Please post your pics, reviews, and experiences for this show here.
Hey U2girl, your first U2 concert! That's pure complete fabness! Especially for a Blue Crack Addict
The atmosphere was sooooo much better last night, although I think it was actually a "first night" audience if you know what I mean? There seemed to be more, ahem, "real" U2 fans there last night; you know, fans who know all the songs and all the words and want to join in as they watch their heroes play them. The energy was a few cans of Red Bull higher and the cheers were many decibels louder.
The party got going from the start with a reasonably successful Irish tricolour flash mob with balloons. There were a lot of white balloons on the field and in the stand I was in at the back of the stadium, and a fair scattering of green and orange balloons on the two side stands. Of course it's not easy to spot the darker coloured balloons in the stands when the lights are only on the stage, so I don't know if the band would have noticed them so much. But then everyone started to knock the balloons into the air, and as the breeze gently blew all the balloons into one side of the stadium it was like a huge happy lava lamp as the people there tried to keep them all aloft for as long as possible. It looked really cool from where I was.
Bono took a white balloon from a fan during Breathe and then later tried to kick it off the stage. And failed
My favourite moment of the gig was when the crowd spontaneously burst into chanting Simona's name after her confident strut and dance with Bono onstage during Mysterious Ways. There was a huge cheer when Bono said her name so I suspect there may be some other Croatian cultural reference there.
There were massive, amazing singalongs for ISHFWILF, Stand By Me and Stuck, even if the pronounciation suggested that the people near me knew the sounds of some of the words instead of the actual words.
And the most welcome modification to the setlist so far: old style, long intro Streets! A very small change but a very big result. Bono sang a snippet of You'll Never Walk Along at the end of Walk On and then the deep synths of Streets started. And U2 were still on the stage! Yes! Even the full long and lovely jangly guitar intro was back! I reckon this arrangement works much better than the segue from Bishop Tutu's speech.
And I'm sure Axver was pleased to hear about this logical wee change in the running order
I was wondering if the rumours about the Wembley shows being recorded for DVD may be true and this change may have also been a rehearsal for that. Guess we'll find out on Friday.
Other random observations:
- as noted, the screen didn't open up for Unforgettable Fire and Blinding Lights which I hope was a technical issue as those are the two most visually dazzling songs on the video screen, especially the gorgeous, lush flame effects in UF
- Bono's turn for a couple of small timing clangers, he began ISHFWILF a bit before the band, there were smiles all around when they realised, and I think he may have mistimed the last couple of lines in Streets, it certainly didn't sound right
- Bono made a couple of references to Sarajevo during the concert which didn't cause any negative reaction from the people around me so I was hoping they'd play it as I missed it on the Vertigo tour, but alas no
- Larry clearly read my review of Sunday's gig on here and decided to let Bono include Shine Like The Stars in WoWY which was bloomin great (although Bono then indicated to the band to wrap the song up, which completely ruins my foolproof theory about who controls ending songs)
- and a personal gripe, the bloody security guy took the pen I had in my bag off me as I went into the stadium! It is, of course, mightier than the sword, but not mightier than the guns the police in the stadium were carrying, those Croats must be a feisty bunch occasionally
- those Aung San Suu Kyi can actually be a bit of a liability. Just as Bono was trying to explain to the audience about today's court ruling in Burma about her house arrest, and then when he was singing MLK, and I and many others really wanted to listen to it in comparative silence, some people around me were having fits of hysterics as they messed around with wearing the masks. I was once tut-tutted and told off at a Van Morrisson gig for having a chat with a friend during a song. Maybe I'm entering the grumpy ol codger zone but, well, their laughter didn't seem appropriate and spoiled a large part of the impact of MLK for me.
But last night's concert was the concert I'd been expecting in Zagreb, the band seemd to have a little bit more spark and there was a hyper, happy and up-for-it crowd!
Forgot to add it was great finally hearing the songs like Pride, SBS, One or I still haven't found and WOWY after all the years of listening to albums or bootlegs.
Also, nice to see Larry singing ! Boots, Unknown caller and I think there was a 3rd song with him on vocals too.
Which of the pre-show taped songs was Kingdom ? The one with repeated "soon....soon....soon" right before they started ?
Forgot to add it was great finally hearing the songs like Pride, SBS, One or I still haven't found and WOWY after all the years of listening to albums or bootlegs.
- Simona - there is a model/semi celebrity in Croatia named Simona. so when she said her name it was a big laoghing point for the stadium. So we started chanting her name just for the fun of it
- reciting Croatian poet in Croatian language from Bono - this was probably the high point for Croats in the stadium. It is one of the greatest Croatian poets, and the verse is from his biggest work. The line goes "oh beautifull, oh dear, oh sweet freedom". I guarantee you that there were many watery eyes during that - and he did it during Beautifull Day
Ah, that's why. Thanks for explaining that.
Beautiful indeed, lovely touch from Bono. I think he said something like that in English too at one point, do you remember that?
Hope this fits here but Croatian TV has a great report of the show. Includes brief interview with Bono outside hotel in Zagreb. View at novatv.hr and then click on "SHOWBIZZ" then click on "Glazba" and then click on "Bono Vox o ocekivanjima u Zagrebu" it runs some 7 minutes and is very special to us because my wife appears on it!
Hope this fits here but Croatian TV has a great report of the show. Includes brief interview with Bono outside hotel in Zagreb. View at novatv.hr and then click on "SHOWBIZZ" then click on "Glazba" and then click on "Bono Vox o ocekivanjima u Zagrebu" it runs some 7 minutes and is very special to us because my wife appears on it!
I was a little sad to see the screen not expanding for the second show, I felt sorry for people only seeing this show. I also hoped they'd play Bad, during the first concert because One came early in the set and during the second show because Streets wasn't in the encore. I've never heard and seen Bad live in person
I hope the foreign fans enjoyed their stay.
I hope the foreign fans enjoyed their stay.
Wonderful nights. Simply amazing. The second one had more spirit, it brought tears to my eyes. But the first one was great as well. I won't forget it.
No Bad or New Year's Day (or Your Blue Room ), but still perfect. Loved the We'll shine like stars.
I hope the foreign fans enjoyed their stay.