June 24, 2011 - Glastonbury

[gareth brown]

haha fuck that, if it rains it'll be amazing. singing at the top of your lungs to a proper crowd pleasing anthem at the front of a glastonbury crowd while it buckets it down with rain is fucking incredible!! reminds me of Manic Street Preachers in 2003, first time i ever went and it was probably the best thing I saw that night. til moby afterwards obviously

 

[domo-kun]

Rain + U2 combines VERY good. I can tell.
Brussels 23 II best gig of my life.

 

[gareth brown]

i mean dont get me wrong im hoping for another AMAZINGLY SUNNY weekend like last year....but if it rains, that won't get me down haha

 

[MikeyJB]

^ Haha I'm with you there Gareth. Although I wouldn't mind it being a tiny bit cooler than last year. After 4 days of going to sleep at 4-5am and then having to get out of the tent at 8.30am cos it had turned into a sauna started to get a bit much

 

[Earnie Shavers]

After 4 days of going to sleep at 4-5am and then having to get out of the tent at 8.30am cos it had turned into a sauna started to get a bit much

That was awful, and there are no hangovers worse than woke-up-in-a-fucking-hot-tent hangovers. Just one overcast day, or even just an afternoon, would have actually been greatly appreciated last year. Even a *little* bit of rain would have been nice.

 

[gareth brown]

^ Haha I'm with you there Gareth. Although I wouldn't mind it being a tiny bit cooler than last year. After 4 days of going to sleep at 4-5am and then having to get out of the tent at 8.30am cos it had turned into a sauna started to get a bit much

hahaha yeah, I didnt stay up til 4-5, but waking up at 8.30, feeling the steam practically rising from your fucking face in the hot sweaty tent was unbearable by even Friday!

 

[Erik.Swe]

Adam is dropping hints that U2 is planning a 1990s / Zoo TV / PopMart theme for Glastonbury:

Adam Hints at Zoo TV / PopMart Theme for Glastonbury

 

[gareth brown]

if this does happen I may just go home the morning after

kidding obviously, i mean QOTSA are playing sunday night but jesus christ the excitement for this gig just builds and builds!!!

 

[Earnie Shavers]

Alright, predictions on the three opening songs.

You get one stab now, and a revised guess about a week out, so 360 changes pending. But as it stands now, I'd wager on this opening:

1. Even Better than the Real Thing
2. Vertigo
3. New Years Day

 

[popshopper]

Alright, predictions on the three opening songs.

You get one stab now, and a revised guess about a week out, so 360 changes pending. But as it stands now, I'd wager on this opening:

1. Even Better than the Real Thing
2. Vertigo
3. New Years Day

I think they'll do some tried and tested segue's so I'd be expecting Until the End of the World into New Years Day.

My opening 3

1. Where the Streets have no name (I think the temptation will be too much for them to resist)
2. I will Follow
3. Get on your Boots

 

[MikeyJB]

I reckon if they'll open with these 3 -

1. Even Better Than the Real Thing (they bloody better do anyway!)
2. I Will Follow
3. Vertigo

I reckon we'll then see Boots, New Year's Day, Mysterious Ways, Until the End of the World as an absolutely storming opening section. Its just too difficult to try and pick a set really, I'm sure they will agonise over it an awful lot.

I know people might object but I'd love to see them play Miss Sarajevo, for 2 reasons. Firstly, purely selfish - they didn't play it at the 3 2009 shows I saw, and I'd just love the goosebumps moment that I still get when I listen to the audio of Bono's opera. Secondly - it will really blow people away who haven't ever heard Bono do that opera bit before. Its touch and go I think as to whether it'll be in the set; if it is, it'll be for the reason that Bono wants to show off his pipes

 

[gareth brown]

if his voice is in anyway shot that night though it'll be like watching a car crash in slow motion, knowing there's several kittens also hidden in the boot of one vehicle, and a dozen orphans being taken to a theme park in the other.

 

[MikeyJB]

I reckon the US shows leading up to it, they'll all be playing it very safe. Bono's not gonna want to do anything that would be likely to blow out his voice. Like you say, it would be pretty terrible if his voice was shot.

 

[Earnie Shavers]

Yeah, I was thinking about that too. I'll definitely be standing there with my fingers crossed as they hit the stage. It would almost make perfect sense that they do everything else right, but Bono's voice is shot.

The good thing is that the schedule is at least 24hrs better than it would have been last year. Last year they would have literally been flying 'red eye' style overnight immediately after a gig, or over on the same day, touching down in London or wherever and needing to chopper straight to Somerset there and then. Either way, madness.

But I think it's better mid-tour than isolated. When they do isolated gigs outside of a tour, that's when his voice is normally pretty shit. Really, there's only one gig a couple of days before, and that's the only gig that week. It's not that punishing, plus that gig is in Baltimore. No offence to anyone from that part of the world, but... he can cruise that one.

 

[gareth brown]

yeah hopefully there'll be nothing wrong with anything given the fact the gig's sandwiched between two empty days so not only will they be "match fit" but rested too so hopefully we won't have any howling mistakes from the edge like sao paulo 13/4/11

 

[MikeyJB]

It's not that punishing, plus that gig is in Baltimore. No offence to anyone from that part of the world, but... he can cruise that one.

Yeah I'm pretty sure they'll be in Glastonbury-mindset during those first shows. I reckon for Bono it'd probably be a case of hypercondria/paranoia surrounding his voice. Like when you know you have to be on top form for a certain day - you CANNOT be ill! And then lo and behold, you come down with something hehe.

Whilst the timing of the gig with their schedule is definitely favourable, can you even imagine the nerves that would probably set in as the 'mini-city' of Glastonbury festival hoves into view from their chopper?! I imagine your stomach would just turn to jelly We all know that at least Bono still gets massive pre-gig nerves, I'm sure they'll be in overdrive before this show. Just as long as he doesn't hit the cider too heavily in anticipation!

 

[gareth brown]

i dunno man that Brothers cider is the bomb, who could blame him?? i'll be taking a load of the stuff with me when I try and get to the front with you guys! just need to figure out how to NOT need the bathroom when I'm there 12+ hours...

 

[gareth brown]

maaan, I need to know who the hell is playing that special guest slot on the park stage!! Where I'm stood for U2 on Friday night rests solely on who that is haha

If it's either
Radiohead (suddenly a possibility given Yorke's slot last year and the confirmation they are actually going to be playing that album live, albeit just the one confirmed performance on 'From The Basement' so far!)
or
Pulp (numerous hints from a Jarvis Cocker twitter account that's apparently looking more and more likely to be him)

i'll be kissing the chance of a front row spot for U2 goodbye!! anyone else though, fuck 'em

 

[MikeyJB]

Yeah the rumour mill is in full spin at the moment. To be honest I'm not really bothered about it (not a fan of Pulp at all, although if its Kasabian I'll be pretty jealous). I've barely looked at the lineups of any of the other stages on Friday because I know that for the majority of the day I'll be at the Pyramid. Have they said whether the big act is on the Fri or Sat though? Because I was planning on going to the Park stage on Saturday to see Tame Impala and then thought I mayaswell hang around to see who the Special Guests are - pretty much like what happened last year and it turned out to be Thom and Jonny!

 

[gareth brown]

yeah, i'm the same with the other stages to be honest. not given friday a look since it was announced...there's only two i remember that I'd regret not seeing but have seen before, and luckily the Pyramid has a great line-up I don't mind sticking around all day for should I manage to get rail. but that park stage slot is REALLY bugging me

 

[TheEdge1987]

Just got my working position at the festival confirmed. Will be seeing the boys again next month!

 

[Earnie Shavers]

Behind a bar? Free drinks to anyone offering the code word "Interference"?

 

[TheEdge1987]

Unfortunately not behind a bar! Would love to have been able to give out some interference related free gifts!

 

[Earnie Shavers]

That's a shame, because I'll certainly be in front of one.

 

[gareth brown]

come on U2 aren't gonna be THAT bad...

 

[Earnie Shavers]

Fucking HURRY UP!

 

[MikeyJB]

Haha my ticket arrived this week. I'm massively conflicted at the moment - on one hand I want the time to fly past to 9pm Friday night in front of the Pyramid stage. On the other hand I have the toughest 4 weeks of my life ahead of me with my final year university exams and right now I would kill for just a couple extra weeks to prepare

 

[Earnie Shavers]

Yeah, I'm the same, to a lesser degree. Got a few weeks from hell work-wise in between now and then. But I bought a tent yesterday, which was what got me all jumpy and excited.

Also, I definitely think we're seeing parts of their Glastonbury set starting to evolve on 360. This whole Zooropa + Remixes + Crazy Tonight 'Pop' snippets + Adam's comments about going a bit ZooTV/Popmart/Psychedelic - pretty clear, I think, that even though it will have to be Greatest Hits heavy, this is sort of where the 'theme' of the set will be. And if thats the case, just a guess, but maybe the extra staging elements they might try and import might be along the lines of trying to turn the Pyramid field into a club? There's not that much they can do that's all that different from the stage, but this would be. And it wouldn't be that hard really. Might not be surprising to see a few extra lighting towers (or even rigged trucks/cranes) around the field on Friday?

 

[gareth brown]

Fucking HURRY UP!

hahaha my thoughts exactly!!!

Haha my ticket arrived this week. I'm massively conflicted at the moment - on one hand I want the time to fly past to 9pm Friday night in front of the Pyramid stage. On the other hand I have the toughest 4 weeks of my life ahead of me with my final year university exams and right now I would kill for just a couple extra weeks to prepare

good luck mate!!! I know what you mean, I want this time to fly by but I've got my final uni project [an EP] to finish and its due this thursday and I've still not got past my writers block so i REALLY could do with Bernard's Watch or something to get it all done!!!!! haha so if I manage to meet up with you guys, we'll have to have a drink and toast our freedom.

but yeah I've never been so excited for a gig in all my life. U2 at Glastonbury has been a dream of mine (and i'm sure many of us here) for years, and the wait is excruciating! and all these BOMBSHELLS being dropped in the set recently only makes the wait (and worrying over what will make it to glastonbury) even worse!!!

i wanted to have this quote from the sao paulo setlist party as my sig a few weeks back because it's so fucking true!

Things happen for a reason....U2 Glastonbury 2010 would not have reached U2 Glastonbury 2011's heels, that's just the feeling I get!!! ...life works in mysterious ways!!!

 

[MikeyJB]

Haha cheers mate. I know exactly how you feel, the excitement is really starting to eclipse all previous feelings I had for gigs - perhaps even including my first U2 gig at Croke Park back in 09. It makes it even more exciting because we know we've been waiting for this performance for the last 2 years!

Setlist-wise - I really think Desire and Out Of Control must be in with a shout for inclusion now surely?