April 2, Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim

[dsmith2904]

Please post your reviews for the April 2nd show here.

 

[basco]

Adam Clayton! I must say I never seen Adam take it on his own to leave his spot much. He actually made a loop around the ellipse during Pride (I think) and was out walking around on other songs too. He was really into it tonight Nice to see him!

 

[bono_man2002]

Edge Had a mean solo in The Fly Tonight, (and even more at the end) I cant wait to hear it back.
And Bono actually got the words right for most of the fly!

Bono also brought, I dunno, a 10 Year old Girl up on stage during....Into The Heart, and they did a lap of the stage.

 

[Eliv8]

Whatever crowd energy that was lacking at The Pond last night was more than compensated for tonight and I think the band fed off it. It was loud. Mixing the set lists is brilliant but some nights are going to flow better than others. Tonight’s show had a better flow than last night. It was close to 2 hours long - I believe last night fell a bit short of that. Nice to see the Boy set back, but I missed Gloria. I have a feeling that that this will change as the tour progresses – I think they may throw in an ‘October set’ sometime then progress through the albums. The new stuff works well with the classics. I have not had chance to D/L and listen to a single show yet (shit, what kind of fan must I be?) but Edge seems to play with, rather than play, Bullet. It’s very cool. Bono brought a little girl onto the stage which was a complete contrast to last nights ‘Mrs. Machpisto’. He walked her all around the cat walk and she waved all the way round. Then he told her to lift her hands in the air and look up. Just as the confetti started to fall as they went into COBL.
I bumped into Craig Evans again before the show. He really is a nice guy and must have one of the most enviable jobs in the world.

01. Love And Peace Or Else
02. Vertigo
03. Elevation
04. Electric Co.
05. An Cat Dubh
06. Into The Heart
07. City Of Blinding Lights
08. Beautiful Day
09. Miracle Drug
10. Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own
11. New Year's Day
12. Sunday Bloody Sunday
13. Bullet The Blue Sky
14. Running To Stand Still
15. Zoo Station
16. The Fly
17. Mysterious Ways

18. Pride (In The Name Of Love)
19. Where The Streets Have No Name
20. One

21. All Because Of You
22. Yahweh
23. 40

This has been an amazing week. I have never seen them play so many times in such a short amount of time. I feel privileged, spoilt - and tired.

 

[bono_man2002]

As with the second San Diego show, alot of people I saw Leave after One.
The girl sitting next to me left after One, and came back early in ABOY

 

[KUEFC09U2]

great to see the show is still only in the taking shape phase but still amazing

 

[instantregan]

couple of quick observations from last night:

Pacing was much better. I was surprised they kept LaPoE as the opener, but it worked out well. The audio that plays over the P.A. as the band walks the elipse is very "Zoo TV," and you really expect them to launch into something very jarring and strong.

40 almost stopped as soon as it got going. Right after Bono started singing, Edge walked over and started whispering in his ear. Bono stopped singing for maybe 10-15 seconds, and then once he started again Edge walked over and talked to Adam.

I was hopeful that they were deciding to play something else afterwards, but they walked off the stage like normal.

One other thing: I'd estimate that maybe 15% of the audience can tell what the words that flash on the curtains during The Fly are.

Glitch: The monitor that points towards stage left gave out about halfway during the show, leaving that audience out of the cool mosaic audience graphic that shows during "One," and also leaving them clueless as far as where to text their name too.

Okay bye.

r

 

[martha]

WOW.

As much as I liked the first night, this show was so much better. The guys were flying last night.

I realized they were doing the Gloria setlist, and I was wishing I'd paid closer attention to the song order, but no deal. Dang. But the absolute greatness of this show almost made up for no Gloria.

I think the band may be at its best ever right now. This show is only going to get better, and it's already amazing.

No jiggly nipples last night during Mysterious Ways; perhaps in deference to the Pope. Bono made a nice dedication of Miracle Drug to the Pope. He also made a dedication that many may have not understood: Running To Stand Still was dedicated to "the brave men and women" who are in the US armed forces. I thought that was an interesting choice of song.

Bono's doing what he threatened to do if the US didn't fulfill its promises to Africa: he's filling arenas and telling the audiences to get involved.

SBS has become an anti-war showpiece, and the segueway into Bullet is a great message to those in the audience still convinced that war is the answer. That, along with the Running dedication to the soldiers is a not too subtle way to get a point across. A point that some conservative U2 fans may still be missing.

 

[ribbons&bows]

I love Bono's impression of the pope with his glasses on.
Face turned sideways with a gigantic grin

 

[diamond]

WOW.

SBS has become an anti-war showpiece, and the segueway into Bullet is a great message to those in the audience still convinced that war is the answer. That, along with the Running dedication to the soldiers is a not too subtle way to get a point across. A point that some conservative U2 fans may still be missing.

Martha-
I think you're accurate here, but I can't drink Bono's koolaid.

db9

 

[martha]

But at least you know the message is there db.

 

[HelloHelloHola]

i read (on this board) that they released tickets at the Pond box office on friday, so saturday morning i showed up the Pond to try and get tickets ... there were 2 lines and i was about 20-25th in one of the lines ... everyone could buy 4 tickets and after about a 4 hour wait i got my floor general admission passes ($49.50 each) then i went home and came back around 7:30 (kings of leon were already playing ...) they scanned my ticket and i won entry into the ellipse! so so so cool ... we were about 10 feet from The Edge the whole night ... awesome show ... if you don't have tickets i REALLLY recommend the waiting for ticket releases ... i'd never bought tickets at the box office like that before ... for the ellipse you get one wristband to get onto the floor and a 2nd wristband for the ellipse ... the wristbands have some sort of blacklight marking that they need to check + they punch a whole and mark your ticket ... the whole process of winning entry into the ellipse was really exciting ... there were people waiting by the ellipse wristband table offering me $40 to take them as their buddy ... i felt like i'd won THE lottery

i too thought they were going to so something special with all the whispers and laughing between the band before they did 40 ...

Bono dedicated the song to the Pope and told a story of how the Pope gave him those rosary beads , then Bono sang with the beads placed over the microphone

favorite song "All Because Of You" ... also the little girl they brought on stage was wearing a gold lame suit (like bono used to have)

 

[LyricalDrug]

I wasn't at the show, but I think it's clear that U2 isn't exactly happy with the setlist, so they keep tinkering with it, trying to get it right. I think once they settle on what works, we won't see the drastic changes that we've seen in the first few shows.

Check out Willie's diary on U2.com, and you can tell that during rehearsals, the band was tearing their hair out trying to come up with a viable setlist.

From the standpoint of a bootleg-addicted fan, though, I hope they keep mixing things up!

 

[Axver]

LyricalDrug, I don't think that's true at all. I think the band have finally realised that they can't keep playing the same thing every single night of tour so they're spicing it up and giving us some variety. And they're sure going to have to keep that variety going when they play 3 nights in Boston, 4 in Chicago, 5 in New York, et cetera.

 

[Val]

Martha-
I think you're accurate here, but I can't drink Bono's koolaid.

db9

I'll down yours as well as mine!

 

[diamond]

But at least you know the message is there db.

agreed.

db9

 

[bratty_cat]

WOW.


I think the band may be at its best ever right now. This show is only going to get better, and it's already amazing.

YES, I love that after 20-something years one can say that with absolute conviction!

Can you even imagine what the fall shows will be like?

 

[martha]

Can you even imagine what the fall shows will be like?

I know! Last night I was thinking how great Portland is going to be.

 

[bratty_cat]

I know! Last night I was thinking how great Portland is going to be.

I'm right there with you!

 

[techfire]

I kinda knew it was probably going to be a special show, because of the Pope's passing earlier in the day, and it was. Wow, great show, Bono sounded great and the Saturday night crowd was awesome, even Bono metioned it being a Saturday night crowd during the show. For me, his story on the pope and his taking the young girl, probably 7 or so, for a walk around the circle and having confetti fall on her were the highlights. Matt Damon and Owen Wilson were at the show in the special GA area, and the Saturday crowd was just amazing, glad to be a part of it.

 

[Nerfherder]

Matt Damon and Owen Wilson were at the show in the special GA area, and the Saturday crowd was just amazing, glad to be a part of it.

Out of curiousity, what's the "special" GA area? Like... a different section where only the special guests get to be? I guess the celebrities want to be separated from the common riff-raff. *G*

 

[dalfan]

Believe he was just referencing the inner part of ellipse (like Elevation's tour of "inside the heart") as the "special GA". like where Bill Walton was in for SD2.

 

[Kinsa]

I posted this review on U2tours, but just found this forum (Hi everyone!) and want to let everyone know how much I loved the show. There was just a feeling that night I can't really explain, and I have been to lots of U2 shows. My hubby thought this was the best concert he had ever been to! So - here's my review (my name is Chelly) Also, it was so good that I just got tickets for Phoenix, and didn't even have to convice hubby (a non-U2 fan before Anaheim show) to drive the 5 hours each way to see the show. If you knew how much my hubby hates to drive, you would know the fact he is willing to drive more than an hour or two (we are in SD) tells you how good the show was!

So, here's the review -

I am in the unique position of seeing this show through two sets of eyes - mine, a long-time (first saw the band live while I was in high school on the Joshua Tree tour) U2 fan, and those of my husband - who was attending his first U2 show (he has always "liked" their music, but wouldn't go out of his way to listen to it, if you know what I mean - not a true fan of the music, but he has always respected and admired Bono).

All I can say is we both left blown away by the concert tonight. Me, because I can't believe how this group has not only managed to contine to produce relevant music, but in my humble opinion they just seem like they get better with age! And hubby was just blown away by the whole show, he was really amazed at what a production they put on, Bono's voice was fabulous tonight, the vibe feeling they put out to the audience (and we were in the "cheap" $100 seats) reached all the way to the back of the arena. Needless to say, U2 made a new life long fan tonight.

The one thing that truly surprised me about my reaction to the show (because I thought I would be content just hearing them play the oldies but goodies) was that I wish they had played even MORE songs from HTDAAB. The songs they played from this current CD were fabulous, especially touching was Miracle Drug, it was a beautiful heartfelt version of this song, plus Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own was phenomenal. Vertigo was great also, and Yahweh was moving. Overall, the music from this disc just proves what a fabulous band U2 has remained over the years.

The only part of the show that lacked as much energy (from the audience) as the rest was the set from Boy. The only reason it lacked was because I think the audience was not as familiar with the music, still it is interesting to hear them play 25 year old music that still rocks.

And the classics they played really rocked - Sunday Bloody Sunday sounded as good as I have ever heard them perform it. Mysterious Ways was a good addition, I have always loved that song, the only song I thought they could replace was Zoo Station - it just didn't sound that good, but as a lead into the Fly, it was ok.

They did have to start 40 over, I'm not sure why, but I thought it was great to see them as normal guys working out the kinks. My only wish was that they could play even longer (don't we all wish this), but I understand (as I age along with them LOL) that they are running a marathon here - they have to stay in shape to make it through this almost year long tour they have in front of them, and there is no way, at their age they could play 3 plus hours a night and make it throught the whole tour.

I have seen them through 4 different tours, and I honestly think this was about the best I have ever seen from them, maybe because as I age, I really appreciate the energy they put out, the relevance of the music to my life, and most of all the message of unity, hope and peace Bono spreads to the crowd. Those of you who get to see them on this tour are in for a treat.

 

[martha]

Believe he was just referencing the inner part of ellipse (like Elevation's tour of "inside the heart") as the "special GA". like where Bill Walton was in for SD2.

No. That's not it. In front of the soundboard area, there's a special, separate area for big shots. It was there for Elevation as well. I saw Simon LeBon and Elvis Costello in it for Elevation.

 

[dalfan]

It was for Bill Walton... he was standing in the inner ellipse not by any sound board. Or guess he didn't rate as a "Big Shot" even at nearly 7'.

 

[martha]

Maybe Bill's just smarter than Owen.