. Luckily though, I didn't get rid of the Kodak point-and-shoot digital camera I bought way back in 1998 when digital cameras first started coming out. I had that camera with me last night and took well over 100 photos. But being this camera is fully automatic without any manual settings to improve low-light picture taking, many of shots came out blurry. But I did still get some great ones!! I was praying last night the batteries wouldn't go dead before the show ended. This older Kodak digital camera uses rechargeable AA batteries and sucks the life out of them pretty quickly. Thankfully the batteries held through the entire show. I spent a good part of the morning retouching in Photoshop Elements the shots that did come out ok. I've uploaded all the photos to my Smugmug.com web gallery. Here's the link....

http://desertsky.smugmug.com/gallery/485411

and the link to photos I took Thursday night from the outside rail...
http://desertsky.smugmug.com/gallery/485536

enjoy!!
 
Last edited:
Outstanding, Fantastic, Brilliant, Amazing, ... ALIVE!

All the band members and the audience were ON for this show and when that happens you have a keeper!
This concert may have bumped Boston 3 & 4 down on my list now.

I was front row outside the ellipse for this night. :heart:
 
All,
My pictures from both Phoenix shows are up at my website here:
xanga-dot-com/dvictoryu

If you’re interested in reviews/pix of some of the other artists that I’ve met, feel free to surf around in there (you can arrow through on the bottom right of the page).

Also, I wanted to send a big "Hi" and "Thanks" to all the great U2 fans I met this week. It was great meeting (and waiting) with you.


Review: U2: Glendale, AZ 4/15/05 @ Glendale Arena

No luck meeting the band this day, and as me and Jen had regular seats, we didn't have to wait in line. Our seats were upper level, directly back – a very different viewpoint, and we got to see the full extent of the stage and light show.

The setlist was:
City of Blinding Lights, Beautiful Day/In God's Country, Vertigo, Elevation, Gloria, The Ocean, New Year's Day, Miracle Drug, Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own, Love and Peace or Else, Sunday Bloody Sunday, Bullet the Blue Sky/Hands That Built America, Running to Stand Still, Bad, Pride, Where the Streets Have No Name, One, The Fly, Mysterious Ways, All Because Of You, Yahweh, 40

Very little crowd interaction this night; mostly heads down and just rockin'. The tag on "Beautiful Day" was (unfortunately an incomplete) version of "In God's Country" which U2 tends to do while playing in AZ. "Electric Co." was dropped for "Gloria," while "Bad" was played for the first time this tour ("Zoo Station" was dropped). "One" had the standard ZooTV extended ending. Right after Edge's solo on "The Fly" there seemed to be a snafu on timing – it sounded like Bono extended the outro longer than Edge or Larry expected, and Edge just riffed a rhythm line until they all got back on the same beat. During the solo on "Mysterious Ways" Edge did his little sideways shuffle dance (similar to what we saw during the PopMart tour) from stage right towards Bono in the middle.

Victor
 
U2ITNOL said:
wow! It's been 16 hours since the concert ended and I'm STILL on Cloud 9. Couldn't sleep last night. Hardly have much of a voice left. And STILL haven't taken off my wristbands. What an amazing concert! One of the performances I've seen U2 give in the Valley since I started going to U2 concerts in '87. The setlist just flowed beautifully last night. And the crowd was just awesome! The band fed off the energy and gave us the best performance of the tour so far. What made it even extra special was my sister and I were front row center inside the ellipse! I still can't believe it. We arrived at the venue at 7:45am with the expectation of not getting into the ellipse but getting a spot on the outside rail near the tip. Neither of us have ever been lucky when it comes to lotteries, so the thought of getting into the ellipse didn't seem to be something within our reach. When they scanned my ticket and Vertigo appeared on that laptop screen, our jaws just dropped. Then we get down into the ellipse and find there's only a couple of other lucky fans in there. We went straight for the front rail in the center and didn't budge the rest of the night. I've never been dead center first row for any concert. I was in the heart a few times for Elevation but never got to the GA line early enough to be at that coveted center rail location. It was just as big a thrill for my sister. She's as big a U2 fan as I am. We both became fans after seeing U2 perform Bad at Live Aid in '85. Bad is both mine and hers favorite live U2 song. To have Bono singing Bad just a couple feet away from us was a mindblowing experience. I don't think that'll EVER be topped. I can die happy now!! Thank you Bono, Edge, Larry and Adam!!!

God how I wish I could have brought my Canon Digital Rebel SLR to the show last night. I consider myself an amateur photographer and could have gotten some amazing photos had I been able to bring that camera with me into the concert. Luckily though, I didn't get rid of the Kodak point-and-shoot digital camera I bought way back in 1998 when digital cameras first started coming out. I had that camera with me last night and took well over 100 photos. But being this camera is fully automatic without any manual settings to improve low-light picture taking, many of shots came out blurry. But I did still get some great ones!! I was praying last night the batteries wouldn't go dead before the show ended. This older Kodak digital camera uses rechargeable AA batteries and sucks the life out of them pretty quickly. Thankfully the batteries held through the entire show. I spent a good part of the morning retouching in Photoshop Elements the shots that did come out ok. I've uploaded all the photos to my Smugmug.com web gallery. Here's the link....

http://desertsky.smugmug.com/gallery/485411

and the link to photos I took Thursday night from the outside rail...
http://desertsky.smugmug.com/gallery/485536

enjoy!!
Click to expand...

hey jon i was the guy right behind you in the GA line in the light blue shirt. i was so happy when i saw that you got in the ellipse with your sister, that had to have been amazing. i was able to get along the rail on the outside of the oval and that was amazing too. when they played bad i couldnt help but think how your sister said it was her favorite song, so it was awesome they played it. it was great meeting you and your sister, youre both very nice people, and im glad you both had a great time :up:
 
Last edited:
victoryu said:
All,
My pictures from both Phoenix shows are up at my website here:
xanga-dot-com/dvictoryu

If you’re interested in reviews/pix of some of the other artists that I’ve met, feel free to surf around in there (you can arrow through on the bottom right of the page).

Also, I wanted to send a big "Hi" and "Thanks" to all the great U2 fans I met this week. It was great meeting (and waiting) with you.


Review: U2: Glendale, AZ 4/15/05 @ Glendale Arena

No luck meeting the band this day, and as me and Jen had regular seats, we didn't have to wait in line. Our seats were upper level, directly back – a very different viewpoint, and we got to see the full extent of the stage and light show.

Very little crowd interaction this night; mostly heads down and just rockin'. The tag on "Beautiful Day" was (unfortunately an incomplete) version of "In God's Country" which U2 tends to do while playing in AZ. "Electric Co." was dropped for "Gloria," while "Bad" was played for the first time this tour ("Zoo Station" was dropped). "One" had the standard ZooTV extended ending. Right after Edge's solo on "The Fly" there seemed to be a snafu on timing – it sounded like Bono extended the outro longer than Edge or Larry expected, and Edge just riffed a rhythm line until they all got back on the same beat. During the solo on "Mysterious Ways" Edge did his little sideways shuffle dance (similar to what we saw during the PopMart tour) from stage right towards Bono in the middle.
Click to expand...





Victor-
Nice web page, and great pics.:up:
Was good to meet you right before meeting Adam.

Hope to see you in the future.

diamond
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
I'll be brief, as I just got home from an LA-Phoenix-Vegas-LA weekend.

Here is my review:

They played Bad.

Enough said.

:)

Seriously, this was my 6th show of the tour, and while all have been great, in my opinion, this was the best of the lot. Gloria sounded great, and Bad was both a great surprise and sounded as good or better than it has sounded in years.

Must.....find.......bed or couch.....soon.....I....sleep.....now..zzzzzz.
 
Hi Victor! I didn't know you were on Interference.

Your pics of the Adam meet are great!


:wave: Carmella (red hair)
 
Chizip said:


hey jon i was the guy right behind you in the GA line in the light blue shirt. i was so happy when i saw that you got in the ellipse with your sister, that had to have been amazing. i was able to get along the rail on the outside of the oval and that was amazing too. when they played bad i couldnt help but think how your sister said it was her favorite song, so it was awesome they played it. it was great meeting you and your sister, youre both very nice people, and im glad you both had a great time :up:
Click to expand...

Seeing Friday night's concert from the front row of the ellipse was an AMAZING experience! One that neither me or my sister Carmen will ever forget. Getting to spend the day in line with all other U2 fans like yourself made the entire day unforgettable.

One ironic sidestory about Carmen and I getting into the ellipse.... Remember that couple who were directly in front of me and Carmen in line? These two had arrived at Glendale Arena in the am well after Carmen and I had arrived at around 7:45. They noticed Carmen and I had line numbers on our wrists and asked where we got them. We pointed out to this couple the gal in Parking Lot B with the notebook who was giving out the numbers. I guess they didn't want to play by the rules and decided not to get numbers. Then tried to weasel their way to near the front of the U2.com line once the security at the arena allowed us to line up at 9am. The couple got into a argument with Ruffian and others at the front of line and eventually moved back, ending up directly in front of Carmen and me. We were only about 15 people back in line, so we didn't raise a stink about it and let them stay there. In the early afternoon they left for awhile to get lunch. While they were gone, Carmen and I debated whether we should ask them to move back further in line, or at least allow us switch places with them since they KNEW Carmen and I had gotten to the arena before they did. It was a tough call to make. These two could be potentially taking our spots in the ellipse. Or we could be letting them into the ellipse by switching places. In the end, we decided not to say a word to them and let them stay in front of us. And it worked out for the best. They ended up on the outside railing. Carmen and I got into the ellipse. Had we asked them to switch places and they agreed to it, it would have been the other way around. And I'd still be kicking myself today!
 
Last edited:
I nearly became airborne when Gloria started.

This was the single greatest concert I've ever seen.
Of all of them.
All bands.
Ever.
And I've seen some great shows.

My appreciation and love for this band went to new heights Friday night. I will never come down from it.

I was all the way back on the floor. I couldn't see the band too well except for tippytoes and video screens, but the music was incredible. I've never heard Bono sing like that. At least all the way back on the floor, I could dance all I wanted. And I did. :D
 
U2ITNOL said:


Seeing Friday night's concert from the front row of the ellipse was an AMAZING experience! One that neither me or my sister Carmen will ever forget. Getting to spend the day in line with all other U2 fans like yourself made the entire day unforgettable.

One ironic sidestory about Carmen and I getting into the ellipse.... Remember that couple who were directly in front of me and Carmen in line? These two had arrived at Glendale Arena in the am well after Carmen and I had arrived at around 7:45. They noticed Carmen and I had line numbers on our wrists and asked where we got them. We pointed out to this couple the gal in Parking Lot B with the notebook who was giving out the numbers. I guess they didn't want to play by the rules and decided not to get numbers. Then tried to weasel their way to near the front of the U2.com line once the security at the arena allowed us to line up at 9am. The couple got into a argument with Ruffian and others at the front of line and eventually moved back, ending up directly in front of Carmen and me. We were only about 15 people back in line, so we didn't raise a stink about it and let them stay there. In the early afternoon they left for awhile to get lunch. While they were gone, Carmen and I debated whether we should ask them to move back further in line, or at least allow us switch places with them since they KNEW Carmen and I had gotten to the arena before they did. It was a tough call to make. These two could be potentially taking our spots in the ellipse. Or we could be letting them into the ellipse by switching places. In the end, we decided not to say a word to them and let them stay in front of us. And it worked out for the best. They ended up on the outside railing. Carmen and I got into the ellipse. Had we asked them to switch places and they agreed to it, it would have been the other way around. And I'd still be kicking myself today!
Click to expand...

that is awesome, they definitely didnt deserve to be in the ellipse after the crap they tried to pull

bad karma will screw ya

i posted some pics of this show in my journal

man it was soooo great
 
joyfulgirl said:
Fucking awesome show.

GLORIA!!!!!!!!!!!

And me dead center against the rail at the tip of the oval. :combust:
Click to expand...

I saw you there! Chizip and I were on the rail just down from the drumkit, to the right of it. Can you believe we heard BAD???!!!!
EpandAmerica, Paige, Martha, U2ITNOL, it was great to talk with you in the GA...what an amazing, amazing show. Absolutely the best of the 4 I've seen this leg...
 
Last edited:
ruffian said:


I saw you there! Chizip and I were on the rail just down from the drumkit, to the right of it. Can you believe we heard BAD???!!!!
EpandAmerica, Paige, Martha, U2ITNOL, it was great to talk with you in the GA...what an amazing, amazing show. Absolutely the best of the 4 I've seen this leg...
Click to expand...

Part of what made being on the rail so fun was being able to look over and see you guys--the people I spent the day with--on the rail, too.

My heart skipped a beat when I heard the opening chords of BAD. It was just almost too much!!
 
diamond said:






Victor-
Nice web page, and great pics.:up:
Was good to meet you right before meeting Adam.

Hope to see you in the future.

diamond
Click to expand...

Yeah man, great to meet you too (no pun intended). Hope to see you around,
Vic
 
joyfulgirl said:


Part of what made being on the rail so fun was being able to look over and see you guys--the people I spent the day with--on the rail, too.

My heart skipped a beat when I heard the opening chords of BAD. It was just almost too much!!
Click to expand...

bad was so great, everybody around us in line said it was their favorite song, and then they ended up playing it for the first time

ruffian actually did start bawling when they started playing bad :coocoo: :wink:, i thought they were going to transition into streets and it would have been perfect, but they had to go and throw pride in between

i put some more pics in my journal if anyone cares to see
 
*Ally* said:
if anyone has photos of the "Mysterious Ways" girl, please please PLEASE post them!!! she is my best friend, and would be eternally grateful to have them...

thank you!!!!

btw, as an added piece of info, she was there last night with her Mom- yup, her mom waited all day with her in GA and stood on the front rail of the ellipse... a very special moment for her, indeed!! :wink:
Click to expand...

bonoandgirl.jpg
 
EPandAmerica said:
Hi Victor! I didn't know you were on Interference.

Your pics of the Adam meet are great!


:wave: Carmella (red hair)
Click to expand...

Carmella,
hey, great to see you on here. It was nice waiting with you and your friend. Did you end up just throwing away your Wal-Mart chairs? Ha!

Vic
 
I've been lurking here for quite some time. Finally decided to give in a post. :)

I saw some of you on Friday - my first U2 GA experience. I ended up on Adam's side, outside the elipse, against the railing by the walkway to the elipse. I actually recognized a couple of you from here, and a couple more after seeing some of the photos. :)

I was far more impressed with Friday night than Thursday. I don't know if the energy was better among the GA audience compared to being in the middle of section 101 the night before. I do believe the sound was not good, at least where I was for Thursday. I wear hearing aids and thought it might just be me when Bono's vocals seemed drowned out. I definitely had far less trouble hearing on Friday night and was extremely happy about that.

I loved the magic tricks with the fingers, it's too bad it didn't go over better. Guess the people farther away weren't watching the screens just then?

Running to Stand Still has always been a personal favourite so the fact it's a regular in the setlist now is great, and its performance both nights was my favorite song of the shows. Oh, and is it just me or does Bono look goofy banging away on the drum? Still love him anyway!

I was tired on Friday, and contemplated selling my ticket to a guy who offered me money in the parking lot as I was walking to the GA line at about 3:15pm. I was unfortunately not greatly impressed Thursday, felt it was just a good, not a great show - I prefer the setlist with City of Blinding Lights opening anyway. I decided to see if I could make the elipse though, since I struck out the night before (I had a GA and a reserve seat Thursday and I got in too late for a good GA spot). Decided that since I got a good spot Friday, I'd stay. I made the right decision, that's for sure!

Now I have to figure out how much I'm willing to spend on a Dublin June 25th show since I'll just happen to be there on that day!
 
Last edited:
sorry a bit late for this review but...

i got behind ep/ruffman/chiz who were on the rail.. was with mr an mrs diamond an his kids

i thought the second night blew the first night away by miles..

my top moments...

1. BAD!! BAD!! BAD!! BAD!!
2. i liked how bono's drumming from LAPOE went into SBS an bono was drumming with larry for a little bit at the same time during SBS intro.. that was fuckin cool!!
3. first time i heard Gloria live ever
4. running to stand still was played, i love this too
5. i thought the crowd, the sound, the atmosphere was all better than the first night.
6. in gods country snippet
7. bono doing pretend magic tricks
8. knowing the MW babe who got pulled up.. :)

all i can say is WOW! :up:

it was great meeting u all.. desert dog, chizzer, ruffman, u2valleygirl, joyfulgirl (who i will add to 'martha' an call u all the three martha's :lol:), an seeing familiar faces.. ep, martha, u2itnol, eliv8, an whoever else i'm forgetting
 
Last edited:
Two things that really seem to be a consensus from those who saw both shows: (1) CBOL is a better opening song than LAPOE, and (2) LAPOE into Sunday Bloody Sunday is great.

I agree 100 percent with both, and it will be interesting to see if the band feel the same way going forward. What's interesting about the first point is that I actually very much prefer LAPOE to CBOL on the record, but it's not a show opener. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that there are a number of people in the arena who don't know the record that well, and CBOL is a more accessible song for relatively new listeners than LAPOE, generating more crowd excitement?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

C
Hello Hello... Hola!
Replies
1
Views
647
prbiker15
prbiker15
dan_smee
Songs of Surrender - Discussion, reviews, impressions
7 8 9
Replies
241
Views
16K
BEAL
BEAL
Headache in a Suitcase
  • Sticky
U2 Fans Helping Other U2 Fans Get Tickets
16 17 18
Replies
519
Views
27K
clerks
clerks
Headache in a Suitcase
3 Irishmen and a Dutchman Walk Into A Sphere - General Discussion Thread Part III
51 52 53
Replies
2K
Views
63K
Headache in a Suitcase
Headache in a Suitcase
DaveC
2024 NFL Playoff Pick 'Em
2
Replies
41
Views
2K
DaveC
DaveC

Latest posts

Back
Top Bottom