August 25, 2010 - Luzhniki Stadium - Moscow, Russia

[corianderstem]

Cathal, great review! I would have been pissed about the umbrellas, too. Suck it up and get wet - you're blocking people's views!

 

[trojanchick99]

Great Reviews Miss_Pop and Cathal!

Cathal, great review! I would have been pissed about the umbrellas, too. Suck it up and get wet - you're blocking people's views!

Makes me glad they don't allow them in most US venues.

 

[serg77b]

Photos

All pics are here
www.music-photo.ru

 

[BluRmGrl]

Thanks for another great one, Cathal. As always, I love learning about these shows & experiences from your point of view.

 

[U2FloridaFan]

This was the show I've most been looking forward to since the dates were announced last year. It didn't disappoint, on many levels....

Thanks, Cathal. Another great review!! Your narratives are always so visual I have no problem "picturing" the scene. Hope you didn't have as much trouble getting out of Russia as you did trying to get a visa Onward to beautiful Vienna!! Safe travels.........

 

[kassandra]

Another great review Cathal. I was wondering if the police were at all interested in the music. Having them all around must have been a very strange feeling. I would have wanted to dance with them.......

 

[lauramullen]

Cathal as usual

 

[4U2Play]

Video of Cathal handing his book to Adam and Edge at their hotel in Moscow:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MUtZb00_7Y&hd=1

 

[Miss_Pop]

Cathalmc, thank you for your review. You described the situation in the stadium right, but I should tell you that U2 is not so popular band in Russia, than, for example, Depeche Mode or Scorpions. But, in my opinion, people loved U2 very much in Moscow, warmly received them!

 

[cathalmc]

Cathalmc, thank you for your review. You described the situation in the stadium right, but I should tell you that U2 is not so popular band in Russia, than, for example, Depeche Mode or Scorpions. But, in my opinion, people loved U2 very much in Moscow, warmly received them!

Hey, can we organise a review mutual-appreciation society? Yours was fabulous!

My review in Russian would only be "ya lublyu koncert v'rassiyeh, bweel ochen kharasho"

 

[cathalmc]

Video of Cathal handing his book to Adam and Edge at their hotel in Moscow:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MUtZb00_7Y&hd=1

Thanks Nick, you bleeper!

 

[corianderstem]

Awww.

 

[Miss_Pop]

Hey, can we organise a review mutual-appreciation society? Yours was fabulous!

Sorry, what do you mean?

 

[Popmartijn]

Thanks for the reviews. I just got home from Moscow. Will try to write something about the concert (and especially the GA situation before the concert) when I have the time.
I survived GA in Moscow and the concert was an amazing experience!

 

[MissVelvetDress_75]

I found the following review on another site but, this has to be THE GREATEST review of any U2 show ever written:



Date: August 25, 2010
Venue: Luzhniki Stadium Review by: Vladamir Obarakanov...

Bono looks very fit; Edge looks like a pretty man. Larry Mullen Jr has a very nice body.

Wife enjoyed With or Without You and Pride. I liked all the songs, even Pride. I normally don't like that song live.

....
More alarming is that we saw Paul Mcguiness. I am not one to make comments about appearance, but he is a very smart man but a very fat man.

what about Adam, he left him out of his review!

 

[kassandra]

Video of Cathal handing his book to Adam and Edge at their hotel in Moscow:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MUtZb00_7Y&hd=1

Very nice Cathal! Now Larry.......

 

[Popmartijn]

Some pictures of the concert:

With Yuri Shevchuk doing Knocking On Heaven's Door

 

[cathalmc]

Maybe all those police and army were actually necessary ...

-------------------------------------------------

Teenage girl killed in skinhead rampage at Russian festival

Over 100 men attack at Tornado festival in Miass, injuring up to 100 people in latest ultra-nationalist attack to hit country

* Damien Pearse
* The Guardian, Monday 30 August 2010

A 14-year-old girl was killed and dozens of revellers injured yesterday when more than 100 bare-chested skinheads rampaged through a rock concert in central Russia attacking people with iron clubs.

The teenager was among a crowd of around 3,000 people at the Tornado festival in Miass, 900 miles east of Moscow, when the attack happened.

Many visitors were left bloodied and dazed after being hit with iron clubs and sticks, television and news agencies reported. One report, quoting a police source, suggested the teenage girl had suffered multiple stab wounds.

State-owned Rossiya-24 TV saidup to 100 people were injured and 14 ambulances were called to the scene.

Images on the local news website Chelnovosti.ru showed battered revellers and scores of skinheads congregating at the event, which featured Russia's top rock acts.

The motive for the assault was not known, and the ITAR-Tass news agency said local police had refused to comment.

Witnesses told Russian journalists that the skinheads burst through security cordons, pushing police aside and in some cases grabbing their truncheons to attack visitors.

The Ekho Moskvy radio station reported that around 15 attackers were detained, but the majority fled.

Russia has an ingrained neo-Nazi skinhead movement and attacks on foreigners in Moscow and St Petersburg have been relatively common in recent years. The January 2009 murder of lawyer Stanislav Markelov and journalist Anastasiya Baburova prompted a Kremlin crackdown on ultra-nationalists, who were blamed for the killings.

In April, a Moscow court banned the far-right Slavic Union, whose Russian acronym SS intentionally mimicked that used by the Nazis' infamous paramilitaries. The group was declared extremist and shut down, but the group's leader, Dmitry Demushkin, complained that it had tried to promote its far-right agenda legally and warned that the ban would enrage and embolden Russia's most radical ultra-nationalists.

Neo-Nazi and other ultra-nationalist groups thrived in Russia after the Soviet collapse in 1991. The influx of immigrant workers and two wars with Chechen separatists triggered xenophobia and a surge in hate crimes.

Racially motivated attacks, often targeting people from Caucasus and Central Asia, peaked in 2008, when 110 people were killed and 487 wounded, an independent watchdog, Sova, said. The Moscow Bureau for Human Rights estimated that some 70,000 neo-Nazis were active in Russia compared with a just few thousand in the early 1990s.

 

[MissVelvetDress_75]

f'ing neo-Nazi's!

 

[U2Fanatic4ever]

GRR.. f**kers..

 

[Miss_Pop]

Serg77b and Popmartijn, thanks for the photos! Strange, but I didn't see the ones in Russian sites (maybe, I was just looking for too badly?).

More alarming is that we saw Paul Mcguiness. I am not one to make comments about appearance, but he is a very smart man but a very fat man.

Oh... I didn't see him. When he was? You talk about the stage?!

Maybe all those police and army were actually necessary ...

You know about this too... Really sad and annoying.

f'ing neo-Nazi's!

Right.

 

[greety]

Isn't it unusual to have umbrella's in the stadium?? I would think afer so many checks they would all be removed..

Here in Belgium, I know they are not allowed in.. thank goodness

Great reviews Cathal and Miss pop

 

[Popmartijn]

Isn't it unusual to have umbrella's in the stadium?? I would think afer so many checks they would all be removed.

It is unusual, yes. Umbrellas were allowed, but water bottles were not (and inside they were sold again, with a cap).

Here in Belgium, I know they are not allowed in.. thank goodness

Are you sure about that? I saw plenty of umbrellas at the Prince concert in July. I was thinking "In the Netherlands, I know they are not allowed in.. thank goodness". Of course, now I'm even doubting that.

 

[greety]

It is unusual, yes. Umbrellas were allowed, but water bottles were not (and inside they were sold again, with a cap).



Are you sure about that? I saw plenty of umbrellas at the Prince concert in July. I was thinking "In the Netherlands, I know they are not allowed in.. thank goodness". Of course, now I'm even doubting that.

I didn't go to see Prince, but that was at the Werchter place.(not that this matters)

The u2 tickets mention, no bottles, no umbrella's, sharp objects, weapons, alcohol, recording equipment...

I am surprised thought that they would allow the umbrella's at the Prince concert, cus I'm sure none of the above mentioned items are allowed @ Werchter (festival)

@ the Russian way of thinking, no bottles allowed in but we'll sell them anyways
If you know how to manage, it'sn ot so difficult to get little pet bottles into the gigs (I did, both in Paris and Amsterdam)

 

[apis]

We also had a surreal time in Moscow.
The night before the gig we went to this (positively) strange U2 party with even stranger cover band:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A32dVsF-5ig

After that we went to U2's hotel and instead of all the fans we just walked into it past the security guys. There we were drinking and sitting a desk away from Larry. Later Bono and Ali came, we ordered a bottle of wine for them and eventually had a short talk with Bono and took a photo with him.

The concert atmosphere was because of all the soldiers a bit grotesque, but even more suspicious was their offer of food and drinks (just water, mineral water, crisps, Mars and Snickers bars).
The band was really rocking the place in the rain ank KOHD was a nice surprise. We were standing under Adam's bridge and he once he sent us a smile.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jzy6YmPvXSs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkiqQh2Jtc0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4lWNG43JMs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7JiELYMoVY

 

[corianderstem]

Later Bono and Ali came, we ordered a bottle of wine for them and eventually had a short talk with Bono and took a photo with him.

Awesome!

 

[apis]

Awesome!

They weren't actually drinking with us , because they were in another room, but when they went to sleep (at 4.30 am, the night before the gig), Bono came to us and we exchanged a few words.

When Larry left, he just waved to us without looking in our direction (it was 5.30 pm). Later I drank the wine out of Bono's glass and my friends swore I sounded like him.

 

[corianderstem]

Still awesome.

 

[U2FloridaFan]

Maybe all those police and army were actually necessary ...

-------------------------------------------------

Teenage girl killed in skinhead rampage at Russian festival

Over 100 men attack at Tornado festival in Miass, injuring up to 100 people in latest ultra-nationalist attack to hit country

* Damien Pearse
* The Guardian, Monday 30 August 2010

A 14-year-old girl was killed and dozens of revellers injured yesterday when more than 100 bare-chested skinheads rampaged through a rock concert in central Russia attacking people with iron clubs.

The teenager was among a crowd of around 3,000 people at the Tornado festival in Miass, 900 miles east of Moscow, when the attack happened.

Many visitors were left bloodied and dazed after being hit with iron clubs and sticks, television and news agencies reported. One report, quoting a police source, suggested the teenage girl had suffered multiple stab wounds.

State-owned Rossiya-24 TV saidup to 100 people were injured and 14 ambulances were called to the scene.

Images on the local news website Chelnovosti.ru showed battered revellers and scores of skinheads congregating at the event, which featured Russia's top rock acts.

The motive for the assault was not known, and the ITAR-Tass news agency said local police had refused to comment.

Witnesses told Russian journalists that the skinheads burst through security cordons, pushing police aside and in some cases grabbing their truncheons to attack visitors.

The Ekho Moskvy radio station reported that around 15 attackers were detained, but the majority fled.

Russia has an ingrained neo-Nazi skinhead movement and attacks on foreigners in Moscow and St Petersburg have been relatively common in recent years. The January 2009 murder of lawyer Stanislav Markelov and journalist Anastasiya Baburova prompted a Kremlin crackdown on ultra-nationalists, who were blamed for the killings.

In April, a Moscow court banned the far-right Slavic Union, whose Russian acronym SS intentionally mimicked that used by the Nazis' infamous paramilitaries. The group was declared extremist and shut down, but the group's leader, Dmitry Demushkin, complained that it had tried to promote its far-right agenda legally and warned that the ban would enrage and embolden Russia's most radical ultra-nationalists.

Neo-Nazi and other ultra-nationalist groups thrived in Russia after the Soviet collapse in 1991. The influx of immigrant workers and two wars with Chechen separatists triggered xenophobia and a surge in hate crimes.

Racially motivated attacks, often targeting people from Caucasus and Central Asia, peaked in 2008, when 110 people were killed and 487 wounded, an independent watchdog, Sova, said. The Moscow Bureau for Human Rights estimated that some 70,000 neo-Nazis were active in Russia compared with a just few thousand in the early 1990s.

Wow...no wonder such tight security! Glad you made it out unscathed, Cathal!

 

[U2FloridaFan]

Later I drank the wine out of Bono's glass and my friends swore I sounded like him.

You're funny. What a great experience and what a nice thing to do sending wine over to B and Ali. I guess you keep late hours too. Did Larry leave at 5:30 AM??? or pm as you have there? Was he sitting with B and Ali? Which one are you in the pic?

Also, how did the crowd respond to Snow Patrol? They don't look very into it.