(no subject)
u2 in toronto sept 16 and 17
things didn't really go as planned, as kate had to cancel because she couldn't find her passport, and leighanne had to cancel because at the last minute her work wouldn't give her her time off :( so it ended up just being me and cassie heading up to toronto for the 2 shows. because of traffic we didn't end up getting to the rogers centre until just after 10am, and were 272 in line. not too bad. we were aiming to get inside the circle, towards the back center and the story was that 2500 people can fit inside so it didn't look like a problem. hung out at the venue the whole day with walks back and forth to the hotel. got let in around 5:30 and ended up basically where we wanted to be on the inside of the stage. snow patrol went on at quarter after 7, and they weren't bad. i didn't know them, so i was expecting whiney emo stuff, and it wasn't so that was good :) i wouldn't listen to them on my own, but they were better than the openers in 05.
u2 went on just before 9, with bowie's "space oddity" as the intro song. yay bowie. u2 came out opening with "breathe" which was very good. the crowd however, sucked ass. they were completely not into the show, not cheering or singing or moving or anything. wth. it was bizarre and crappy. once again, for reasons i can't comprehend, u2 starts their show with the majority of their new material. it all sounded great, but why not space it out? whatev. "magnificent" was a little disappointing, it lacked the epicness that i was expecting, and i think i figure out that it was because larry's drums weren't loud enough. it has such a driving beat that needed to be brought out more. the "i'll go crazy..." remix was a bit reggae and fun, and it made the song tolerable as long as you pay no attention to the crappy motivational speaker lyrics :) "moment of surrender", the closer, is still crap. bono's vocals sound painful. but edge and adam sounded good. it was nice to hear "stay" again as i had only heard it at my very first show in 2001. "until the end of the world" and "ultraviolet" were awesome, as is anything from achtung baby hehe. bono hit himself in the face with the mic during "one" i think, when he went to say something to the crowd haha. "unforgettable fire" was pretty great, especially with the way their light screens move down forming a big red cone above the band. all in all, it was a good show. the crowd still seemed pretty crappy through out. part of me wondered if it just sounded quiet because it was outside with the dome open, as opposed to in an arena where the crowd noise would be echoing around. but then the 2nd night the crowd was way louder, so it must not have been the open dome.
the next day was more of the same, getting in line earlier than the day before but being almost 100 back from where we were the day before. but once again it wasn't a bad spot. we aimed for outside stage rail, edge side, and got it. it was a much better vantage point, as i am spoiled with always being on the rail and being able to see. i didn't like having to look around heads to see the stage the night before, and this position meant no one in front of us. woo. 2nd night got some set list changes including "mysterious ways" which is a rarity on this tour. bono also did something he hadn't done yet this tour, and brought someone on stage...he pulled a little kid, maybe 9 years old, up out of the inner crowd onto one of the moving bridges. it was a bit scary cuz i was sure he'd drop he kid or separate the kid's shoulder haha. but the kid made it up on the bridge in time for "city of blinding lights", ran around the catwalk with bono, got to wear bono's glasses, and had bono sing to him. how awesome! what a great story to tell at school the next day. there are high rise apartment buildings around rogers center, and at one point bono was talking and called out to the buildings, asking anyone who was watching the show from the top floors to flash their lights, and a few apartments did hahahaha. edge's mic stoped working at one point, and while they fixed it bono gave a speech about all the celebrities he had run into around town while doing his laundry, and other places, and closed it with "then i went back to my hotel and megan fox was there" hahahaha. everyone got a kick out of that one. anyway, another good show with a much better crowd.
sept 16
1. Breathe
2. No Line On The Horizon
3. Get On Your Boots
4. Magnificent
5. Beautiful Day/ Alison(Snippet)
6. I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
7. Elevation
8. Your Blue Room
9. Unknown Caller
10. Until The End Of The World
11. Stay (Faraway, So Close)
12. The Unforgettable Fire
13. City Of Blinding Lights
14. Vertigo/ Pump It Up (Snippet)
15. I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight (Remix)
16. Sunday Bloody Sunday
17. MLK
18. Walk On
19. One w/ Hear Us Coming/ Amazing Grace(Snippet)
20. Where The Streets Have No Name
Encore
21. Ultraviolet(Light My Way)
22. With or Without You
23. Moment Of Surrender
sept 17th
1. Breathe
2. No Line On The Horizon
3. Get On Your Boots
4. Magnificent
5. Mysterious Ways
6. Beautiful Day
7. Elevation
8. I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For/ Movin On Up(Snippet)
9. Unknown Caller
10. New Year's Day
11. Stuck In A Moment You Can't Get Out Of
12. The Unforgettable Fire
13. City Of Blinding Lights
14. Vertigo
15. I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight(Remix)/ Two Tribes(Snippet)
16. Sunday Bloody Sunday/ Rock The Casbah(Snippet)
17. MLK
18. Walk On
19. One/ Amazing Grace(Snippet)
20. Where The Streets Have No Name
Encore
21. Ultraviolet(Light My Way)
22. With or Without You
23. Moment Of Surrender
i'm not sure how i feel about stadium shows. you could hear a pretty bad echo during quieter songs like "one" and "with or without you", but over all the acoustics were decent. but arenas and their echoes sorta give a richness to the sound that i actually like. it was great to see a show in such a big place, but small is better. the claw stage set up looked very cool in the shadow of the cn tower, and under the open dome. it really was massive and scary looking haha. i had fun, that's all that matters.
things didn't really go as planned, as kate had to cancel because she couldn't find her passport, and leighanne had to cancel because at the last minute her work wouldn't give her her time off :( so it ended up just being me and cassie heading up to toronto for the 2 shows. because of traffic we didn't end up getting to the rogers centre until just after 10am, and were 272 in line. not too bad. we were aiming to get inside the circle, towards the back center and the story was that 2500 people can fit inside so it didn't look like a problem. hung out at the venue the whole day with walks back and forth to the hotel. got let in around 5:30 and ended up basically where we wanted to be on the inside of the stage. snow patrol went on at quarter after 7, and they weren't bad. i didn't know them, so i was expecting whiney emo stuff, and it wasn't so that was good :) i wouldn't listen to them on my own, but they were better than the openers in 05.
u2 went on just before 9, with bowie's "space oddity" as the intro song. yay bowie. u2 came out opening with "breathe" which was very good. the crowd however, sucked ass. they were completely not into the show, not cheering or singing or moving or anything. wth. it was bizarre and crappy. once again, for reasons i can't comprehend, u2 starts their show with the majority of their new material. it all sounded great, but why not space it out? whatev. "magnificent" was a little disappointing, it lacked the epicness that i was expecting, and i think i figure out that it was because larry's drums weren't loud enough. it has such a driving beat that needed to be brought out more. the "i'll go crazy..." remix was a bit reggae and fun, and it made the song tolerable as long as you pay no attention to the crappy motivational speaker lyrics :) "moment of surrender", the closer, is still crap. bono's vocals sound painful. but edge and adam sounded good. it was nice to hear "stay" again as i had only heard it at my very first show in 2001. "until the end of the world" and "ultraviolet" were awesome, as is anything from achtung baby hehe. bono hit himself in the face with the mic during "one" i think, when he went to say something to the crowd haha. "unforgettable fire" was pretty great, especially with the way their light screens move down forming a big red cone above the band. all in all, it was a good show. the crowd still seemed pretty crappy through out. part of me wondered if it just sounded quiet because it was outside with the dome open, as opposed to in an arena where the crowd noise would be echoing around. but then the 2nd night the crowd was way louder, so it must not have been the open dome.
the next day was more of the same, getting in line earlier than the day before but being almost 100 back from where we were the day before. but once again it wasn't a bad spot. we aimed for outside stage rail, edge side, and got it. it was a much better vantage point, as i am spoiled with always being on the rail and being able to see. i didn't like having to look around heads to see the stage the night before, and this position meant no one in front of us. woo. 2nd night got some set list changes including "mysterious ways" which is a rarity on this tour. bono also did something he hadn't done yet this tour, and brought someone on stage...he pulled a little kid, maybe 9 years old, up out of the inner crowd onto one of the moving bridges. it was a bit scary cuz i was sure he'd drop he kid or separate the kid's shoulder haha. but the kid made it up on the bridge in time for "city of blinding lights", ran around the catwalk with bono, got to wear bono's glasses, and had bono sing to him. how awesome! what a great story to tell at school the next day. there are high rise apartment buildings around rogers center, and at one point bono was talking and called out to the buildings, asking anyone who was watching the show from the top floors to flash their lights, and a few apartments did hahahaha. edge's mic stoped working at one point, and while they fixed it bono gave a speech about all the celebrities he had run into around town while doing his laundry, and other places, and closed it with "then i went back to my hotel and megan fox was there" hahahaha. everyone got a kick out of that one. anyway, another good show with a much better crowd.
sept 16
1. Breathe
2. No Line On The Horizon
3. Get On Your Boots
4. Magnificent
5. Beautiful Day/ Alison(Snippet)
6. I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
7. Elevation
8. Your Blue Room
9. Unknown Caller
10. Until The End Of The World
11. Stay (Faraway, So Close)
12. The Unforgettable Fire
13. City Of Blinding Lights
14. Vertigo/ Pump It Up (Snippet)
15. I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight (Remix)
16. Sunday Bloody Sunday
17. MLK
18. Walk On
19. One w/ Hear Us Coming/ Amazing Grace(Snippet)
20. Where The Streets Have No Name
Encore
21. Ultraviolet(Light My Way)
22. With or Without You
23. Moment Of Surrender
sept 17th
1. Breathe
2. No Line On The Horizon
3. Get On Your Boots
4. Magnificent
5. Mysterious Ways
6. Beautiful Day
7. Elevation
8. I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For/ Movin On Up(Snippet)
9. Unknown Caller
10. New Year's Day
11. Stuck In A Moment You Can't Get Out Of
12. The Unforgettable Fire
13. City Of Blinding Lights
14. Vertigo
15. I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight(Remix)/ Two Tribes(Snippet)
16. Sunday Bloody Sunday/ Rock The Casbah(Snippet)
17. MLK
18. Walk On
19. One/ Amazing Grace(Snippet)
20. Where The Streets Have No Name
Encore
21. Ultraviolet(Light My Way)
22. With or Without You
23. Moment Of Surrender
i'm not sure how i feel about stadium shows. you could hear a pretty bad echo during quieter songs like "one" and "with or without you", but over all the acoustics were decent. but arenas and their echoes sorta give a richness to the sound that i actually like. it was great to see a show in such a big place, but small is better. the claw stage set up looked very cool in the shadow of the cn tower, and under the open dome. it really was massive and scary looking haha. i had fun, that's all that matters.