Discussion
I'm still trying to decide if the gig was OK or truly awful. A very bizarre evening, the concert reached amazing heights, but equally at times was almost cringeworthy.
Wembley is a great stadium for concerts, and the U2 stage was phenomenal. Unfortunately having a '360' stage in the middle meant the acoustics were utterly appalling, with much of the music dreadfully distorted. The extandable screens were amazing, and the revolving bridges unique. It meant they could really get in amongst the fans, and the level of interaction with the band was briliant.
Their play list was equally bizarre. It took 5 songs before the crowd could actually determine what they were singing, and the atmosphere at the start was very, very flat. However it did eventually get going, and I have never, ever, seen a crowd in a stadium react as they did with Vertigo. That song alone probably made going along worthwile.
What really, really, got my goat though was Bono's patronising political bulls
tting. At one point he had 40 backpackers on stage whilst he sang some bks about Ang Sui Kui (sp - sorry). I know it's important, but I don't need to be patronised at a bloody rock concert. The people next to us in the posh seats walked out at this point, never to return, and the queues at the bar whilst this was going on were massive.
However it did pick up again, only for him to return to his bullstting, and at that point he lost me, and very many others. A mediocre encore, with a totally bizarre last song ended the night in a very down beat manner.
Talking with fans afterwards, the concensus was that it had been a very poor show. I had expected so much more.
On reflection, the best thing about last night was pursuading our driver to stop at a Kebab shop on the way home.
Wembley is a great stadium for concerts, and the U2 stage was phenomenal. Unfortunately having a '360' stage in the middle meant the acoustics were utterly appalling, with much of the music dreadfully distorted. The extandable screens were amazing, and the revolving bridges unique. It meant they could really get in amongst the fans, and the level of interaction with the band was briliant.
Their play list was equally bizarre. It took 5 songs before the crowd could actually determine what they were singing, and the atmosphere at the start was very, very flat. However it did eventually get going, and I have never, ever, seen a crowd in a stadium react as they did with Vertigo. That song alone probably made going along worthwile.
What really, really, got my goat though was Bono's patronising political bulls
tting. At one point he had 40 backpackers on stage whilst he sang some bks about Ang Sui Kui (sp - sorry). I know it's important, but I don't need to be patronised at a bloody rock concert. The people next to us in the posh seats walked out at this point, never to return, and the queues at the bar whilst this was going on were massive.However it did pick up again, only for him to return to his bulls
tting, and at that point he lost me, and very many others. A mediocre encore, with a totally bizarre last song ended the night in a very down beat manner. Talking with fans afterwards, the concensus was that it had been a very poor show. I had expected so much more.
On reflection, the best thing about last night was pursuading our driver to stop at a Kebab shop on the way home.
Have to agree, acoustics in the stadium were not great and I was stood there thinking that it would sound considerably better indoors - however, the whole idea of the 360 stage, was to play fewer gigs but to the same amount of people, so I suppose it comes to the detrement of the sound quality.
I did turn to my mate saying '...here he goes, Bono's getting political again', but these days, no U2 gig would be complete without him doing it, so it came as no surprise to me.
That said - I thought the light show - in particular the video screen, was very good - I'm a bit of a techno geek so tend to take some (if not more) interest in the logistical side of stadium gigs, then actually appreciating the music (!).
Also, it was my first time to the new Wembley, and initally was thinking it was going to take hours to get home, but overall I thought it's very well organised and was on the tube within 30 mins of the gig ending.
Overall I'd give it a thumbs up, but the Elevation gig in 01 (Earl's Court) was better . . . .
I did turn to my mate saying '...here he goes, Bono's getting political again', but these days, no U2 gig would be complete without him doing it, so it came as no surprise to me.
That said - I thought the light show - in particular the video screen, was very good - I'm a bit of a techno geek so tend to take some (if not more) interest in the logistical side of stadium gigs, then actually appreciating the music (!).
Also, it was my first time to the new Wembley, and initally was thinking it was going to take hours to get home, but overall I thought it's very well organised and was on the tube within 30 mins of the gig ending.
Overall I'd give it a thumbs up, but the Elevation gig in 01 (Earl's Court) was better . . . .
had ham said:
Yup, my wife counted nearly 35 large trucks outside from the window in the bar. Hypocrits in the extreme.
She wouldn't have seen the others parked in the undercroft. Most of those trucks are only for the technical equipment. A further 36 are required per staging system - and they have three. One in build/transit, one in use and one in strike/transit. 108 staging trucks in total.
Still, I bet U2 make the show generators use bio-diesel
tubbystu said:
had ham said:
Yup, my wife counted nearly 35 large trucks outside from the window in the bar. Hypocrits in the extreme.
She wouldn't have seen the others parked in the undercroft. Most of those trucks are only for the technical equipment. A further 36 are required per staging system - and they have three. One in build/transit, one in use and one in strike/transit. 108 staging trucks in total.
Still, I bet U2 make the show generators use bio-diesel
hole. had ham said:
tubbystu said:
had ham said:
Yup, my wife counted nearly 35 large trucks outside from the window in the bar. Hypocrits in the extreme.
She wouldn't have seen the others parked in the undercroft. Most of those trucks are only for the technical equipment. A further 36 are required per staging system - and they have three. One in build/transit, one in use and one in strike/transit. 108 staging trucks in total.
Still, I bet U2 make the show generators use bio-diesel
hole. Was glasvegas' drummer from "Faking it" or something?? Looked to be concentrating very hard on some simple rythyms.
Overall, I thought it was very good. Not excellent and not worth the hefty £65 we paid, but still good to have been able to see them perform some brilliant songs.would think twice before going again though.
I too left when the political st came on, but to my despair, the bar was closed. Dammit. Oh well, at least I got a little exercise rather than listen to some quiet drivel when there should be rock music playing!! Left after the encore pretty sharpish and got to the tube within 10 mins. Result.
Overall, I thought it was very good. Not excellent and not worth the hefty £65 we paid, but still good to have been able to see them perform some brilliant songs.would think twice before going again though.
I too left when the political s
t came on, but to my despair, the bar was closed. Dammit. Oh well, at least I got a little exercise rather than listen to some quiet drivel when there should be rock music playing!! Left after the encore pretty sharpish and got to the tube within 10 mins. Result.rumpelstiltskin said:
I think U2 is the only example of a band that i like that i've been put off liking them by one of their members,ie,Bono.He can quite easily seperate politics to outside the stadium and music in it but for whatever reason doesn't.Surely someone must have told him this at some stage?
One of those bands I wish I'd seen 15-20 years ago (at their peak, IMHO - Joshua Tree or Rattle & Hum), but I couldn't bring myself to see this time round (got offered 2 tickets for Friday, but @ £90 each - yeah, right...).
Glad I didn't, TBH - he REALLY winds me up now!
If it's any consolation, for ~£130 a fortnight ago I got to see Anthrax, Heaven & Hell, Linkin Park, Killing Joke, Machine Head, Alice in Chains, Limb Bizkit, NIN & Metallica. Oh, and Bjorn Again and a few other odds & sods...
I actually seen them on the Joshua tree tour in 87 at the S.E.C.C and they were brilliant.Played Unforgettable fire for first time in a while at the SECC and i about wet myself,well it was my first gig ever! During the day they warmed up with of all things 'Christmas in Hollis',later to appear on a Christmas compilation.I actually thought his voice was sounding quite good in the clips i've seen of this Wembley gig,especially in Ultraviolet,one of the few songs i've liked lately.I seem to find myself liking their ballads more for some reason,Stay,One etc.Don't understand why they've never played sort of homecoming for years,another one of my favourites of old.
During the day they warmed up with of all things 'Christmas in Hollis',later to appear on a Christmas compilation.I actually thought his voice was sounding quite good in the clips i've seen of this Wembley gig,especially in Ultraviolet,one of the few songs i've liked lately.I seem to find myself liking their ballads more for some reason,Stay,One etc.Don't understand why they've never played sort of homecoming for years,another one of my favourites of old.I was standing front of the pitch on friday and and near the back in a seat on saturday and sound was OK for me in those places (as god as you can expect i spose).
I prefer a normal screen set up tbh for reason i wont bother going into.
relativley speaking these shows had very little political talk from bono - did you go to the Vertigo tours? he did much more back then.
I prefer a normal screen set up tbh for reason i wont bother going into.
relativley speaking these shows had very little political talk from bono - did you go to the Vertigo tours? he did much more back then.
LaSarthe+Back said:
Was glasvegas' drummer from "Faking it" or something?? Looked to be concentrating very hard on some simple rythyms.
Overall, I thought it was very good. Not excellent and not worth the hefty £65 we paid, but still good to have been able to see them perform some brilliant songs.would think twice before going again though.
I too left when the political st came on, but to my despair, the bar was closed. Dammit. Oh well, at least I got a little exercise rather than listen to some quiet drivel when there should be rock music playing!! Left after the encore pretty sharpish and got to the tube within 10 mins. Result.
Did you leave at the end of the first or second encore?Overall, I thought it was very good. Not excellent and not worth the hefty £65 we paid, but still good to have been able to see them perform some brilliant songs.would think twice before going again though.
I too left when the political s
t came on, but to my despair, the bar was closed. Dammit. Oh well, at least I got a little exercise rather than listen to some quiet drivel when there should be rock music playing!! Left after the encore pretty sharpish and got to the tube within 10 mins. Result.I was wondering why some people had left before they had played One, Bad, Ultraviolet, With or Without you and Moment of Surrender, thats almost a third of the gig!
Mojooo said:
LaSarthe+Back said:
Was glasvegas' drummer from "Faking it" or something?? Looked to be concentrating very hard on some simple rythyms.
Overall, I thought it was very good. Not excellent and not worth the hefty £65 we paid, but still good to have been able to see them perform some brilliant songs.would think twice before going again though.
I too left when the political st came on, but to my despair, the bar was closed. Dammit. Oh well, at least I got a little exercise rather than listen to some quiet drivel when there should be rock music playing!! Left after the encore pretty sharpish and got to the tube within 10 mins. Result.
Did you leave at the end of the first or second encore?Overall, I thought it was very good. Not excellent and not worth the hefty £65 we paid, but still good to have been able to see them perform some brilliant songs.would think twice before going again though.
I too left when the political s
t came on, but to my despair, the bar was closed. Dammit. Oh well, at least I got a little exercise rather than listen to some quiet drivel when there should be rock music playing!! Left after the encore pretty sharpish and got to the tube within 10 mins. Result.I was wondering why some people had left before they had played One, Bad, Ultraviolet, With or Without you and Moment of Surrender, thats almost a third of the gig!
We saw people leaving before the first encore, quite shocking.
To be fair to wembley and the tube.. they did manage to shift an awful lot of people very quickly into wemlbey park station
both times i stayed til the end of the gig and was easily behind many thousand people - but managed to get onto a tube within 25 minutes both times.
there was a couple of worrying moments when they held the queue back due to congestion in the station but it only last 5-10 minutes at a time
certainly worth the extra hassle to stay til the end IMO.
both times i stayed til the end of the gig and was easily behind many thousand people - but managed to get onto a tube within 25 minutes both times.
there was a couple of worrying moments when they held the queue back due to congestion in the station but it only last 5-10 minutes at a time
certainly worth the extra hassle to stay til the end IMO.
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