October 01, 2009 at Charlottesville, VA

[HansaTonImbiss]

thought it was a better show than fed ex, better energy, and the band seemed a bit more excited. at fed ex i stayed in red zone 1 the whole show, but last night i was inner circle 5 back on edges side till UF then went to the back of the floor. it's like night and day, two completely different concerts. in the cirlce it's nice seeing the band close up and feels like a club show, but to really appreciate the beauty of willies creation you need to watch from the back. the show looks astonishing from the soundboard and the sound was perfect. i often found myself not looking at the band at all but rather looking at the staging with the music as the soundtrack. great show.

I was at both shows too, and feel like Bono was SOOOOOO much more loose and into the groove and band last night than TUE. I think (my theory, at least) is that he might have been a little more rigid based on the size of the venue and certain VIP members of the audience. Plus, it was a bit colder. Just a thought.

But yeah, the Charlottesville gig was incredible. Energy in loads, great interplay with band and audience, and the best versions of NYD, SBS, and Crazy Tonight I've heard. It was something else, really.

Also- sound was incredible in smaller venue and speaks to how good they might sound in an arena setting as well this time around. I cannot express how "on" they were last night, especially vocally.

 

[SethVincent]

Dude! You couldn't have been more than 10 feet from Mr. Blu & I. We were outside rail, front row, Edge's side... matter of fact, the first time they rotated the bridges & Edge walked across from the stage, the thing stopped right in front of me!

Kelly & I met some great people, also! The ladies we were behind in the GA line named Kelly & Lisa , the couple we shared the rail with (Kevin & Jerri from Ashland,KY), even the security guy, Kendall. U2 truly has the best fans in the world.

In summation : What an awesome fucking show! I am sooooooooo excited for Saturday night!!


ETA: I have some great shots, too, but they'll have to wait until I get back home next Wednesday to upload. (I know, I know - one day I'll crawl out of the dark ages & get a laptop. 'Til then... )

Was the Security Guard you are referring to tall & skinny w/ short blonde hair that sung to every U2 song? Or were you front rail Edge's side in The Red Zone? I was standing right by the Front Leg of The Claw but a tad to the right of it so it was not blocking my view.......

 

[Irvine511]

Bono, at the end of the night, stood in the middle and said "This is mad". It was clear he was speechless

i remember that, it was really cool. i think he was thrilled that pretty much everyone stayed for MOS, and it was a really great MOS. Bono clearly had a great time that night.

i thought for certain they'd do another song, too.

i brought a friend who is a very casual fan, and he thought it was pretty great as well.

 

[Achtung_CJ]

It was amazing!! My first ever U2 concert and I don't have any real words to describe how great it was. I was number 273 in the GA line and managed to get 4th row Edge-side.

I'd just like to say that I love U2 fans. I met so many nice people in line and around me in the pit.

SO EXCITED FOR TONIGHT!!!

 

[kelleighlp]

It was great meeting you two also! Interesting people make the time go by so much faster!
We were in the inner circle and it was definitely intense. Awesome, but intense! A totally different atmosphere than the seats I had in New York.

 

[HansaTonImbiss]

i remember that, it was really cool. i think he was thrilled that pretty much everyone stayed for MOS, and it was a really great MOS. Bono clearly had a great time that night.

i thought for certain they'd do another song, too.

i brought a friend who is a very casual fan, and he thought it was pretty great as well.

I was thinking the same! My gut was telling me that "40" or possibly "Stay" might have been the final kicker, but not so. It was perfect regardless, really.

 

[AttnKleinkind]

I have been wanting to see U2 for about seven years, and I *finally* got to with this show! It was so incredible. I didn't get a chance to see them on the Vertigo tour as the tickets for my area sold out in practically 30 seconds, and I somehow missed the sale date for my area this time around so my Dad and I drove down 9 hours from Canada to see them. It was so worth it! I can't stop going over my pictures, and I am just so ecstatic that I finally got to see them! Obviously I can't compare it to any other concert of theirs, but I still got the sense that it was exceptional that night.

Also, someone mentioned that they were surprised that the $250 seats were full, and I have some insight as to why! I think. My dad just got the first tickets he could, which were $100 tickets. But when we were finding our seats, we found our section roped off because there was a big scaffolding type thing in the way (I think?). Anyway, so we got upgraded to $250 seats! Which I thought was so incredible! And everyone else in our section had been relocated as well. So maybe that had something to do with it?

 

[ntalwar]

But when we were finding our seats, we found our section roped off because there was a big scaffolding type thing in the way (I think?). Anyway, so we got upgraded to $250 seats! Which I thought was so incredible! And everyone else in our section had been relocated as well. So maybe that had something to do with it?

It's possible that some of the upper deck people were given free upgrades to lower deck. This is very common at stadiums.

 

[mads]

I was on the rail in RZ 1 again, same position as DC, and I thought this show was far better. The sound quality was excellent. And they brought back NLOTH, yay! Great show.

 

[dlynna]

it's amazing how people's perception of the audience is so relative. it really does matter who you sit next to.

i loved the people in the stands in DC on Tuesday, hated people in DC in 2005, and was surrounded by a bunch of frat-tastic dudes last night who were kind of blah and didn't know a lot of the songs. there were two women behind me who stood motionless the entire evening. i don't get that.

but Charlottesville and the environs are very upper-middle class, very suburban, very conservative (less politically and more in terms of demeanor), so wild abandon usually only comes with alcohol, and there was none to be found in that stadium.

at least where i was.

still, i'm very satisfied with my U2 360 experience. it's a tour as good as any they've ever done, and both these shows were better than all but 1 of my Popmart shows, if we're going to compare stadiums to stadiums.

they did have great energy last night, and in DC too.

It was the same way for me, I was surrounded by people that didn't move an inch all night long. I was trying to sing and bounce around in my tiny little spot. I enjoyed myself though!

 

[dawnboo]

Finally! U2 in concert again!! Almost 4 years since seeing them on the Vertigo tour and it seemed like forever since tickets went on sale last spring! My son Matt (age 12) and I have been eagerly waiting for this show and it was finally here!!

There were no dates in our home state of Pennsylvania on this leg so we had decided to make the trip to Charlottesville, which turned out to be a great decision. The town is very charming and the University of Virginia campus is so beautiful. Plus, Scott Stadium was a really intimate venue for the show – It must be one of the smallest stadiums U2 are playing in on this tour. The weather was perfect, too – a crisp, cool fall evening with a lovely moon hanging in the sky above the stadium.

Opening act Muse was fantastic. Both Matt and I really like their music and we really enjoyed their set. My favorite opening act of the seven U2 concerts I’ve attended…

U2 was incredible, as always! The set list was interesting, with a lot of extreme changes in mood throughout, such as Elevation into Your Blue Room or I’ll Go Crazy into Sunday Bloody Sunday. Overall, it didn’t have the non-stop energy of the Vertigo tour shows but it was still awesome – It just was more contemplative and introspective. It was a treat for me to hear nine songs that I had never heard live before – six from the new album plus Your Blue Room, Walk On and Ultraviolet. My personal highlights were the I’ll Go Crazy remix (so much fun!), Ultraviolet and Moment of Surrender.

And, of course, the production on this tour is unbelievable. The sound was crystal clear and the lights, the stage, and the video screen are all jaw-droppingly beautiful and artistic. It’s hard to do justice to it when trying to describe it. It made the whole concert experience that much more incredible without overwhelming the music or the performers. Willie Williams and the others who designed this production are geniuses.

Now the wait begins for the announcement of the 2010 U.S. tour dates… Looking forward to seeing this amazing show again!!!

 

[aurabender]

My experience was amazing. I am shocked to hear reports about people not being full of energy. I was in reserved seats, and even moved to other seats later in the show. On both occasions, I was surrounded by people who were constantly up on their feets dancing and shouting. I though the crowd as a while was very energetic and I think the band was feeling it.

Due to a small crisis early in the day, my GF and I were late getting to the show. We missed MUSE entirely, but imagine the feeling of walking in and finding your seat only to hear the sound of "Space Oddity" moments later. Timing.

When looking for a place to see the band, my choices where either Chicago or Charlottesville. I am SO thankful I picked Charlottesville. What a perfect place to see the band. The stadium is so small, yet very open. The stage was so large and loomed over so much of the field it felt like it was part of the stadium. Far from being too big, I think the stage was almost organic looking - as if it was alive.

The sound and lighting where fantastic. I have yet to see video that captures how amazing the lighting is. (Arriving late, we saw the lights from MUSE well over a mile away!) The sound was perfect no matter where we sat. I saw the band in an Arena during the ELevation tour and the sound last night was actually better - I especially like how Adam's bass and Larry's drums were sounding.

The band themselves seemed in peak form and I thought Bono's voice, especially during Moment of Surrender, was fantastic. ( I also loved his band introduction!) I was glad we got to hear Mysterious Ways, and Your Blue Room was a risky choice in a college setting like that, but they performed it brilliantly. There is a recording of the show out already and I keep listing to the transition from Amazing Grace into Streets. It is an emotional transition that creates such a magical moment -whether you are a fan or not.

A U2 show is always special, but sharing that moment on a perfect Fall night with 60,000 other people made it all the better.

I can not wait till Summer of 2010!!!!

-

 

[ntalwar]

 

[cathalmc]

we had decided to make the trip to Charlottesville, which turned out to be a great decision. The town is very charming and the University of Virginia campus is so beautiful.

Agree 100%. I thought it was a strange choice of town for a concert until I saw all the female students running around in shorts and vests. I'll never doubt U2's tour manager again

 

[ntalwar]

I thought it was a strange choice of town for a concert until I saw all the female students running around in shorts and vests.

Ha - I must have missed that.

This local article gives some background on the process of bringing U2 to Charlottesville:

C-Ville: Feedback

 

[ntalwar]

Was that really Bono?

The world’s biggest rock star dropped by downtown Culpeper last Thursday for an impromptu late lunch overlooking East Street. The absolute lack of fanfare surrounding the incident was almost as incredible as his fleeting appearance.

Still, when Bono comes to town, someone’s bound to notice, and the staff at Hazel River Inn Restaurant sure did.

“When he walked in the door, he had that look about him,” said Heather Frankel of Culpeper, the waitress who served the U2 front man on the back deck of the East Davis Street eatery.

“He had the jeans, the blue polo shirt, he had his sunglasses on — it was Bono.”

Yet if it wasn’t for the photos she and others hastily snapped with the Grammy Award winner before he headed down U.S. 29 for the big U2 show that night in Charlottesville, the whole thing could have just been chalked up as another urban legend.

But no, Bono, a native Dubliner, found what he was looking for, food-wise, at the Hazel River Inn Restaurant, a historic building whose earliest portion dates to the 1790s.

It’s been a tobacco warehouse, stable and Civil War jail — now add Bono pit stop to the list.

He arrived on Davis Street around 3:15 p.m. in a black SUV with several female associates, a driver and a bodyguard, said Kat Wilsey, a longtime employee of the restaurant. She took their reservation earlier in the day from a woman who gave the name McMinnis.

Sounds Irish enough, but no one had any idea Bono would be showing up. And no one knows what brought him to Culpeper.

The original reservation was for an hour earlier, but the woman riding with Bono called back several times to reschedule, said Wilsey. They were en route from Washington, D.C., where U2 did a show last Tuesday as part of its 360-Degree Tour.

Was that really Bono? | Culpeper Star-Exponent

 

[last unicorn]

^ You forgot the best part of that article:

Frankel got in on one of the last shots, and that’s when Bono threw his arm around her. She said he smelled nice.

Seriously, people are so star struck it's ridiculous. Why can't someone like Bono just pop into a restaurant and have some food? He's just a human being after all.

 

[ntalwar]

Why can't someone like Bono just pop into a restaurant and have some food? He's just a human being after all.

True. The most odd thing about it for me is that he drove down the 120 miles from DC on the day of the show on the same route all the fans took. I guess the rest of the band flew in to C'ville airport (where he met up with them) from NY - they're doing runners these days. Culpeper is a tiny town of about 9000. So it must be a bit more surprising for its residents.

 

[BluRmGrl]

I think I'm in this shot. 1st on the rail to the right of Bono's legs looks like the pale green shirt I wore.

 

[Utoo]

So I've been on a 3-month self-imposed Interference ban because I had to study for my Boards (soooo hard with the tour on!!). But now that my Boards are done, here's my kooky Charlottesville story....


My wife and I had seen the show at FedEx two nights before. We had fanclub seats that were in the 100 level, but probably about 5 o'clock to the stage (nice seats, but I still don't understand why they were offered as first dibs to us in the fanclub). Great show, wonderful time, but I prefer to be on the floor.

For Charlottesville, I WAS going to be on the floor, so I was psyched! The only problem---I was going with my brother-in-law and a friend, but my friend couldn't get off of work until 6PM, and he was working in the middle of DC! So, we sucked up the fact that we'd drive down, miss Muse, and probably get stuck way in the back of GA, but were hoping to either snake our way up toward the front or maybe come across a benevolent tour employee who'd take pity on us arriving late and usher us up into the inner section.

As we got on the road, however, we realized that we might make it on time! Figuring that U2 didn't take the stage until 9:15 or so at FedEx, we figured we'd probably get there right as they were starting. We did, in fact, pull into the very top roof level of a parking garage around 9:15. But when we got out of the car, we heard a familiar voice---Bono's! "Shit! They've already started!" we all cried out, shocked and kicking ourselves. They were playing Mysterious Ways, which meant that we'd already missed anywhere from 3 to 5 songs out of the setlist! Worse yet, since we had booked it non-stop from DC, all of us massively had to pee. We each ran to a semi-secluded spot on the parking garage roof and embarrassingly did our business as quickly as possible----but peeing straight through MW and right into Beautiful Day. hno: We then booked it down the stairs of the parking garage and ran out into the street-----only to realize that we had no idea where the stadium was!!!! We started running uphill, racing toward the sound of U2, blindly running through neighborhoods and winding streets. As we ran, my friend just ahead of me turned and said, "Fuck! They're playing No Line!" (which we had missed in DC---the only friggin' show at which they didn't play it). Damn! We kept running, barely stopping to catch our breath, and the stadium was nowhere in sight. As Magnificent started blaring through the atmosphere, we finally saw Scott Stadium up ahead. My brother-in-law waved our tickets at us from behind in a "Save yourselves!" gesture of true friendship. But we'd waited to leave until 6PM so that we'd all be together---there was no way we were splitting up now! We made our way through the entrance, and as the final notes of Magnificent rang through the sky, we dashed onto the floor, thrilled and relieved that we'd finally made it.

The rest is history. The show was great. As the concert rolled on, college kids in front of us kept dropping to the back (to get beer or go to the bathroom, I guess ), and we made our way from the very back up to be only about 100ft from the stage. Not too shabby.

Great show, great night, great memories.

 

[BluRmGrl]

OK - it's taken me almost 3 weeks, but here is my paltry contribution to the photos in this thread. I took a lot more but these are the only ones worth sharing with the public. (This was a learning experience - being on the outer rail is spectacular for viewing the band. But due to the excitement caused by being there, I couldn't be still enough to take good photos! Oh well, the trade off is worth it. )

ETA: God - that close-up of B with the mic is good... damn good.

 

[BluRmGrl]

^ Was just revisiting the thread & found the close-up shot I talked about is missing from my original post. I must have moved it around after I posting it. It's such a good shot, though, I thought it deserved to be here.

 

[MissVelvetDress_75]

^ Was just revisiting the thread & found the close-up shot I talked about is missing from my original post. I must have moved it around after I posting it. It's such a good shot, though, I thought it deserved to be here.

Beautiful.