Vertigo [Philly I]: The Death of Streets

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MrBrau1 said:
Prepare to be destroyed.

I think he's still waiting...

I'll be at Boston 2 and 3 later this month and those who have been to past tour shows know that 'Streets' is THE highlight for many. The segue from the previous song...and how they deal with the lighting...are huge elements to how 'Streets' comes off. They've clearly futzed with the recipe, to the disappointment of many (the original poster--who clearly hasn't been 'destroyed'-- plus several who replied to him).

Chris in NH
 
NHChris said:


I think he's still waiting...

I'll be at Boston 2 and 3 later this month and those who have been to past tour shows know that 'Streets' is THE highlight for many. The segue from the previous song...and how they deal with the lighting...are huge elements to how 'Streets' comes off. They've clearly futzed with the recipe, to the disappointment of many (the original poster--who clearly hasn't been 'destroyed'-- plus several who replied to him).

Chris in NH

It's been eighteen years now, since I was 8, when I first saw streets live as the opener for JT in Arizona. They've changed bits and pieces and even done it in front of a giant Lemon - but they've always had the red background and they've always turned the house lights on at the climax of the intro. I take things too serioulsy, but this is just one song I don't want tampering with - it's a religious experience for me.
 
GG_The_Fly said:


It's been eighteen years now, since I was 8, when I first saw streets live as the opener for JT in Arizona. They've changed bits and pieces and even done it in front of a giant Lemon - but they've always had the red background and they've always turned the house lights on at the climax of the intro. I take things too serioulsy, but this is just one song I don't want tampering with - it's a religious experience for me.

Oh, agreed 100%. I think the slow, red ascending glow with the initial deep organ chord opening is THE best. You'll get no argument from me on that. My opinion only, but--perhaps like you--I look forward to 'Streets' more than any other song. Like you say, the song is great by itself; but the lighting and how the song flows from the one before it are two things that take it to a whole new level.

Perhaps the benefit of going to Boston 2 & 3 is that the band can take all this feedback in and realize that if it ain't broke they shouldn't try to fix it.

Chris
 
NHChris said:


Oh, agreed 100%. I think the slow, red ascending glow with the initial deep organ chord opening is THE best. You'll get no argument from me on that. My opinion only, but--perhaps like you--I look forward to 'Streets' more than any other song. Like you say, the song is great by itself; but the lighting and how the song flows from the one before it are two things that take it to a whole new level.

Perhaps the benefit of going to Boston 2 & 3 is that the band can take all this feedback in and realize that if it ain't broke they shouldn't try to fix it.

Chris
or maybe they just wanted to change it? as they have been doing it that way EVERY tour (besides JT were it opend)
 
Yes, change is fine. But the song is positioned within the political/Africa 'editorial' part of the show...'This trio of songs brought to you by...' Seems like 'Streets' has been kidnapped and held hostage. :lol:
 
I thought "streets" was awesome, the new version has really grown on me. Toward the end when the house lights go on, it's amazing.

It's true the crowd was very "sing along", I thought one positive was out of the three shows I've been too, Philly really responded to the new songs of the bomb.

I still rank it below 5/9 and 5/10, but it was still u2 and a great performance.

Can't wait til the garden next week

Best moment: toward the end of "One" when Bono asks the crowd for the cell phones and turned off the lights. Beautiful, it seemed every person in there had a cell phone lit up.
 
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GG_The_Fly said:



I really hope that's a great show, because I was bummed after last night. . .
wow really feel sorry for you there, seems like you were in the minority also
 
KUEFC09U2 said:
wow really feel sorry for you there, seems like you were in the minority also

I can't really explain why. . . it's the first time in 34 shows I didn't come out feeling amazing. . . I hope 5/21 MSG will reinvigorate my U2 spirit. :confused:
 
It would be interesting to see whether the 'bummed' people were ones that paid big bucks for their tickets. Not that this is an iron-clad correlation, but I wonder if people get more upset about this stuff with any sort of relationship to the $$$ they paid. I'm at four of the seven Boston shows, and $49 is what I paid for each ticket. Deep down, I know I'll enjoy each show for different reasons. If one or more shows 'don't compare' to others I've seen in years past, I probably won't cry (or whine) a river because I won't worry about the $$$ I spent. Sure, $196 is a lot. But people are paying 2X that and higher for ONE show, never mind four of them.
 
Maybe they needed a change. Change is good sometimes. The shows don't always turn out to be 100% on. I'm always happy to just see a show or anything U2 for that matter. I'd give them allowance for having an off day and for the crowd not being into it either. That's just me though.
 
whoever's complaining about last night's show can shampoo my crotch...

i sat out in the sun, without a cloud in the sky, for 10 damned hours just to get let in the door... didn't get "beeped" or whatever you wanna call it for the ellipse, but still managed to snag what turned out to be a great spot, in the right corner where the front and side barriers meet, with nothing but empty space separating me from the ramp... no way of moving... was so squished with people trying to push up from the back... finally a little after 9... 12 1/2 hours after arriving at the damned place... sunburned to all hell, feet so sore it hurt to stand, every joint in my legs felt like they were gonna explode... the band finally comes on... and it was all beyond worth it.

city of blinding lights? anyone who's complaining about this as an opener needs to have their head examined. maybe your seats sucked, but from where i was standing it was amazing... especially when bono emerged at the tip of the ellipse seemlingly out of no where, with the lights blaring and confetti falling from the skies... i still have no idea how bono got there... i was watching the main stage the entire time waiting for him, and then all of a sudden a roar goes up from the crowd, i look to my left and there's Bono a mere 10 feet from me.

they did seem to screw up a bit towards the end of vertigo... bono and edge miscommunicated and he flubbed the last verse before the stories for boys part... they still went to the "just bass and drums" part, but instead of the stories snipped bono repeated the last verse of vertigo, and then the edge kicked in for the yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah parts.

the revised version of elevation works... you might not like the song, but it works. the crowd is into it, singing along with the woo wooos and all. not my favorite song either, but it simply works.

cry/electric co. was great to hear... didn't think i'd ever get a chance to hear this one live.

an cat dubh/into the heart was an absolute highlight and featured what was simply a great and amazing moment. durring the instrumental transition from an cat dubh to into the heart, bono ventured over to my side of the walk way... standing directly in front of me, no more than 5 feet away and with out a single person in my way to block my view. it was simply amazing... and i must say, bono's fucking short. even shorter than i thought... but anyhoo... he spots two young girls on their parents' shoulders inside the elipse just across the ramp from me. he gives them a few waves...the sort of little kid waves where he moves his fingers instead of his hand... he then sits down on the ramp and looks at the girls... doing little tricks with his hands, sort of like what a father would do to entertain his own young children. he sings the into the heart of a child part, then stands up and calls for the two girls, who are lifted up onto the ramp with looks of absolute amazement on their faces. bono and the two girls walk around to the other side, where teh song ends... he leans down and asks what the two girl's names are, and they say their names into the mic... kelly and kayla i think, but i might be mistaken. then bono takes the mic back and gives just an amazing response... "well my name's paul, but uh, they call me bono." the crowd went nuts... flat? killing the momentum? were you taking a piss durring this moment or something? there was no loss of momentum at all. it was an amazing, touching moment.

right after the "they call me tater sal...err... bono" moment, they immediately break out beautiful day. crowd is really into it, as would be expected.

next comes miracle drug... the opening chiming chords by the edge got a great reaction from the crowd. at the end of the song, bono is back on my side of the ramp, about 10 away feet directly in front of me.

they go into sometimes... the light curtains come back down... the walking man image is amazing, and with bono standing now right in front of me... 5 feet away... with that giant image behind him... breathtaking. bono sang the entire song right there on the ramp, directly in front of me. he NAILED the "sing you're the reason i sing" part. durring the song i noticed that my friend tony ("the bono clone") had worked his way to the ramp inside the elipse and was directly across the ramp from me with bono between us. another great moment.

love and peace rocked... the jet sounds durring the intro are great... larry walked right past me to get to his drum on the tip of the elipse and was rockin' out... then he walked back towards the end, with the edge ripping into that solo and bono banging away on the drums like a looney. the song of course transitions right into sunday bloody sunday... bono stays at his drum and bangs away durring the opening drum beats, slaming the drum sticks off the drum (they bounced off into the front row) when edge kicked into the guitar intro. the father abraham stuff was haunting and added something to the song.

durring bullet the blue sky they had an image of a flying fighter jet on the light curtains that was amazing. the hands snippet and johnny comes marching home were great, too...

the edge goes up to his keyboard and they go into running to stand still, which bono dedicates to the troops, and gives an extended solo on the harmonica before kicking into the lyrics. the civil rights thing at the end did not slow anything down... the fact that they can put an image of a talking head onto fog is technologicly amazing enough where you can appreciate it even if you don't give a crap about the message behind it... so i don't know why there's so much complaining about this part. must be from people who are drunk.

pride is pride... great song, everyone knows it, most love it, moving right along...

i was one who was complaining about bono's extra preachyness heading into streets, from what i heard on the bootlegs. i was fully on the "bring back the red lights" and "stop talking" bandwagon, before i had even seen it for myself. well now i have seen it for myself... and it's just fine the way it is. i just closed my eyes and let the edge's opening bars take me away. and they still do turn the house lights on durring Streets, just later in the song. still has the same effect when it happens as it did before.

the speach before one was baisicly his first and only long winded i'm bono i'm going to tell you about saving the world moment of the show... and it wasn't that long, and it wasn't that preachy. he got to the point... a good point, mind you, and went right into the song. i don't know why people feel the reason to complain if bono takes 2 minutes out of a 2+ hour show to talk about the one campaign. and towards the end of the song, he asks the crowd to take out their cell phones... all the spotlights go out, and the entire building is illuminated in blues and greens from the crowd... amazing. if ya thought seeing a building lit up with lighters in the air was something, wait till you see it done with cell phones.

i wanted zoo station and the fly gone from the setlist early in the tour because bono couldn't remember the damned words... well... he saing zoo station for the most part right in front of me... without the who gives a shit if he has one teleprompter... and nailed every word. bono played guitar on the fly... so he may have used the teleprompter to remember the words there... but again... who cares. got 'em all right... and the band did a little jam at the end of the fly, getting as loud as friggin possiable.

mysterious ways was great... bono pulled some girl in a green shirt that said "irish girls" or something like that on it. i think the girl fell the first time she tried to get up, but eventually made it up. then the band left the stage again for about 2-3 minutes.

they came back out for the second encore with all because of you, which sounds great live... bono rocking out with his tambourine like he's eddie vedder or somethin'.

yahweh is not my favorite song on the album, but i thought it sounded beautiful on the early bootlegs. same goes tonight... great sing along song... the entire band was at the tip of the elipse, just a few feet... 10-15... away from me.

and then 40... what an amazing closer. bono leaves his roasarie beeds on the mic stand and leaves first... followed by adam about 30 seconds later. the edge, playing bass, stays a little while longer before handing off his instrument and slowly walking off the stage, nodding to the crowd as he goes in a way that only mr. the edge can. larry stayed on for another minute or so... stopped playing, let the crowd sing "how long to sing this song" on their own for about 10 seconds, then went into his little drum solo for about 10-15 seconds, then stood up, waived to the crowd and walked off the stage. the crowd continued singing "how long to sing this song" for another 5 minutes or so before the house lights came back on.

overall, it was simply amazing. a great kick off to an amazing week. i'm in pain, exhausted, sunburned to shit, and my ears are still ringing from the loudness... and i wouldn't trade it for a thing.

for those who are complaining? well... :shrug: i don't know what to tell ya... maybe your section sucked. who knows. but from where i was standing, all be it a great great spot, the show was simply amazing. and every time i looked around the arena at the crowd, everyone was standing and cheering and clapping etc. etc. so i really don't know where these people are comming up with the "dead moments" and "lackluster crowd" comments. and frankly, i don't care either. i was blown away... and i can't wait to do it all again.. .tuesday in teh swamps of jersey :hyper:
 
Headache in a Suitcase said:
whoever's complaining about last night's show can shampoo my crotch...

i sat out in the sun, without a cloud in the sky, for 10 damned hours just to get let in the door... didn't get "beeped" or whatever you wanna call it for the ellipse, but still managed to snag what turned out to be a great spot, in the right corner where the front and side barriers meet, with nothing but empty space separating me from the ramp... no way of moving... was so squished with people trying to push up from the back... finally a little after 9... 12 1/2 hours after arriving at the damned place... sunburned to all hell, feet so sore it hurt to stand, every joint in my legs felt like they were gonna explode... the band finally comes on... and it was all beyond worth it.

city of blinding lights? anyone who's complaining about this as an opener needs to have their head examined. maybe your seats sucked, but from where i was standing it was amazing... especially when bono emerged at the tip of the ellipse seemlingly out of no where, with the lights blaring and confetti falling from the skies... i still have no idea how bono got there... i was watching the main stage the entire time waiting for him, and then all of a sudden a roar goes up from the crowd, i look to my left and there's Bono a mere 10 feet from me.

they did seem to screw up a bit towards the end of vertigo... bono and edge miscommunicated and he flubbed the last verse before the stories for boys part... they still went to the "just bass and drums" part, but instead of the stories snipped bono repeated the last verse of vertigo, and then the edge kicked in for the yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah parts.

the revised version of elevation works... you might not like the song, but it works. the crowd is into it, singing along with the woo wooos and all. not my favorite song either, but it simply works.

cry/electric co. was great to hear... didn't think i'd ever get a chance to hear this one live.

an cat dubh/into the heart was an absolute highlight and featured what was simply a great and amazing moment. durring the instrumental transition from an cat dubh to into the heart, bono ventured over to my side of the walk way... standing directly in front of me, no more than 5 feet away and with out a single person in my way to block my view. it was simply amazing... and i must say, bono's fucking short. even shorter than i thought... but anyhoo... he spots two young girls on their parents' shoulders inside the elipse just across the ramp from me. he gives them a few waves...the sort of little kid waves where he moves his fingers instead of his hand... he then sits down on the ramp and looks at the girls... doing little tricks with his hands, sort of like what a father would do to entertain his own young children. he sings the into the heart of a child part, then stands up and calls for the two girls, who are lifted up onto the ramp with looks of absolute amazement on their faces. bono and the two girls walk around to the other side, where teh song ends... he leans down and asks what the two girl's names are, and they say their names into the mic... kelly and kayla i think, but i might be mistaken. then bono takes the mic back and gives just an amazing response... "well my name's paul, but uh, they call me bono." the crowd went nuts... flat? killing the momentum? were you taking a piss durring this moment or something? there was no loss of momentum at all. it was an amazing, touching moment.

right after the "they call me tater sal...err... bono" moment, they immediately break out beautiful day. crowd is really into it, as would be expected.

next comes miracle drug... the opening chiming chords by the edge got a great reaction from the crowd. at the end of the song, bono is back on my side of the ramp, about 10 away feet directly in front of me.

they go into sometimes... the light curtains come back down... the walking man image is amazing, and with bono standing now right in front of me... 5 feet away... with that giant image behind him... breathtaking. bono sang the entire song right there on the ramp, directly in front of me. he NAILED the "sing you're the reason i sing" part. durring the song i noticed that my friend tony ("the bono clone") had worked his way to the ramp inside the elipse and was directly across the ramp from me with bono between us. another great moment.

love and peace rocked... the jet sounds durring the intro are great... larry walked right past me to get to his drum on the tip of the elipse and was rockin' out... then he walked back towards the end, with the edge ripping into that solo and bono banging away on the drums like a looney. the song of course transitions right into sunday bloody sunday... bono stays at his drum and bangs away durring the opening drum beats, slaming the drum sticks off the drum (they bounced off into the front row) when edge kicked into the guitar intro. the father abraham stuff was haunting and added something to the song.

durring bullet the blue sky they had an image of a flying fighter jet on the light curtains that was amazing. the hands snippet and johnny comes marching home were great, too...

the edge goes up to his keyboard and they go into running to stand still, which bono dedicates to the troops, and gives an extended solo on the harmonica before kicking into the lyrics. the civil rights thing at the end did not slow anything down... the fact that they can put an image of a talking head onto fog is technologicly amazing enough where you can appreciate it even if you don't give a crap about the message behind it... so i don't know why there's so much complaining about this part. must be from people who are drunk.

pride is pride... great song, everyone knows it, most love it, moving right along...

i was one who was complaining about bono's extra preachyness heading into streets, from what i heard on the bootlegs. i was fully on the "bring back the red lights" and "stop talking" bandwagon, before i had even seen it for myself. well now i have seen it for myself... and it's just fine the way it is. i just closed my eyes and let the edge's opening bars take me away. and they still do turn the house lights on durring Streets, just later in the song. still has the same effect when it happens as it did before.

the speach before one was baisicly his first and only long winded i'm bono i'm going to tell you about saving the world moment of the show... and it wasn't that long, and it wasn't that preachy. he got to the point... a good point, mind you, and went right into the song. i don't know why people feel the reason to complain if bono takes 2 minutes out of a 2+ hour show to talk about the one campaign. and towards the end of the song, he asks the crowd to take out their cell phones... all the spotlights go out, and the entire building is illuminated in blues and greens from the crowd... amazing. if ya thought seeing a building lit up with lighters in the air was something, wait till you see it done with cell phones.

i wanted zoo station and the fly gone from the setlist early in the tour because bono couldn't remember the damned words... well... he saing zoo station for the most part right in front of me... without the who gives a shit if he has one teleprompter... and nailed every word. bono played guitar on the fly... so he may have used the teleprompter to remember the words there... but again... who cares. got 'em all right... and the band did a little jam at the end of the fly, getting as loud as friggin possiable.

mysterious ways was great... bono pulled some girl in a green shirt that said "irish girls" or something like that on it. i think the girl fell the first time she tried to get up, but eventually made it up. then the band left the stage again for about 2-3 minutes.

they came back out for the second encore with all because of you, which sounds great live... bono rocking out with his tambourine like he's eddie vedder or somethin'.

yahweh is not my favorite song on the album, but i thought it sounded beautiful on the early bootlegs. same goes tonight... great sing along song... the entire band was at the tip of the elipse, just a few feet... 10-15... away from me.

and then 40... what an amazing closer. bono leaves his roasarie beeds on the mic stand and leaves first... followed by adam about 30 seconds later. the edge, playing bass, stays a little while longer before handing off his instrument and slowly walking off the stage, nodding to the crowd as he goes in a way that only mr. the edge can. larry stayed on for another minute or so... stopped playing, let the crowd sing "how long to sing this song" on their own for about 10 seconds, then went into his little drum solo for about 10-15 seconds, then stood up, waived to the crowd and walked off the stage. the crowd continued singing "how long to sing this song" for another 5 minutes or so before the house lights came back on.

overall, it was simply amazing. a great kick off to an amazing week. i'm in pain, exhausted, sunburned to shit, and my ears are still ringing from the loudness... and i wouldn't trade it for a thing.

for those who are complaining? well... :shrug: i don't know what to tell ya... maybe your section sucked. who knows. but from where i was standing, all be it a great great spot, the show was simply amazing. and every time i looked around the arena at the crowd, everyone was standing and cheering and clapping etc. etc. so i really don't know where these people are comming up with the "dead moments" and "lackluster crowd" comments. and frankly, i don't care either. i was blown away... and i can't wait to do it all again.. .tuesday in teh swamps of jersey :hyper:
its very weaird reading some reviews, because nearly looking on U2tours.com everyone contrdicts themselves, you have one person saying it was the best U2 concert they have ever been too, then you have someone saying they have been a fan for 25 years bla bla who thought it was dissapointing,
 
Headache in a Suitcase said:
whoever's complaining about last night's show can shampoo my crotch...
WTF? :yikes:


Headache in a Suitcase said:
i sat out in the sun, without a cloud in the sky, for 10 damned hours just to get let in the door... didn't get "beeped" or whatever you wanna call it for the ellipse, but still managed to snag what turned out to be a great spot, in the right corner where the front and side barriers meet, with nothing but empty space separating me from the ramp... no way of moving... was so squished with people trying to push up from the back... finally a little after 9... 12 1/2 hours after arriving at the damned place... sunburned to all hell, feet so sore it hurt to stand, every joint in my legs felt like they were gonna explode... the band finally comes on... and it was all beyond worth it.

city of blinding lights? anyone who's complaining about this as an opener needs to have their head examined. maybe your seats sucked, but from where i was standing it was amazing... especially when bono emerged at the tip of the ellipse seemlingly out of no where, with the lights blaring and confetti falling from the skies... i still have no idea how bono got there... i was watching the main stage the entire time waiting for him, and then all of a sudden a roar goes up from the crowd, i look to my left and there's Bono a mere 10 feet from me.

they did seem to screw up a bit towards the end of vertigo... bono and edge miscommunicated and he flubbed the last verse before the stories for boys part... they still went to the "just bass and drums" part, but instead of the stories snipped bono repeated the last verse of vertigo, and then the edge kicked in for the yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah parts.

the revised version of elevation works... you might not like the song, but it works. the crowd is into it, singing along with the woo wooos and all. not my favorite song either, but it simply works.

cry/electric co. was great to hear... didn't think i'd ever get a chance to hear this one live.

an cat dubh/into the heart was an absolute highlight and featured what was simply a great and amazing moment. durring the instrumental transition from an cat dubh to into the heart, bono ventured over to my side of the walk way... standing directly in front of me, no more than 5 feet away and with out a single person in my way to block my view. it was simply amazing... and i must say, bono's fucking short. even shorter than i thought... but anyhoo... he spots two young girls on their parents' shoulders inside the elipse just across the ramp from me. he gives them a few waves...the sort of little kid waves where he moves his fingers instead of his hand... he then sits down on the ramp and looks at the girls... doing little tricks with his hands, sort of like what a father would do to entertain his own young children. he sings the into the heart of a child part, then stands up and calls for the two girls, who are lifted up onto the ramp with looks of absolute amazement on their faces. bono and the two girls walk around to the other side, where teh song ends... he leans down and asks what the two girl's names are, and they say their names into the mic... kelly and kayla i think, but i might be mistaken. then bono takes the mic back and gives just an amazing response... "well my name's paul, but uh, they call me bono." the crowd went nuts... flat? killing the momentum? were you taking a piss durring this moment or something? there was no loss of momentum at all. it was an amazing, touching moment.

right after the "they call me tater sal...err... bono" moment, they immediately break out beautiful day. crowd is really into it, as would be expected.

next comes miracle drug... the opening chiming chords by the edge got a great reaction from the crowd. at the end of the song, bono is back on my side of the ramp, about 10 away feet directly in front of me.

they go into sometimes... the light curtains come back down... the walking man image is amazing, and with bono standing now right in front of me... 5 feet away... with that giant image behind him... breathtaking. bono sang the entire song right there on the ramp, directly in front of me. he NAILED the "sing you're the reason i sing" part. durring the song i noticed that my friend tony ("the bono clone") had worked his way to the ramp inside the elipse and was directly across the ramp from me with bono between us. another great moment.

love and peace rocked... the jet sounds durring the intro are great... larry walked right past me to get to his drum on the tip of the elipse and was rockin' out... then he walked back towards the end, with the edge ripping into that solo and bono banging away on the drums like a looney. the song of course transitions right into sunday bloody sunday... bono stays at his drum and bangs away durring the opening drum beats, slaming the drum sticks off the drum (they bounced off into the front row) when edge kicked into the guitar intro. the father abraham stuff was haunting and added something to the song.

durring bullet the blue sky they had an image of a flying fighter jet on the light curtains that was amazing. the hands snippet and johnny comes marching home were great, too...

the edge goes up to his keyboard and they go into running to stand still, which bono dedicates to the troops, and gives an extended solo on the harmonica before kicking into the lyrics. the civil rights thing at the end did not slow anything down... the fact that they can put an image of a talking head onto fog is technologicly amazing enough where you can appreciate it even if you don't give a crap about the message behind it... so i don't know why there's so much complaining about this part. must be from people who are drunk.

pride is pride... great song, everyone knows it, most love it, moving right along...

i was one who was complaining about bono's extra preachyness heading into streets, from what i heard on the bootlegs. i was fully on the "bring back the red lights" and "stop talking" bandwagon, before i had even seen it for myself. well now i have seen it for myself... and it's just fine the way it is. i just closed my eyes and let the edge's opening bars take me away. and they still do turn the house lights on durring Streets, just later in the song. still has the same effect when it happens as it did before.

the speach before one was baisicly his first and only long winded i'm bono i'm going to tell you about saving the world moment of the show... and it wasn't that long, and it wasn't that preachy. he got to the point... a good point, mind you, and went right into the song. i don't know why people feel the reason to complain if bono takes 2 minutes out of a 2+ hour show to talk about the one campaign. and towards the end of the song, he asks the crowd to take out their cell phones... all the spotlights go out, and the entire building is illuminated in blues and greens from the crowd... amazing. if ya thought seeing a building lit up with lighters in the air was something, wait till you see it done with cell phones.

i wanted zoo station and the fly gone from the setlist early in the tour because bono couldn't remember the damned words... well... he saing zoo station for the most part right in front of me... without the who gives a shit if he has one teleprompter... and nailed every word. bono played guitar on the fly... so he may have used the teleprompter to remember the words there... but again... who cares. got 'em all right... and the band did a little jam at the end of the fly, getting as loud as friggin possiable.

mysterious ways was great... bono pulled some girl in a green shirt that said "irish girls" or something like that on it. i think the girl fell the first time she tried to get up, but eventually made it up. then the band left the stage again for about 2-3 minutes.

they came back out for the second encore with all because of you, which sounds great live... bono rocking out with his tambourine like he's eddie vedder or somethin'.

yahweh is not my favorite song on the album, but i thought it sounded beautiful on the early bootlegs. same goes tonight... great sing along song... the entire band was at the tip of the elipse, just a few feet... 10-15... away from me.

and then 40... what an amazing closer. bono leaves his roasarie beeds on the mic stand and leaves first... followed by adam about 30 seconds later. the edge, playing bass, stays a little while longer before handing off his instrument and slowly walking off the stage, nodding to the crowd as he goes in a way that only mr. the edge can. larry stayed on for another minute or so... stopped playing, let the crowd sing "how long to sing this song" on their own for about 10 seconds, then went into his little drum solo for about 10-15 seconds, then stood up, waived to the crowd and walked off the stage. the crowd continued singing "how long to sing this song" for another 5 minutes or so before the house lights came back on.

overall, it was simply amazing. a great kick off to an amazing week. i'm in pain, exhausted, sunburned to shit, and my ears are still ringing from the loudness... and i wouldn't trade it for a thing.

for those who are complaining? well... :shrug: i don't know what to tell ya... maybe your section sucked. who knows. but from where i was standing, all be it a great great spot, the show was simply amazing. and every time i looked around the arena at the crowd, everyone was standing and cheering and clapping etc. etc. so i really don't know where these people are comming up with the "dead moments" and "lackluster crowd" comments. and frankly, i don't care either. i was blown away... and i can't wait to do it all again.. .tuesday in teh swamps of jersey :hyper:

Great review. :up:
 
Headache in a Suitcase said:
whoever's complaining about last night's show can shampoo my crotch...

i sat out in the sun, without a cloud in the sky, for 10 damned hours just to get let in the door... didn't get "beeped" or whatever you wanna call it for the ellipse, but still managed to snag what turned out to be a great spot, in the right corner where the front and side barriers meet, with nothing but empty space separating me from the ramp... no way of moving... was so squished with people trying to push up from the back... finally a little after 9... 12 1/2 hours after arriving at the damned place... sunburned to all hell, feet so sore it hurt to stand, every joint in my legs felt like they were gonna explode... the band finally comes on... and it was all beyond worth it.

city of blinding lights? anyone who's complaining about this as an opener needs to have their head examined. maybe your seats sucked, but from where i was standing it was amazing... especially when bono emerged at the tip of the ellipse seemlingly out of no where, with the lights blaring and confetti falling from the skies... i still have no idea how bono got there... i was watching the main stage the entire time waiting for him, and then all of a sudden a roar goes up from the crowd, i look to my left and there's Bono a mere 10 feet from me.

they did seem to screw up a bit towards the end of vertigo... bono and edge miscommunicated and he flubbed the last verse before the stories for boys part... they still went to the "just bass and drums" part, but instead of the stories snipped bono repeated the last verse of vertigo, and then the edge kicked in for the yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah parts.

the revised version of elevation works... you might not like the song, but it works. the crowd is into it, singing along with the woo wooos and all. not my favorite song either, but it simply works.

cry/electric co. was great to hear... didn't think i'd ever get a chance to hear this one live.

an cat dubh/into the heart was an absolute highlight and featured what was simply a great and amazing moment. durring the instrumental transition from an cat dubh to into the heart, bono ventured over to my side of the walk way... standing directly in front of me, no more than 5 feet away and with out a single person in my way to block my view. it was simply amazing... and i must say, bono's fucking short. even shorter than i thought... but anyhoo... he spots two young girls on their parents' shoulders inside the elipse just across the ramp from me. he gives them a few waves...the sort of little kid waves where he moves his fingers instead of his hand... he then sits down on the ramp and looks at the girls... doing little tricks with his hands, sort of like what a father would do to entertain his own young children. he sings the into the heart of a child part, then stands up and calls for the two girls, who are lifted up onto the ramp with looks of absolute amazement on their faces. bono and the two girls walk around to the other side, where teh song ends... he leans down and asks what the two girl's names are, and they say their names into the mic... kelly and kayla i think, but i might be mistaken. then bono takes the mic back and gives just an amazing response... "well my name's paul, but uh, they call me bono." the crowd went nuts... flat? killing the momentum? were you taking a piss durring this moment or something? there was no loss of momentum at all. it was an amazing, touching moment.

right after the "they call me tater sal...err... bono" moment, they immediately break out beautiful day. crowd is really into it, as would be expected.

next comes miracle drug... the opening chiming chords by the edge got a great reaction from the crowd. at the end of the song, bono is back on my side of the ramp, about 10 away feet directly in front of me.

they go into sometimes... the light curtains come back down... the walking man image is amazing, and with bono standing now right in front of me... 5 feet away... with that giant image behind him... breathtaking. bono sang the entire song right there on the ramp, directly in front of me. he NAILED the "sing you're the reason i sing" part. durring the song i noticed that my friend tony ("the bono clone") had worked his way to the ramp inside the elipse and was directly across the ramp from me with bono between us. another great moment.

love and peace rocked... the jet sounds durring the intro are great... larry walked right past me to get to his drum on the tip of the elipse and was rockin' out... then he walked back towards the end, with the edge ripping into that solo and bono banging away on the drums like a looney. the song of course transitions right into sunday bloody sunday... bono stays at his drum and bangs away durring the opening drum beats, slaming the drum sticks off the drum (they bounced off into the front row) when edge kicked into the guitar intro. the father abraham stuff was haunting and added something to the song.

durring bullet the blue sky they had an image of a flying fighter jet on the light curtains that was amazing. the hands snippet and johnny comes marching home were great, too...

the edge goes up to his keyboard and they go into running to stand still, which bono dedicates to the troops, and gives an extended solo on the harmonica before kicking into the lyrics. the civil rights thing at the end did not slow anything down... the fact that they can put an image of a talking head onto fog is technologicly amazing enough where you can appreciate it even if you don't give a crap about the message behind it... so i don't know why there's so much complaining about this part. must be from people who are drunk.

pride is pride... great song, everyone knows it, most love it, moving right along...

i was one who was complaining about bono's extra preachyness heading into streets, from what i heard on the bootlegs. i was fully on the "bring back the red lights" and "stop talking" bandwagon, before i had even seen it for myself. well now i have seen it for myself... and it's just fine the way it is. i just closed my eyes and let the edge's opening bars take me away. and they still do turn the house lights on durring Streets, just later in the song. still has the same effect when it happens as it did before.

the speach before one was baisicly his first and only long winded i'm bono i'm going to tell you about saving the world moment of the show... and it wasn't that long, and it wasn't that preachy. he got to the point... a good point, mind you, and went right into the song. i don't know why people feel the reason to complain if bono takes 2 minutes out of a 2+ hour show to talk about the one campaign. and towards the end of the song, he asks the crowd to take out their cell phones... all the spotlights go out, and the entire building is illuminated in blues and greens from the crowd... amazing. if ya thought seeing a building lit up with lighters in the air was something, wait till you see it done with cell phones.

i wanted zoo station and the fly gone from the setlist early in the tour because bono couldn't remember the damned words... well... he saing zoo station for the most part right in front of me... without the who gives a shit if he has one teleprompter... and nailed every word. bono played guitar on the fly... so he may have used the teleprompter to remember the words there... but again... who cares. got 'em all right... and the band did a little jam at the end of the fly, getting as loud as friggin possiable.

mysterious ways was great... bono pulled some girl in a green shirt that said "irish girls" or something like that on it. i think the girl fell the first time she tried to get up, but eventually made it up. then the band left the stage again for about 2-3 minutes.

they came back out for the second encore with all because of you, which sounds great live... bono rocking out with his tambourine like he's eddie vedder or somethin'.

yahweh is not my favorite song on the album, but i thought it sounded beautiful on the early bootlegs. same goes tonight... great sing along song... the entire band was at the tip of the elipse, just a few feet... 10-15... away from me.

and then 40... what an amazing closer. bono leaves his roasarie beeds on the mic stand and leaves first... followed by adam about 30 seconds later. the edge, playing bass, stays a little while longer before handing off his instrument and slowly walking off the stage, nodding to the crowd as he goes in a way that only mr. the edge can. larry stayed on for another minute or so... stopped playing, let the crowd sing "how long to sing this song" on their own for about 10 seconds, then went into his little drum solo for about 10-15 seconds, then stood up, waived to the crowd and walked off the stage. the crowd continued singing "how long to sing this song" for another 5 minutes or so before the house lights came back on.

overall, it was simply amazing. a great kick off to an amazing week. i'm in pain, exhausted, sunburned to shit, and my ears are still ringing from the loudness... and i wouldn't trade it for a thing.

for those who are complaining? well... :shrug: i don't know what to tell ya... maybe your section sucked. who knows. but from where i was standing, all be it a great great spot, the show was simply amazing. and every time i looked around the arena at the crowd, everyone was standing and cheering and clapping etc. etc. so i really don't know where these people are comming up with the "dead moments" and "lackluster crowd" comments. and frankly, i don't care either. i was blown away... and i can't wait to do it all again.. .tuesday in teh swamps of jersey :hyper:

Great review, Headache! :up: I wasn't at that paticular show but I feel the same way...a lot of people (especially the dumb newspapers) were attacking the Chicago 1 show, and I was just like, "":eyebrow: what? :huh:" I loved every minute of it... I don't really get how people can be disappointed by a U2 show. Reading reviews, looking at setlists, seeing pictures, maybe even bootlegs...fine. But when you're actually there? It saddens me that there are people who aren't lifted! U2 shows are always incredible.
 
Headache in a Suitcase said:
whoever's complaining about last night's show can shampoo my crotch...


Ha, I read the thread title and said to myself what drama. I can understand anyone who didn't enjoy the show, that's their right, but the over dramatization always kills me. Then I came to Headache's post and it made me laugh out loud.

Thanks for the review!! Can't for for the garden, 6 days and counting.
 
from my perception, the band feeds off the crowd...san diego 1 and phx 1 and 2 were LAME! the crowd was lifeless...but yet seattle 1 and 2 were extradoridinary, so much so you could just see it in the band and bono kept talking about the city and how much they loved it etc...in PHX i don't think he mentioned the word phx once.

what i don't get, is why they don't do more stuff like seattle 2 and chicago 4 more often...in seattle 2, closing with vertigo after bono huddled the band together, an awesome improv...and then chicago 4, what an awesome set list! why don't they do this ALL THE TIME... i think it gets people's hopes up and they get disappointed when the show is just standard.

i too, don't get what's up with no lights to start up streets, it doesn't make any sense, it energizes the crowd, and quite honestly gives me goosebumps, sure i get them at the end when they bring the lights up, but they need it at the beginning...

and the whole flag thing i think is kind of lame...i havebn't really paid all that much attnetion to it cause i'm watching the band, but it seems like it is just african flags and they show a map of africa, i wish they made their africa point and then used the whole world and flags from every coutnry, that would be tight.

just my thoughts.
 
All I'm gonna say is, this is the best damn U2 show I've ever been to in my life. Thank you U2!
 
elevateandy said:
Crowd was what? I can't remember a more "singing along" crowd than this one. They kept singing "40" way after the lights came on.

Bono was very interactive with the crowd. Him pulling those two little girls up on stage with him in the beginning was absolutely great!

Many were still singing it out into the parking lot. And when I took the subway back into the city, the car I was on had a few people still at it.

Whatever else you want to say about the show, you can't honestly call the audience lifeless.
 
Headache in a Suitcase said:
whoever's complaining about last night's show can shampoo my crotch...

i sat out in the sun, without a cloud in the sky, for 10 damned hours just to get let in the door... didn't get "beeped" or whatever you wanna call it for the ellipse, but still managed to snag what turned out to be a great spot, in the right corner where the front and side barriers meet, with nothing but empty space separating me from the ramp... no way of moving... was so squished with people trying to push up from the back... finally a little after 9... 12 1/2 hours after arriving at the damned place... sunburned to all hell, feet so sore it hurt to stand, every joint in my legs felt like they were gonna explode... the band finally comes on... and it was all beyond worth it.

city of blinding lights? anyone who's complaining about this as an opener needs to have their head examined. maybe your seats sucked, but from where i was standing it was amazing... especially when bono emerged at the tip of the ellipse seemlingly out of no where, with the lights blaring and confetti falling from the skies... i still have no idea how bono got there... i was watching the main stage the entire time waiting for him, and then all of a sudden a roar goes up from the crowd, i look to my left and there's Bono a mere 10 feet from me.

they did seem to screw up a bit towards the end of vertigo... bono and edge miscommunicated and he flubbed the last verse before the stories for boys part... they still went to the "just bass and drums" part, but instead of the stories snipped bono repeated the last verse of vertigo, and then the edge kicked in for the yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah parts.

the revised version of elevation works... you might not like the song, but it works. the crowd is into it, singing along with the woo wooos and all. not my favorite song either, but it simply works.

cry/electric co. was great to hear... didn't think i'd ever get a chance to hear this one live.

an cat dubh/into the heart was an absolute highlight and featured what was simply a great and amazing moment. durring the instrumental transition from an cat dubh to into the heart, bono ventured over to my side of the walk way... standing directly in front of me, no more than 5 feet away and with out a single person in my way to block my view. it was simply amazing... and i must say, bono's fucking short. even shorter than i thought... but anyhoo... he spots two young girls on their parents' shoulders inside the elipse just across the ramp from me. he gives them a few waves...the sort of little kid waves where he moves his fingers instead of his hand... he then sits down on the ramp and looks at the girls... doing little tricks with his hands, sort of like what a father would do to entertain his own young children. he sings the into the heart of a child part, then stands up and calls for the two girls, who are lifted up onto the ramp with looks of absolute amazement on their faces. bono and the two girls walk around to the other side, where teh song ends... he leans down and asks what the two girl's names are, and they say their names into the mic... kelly and kayla i think, but i might be mistaken. then bono takes the mic back and gives just an amazing response... "well my name's paul, but uh, they call me bono." the crowd went nuts... flat? killing the momentum? were you taking a piss durring this moment or something? there was no loss of momentum at all. it was an amazing, touching moment.

right after the "they call me tater sal...err... bono" moment, they immediately break out beautiful day. crowd is really into it, as would be expected.

next comes miracle drug... the opening chiming chords by the edge got a great reaction from the crowd. at the end of the song, bono is back on my side of the ramp, about 10 away feet directly in front of me.

they go into sometimes... the light curtains come back down... the walking man image is amazing, and with bono standing now right in front of me... 5 feet away... with that giant image behind him... breathtaking. bono sang the entire song right there on the ramp, directly in front of me. he NAILED the "sing you're the reason i sing" part. durring the song i noticed that my friend tony ("the bono clone") had worked his way to the ramp inside the elipse and was directly across the ramp from me with bono between us. another great moment.

love and peace rocked... the jet sounds durring the intro are great... larry walked right past me to get to his drum on the tip of the elipse and was rockin' out... then he walked back towards the end, with the edge ripping into that solo and bono banging away on the drums like a looney. the song of course transitions right into sunday bloody sunday... bono stays at his drum and bangs away durring the opening drum beats, slaming the drum sticks off the drum (they bounced off into the front row) when edge kicked into the guitar intro. the father abraham stuff was haunting and added something to the song.

durring bullet the blue sky they had an image of a flying fighter jet on the light curtains that was amazing. the hands snippet and johnny comes marching home were great, too...

the edge goes up to his keyboard and they go into running to stand still, which bono dedicates to the troops, and gives an extended solo on the harmonica before kicking into the lyrics. the civil rights thing at the end did not slow anything down... the fact that they can put an image of a talking head onto fog is technologicly amazing enough where you can appreciate it even if you don't give a crap about the message behind it... so i don't know why there's so much complaining about this part. must be from people who are drunk.

pride is pride... great song, everyone knows it, most love it, moving right along...

i was one who was complaining about bono's extra preachyness heading into streets, from what i heard on the bootlegs. i was fully on the "bring back the red lights" and "stop talking" bandwagon, before i had even seen it for myself. well now i have seen it for myself... and it's just fine the way it is. i just closed my eyes and let the edge's opening bars take me away. and they still do turn the house lights on durring Streets, just later in the song. still has the same effect when it happens as it did before.

the speach before one was baisicly his first and only long winded i'm bono i'm going to tell you about saving the world moment of the show... and it wasn't that long, and it wasn't that preachy. he got to the point... a good point, mind you, and went right into the song. i don't know why people feel the reason to complain if bono takes 2 minutes out of a 2+ hour show to talk about the one campaign. and towards the end of the song, he asks the crowd to take out their cell phones... all the spotlights go out, and the entire building is illuminated in blues and greens from the crowd... amazing. if ya thought seeing a building lit up with lighters in the air was something, wait till you see it done with cell phones.

i wanted zoo station and the fly gone from the setlist early in the tour because bono couldn't remember the damned words... well... he saing zoo station for the most part right in front of me... without the who gives a shit if he has one teleprompter... and nailed every word. bono played guitar on the fly... so he may have used the teleprompter to remember the words there... but again... who cares. got 'em all right... and the band did a little jam at the end of the fly, getting as loud as friggin possiable.

mysterious ways was great... bono pulled some girl in a green shirt that said "irish girls" or something like that on it. i think the girl fell the first time she tried to get up, but eventually made it up. then the band left the stage again for about 2-3 minutes.

they came back out for the second encore with all because of you, which sounds great live... bono rocking out with his tambourine like he's eddie vedder or somethin'.

yahweh is not my favorite song on the album, but i thought it sounded beautiful on the early bootlegs. same goes tonight... great sing along song... the entire band was at the tip of the elipse, just a few feet... 10-15... away from me.

and then 40... what an amazing closer. bono leaves his roasarie beeds on the mic stand and leaves first... followed by adam about 30 seconds later. the edge, playing bass, stays a little while longer before handing off his instrument and slowly walking off the stage, nodding to the crowd as he goes in a way that only mr. the edge can. larry stayed on for another minute or so... stopped playing, let the crowd sing "how long to sing this song" on their own for about 10 seconds, then went into his little drum solo for about 10-15 seconds, then stood up, waived to the crowd and walked off the stage. the crowd continued singing "how long to sing this song" for another 5 minutes or so before the house lights came back on.

overall, it was simply amazing. a great kick off to an amazing week. i'm in pain, exhausted, sunburned to shit, and my ears are still ringing from the loudness... and i wouldn't trade it for a thing.

for those who are complaining? well... :shrug: i don't know what to tell ya... maybe your section sucked. who knows. but from where i was standing, all be it a great great spot, the show was simply amazing. and every time i looked around the arena at the crowd, everyone was standing and cheering and clapping etc. etc. so i really don't know where these people are comming up with the "dead moments" and "lackluster crowd" comments. and frankly, i don't care either. i was blown away... and i can't wait to do it all again.. .tuesday in teh swamps of jersey :hyper:

:clap: That sounds like the show I was at. Lifeless audience, lack of interaction from the band my arse.
 
NHChris said:
Yes, change is fine. But the song is positioned within the political/Africa 'editorial' part of the show...'This trio of songs brought to you by...' Seems like 'Streets' has been kidnapped and held hostage. :lol:

I've never seen U2 live, but seeing Streets performed on the Elevation DVD makes me cry because it's like a religious experience for me (someone else said this too). I've always associated heaven with the place where the streets have no name, but, to be honest, Streets was written about Africa. So it's not it is being used for a message that it wasn't intended for. The plight of Africa is exactly what Streets is about.

Still, I like the lighting they used before. I don't be able to comment for sure until after my first concert on the 22nd.
 
Headache, thanks for the great and comprehesive review. I will now remember to bring sunscreen when I am in line on the 22nd. :wink:

One queston for you: Can you give us some info about the GA line for the 14th? Snce I am going to the second Philly show, I wanted to make sure I had all the information necessary. Last thing I want is to show up in line 9pm the night before, only to end up in the wrong line, or getting screwed by someone else. :D
 
wydok said:
Headache, thanks for the great and comprehesive review. I will now remember to bring sunscreen when I am in line on the 22nd. :wink:

One queston for you: Can you give us some info about the GA line for the 14th? Snce I am going to the second Philly show, I wanted to make sure I had all the information necessary. Last thing I want is to show up in line 9pm the night before, only to end up in the wrong line, or getting screwed by someone else. :D

it went like this...

i showed up at 8:30 in the morning and was #91 in line. whoever showed up first had a book set up with a sign in list... you put your name down and wrote your number on your hand. this was done 100% by the fans, but the wachovia center security respected the fan's work.

you could get up and go to the bathroom, take a walk, go to your car, run out to grab something to eat, and still get back to your spot in line. everyone was doing it, and everyone was respectful of each other.

at around 4:30 a woman from u2's staff came out and spoke to the crowd, telling them to put their stuff back into their cars, etc. etc. with the help of the wachovia's staff they then split the line into fan club vs. non fan club. it actually works out better for the non fan club people who get there early... frankly, if you're willing to get on line at 8 in the morning, you're probably a psychotic u2 nut job that probably got their tickets through the fan club. i got mine through someone on interference, and it wasn't a fan club ticket, despite being a psychotic u2 nut job... so as #91, i was actually close to the front of my line than people in the 90s who were in the fan club line.

some people, as would be expected, tried to jump the line. amazingly enough, the wachovia staff sent each of them back to the end of the line... even the guy who claimed that he had been there since 5 in the morning and his number "washed off." yea... ok buddy. each and every one of us on that line was bright red, sweating like a bastard the entire time... adn we still had our numbers, all be it faded.

they started letting people in a little after 6... fan club line moved a little faster but not that much that it was that big a deal. we got in, got scanned once to make sure the ticket was legit, then scanned again to see if you got into the ellipse. if you got in ya got a special wristband, if not you were sent to the regular part of the stage.
 
Headache: THANKS! I now know that showing up at 9pm the night before is probably unnecessary. Now I can get some sleep :D I've heard about the line nazis, but wasn't sure if it really worked (I heard horror stories about Elevation).

Chizip: Certainly will :wink:
 
flangerchorus said:
complaining about the LIGHTING!!! gimmie a freaking break! some people.........

Dude- you'd understand if you were at any JT show or at Slane - the lighting really does matter. . . can't explain it any further if you haven't experienced it. Try this:

1. Buy R&H and watch the ASU track (13?) and pay attention to the houselights at the end of the intro

2. Do the same for Slane

3. Imagine those performances with a more abridged introduction and no house lights going on. I think you'll see it makes a difference.
 
Headache in a Suitcase said:
whoever's complaining about last night's show can shampoo my crotch...

A little direct, but your point is taken. But Suitcase- being practically on the stage makes a big difference.

Here's my situation - 10 rows from the last in the farthest section next to two obese people, the one next to me whom could not fit in her chair, so she had to lean on it because she couldn't stand and then she slipped on her beer oilslick and fell on me. Oh, and she had a flatulence problem. . . :sick:
 
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