A question many Europeans ask ...

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Man Ray

The Fly
Joined
Oct 24, 2000
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32
Location
France
Lots of U2 fans in Europe are a little disapointed by the attitude the American fans have during the Boston show. It seems that only the top front of the heart is really having fun and that the rest are just watching. If you look at Rattle & Hum, it is completely different though it was shot in the US. Have you had a look at the crowd during Bad, Helter Skelter and Pride ? People are really moving and it sounds amazing....On the contrary at Boston, we can only feel something special during Streets. Please don't shoot me for this post. I respect any fan attitude (even if the U2 concerts in Spain, France and Italy seems to draw more enthousiasm from the crowd). I would like to have your point of view. I would be interested to understand why such a difference between the crowd in 87 in the US and the crowd in Boston. I am very interested in your comments, even if you do not share my point of view. So I am just curious and not provocative !
 
Well, I was in the heart in Boston for the 6/6 show-and, trust me, there was PLENTY of excitement-my feet were stomped on several times, and I was elbowed several times as well. And not just during Streets-during most of the show-including the 'slow' songs
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I literally had the bruises to prove it.

I personally don't judge my enjoyment of any show by how much 'crowd excitement' there is. I go by how much I enjoy it
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If you are really good friends with The Edge, you can just call him The~ Adam

The right side of my brain is kinda redundant~ Larry
 
Perhaps it's just a cultural thing. Although, I don't know that Americans are usually accused of being reserved.
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From my experience, the crowds are usually on their feet and singing along throughout the concert. If they're not jumping and dancing the entire time, that doesn't mean they're not "into" it. Just that they express it differently, I guess.
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-sula
 
I did notice the under-excitement in the DVD. I think it all depends o the city. It doesn't mean they didn't like the show, it just means they react differently to excitement. But I personally think it would have added more to the DVD if peole would have been jumping around a bit more.

They should have shot the concert here in Montreal, they came here 3 times and all 3 times people were singing with the band, jumping with every song and you could feel the excitement just by watching the fans. But that's just my opinion.
 
How much people are 'jumping around and singing' is how we judge a show
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I have seen them so many times in Boston, and it's a place that is VERY excited about U2, that's for sure.

Maybe I'm just weird, but I pay to go see and hear them-everything else is unimportant to me. Same goes for the DVD-I'm watching them, not the crowd.


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If you are really good friends with The Edge, you can just call him The~ Adam

The right side of my brain is kinda redundant~ Larry
 
I don't know why that would happen since the GA tickets were so reasonable that true fans would be down in that heart. I know that when I did Popmart '97 we were front centerstage and you wouldn't believe the deadbeats up there. We were the only ones going absolutely bonkers. I attribute that to the fact that we were surrounded by a bunch of corporate fat cats that refused to
show any emotion at all. They shelled out $500 for their stupid front row seats and sat on their fat asses the whole time.
 
Originally posted by Seconds:
I did notice the under-excitement in the DVD. I think it all depends on the city.

Boston is traditionally wild when it comes to U2. That night (and the night before, sadly) were flat, both the band and the audience, in my opinion. If you could've seen the 3rd and 4th shows, those would've been an entirely different ball game. I firmly believe the filming had something to do with it. Whether it was stress or intimidation by the thought or sight of film crews, I think both the audience and the band were uptight.

I've been to more than a dozen Boston shows in my life, and those two were the most sedate I've ever seen, similar to seeing them in a non-U2 town.

Amy
 
I still maintain that had they filmed Boston 4, you would have seen an entirely different kind of show. From my recollection, the place was absolutely rocking and the crowd was on fire.
 
Boston 1 was certainly flat, but Boston 2 and 4 were both fantastic (and I found them better than the shows I saw in France). I think the excitement of the crowd does come through on the DVD.

[This message has been edited by mug222 (edited 11-30-2001).]
 
I think it was just one of those nights. I've seen U2 in Boston before and the crowd is usually extremely energetic. It IS disappointing how bored the audience looks on the dvd but it is NOT representative of a typical U2 show in America.
And for what it is worth didn't U2 cut short their ATYCLB promotional club gig in France because the audience was so flat? A French fan on Wire said as much. A bad audience can happen anywhere to any band.

MAP
 
Wait till you get to see Slane (on TV soon I believe). Now thats an excited bunch a paddies!!
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"we're free to fly the crimsom sky...the sun won't melt our wings tonight..."
 
If you take the heart cam, during streets you can see some people in the heart that just seem to care less...how is tit possible ??????
I noticed also that many people just sit down during the whole show even during elevation...
I have a proposal to make...I have on CD (DVD) the Paris show from 17-07. I am ready to make a copy to one of you that will then promise to make a copy for other ones...who will do the same. You will see that the crowd was very different from teh show filmed !!!! During desire, there is so much noise that we can hardly hear Bono sing !!!!!!!
 
Originally posted by Man Ray:
If you take the heart cam, during streets you can see some people in the heart that just seem to care less...how is tit possible ??????
I noticed also that many people just sit down during the whole show even during elevation...
I have a proposal to make...I have on CD (DVD) the Paris show from 17-07. I am ready to make a copy to one of you that will then promise to make a copy for other ones...who will do the same. You will see that the crowd was very different from teh show filmed !!!! During desire, there is so much noise that we can hardly hear Bono sing !!!!!!!

Wow uhm DVD? wouldn't there be a regional conflict or whatever the coding is? If it's just a VCD I can help, but I don't have a DVD burner. Well whoever does help I would love a copy. mbi16@yahoo.com

Oh and it's just really hard to explain, mainly it's just a cultural thing. Uhm how to explain, I'm from Brazil, so I guess I kinda of have a basis to comment on it. Americans overall are very self-conscious and really letting it all hang out isn't exactly "cool" Let's not also forget that's it's been years, decades even, since there's been GA in the arenas so people are still trying to figure out what is and isn't acceptable behavior and sometimes are intimidated into quietness. I don't know it takes experience to get used to having a strangers sweat all over your $300 Gucci shirt. Or even more to realize you shouldn't wear a $300 Gucci shirt to a concert or that no one really cares what you're wearing. Of course this doesn't apply to diehards but that's only a small portion of the audience.

Plus of course there is the whole line thing which isn't a myth at all. I mean just look at that overhead shot during elevation there's like a hole in the heart that's people sitting down. I don't wanna go into details but it's like throwing a rock on water. The heart is the rock and unless it's going off there are no ripples, so I can only imagine how much that affected the concert.

Oh well my very late 2 cents.

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Tha Prickly Comedian
 
I noticed in the DVD that at one point Bono motions to the crowd to get up with his arms.

Was this directed at the crowd in general or was this the heart sitting incident in fact? Or am I totally clueless and not have the right night?
 
I`ve been to both shows in Vienna and all i can say is that the crowd was going mad from the first chords of the Elevation remix. The whole arena was jumping and singing the woohoos - totally different to the Boston-DVD. The first night i had tickets in the back of the arena and i can prove that nobody was sitting in his chair during the entire show.

So my friends and i were a little disappointet when we saw the lame crowd in Boston (Starting from Elevation when it seems like the crowd doesn`t recognize that the Band is already on stage). When you watch the Popmart from Mexico City and the Zoo TV from Sydney Videos you can see how much the audience is into the show. But in Boston the crowd really looks bored and for example during the slower songs there are only a few lighters on (take Stay from Sydney and Boston - what a big difference).

That should not be an offense to the people who were at the Boston Show but i just wish that the DVD would express the atmosphere i experienced in Vienna.

However i will never forget those nights and i am happy that i have a concert captured on video/dvd that i can watch whenever i want to(could be everyday).


cheers and please excuse my poor Englis(i seldom have time to write and reply in here)


Greetings from thc cold, snowfilled Salzburg/Austria

Larrry
 
Originally posted by sulawesigirl4:
I still maintain that had they filmed Boston 4, you would have seen an entirely different kind of show. From my recollection, the place was absolutely rocking and the crowd was on fire.


Wasn't that when...uhmmm, never mind.
 
I think there are definately some U2 markets that are lame, umm reserved
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. I dont know if I would lump Boston into that category though. It is difficult to capture the feel and atmosphere of a show on film. Unless you were there you really cant judge it.

I saw all 6 shows in Chicago on this tour. I can tell you that for all of them the entire arena was rocking from start to finish. But the Detroit show I went to had to be one of the lamest crowds I have ever seen at a U2 show. But U2's performance was very strong in Detroit.

I think the most important thing is the bands performance. Bono himself has said before they typically have a better performance when they have to try harder to reach the crowd. I think that is probebly true to a certain extent.

[This message has been edited by Blue Room (edited 12-07-2001).]
 
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