Tag Archives: U2

Leading up to the show, J was supposed to teach blackjack and wouldn’t be able to go, so I finally sold his ticket (and another) to my boss Nick and his wife Lisa. Then the class gets cancelled, so I have to buy J another ticket so he could go again lol. So we met up at their house, then went to Ken’s to hang out before hand, have some drinks and food, and head to the stadium. I had wanted to get there around doors open, but that didn’t happen and we got there by 7, which was ok. Found Kate and her boyfriend, and were decently close. Nick was amazed at how close we were, he had never been that close at a concert before. Is he nuts?!?! lol Where else do you go watch a show from?! Ended up meeting up with some other coworkers who found us on the floor, it was a good time.

Beck opened, and he was fantastic. By far the best U2 opener since Garbage in 2001. Lots of energy, good songs, even if I only knew 3 (plus a new one that I didn’t know was Beck, which they play at work).

As for the show, it was basically the same as the previous 2, except they switched out Miss Sarajevo (thankfully), and added Mysterious Ways. They sounded great, though I think Bono sounded better in June. They seemed to be having a good time on stage, which is always a plus. It ALMOST started raining during Running to Stand Still, which LeighAnne agreed would have been epic.

Nick and Lisa were appropriately impressed (they had never seen U2 before, and I wouldn’t call them fans) which is always a good thing. They both said they’d go see them again, and even hours later Nick was still all “what a show!” Sometimes I wish I could go back in time, or get amnesia and see my favourite bands for the first time again. That feeling of awe and being impressed.

from @u2.com: It was a spirited evening tonight as The Joshua Tree 2017 tour rolled into New Era Field in Orchard Park, New York. Throughout the show, the spirit of John Lennon provided inspiration as Bono added a snippet from “Give Peace A Chance” to “Pride”; a snippet from “Come Together” concluded “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For”; and a snippet of “Helter Skelter” ended “Vertigo.” Bono recalled the band’s first visit to Buffalo in 1980, on the night Lennon was murdered.

Bono also spoke about the DREAMers: 800,000 undocumented young immigrants impacted by the rescinding of the DREAM Act (Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act) by the current U.S. administration. He said at the end of “In God’s Country,” “We Irish were the DREAMers of our day. Economic refugees. We must not forget that.” He then dedicated “Trip Through Your Wires” to the DREAMers.

Hurricanes Harvey and Irma were also featured during the show. There was a lyrical shift in “Where The Streets Have No Name” — “I want to take shelter from the hurricane.” As in Detroit, “One” encouraged people to text The Red Cross with a donation to help with the hurricane relief efforts. Bono said ahead of “One”:

This country has been a second home for this band and it is an amazing country and we feel very blessed to be a part, even a tiny part, of your lives. America. Not just a country, an idea. A great idea. One of the best ideas ever. Recently, we’ve seen a twisting of that idea. Stirring animosity. Summoning hatred. Bitter division here in the United States of America. After Hurricane Harvey, watching Texans crossing every kind of divide to help their neighbor, that’s helped the world remember the kind of America that is always here.

“One” ended with a few lines of “Drowning Man,” marking only the 30th time that song has been snippeted. “Drowning Man” has never been peformed in full.

Sunday Bloody Sunday
New Year’s Day
Bad
Pride
Where The Streets Have No Name
I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For
With Or Without You
Bullet The Blue Sky
Running To Stand Still
Red Hill Mining Town
In God’s Country
Trip Through Your Wires
One Tree Hill
Exit
Mothers Of The Disappeared
Encore
Beautiful Day
Elevation
Vertigo
Mysterious Ways
Ultraviolet (Light My Way)
One

Another U2 show!! We left around 2 with  4pm ETA so we could meet up with a coworker who I bought tickets for. We didn’t get there until close to 6pm. UGH TRAFFIC!!!! Lei wasn’t leaving until she got out of work at 5, with all the traffic she was kinda worried about making it in time. She missed the Lumineers (who J and I decided all sound the same and were relatively boring), but made it with plenty of time for U2 and found us back on the field. I had told her we NEEDED to see this show together, since we had seen so many together in the last 12 years, and I knew how much she loves Joshua Tree. Plus she was FINALLY going to be able to see Running To Stand Still, and I knew she was going to die. And she did LOL. She cried during Bad in the beginning set, and of course during RTSS she was balling, which made me cry hahaha. I’m so happy she got to see the show, she loved it, as expected. J said it was good but I can’t tell what he really thought. He wasn’t blown away like I always want him to be when I take him to something I love. But it’s the same in reverse, I don’t get excited about his bands either.

The show was a little different than Pittsburgh, adding in Bad (ok apparently they did play Bad in Pittsburgh but I don’t remember it at all oops), and Vertigo, and closing with I Will Follow instead of the new song.

Sunday Bloody Sunday
New Year’s Day
Bad
Pride
Where The Streets Have No Name
I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For
With Or Without You
Bullet The Blue Sky
Running To Stand Still
Red Hill Mining Town
In God’s Country
Trip Through Your Wires
One Tree Hill
Exit
Mothers Of The Disappeared

Encore
Miss Sarajevo
Beautiful Day
Elevation
Vertigo
Ultraviolet (Light My Way)
One
I Will Follow

It was an excellent show again, looking forward to the Buffalo show in Sept. I’d like to be a little closer, because the stage seems a bit low, so I couldn’t see them that well. It didn’t matter that much, because I focused on the giant screen, and got a different perspective on all the graphics than in Pittsburgh. It didn’t make me feel like I was going to fall haha. Had a great time regardless!

Tuesday night, we were in bed by 11pm, so we could get up early to drive to Pittsburgh for the U2 show. We were going to meet up with Kate and her friends, and later Meredith and her gf before heading home. I did the usual, play games on the phone, read on the phone, to try to get tired while J fell asleep right away, but I just wasn’t tired. Finally after a few hours, I decided to finally try to sleep. J woke up shortly after, played on his phone, got up, came back to bed, got up again. It had been like 4 hours now. No sleep. Finally I sort of dozed off, only to be jarred back awake by J choking. Or rather, throwing up. J hasn’t thrown up in 35 years. But he’s barfing like crazy, clearly sick. Our guess was food poisoning from Pho Dollar, where we had gotten food before going home. We joked around that his shrimp and pork stir fry only had 2 shrimp on it, but thank god, cuz who knows how much more sick he would have gotten (it wasn’t the pork as I had a piece.) Ugh, so now he’s sick, and dying because he’s a boy, so my no sleep continued. Hour after hour went by, 9:30 alarm time inching closer. I tried to sleep on the couch, no luck. He said he was still going to go to the show, but after I got up and showered I convinced him that it was probably not a good idea (which later in the afternoon, he agreed), and sadly he stayed home.

So I picked him up some things, posted my extra ticket on Interference and drove down to PA. Parked at Rivers casino, met up with Kate and the and went over to the stadium. We got in line at about 3:30, got wrist banded (#622), and met up with this guy JD who bought my ticket. I told him he didn’t have to hang out with us after we got into the stadium, but he did, and it was cool, he was a nice guy who had come in from Ohio. Chatted with some other people in line, and got let in around 5. We had been nervous about the weather as rain had been predicted, at least in the afternoon, if not evening as well. It was on the cooler side, and overcast most of the day, which was actually perfect weather for an outdoor concert. It wasn’t hot, I was not sweating and people were not smelly. There was a nice breeze to keep things comfortable and it didn’t rain!

The Lumineers opened. I can’t say it was someone I’d have seen otherwise, and they are not a band I’d choose to listen to but their hour on stage wasn’t bad.

The stage…was HUGE. One huge LED screen, with nothing else on stage for U2. No speaker stacks (must have been behind the screen), no props, just a giant screen with a Joshua tree on it. Trent will probably be jealous because those screens were put to great use displaying super sharp imagery, which sometimes made me ill because it was moving, and it was almost 3d and it made me think I was falling a few times (like how I can’t do simulator rides at amusement parks anymore).

I was so excited when they announced they were playing all of the Joshua Tree, as even though it’s not my favourite album, there are so many songs I’ve never seen, and probably WOULD never see if they weren’t going to play the entire album. I got a little butterfly-y in my stomach waiting for it to start, which hasn’t happened to me in a long long time. The stage also had a walkway with a 2nd stage mid field, as they have had for the last several tours, and they actually started the show by Larry first walking out to a drum kit out there, and the rest of the band members each joining him to open with Sunday Bloody Sunday. They did a kind of “Greatest Hits” of their early era before returning to the main stage to begin with JT. That’s where the screen kicked in, with all sorts of nature, and “Americana” imagery to accompany each song from the album.

Holy Crap. While the album opens with songs that are staples in their sets the last 30 years, so everyone was familiar with them, they still sounded great, and Bullet the Blue Sky may have been the best I’ve ever heard it. I had forgotten just how awesome it is live. The Edge just killed it. He killed the entire show. You don’t think of the Joshua Tree as a “guitar” record, but holy shit, Edge just shined all night. He also played a lot of piano, like the usual New Years Day, but also for Running To Stand Still instead of a guitar. RTSS may have been stronger in the past, but it was still fantastic to see again, and LeighAnne will die when she finally gets to see it in a few weeks when we go to the Toronto show. Kate wasn’t impressed with Red Hill Mining town, but I thought it was really good, and over the last few months I was looking forward to Trip Through Your Wires I had forgotten it was coming, and was impressed and reminded all over again that I had been wanting to see it lol. I never listen to Mothers of the Disappeared but I admit it was well done. The only song I thought was meh was One Tree Hill, and mainly just because of the end, Bono doesn’t do the “it’s raining” part well.

After they finished the album, the “encore” was a “Greatest Hits” of the days following the JT era, like One, and Beautiful Day. They closed with a new song, Kate wasn’t sure I’d like because it’s slow, and I’d say she was right. It picks up at the end but overall it didn’t impress me.

But the rest….the rest was just so good. It was fun to be there with Kate, and I told LeighAnne that even if we don’t drive to TO together, we have to watch the show together. It’s going to be great. And hopefully J doesn’t get sick again (although, if he did, U2 announced a Sept show in Buffalo, which we will also be going to, assuming I get tickets on Monday).

Since I had gotten zero hours of sleep the night before, plus really only getting about 5 before that, I scrapped the original plan to drive home after the show. Driving by myself, in the dark, with no sleep was not going to be a good idea so I crashed on Meredith’s couch for the night, and headed home in the morning. It’s a 3.5 hour drive, and not a bad one at all. I feel like we should visit Pittsburgh more often, I like it far better than Cleveland haha.

Setlist:
Sunday Bloody Sunday
New Year’s Day
Bad
Pride (In the Name of Love)

The Joshua Tree:
Where the Streets Have No Name
I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For
Play Video
With or Without You
Bullet the Blue Sky
Running to Stand Still
Red Hill Mining Town
In God’s Country
Trip Through Your Wires
One Tree Hill
Exit
Mothers of the Disappeared

Encore:
Miss Sarajevo
Ultraviolet (Light My Way)
One
Beautiful Day
Elevation
The Little Things That Give You Away

Oh yeah, Exit was fantastic. And before the show JD had asked, what U2 song do you think “defines” them as a band…he picked Sunday Bloody Sunday, Kate picked Until The End of the World, but it was more that it defined them for her, and I picked New Years Day…we got 2 of three. I mentioned I could go the rest of my life never hearing Pride ever again, but I knew that was not happening (like Hurt), and I was going to say I never needed to hear Miss Sarajevo again LOL got that too. The only spoiler I told Lei was “you’re still going to have to hear fucking Miss Sarajevo” since that’s the song that replaced RTSS on the Vertigo tour, which made her never get to hear it (yet).

Also, given that U2 is a political band, and we are in a contentious political era, the show wasn’t very political. He didn’t really say that much, didn’t call Trump out though there was a small old timey (not sure if it’s old or new) video with a character named Trump, who appears to be a charlatan, and didn’t focus on “resisting” or anything like that. Ultraviolet was dedicated to women, and displayed photos of important historic and current women and women groups, but the performance did not sound as good to me as it did on the 360 tour. It sounded muddy like the sound levels were not set right.

U2 on tour again, yay. J ditched me for the show to go see some other show back in Buffalo so I recruited Mary to come with me. She hadn’t seen them before and figured they won’t be touring forever so…We were warned that traffic had been really bad because of the PanAm games, but it was the typical 2 hours and slow traffic on the highway. We were early enough to catch dinner first, and got in line right when doors were opening. (we are officially too old to queue).

No opener!

Bono came out from the zamboni entrance opposite from the stage, which made everyone go nutso. Bono sounds so good, it’s amazing. So many bands from the 90s that we all used to like, none of them can sing anymore. And Bono had been sounding rough for a while, but on 360 tour and this one, it’s incredible. Bravo to his coach and whatever routine that he has now, that he can do back to back nights with no problem.

U2 is such a joyful show. Even when it’s heavy, like this setlist is, it’s still like…a happy show. NIN shows aren’t happy. They’re awesome, but joyful is not a word to use there. But Bono walks on stage and you just feel joy. Even when he’s being annoying and talking too much, joy. It’s such a different feeling.

The band sounded great of course. I always have an issue with their set structures because they always tend to group all the new stuff together. They need to spread it out more. I understand that this tour they are really trying to tell a story, and maybe things need to be grouped, but…even as a giant fan, they start to lose me sometimes.

I don’t mind the new album, tho it’s not super exciting to me, and the new songs sounded much better live. Raised by Wolves, which is one I like, was really good. Until the End of the World was nice to hear, as always, though there was no “bull fight” and we were in prime position for it to happen right in front of us. Super glad they brought back Bullet the Blue Sky, I’d go to more shows just to hear that song.

The stage went the entire length of the ice, with a giant screen running the whole length. I think they must go to NIN shows to get stage ideas, because the screens had a walkway in between that the band went in, and performed behind the screens just like NIN. And the visuals on the screens would part so you could see them, just like NIN. And flourescent stage lights/art just like NIN. hahah.

They performed Mysterious Ways on the small stage, and a girl had a sign that said Me + Guitar etc, so Bono brought her up on stage. Except he couldn’t actually see the sign and thought she was a belly dancer, so she got to spin around with Bono when he realized she wasn’t actually a dancer, and after the song he told her he had glaucoma and couldn’t read LOL They kept her up there and gave her a guitar, and she got to play Angel of Harlem and All I Want Is You with them. And she could actually play, unlike the Hamilton show way back in 2001. It was cool. After that Edge had technical problems with the guitar he needed, and he was mad so they brought out the piano and sent Larry and Adam away and did a different song.

And Bono did the Shine like Stars ending to With or Without You!! I almost cried. So great.

Besides having to suffer through a video break of Johnny Cash singing The Wanderer it was a great show. The new stuff sounded good, the old stuff was great of course (though I can still go without ever seeing Pride ever again), and there were only 2 songs I wasn’t familiar with. It was a good time, kinda wish I got to see the previous night. Hoping they do another leg next year.

The Miracle (Of Joey Ramone)
The Electric Co. / Send In The Clowns (snippet)
Vertigo
I Will Follow
Iris (Hold Me Close)
Cedarwood Road
Song For Someone
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Raised By Wolves
Until The End Of The World
(Intermission)
Invisible
Even Better Than The Real Thing
Mysterious Ways
Angel Of Harlem
All I Want Is You
Every Breaking Wave
Bullet The Blue Sky
Pride (In The Name Of Love)
Beautiful Day
With Or Without You / Shine Like Stars (snippet)

encore(s):
City Of Blinding Lights
Mother And Child Reunion (snippet)
Where The Streets Have No Name
One

my 10th u2 show was with frank and kate in pittsburgh, the last US show of the 360 tour. we headed down around noon, met meredith at a restaurant called Fat Heads which was fantastic – 40 different kinds of beer on tap, and huge portions of really yummy food. found our way to heinz field, which seemed smaller than i expected and claimed our place on the floor. adam side, maybe 20 people back, right near the end of that leg of the claw.

the show was great, of course. same set list as the toronto show, but after they finished “moment of surrender”, they talked for a second and decided to play another song, “bad”. sweet. i felt sorta crappy and hot the whole show, by the time the encore and “one” came along i felt like i was going to pass out so i went out of the crowd and had to sit on the gross metal floor for the rest of the encore. that’s ok tho. you can see everything on the giant claw screens.

walking to the car afterward we got passed by u2’s motorcade, each member in their own suv (so if they crash they don’t all die? like the president and vp? lol). that was stupidly cool to see hahaha

“Thank you for your patience,” Bono said “Some of you were two years younger when you bought tickets for tonight’s show.”

Finally the day came to see U2 in Toronto. I only had the tickets since November 2009….it was Cassie’s birthday, and she wanted to leave at 5am, so I got out of work, jumped in the shower, LeighAnne picked us up and we headed out to the Rogers Center, getting there around 7am. There were more people there at 7am than there were in 2009 when we got there after 10. Bummer. We ended up numbers 304-306 and settled in for the long, hot, day. I tried to sleep in line but that didn’t work out too well so I gave up. It was hot. It was maybe going to rain but it didn’t. So it was hot. Did I mention it was hot? When the clouds were around it wasn’t too bad, nice temperature and a breeze, but when the sun came out we roasted. It was unpleasant. And I am sunburned, yet again, even though I put on 70 spf at home and used someone’s 45 spf in line…great. They let us in at 5 I think…maybe it was 4, but either way we mostly got the same spot, rail outside, that Cassie and I had in 09 2nd show. And then I got a phone call from a guy I sold my extra ticket to, and someone else’s extra, and it ruined everything. The one ticket (NOT MINE) was invalid, it had been reported lost and a refund issued. Awesome. wtf. So that pretty much ruined my night, as I had to talk to him a few times on the phone and he was understandably upset, and then figure out what went on on the other end. It made me feel sick, plus the fact I hadn’t sleep in 32 hours at that point, I ended up leaving our spot with Lei and heading to the back of the field for the show. I was able to sit/lay down during Interpol (who were so boring), and just relax. I felt bad for leaving Cassie alone at her birthday show, but I know I couldn’t have stayed there another hour before Interpol went on, and an hour after that for U2.

I had stayed away from online setlists, but I think I knew all the surprises anyway. Must say I was very pleased with the setlist, since it was very 90s heavy, opening with 4 songs from Achtung. yesssss. I can still complain, as 2 of the 3 songs from No Line On The Horizon I think are 2 of the worst songs U2 has ever done, and they should change them out for “Breathe” and “Magnificent” but really, overall, fantastic set. The band sounded great, Bono was in top form after his back breaking injury, just excellent. Yes I wish I could have stayed up front, but back on the lawn we had fun too. There are huge screens to watch so it’s not a big deal if you can’t see well.

Even Better Than The Real Thing
The Fly
Mysterious Ways
Until the End of the World (always a highlight)
I Will Follow
Get On Your Boots
I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For
Stay
Beautiful Day
Elevation
Pride
Miss Sarajevo
Zooropa (!!! totally awesome to hear)
City of Blinding Lights
Vertigo
I’ll Go Crazy (remix) – Discotheque (snippet, the most we’re ever going to get, so i’ll take it)
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Walk On

Encore(s):
One
Where the Streets Have No Name
Hold Me Thrill Me Kiss Me Kill Me (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! this made my life!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! sooooo awesome)
With or Without You
Moment of Surrender

Refound Cassie, headed out, construction traffic jam in Oakville as always (I’m not sure I’ve ever left a concert where there wasn’t construction traffic in Oakville) and got home around 2am….38 hours awake, not fun. I think this will be the last show I queue for…at least for a ridiculous amount of time. Definitely will never be queuing again on no sleep, that is for sure. Just too old for this now 🙂

Decided to go see U2 again in Pittsburgh on the 26th. It’s the last US show of the last leg of the tour (they added a date someplace in Canada). Managed to get tickets on stubhub for only $50 after fees…!!! Ridiculously cheap ($20 under face). So Kate, who was unable to get off of work for this show, and Frank and I are gonna go. No queueing tho!!! 🙂 And I decided to sell my APC tickets for Pittsburgh in August, cuz I don’t think I’d enjoy sitting through the Emotive setlist again. They are listed on stubhub for $50, hopefully they sell (it’s my first time buying and selling through there).