Just got back from Croke 1, 2, and 3

[u2forlife]

Did GA for Croke 1. Rained all freaking day long. I was so jetlagged from getting off a plane at 5:30am and going straight to the GA line, but it was worth it. U2 gave us Who's Gonna Ride...!! Crowd was really into it. U2 were glad to be home.

Croke 2 (A.K.A. "The second date...") so says Bono - was the best concert in Dublin. The crowd was going BALLISTIC. Made the show and concert going experience really outstanding. They were definitely filming on night two.

Croke 3 - WTF??? The show was excellent, as usual. The crowd sucked. Have you ever heard of a U2 show needing an emcee to get the crowd going? Ridiculous. Oh yes, the show... Imagine my surprise when I hear Vertigo for the second time. "The End" shows on the screen. I start collecting my belongings to leave the stadium only to hear screams of people and I turn to the stage. Bono was at the microphone telling us, at first, that Edge wanted to play one more song. Then, he said that the police had given them 1/2 hour extra because traffic caused their late start.

Therefore, technically Vertigo did not close the show. Instead, it was "40".

Anyone else who were at all three shows, how do you feel about the show/audience/crowd on night 3?

 

[Fano]

I was in the pit for the third gig and yeah the crowd sucked big time.
I was surrounded by mannequins and I felt strange jumping around on my own most of the time like a lunatic.
I was surrounded by people who didnt know alot of the songs.
I thought the people in the stands were good though.

 

[speedracer]

Those of you complaining about the lack of animation on the part of the crowd should practice self-copulation.

Some people just don't jump around and flail their arms like others. Doesn't make them lesser fans.

 

[u2forlife]

I was in the pit for the third gig and yeah the crowd sucked big time.
I was surrounded by mannequins and I felt strange jumping around on my own most of the time like a lunatic.

I'm glad I wasn't the only one who had a slab of granite standing next to me. I had an entire Irish crowd surrounding me, in the stands for night 3, and they didn't know words to the songs either. I just couldn't believe this was Ireland.

Night 2 rocked the house!

 

[Bono's Betty]

Were you all there to watch the crowd or U2? Who cares about the people beside you. Would you rather have some rowdy drunk dancing and bumping into you all night?

 

[muller]

can anyone confirm if they recorded night 3 or not?

 

[hedge]

I was in the pit for the third gig and yeah the crowd sucked big time.
QUOTE]


i moved around the pit. parts were very quiet, other parts were lively. although i expected the whole pit to be manic, it was good to have areas where you could stand back and listen/look without disturbance.

only went to the 3rd show, so can't comment on the other nights.

i thought the band were awesome, and from what i could see of the rest of the crowd - they were really in to it.

 

[claytons edge]

I was in the canal upper tier on monday,there was alot of people stood there with their arm's folded.The guy in front of me just kept looking around the ground to see what everyone else was doing.Anyhow i had a great time with my good lady,didn't give a crap that people saw me jump an sing like a lunatic,it's called enjoying the moment

 

[KUEFC09U2]

people just enjoy a concert in a different way to others, is that such a crime that they wanna just take everything in? and just because people didnt sing dosent mean they dont know the songs

 

[Irishteen]

I was in Dublin 2, and when the Fly came on I went crazy, then saw only one other person was actually, up singing, and going crazy, did I sit down no, this was the fly, and it rocked harder then anything, I loved it, I tried to be normal for the whole show, nbut when the The Fly came on I went crazy, and for the rest of the songs was crazy. Well for the first songs i was up singing, enjoying it, but other people weren't, I couldn't hold it in, but then it came to me, i came here to have a great time, I don't care if you people don't know the words to the Fly or like, I love it.

 

[Neilz]

I was in Dublin 2, and when the Fly came on I went crazy, then saw only one other person was actually, up singing, and going crazy, did I sit down no, this was the fly, and it rocked harder then anything, I loved it, I tried to be normal for the whole show, nbut when the The Fly came on I went crazy, and for the rest of the songs was crazy. Well for the first songs i was up singing, enjoying it, but other people weren't, I couldn't hold it in, but then it came to me, i came here to have a great time, I don't care if you people don't know the words to the Fly or like, I love it.

Like KUEFC09U2 said... If people don't sing allong with U2 songs, doesn't mean that they don't know the lyrics... You won't see me singing allong either, though I know all the lyrics...

Everyone experiences a U2 gig in a different way, and you even in city's like Dublin, Boston or Rotterdam the mood at a show can differ very much per tour or show...

At U2 shows I just want to take everything in as much as possible, while at festival's I just like to have a load of fun...

 

[brwh1]

was at all three
in the pit for 1 and 2 and cusack upper near the stage

1 was great, 2 was the best ive ever seen
3 was different but great for me as the setlist was a dream
in a stadium of 80.000 you will always get a few who are just there for the event, the piss-up etc. thats ireland - we all have too many fuckin credit cards. you americans have ruined us with your capitalist ways!!
soon we will be having advertising breaks after every third song!

 

[brwh1]

btw - for a stadium gig you will never get a more intense experience than saturday night. if i never see u2 in another stadium i will be happy. it wont be bettered.
oh shit i'm going to berlin next week!

 

[Joshua_Tree_Hugger]

I was at the second and third gig and can say that for me personally the second was much better.

I kind of new after Saturday that Monday wasn't going to beat it, such was the intensity and level of enjoyment I got out of it. I enjoyed the main set of Monday almost equally with the main set on Saturday, even though I was terribly disappointed with the crowd. The only words they seemed to know were the choruses of "Elevation" and "Beautiful Day" and bits of "Bad" and "Streets". Many sat down for An Cat Dubh/Into the Heart and Gloria, undoubtedly never having heard them before. I took a good look around at people at one stage and realised that if I'm lucky enough to see U2 in Ireland again, I would make sure that no matter what I would be in the pit with the diehards like me.

Unfortunately, I really felt the encore on Monday was terribly rushed. The concert suffered from the fact that it was 20 minutes late starting, due to some crowd trouble outside. As a result, Mysterious Ways and Yaweh were cut. After Vertigo, they did come back for Yahweh and "40" as most of the crowd were half way out the exits. Unforunately I had to leave before "40" because, due to the late start, there was a real possibility I would miss my only train back to Galway!! So overall, Monday was very good but nothing could beat Saturday!

 

[djparky]

Croke

ha- yes my brother and I queued up from 10am for Croke 1, and also got wet- at least it wasn't the sort of rain that hit Glastonbury. It was very tiring to do this but I'm glad I've done it at least once and it was fun talking with other fans. Mind you about 2 hours in I thought it wasn't worth going through the pain

I thought the crowd for Croke 1 was amazing, everyone was dancing and clapping and jumping about and really getting into the show- could be that it was because of the rain or something else but it was one of the most intense concerts I've ever been to. I can't put into words they way I felt by the end of the show

I thought that Croke 2 started a little slowly but then that could be because I was knackered from the first show, we were in the front GA section again (although we didn't queue for it this time), but suddenly the show kicked up a gear and it was about as intense as the first show. Probably my favourite bit was when they had that guy from Canada come up on stage and they played Party Girl

Frankly I doubt that U2 can top those 2 shows I saw in Dublin.

 

[tilen]

the crowd on Croke 1 was amazing, as was u2! Most of us were singing and jumping all the time (though the italian or french brothers standing beside me seemed to be bothered by that because they couldn't hold their hands still for taking pictures, hahaha!)!

 

[u2forlife]

Re: Croke

ha- yes my brother and I queued up from 10am for Croke 1, and also got wet- at least it wasn't the sort of rain that hit Glastonbury. It was very tiring to do this but I'm glad I've done it at least once and it was fun talking with other fans. Mind you about 2 hours in I thought it wasn't worth going through the pain

Frankly I doubt that U2 can top those 2 shows I saw in Dublin.

DJParky, I agree with you on everything. Croke 2 was the best show I've seen on this tour. It is always worth going through the rain and the pain, when the goal is soul.

 

[djparky]

agreed

well yes it was worth going through the "pain barrier" on 24 June, perhaps that's what made that show so memorable for me.

Mind you when we strolled up at 5pm the next day and still made it into the front bit we did wonder why we'd spent an entire day standing/ sitting in a queue in a Croke Park car park!

It's certainly something I never would have imagined doing before (for any band), luckily aside from U2 though the other bands I like only play indoor arenas so it's never a problem getting near to the stage

Scary to think that a week ago I was in Dublin looking forward to it all, now I've just got 3 more days until I have to go back to work (and am having post concert blues today)

 

[claytons edge]

I'm i the only person who is pissed off,i seen u2 last saturday and monday but now i'm really fuckin ratty,i'm going to have to wait 4 years or so and its fuckin annoying me,can anyone give me a remedy,by the time these god's return i'll be 31 with kids and i mean with kids,we've been engaged 5 years.Hurry up bono an come back soon while i can enjoy you

 

[djparky]

sorry

no remedy, other than hoping they break the 4 year cycle. If it's any help I'll be 40 the next time they tour!

 

[alibee]

Hey I was at all three, and in the pit at the b stage for Sat and Monday. I have to disagree, the mc guy only came out to say they were starting late!! I didn't notice that the crowd was more subdued on Monday as I was hyper anyway, as were the 2 people with me.

As for the singing along, I actually prefered Monday when I didn't have a Mong screaming along to the songs in my air. I only want to hear Bono sing, not someone else! for Paddy Casey on Sat the little witch beside me screamed in my ear for his whole set.

Oh and here is a minor rant - if you go to see U2 for the sole purpose of trying to convince Bono to bring you up on stage to dance, then you are very very very sad. And very very very annoying. To the 2 US students in front of me, who had a conversation during every song, about whether or not to hold up your t shirt asking for a dance - losers.
( I moved away from them during BAD, I had had enough of them and their stupid moaning about Bono not coming to our side)

And to sum up!!! I thought night 3 in Croker was the best night, still deciding if it topped Slane 2 or not. If not it was very close.

 

[dizzy]

I was at all 3 shows too, and I liked the 2nd the best. Being at the very front of the pitch was awesome, though we couldn't see Larry because the stage was so high up.

Even if the 2nd night was the best, I think there were things in each show that made them extra special, like "Wild Horses" being played in the 1st night, and quite mixed up and spontaneous setlist on the 3rd night. BTW, during MW on the 2nd night, I remember Bono looking at us girls in the front. Have to admit it got me nervous, and kind of stopped dancing a bit. I wish I had the guts that other girls do to get Bono's attention to get pulled up on stage.

This was quite an extraordinary experience, and just making it to Croke Park was awesome.

I'm still in Ireland. Don't want to leave. But I can't wait to go back to the States too to post the photos!