May 21, Madison Square Garden in NYC

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oh man, what a show.... tonight just worked out perfectly for me and my friends... i feel so lucky! :hyper:

great energy from the band! i went nuts during every song- think i sweat out about 10 pounds, and now every muscle in my body hurts... but man was it worth it! :up:

only major surprise was the band playing a bowie song, which was awesome, in honor of the fact that bowie was in attendance. i saw Diddy entering through the VIP area as i was waiting to get scanned for the ellipse- i think that might be my favorite NYC celeb sighting thus far!

"original" was a nice addition, and bono brought 2 young ladies on stage: 1 during "into the heart" (she looked to be about 13), and another during "mysterious ways". the band closed with "vertigo" instead of "40"- clearly, they have gotten to like ending their shows this way!!!

i would now just like to take a moment to THANK U2 for releasing probably thousands of tickets today. as of this morning, i knew very few people with tickets- but by 9 pm tonight, hundreds upon hundreds of fans found themselves with tickets (myself included). THANK YOU, U2, for releasing tickets at the box office and making all us fans so very happy! :up: :cute:
 
Tired. Need sleep. Show. Good. Stomach. Woozy. Bad hot dog at Shea. Hate the Mets and that dump. They posioned me.

I survived.

Saw U2.

Again.

They are a good band, did you know this?

They played a Bowie tune tonight, which was fun.

I.....now......sleep....tim tam.....tired.........where am I......zzzzzzzzz
 
Here's my review from zootopia...


A very good show. I believe both NJ shows were better. One caveat before the MSG review below... I was GA for both NJ shows (ellipse for the second).

My section for MSG sucked. Half the section, if not more, was sitting down for SONGS (!!) at a time. Anyways...

The band is on a roll right now. Most everything sounds prim and fit. The only recognizable "mistakes" were Bono screwing up lyrics on a couple of songs (notably PITNOL and the Bowie cover song) and The Edge's guitar cutting out a couple of times. Bono's voice was good, but I felt he was holding back in a couple of places (for example, SYCMIOYO).

I was hoping for something more than the Bowie cover song as the "surprise." I love Vertigo closing with Bono's "encora" lead-in speech. :) OOTS is a great song live. I wish it becomes more of a regular (not every show though).

"Setlist A" has its problems, but none more glaring than their inane insistence of playing three "unknown" Boy songs. Again, the momentum of the show stopped dead with the Boy songs. Don't get me wrong, I love hearing the Boy songs, especially Electric Co., just not every night.

I totally LOVE Zoo Station live with The Edge out on the ellipse punctuating the "It's Alright" verse with fist raised to the air. Great stuff! The Fly really rocked tonight. MW was almost perfect, except for The Edge's guitar cutting out just as his slide guitar solo kicked in. ABOY also had some guitar problems before The Edge's solo. Did I say that Vertigo closing rocks?!

I really enjoyed the "broader" view that seats afford. There's so much happening with the curtains and lights that you just can't catch if you're GA. (Please do not interpret this as a reason for [emailing] me with offers for my Fall MSG GA's!!!)

Bottom line, the MSG show was great, but my section sucked. The MSG show, unfortunately, may have been overhyped because it was the only MSG show for the first leg. As a result, I feel that there were a TON of ppl there that did not care much about U2 and U2 songs. They just "had to be there" to prove that they are "cool." I'd almost go as far as to say I was disappointed by the MSG crowd. I'd be interested to see what other ppl's reviews of the show and of the crowd.
 
Just got back...crowd was on fire....SBS woke up NYC like nothing else...from then on, the place just rocked, sang, rocked some more. Bono's voice was so strong. Edge was working it so hard that at one point his body just went spastic. It was like he was about to be airborne.
Larry was fun, and Adam was more reserved than he has been of late.
The girl Bono pulled up on stage during Mysterious Ways just threw herself at him, and didn't know to dance. Bono should have picked a PLEBA girl. The moment with the little girl , well, knowing it's going to happen kind of takes away its charm.
The stage and lighting are really something.
I had wished they played more songs, but they started late (9:25) so I'm sure that had something to do with it.
OOTS was beautiful, as well as SYCMIOYO. Bono did a great job with both.
Miracle Drug is one of my fav on the album, but IMHO I just don't think it sounds good live. Something wasn't right with the guitar. Maybe I'm wrong. would love to hear other opinions.
All in all, NYC loves U2!
 
An unreal experience. This was my first U2 show. I had GA's and got there at about 4. I was basically the 30th person in line at that point. I was shocked at how few people were lining up early. They didn't break us up untill 2 lines, they just said if you're a fan club member, come in first. Didn't even check for B-Fan tickets or whatever. So since I did have my illustrious keychain on me, I went with that line. Though I didn't get the elipse, I was right up on the railing front and center, and that ended up being just as good a place, as Bono came out to that area very often.

The show, was in a word, amazing. Unbelievable energy, and Bono was at the top of his game tonight. The voice sounded strong, and of course he's just an incredible stage performer. Really cool setlist...I loved hearing Miracle Drug live. Loved the encore with Zoo Station, The Fly and Mysterious Ways. Original of the Species is just an incredibly beautiful song and especially live. I'm not a huge fan of Yahweh, but I loved the version they played tonight. Usually you want to hear as many different songs as possible, but the 2nd Vertigo just works. The crowd was absolutely nuts.

Incredible, incredible performance. I'm at a loss for words now. As I said, this was my first U2 show, and right now I'm just in awe.
 
was i at the same show as everyone else? perhaps the point of view made the difference.

it was an odd experience for me. the crowd was so mixed. many older people were there with their young adult children. there were middle aged balding guys with spare tires smoking pot. the whole place reeked of beer. after the first few songs you could still buy beer but if you wanted water you were out of luck.

i was stuck behind some big fat guys who made it difficult if not impossible to see. the only time i had a clear view was when one of them went to get more beer.

the crowd seemed tame. about half the ellipse crowd was very enthusiastic but the other half didn't really seem to be into the show that much. there was one person outside the ellipse that was jumping to every song. i felt like the band was putting out a lot of energy but the crowd just wasn't that engaged.

the bowie song was "jean genie". i would have preferred '40' which was NOT played. as for the "inane insistence of playing three 'unknown' Boy songs"-- i ask, unknown to whom? like i said, there were lots of older fans in the crowd (myself included) who LOVE the "boy" part. (reminds me of when they played the ritz all those years ago)

in short, the band was hot, the crowd was not.
 
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Not to sound defensive, but "inane" in the sense that the crowd does not stay in it as they do for the regular classic U2 songs. Simply put, the Boy songs are momentum killers for Setlist A.

The point is that, if U2 wants to play old songs, then fine (as I noted, I love hearing the Boy songs). But there is so much in the way of the first three albums that are just better live performers than An Cat Dubh. Why not I Will Follow, Out of Control, Gloria, Two Hearts, Seconds, etc., instead? I'd even argue that An Cat Dubh is non-sensical as a song to begin with.

As far as I can tell, the older fans last night had no clue either about the Boy songs.
 
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*Ally* said:


i would now just like to take a moment to THANK U2 for releasing probably thousands of tickets today. as of this morning, i knew very few people with tickets- but by 9 pm tonight, hundreds upon hundreds of fans found themselves with tickets (myself included). THANK YOU, U2, for releasing tickets at the box office and making all us fans so very happy! :up: :cute:

Wait....what do you mean they released thousands of tickets???
 
U2girl91289 said:


Wait....what do you mean they released thousands of tickets???

ok, this is what happened. GAs for last night's show were notoriously difficult to come by. the only people i knew who had GAs paid over $1000 to buy a ticket from a scalper. it was ridiculous! this was mostly due to the presale screw-up that we're all so familiar with. so yesterday's GA line was ridiculously short. at 6 pm there were only about 120 people in line! the scalpers had all the tickets, not the "real" fans.

so the box office line was incredibly long yesterday. honestly, there must have been 500 people in line (at least), hoping that tickets would be released at the box office the day of the show. i got there at 5 am to line up for the box office. at 5 pm, they started allowing us to go up to the box office, in groups of 10. (i have to say that MSG security was actually VERY well-equipped to handle the huge numbers of people who had lined up for the box office- so a big THANK YOU to them as well!). seats were available starting at 5 pm- i purchased a pair of side-view seats for $170.

i think at LEAST 500 people were able to purchase seats from the box office between the hours of 5 and 8 pm. maybe even MORE! so about 1000 seats were released the DAY of the show- thanks to U2! this made so many fans, who were shut out during the presale and by ticketmaster, incredibly happy.

they released probably about 30 GAs, between 8 and 9 pm. i was incredibly fortunate to score one of these GAs, thanks to a couple who wanted to trade the GAs they had just purchased for seats. and my friend and i got into the ellipse! it was just a perfect evening, and i just feel the need to say THANK YOU, once again, to U2, for releasing so many tickets the day of the show- especially for MSG, which was incredibly difficult to get tickets for. this band truly does care about their fans.... :heart: :bow:

the show itself was fantastic! i was just going nuts, jumping around and dancing... i had never been in the back of the ellipse, and it was incredible to have room to jump around! i loved every second. :cute:

apparently there were tons of celebs in attendance- someone told me that julia roberts and david bowie were both in the ellipse (i was too busy going nuts to notice- lol!). but, i did see P. Diddy entering MSG thru the VIP entrance- so cool! :up: and, i also saw Bill O'Reilly :down: entering through the "regular" entrance... guess the band didn't hook him up! :wink: :applaud:
 
Screwed Scalpers

U2girl91289 said:


Wait....what do you mean they released thousands of tickets???

It's the same for both shows I've been to and the Philly show I'm going to tonight. U2 took back every radio station giveaway/ETS Tour packages/VIP allotment that they could get their hands on after the ticket fiasco. The result has been T.M. ticket drops for all shows and A LOT of tickets being sold at the venue the day of the show. At 7:45 PM last night, I saw the signs flashing saying "Tix available" and there were a few people still buying them. I went up to the window out of curiousity and sure enough, there were tickets to sell even that late...scalpers be damned. Thanks Larry and U2.

However, the couple sitting next to me paid $800/ticket and thought they got an OK deal after seeing some of the e-bay prices. I didn't have the heart to tell them I got a discounted ticket to Chicago and face value for MSG and Philly, all this just days within each show. I think the perception still exists, for casual fans at least, that tickets are like gold and you can't get any w/o using brokers. Granted, you may not get exactly what you want, but that's hard to do even on sale day. It's also been easier for me since I'm only getting singles.

As for the MSG show, it all depends on your perspective. I have seen U2 some 15 times back to 1987. It's always been in the SE part of the U.S., like Atlanta, Charlotte, TN, Lexington, KY, Clemson, etc. So, for me anyway, the Chicago show on 5/7 was on a whole new level for me; I thought the sound was great, Bono's voice was great, the crowd was great, and they played for nearly 2.4 hours. A couple of Elevation shows I saw were 90 minutes at best. Then comes MSG last night. As it's been said, the crowd was outsinging Bono on a few occasions, and he noticed it. OOTS was beautiful. The crowd in my section, and in the whole arena from what I could tell, was absolutely NUTS. I've never felt so much energy and the band responds in a special way when that happens. There are jerks at every concert, and I am sure some areas did have some lame "fans". For me, though, it was the best U2 show I've ever seen, and I met great fans all around me. In fact, that's what has amazed me most about going to shows alone for a change...I have been lucky and the people I've met have been just great.

I won't give a song by song review...but I really thought almost every song sounded great, they have ABOY nailed live, MD needs work, and the Vertigo encore simply explodes the place! I wanted Bad/40, but I got that in Chicago, and we'll see what happens in Philly tonight. I know there are critics and fans that will disagree, but the band is playing tighter right now than I've ever seen them, the Edge is really into the shows and blasting away like a lead guitarist should, Bono's voice is better than it's been in years, and these shows absolutely rock hard. People are tired after expending so much energy, but there are just enough slow songs to let you catch your breath.

One other thing. U2 have really tapped into the 16-19 year olds IMO. It's great to see them gaining so many new fans at this point in their career. Just walking around and seeing three generations of fans is really amazing. What a band. What a show. What a tour for me, as I thought I wouldn't see them at all just a few months ago! Thanks again U2!
 
Seats are always released day of show for several reasons but ussually after the tour manager takes his/her final walk through the arena after the stage has been put into place to see what are and what are not considered tech kills. in the case of this show there were very few tech kills and many seats were released not just yesterday but slowly over the past few days.

I got a section 65 row H, looking directly at edges keyboards, two days ago for 50.00 bucks. Unquestionably one of the best seats of any U2 show I have ever attened, B Y CHANCE! With the exception of the shows I worked on while I was with Rn Delsner Presents years ago- Yankee Stadium....

Granted the seat I got was a single seat but I did not care as I wanted to see these guys at the garden. I did pretty much the same for the two other shows in New Jersey.

The other reason seats are released is the band holds a lot of seats for guests, and in New York they ussually have a lot of guests, like kofi anan (sp?) some of the sopranos, bono's dr. cahill, jeff sachs, the tom freston's of the world, bowie, puff , daddy or pee dick head or whatever he's calling himself these days.

If the band do not use all their tickets they release them in the latter part of the day. I know that Bono and the DATA group had a huge stockpile of tickets as a friend of mine was emailed a few days ago asking if he wanted to go as a guest of Bono. He could not go sat night and will probably take them up on the offer in the fall and I'm going to start my campaign to go with him as the tickets are ofcourse VIP with backstage access etc.....any way the point of all this is to say that there are ALWAYS seat released on the day of show as evidanced by those tha got there and waited all day long.

And there are always seats released to ticketmaster so just keep trying for singles and maybe you'll be lucky as I was with a single breathing down on edges's shoulder while he played piano.
 
they did release a LOT of tickets... more than normal... right before the show.

also... when i walked past the GA line at around 11am, it was absolutely empty... maybe 10-15 people on line. in philly i was 91st and i got there at 8:30... to MSG, the most sought after ticket around, 10-15 people at 11:00am.

i know the floor was smaller than at other arenas due to the risers at the back of the floor, but shit... this just goes to prove that there was a rediculously small number of GA tickets actually made available to the public for this show, which kinda really pisses me off a bit, but oh well.
 
hoving said:
I got a section 65 row H, looking directly at edges keyboards, two days ago for 50.00 bucks.

Does anyone know why these seats immediately behind the stage are $50 at MSG whereas they are $95 everywhere else? I was thrilled to get Sec 118 for $50 for the fall.
 
*Ally* said:


they released probably about 30 GAs, between 8 and 9 pm. i was incredibly fortunate to score one of these GAs, thanks to a couple who wanted to trade the GAs they had just purchased for seats. and my friend and i got into the ellipse!

Wow, that's fantastic Ally! I wonder why they are releasing GAs so late. We were the beneficiaries of the same thing on 5/18 in NJ, literally minutes before U2 came on (read my story at http://forum.interference.com/t127927.html). At that show I'm not positive that anyone else got box office GAs, although I suspect the three people in front of us in line might have. I really wondered if they just created some GAs on the spot because we had been waiting in line for hours (though not nearly as long as you!)
 
we just drove back from new york, so Ill post a song review later.

I thought this was the best show I've seen on the tour, this being my fourth. It was amazing, and as I was glued to the band and the section around me, I have to say the fans behind the stage were awesome!!

Everyone around me sang all the words and really got into the songs, especially when Bono looked our way.

I was in the 300 section behind the stage, and I noticed a few sections in the arena to be a little tame, but overall I thought the crowd was great.

During Mysterious Ways, the crowd behind the stage moved like we were in a club. In Philly, everyone around me was sitting down for it.

I have to disagree that "Electric Co" is a momentum killer. Everyone really seemed to get into, especially considering 50% of the people dont know what the hell it is. One guy behind me said, "What was that song? That friggin rocked!!"

I have to agree with "an cat dubh". they should play it much later in the set. It's too early, and the crowd goes dead or takes a beer or bathroom break.

"Running to stand still" really stood out to me today, I'll post some more later.
 
Thanks for all the late-release ticket info, everyone! I'm DYING to get tickets for one of the MSG shows this fall, so if all else fails I can just go wait outside the ticket office, now that I know about that. Now there is still hope to see U2 in MSG for my 2nd concert ever!!
 
Got into LaGuardia at 8:20 am... made my way to MSG and was at the Box office line by 9:30 a... gave that up by 1:00 pm since I already had a seat and was only looking to "upgrade" to a GA

Ran into a lot of people I have met in other shows, talked to lots new ones - lots of fellow interferencers too :wave: Got recognized a few more times :reject: It is more than a little strange... :S

Waited for the band to arrive and was really bothered by the way people reacted when Bono arrived in his car... they bum rushed it and I knew right then and there that he would not be coming out :tsk:

Had a great dinner with threwabrick and her husband

MSG was GREAT!!!! I wouldnt want to do seats for every show, but it was nice to just be there, and take in the view of the entire thing! Finally got the COBL opener... had gotten LAPOE the prior 2 times... The sound at the venue was GREAT for me... I was jumping up and down like a freak too, dont think the people behind me where too impressed as they kept sitting down for certain songs (the typical stuff... An Cat Dubh, Into the Heart, Miracle Drug, etc) But at least they did not dare say anything to me... :D I was the only one cheering in my section for OOTS when it first started, but then was very surprised to hear the sing along!!!

Waited for the band after the show again.. I was expecting a runner but there were still 4 cars out in the docks, so we thought maybe they were still there... afer waiting for 2 hours some VIPs got out and into the cars... I called it a night....

Made my way to LaGuardia slept from 2:00 am to 4:00 am, slept the entire plane ride back... was in my bed by 9:40 am....

A GREAT DAY!
 
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gee Miroslava, I've only been posting a short time and even I would have recognised you if I had seen ya...
It was a great gig!
 
Val said:
gee Miroslava, I've only been posting a short time and even I would have recognised you if I had seen ya...
It was a great gig!

:reject:

Well... If a fellow interferencer recognizes me just by looking at me, I guess it wouldnt be that weird, but so far that has only happened once (hi Dazzled :wave:) other than that, it has been totally random people going

"YOU! You're that girl from the Brooklyn Bridge!"

Funniest one was two very New Yawk girls coming up and saying that and then making fun on me in a teasing way...

"oh my gawd, you were there with this look on your face..."

And the proceed to make their take on my face

:drool: :love:

"and you looked so happy! "

:lol:
 
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Main Set: City of Blinding Lights, Vertigo - Rockaway Beach, Elevation, The Electric Co., An Cat Dubh - Into the Heart, Beautiful Day, Miracle Drug, Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own, Love and Peace or Else, Sunday Bloody Sunday, Bullet the Blue Sky - When Johnny Comes Marching Home, Running to Stand Still, Pride, Where the Streets Have No Name, One

Encore(s): Zoo Station, The Fly - The Jean Genie, Mysterious Ways, Original of the Species, All Because Of You, Yahweh, Vertigo
 
Miroslava said:
Well... If a fellow interferencer recognizes me just by looking at me, I guess it wouldnt be that weird, but so far that has only happened once (hi Dazzled :wave:) other than that, it has been totally random people going

"YOU! You're that girl from the Brooklyn Bridge!"

Pretty soon Bono and the boys will be asking you for your autograph :bow: :reject:
 
After being a fan for 23 years, MSG was my first show ever and despite being behind the stage (sec. 218) and not having the video screens to see (on the corner but not on the corner if you know what mean), buying a ticket that was way above face value (bought off of ebay) and surviving the drunken fans in the row just below me, I had a great time (and with no liquid stimulate)! I sang and screamed myself hoarse, my cheeks ached for smiling so much and my legs ache for all the jumping and dancing I was doing. Look forward to Oct.

Thank U2.
 
Miroslava said:


:reject:

Well... If a fellow interferencer recognizes me just by looking at me, I guess it wouldnt be that weird, but so far that has only happened once (hi Dazzled :wave:) other than that, it has been totally random people going

"YOU! You're that girl from the Brooklyn Bridge!"

Funniest one was two very New Yawk girls coming up and saying that and then making fun on me in a teasing way...

"oh my gawd, you were there with this look on your face..."

And the proceed to make their take on my face

:drool: :love:

"and you looked so happy! "

:lol:

:wave: The funniest thing was you recognizing me from my horrific picture with Bono!! :D
 
No spoken words said:
Tired. Need sleep. Show. Good. Stomach. Woozy. Bad hot dog at Shea. Hate the Mets and that dump. They posioned me.

I survived.

Saw U2.

Again.

They are a good band, did you know this?

They played a Bowie tune tonight, which was fun.

I.....now......sleep....tim tam.....tired.........where am I......zzzzzzzzz
:lmao: Not sure why, but this cracked me up beyond reason. :lmao:

Sorry 'bout the bad dog :barf: ..... Looking forward to your full recovery & more comprehensive review. :yes:
 
I read one of Headache's post in another thread which I thought had some good points:

1) The crowd noise was amazing that night. Agreed.

2) The set list wasn't the best, and the "surprise" stuff Bono does to first time viewers is kind of lame to me because I've seen 4 shows and he does those things on Q basically.

A couple days later, I still think the MSG show was my favorite.

As for the crowd, again the energy was great. After the beautiful cell phone display, a lot of the arena kept doing it for the rest of the show. During the encore, a lot of my section were not only going crazy cheering but also stomping the ground for the band to come out again. :up:

On the escalators down after the show, most people seemed happy with it. I don't know about the crowd of guys who almost got in a fight over the "yankees suck" chants.

I forgot how much a lot yankee and met fans dont like each other, me and my friends got it pretty bad at Shea on saturday. It was great :wink:
 
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