Review submitted by forum admin ShadowMac
This was my third U2 concert, first on this tour and first in 6 years. I drove from out of state, got into my hotel, then got up early to head over to the stadium. We arrived around 9am and were told that security would be giving each of us numbered wrist bands. We were in the high 100s. After getting the wrist bands, we were told that we could leave the premises and return by 2pm to line up for the concert, based upon our numbers.
That left the niece and I with 4 hours of free time, which was wonderful. Seriously, I hope all U2 concerts are run this way because it was nice to be able to explore the city and still wait in line for a good spot in GA. It was a fair process and a smooth one.
We used the time to walk the downtown area (beautiful despite the gloomy weather) and visit a local art museum. We had time to spare after that and used it to walk the area right around the stadium. We figured out where the band was set to enter (it was an obvious area where cars were constantly driving in/out of the stadium, with lots of security–just an FYI for anyone who wishes to meet the band). We stood behind the barricade setup by security and waited. Unfortunately, the band hadn’t arrived by the time we left to line back up in the GA line at 2.
We get back to the GA line and line up in order. Then we’re told security will let us leave the premises again, but we must be back and lined up in order again at 4pm.
So we use this time to head back over to where the band will enter. We wait again behind the barricade. By the time 4pm rolled around, the band still hadn’t arrived. Turns out, they did arrive a little after we left for the GA line and Bono got out to meet the fans/sign autographs. So had we not been in the GA line, we likely could’ve either gotten close to Bono or met him. Ah well.
We get back to the GA line by 4 and line up in order. We’re told that security will be bringing us into the stadium (after doing the typical security check) in groups of 50 fans (so 1-50, 51-100, 100-150 etc.). This was presumably done to prevent fans chaotically running into the stadium.
Unfortunately, the niece and I were forced to get GA tix off a resale site and experienced issues with the prepaid card at entry. After a trip to ticket resolution we were told that the card was invalid and not in the system. Not going to get into the whole tale (as it’s a long one), but basically the ticket resale site checked with the seller and the tickets were valid, so the resale site spoke with ticket resolution, gave all the order information, ticket resolution looked up the order and printed us hard tickets. So, yep, we got the elusive hard GA tickets, which is pretty cool in a way.
Anyway, we lost our 100-something spot in the line and were bumped to somewhere near 500 after security expedited us through the line to get us as close to our original spot as possible (pro tip: always be nice to security/stadium workers, calmly explain what happened, and they’ll often be very helpful and nice to you). This still got us a spot 2-3 people back on the b stage, right in front of Larry. By the end of the night, we were just 1 person back, as the crowd had shifted.
Now, onto the show itself. The Lumineers opened promptly at 7pm and played a 45 minute set. I don’t personally care for their music, but they sounded good and tried to interact with the crowd. Unfortunately, when they took the stage most of the stadium was empty. It filled up by the time U2 came on.
Before U2 took the stage, someone got a copy of the “schedule” from venue security and posted it online. It stated that U2 would take the stage at 8:40pm and finish somewhere around 11. This got our hopes up that U2 would play some extra songs.
Unfortunately, that did not happen. U2 took the stage around 850pm and finished about 1050pm. I’ve heard that ASOH was originally on the setlist but was dropped, not sure if this was in addition to Bad or in place of it.
As for the show itself? In a word: stunning and a little bit of sensory overload for those of us in GA at the b-stage. For the first 4 songs, we have to decide what to focus on–which individual band member or should I look at the big HD screen with graphics and video of the band? The band members are all within 5-10 feet of you and it’s a bit of a tough choice on who/what to focus on. But it’s really, really cool.
Bono seemed to be very energetic and into the crowd, even if the crowd wasn’t necessarily into him–without talking politics and breaking the rule here, I have heard feedback from some who attended the show that they did not appreciate the political “lectures” from Bono. Presumably, Bono sensed this as he mentioned toward the start of the night that “all are welcome here, regardless of who you voted for.” That did little to please fans who were bothered by the message of unity, the refugee video, AIDS awareness, the Trump video etc.
As for me? I wasn’t at all bothered by it and actually thought it was VERY toned down in comparison to what I have seen of other tours. It seemed like Bono was trying hard to get the message out without offending, to try to preach unity/tolerance of all sides. But again, some people took it the wrong way and still felt the show was too political. In talking to people around the town after the show, I heard a lot of mentions of the political tone, almost as if they were surprised that U2–a band that has always been political–had been a little political at their show? It seems like maybe PA might be very sensitive about this issue? I can’t recall anyone complaining about the political overtones here in my state (which also leans right), but maybe I’m wrong.
The crowd around us seemed to be very into the show. Lots of singing along, lots of dancing. I don’t know how crowd participation was way up in the stands, but on the floor it seemed to be quite good. Not as energetic as Chicago, obviously, but still very energetic for a concert in general.
Sound-wise, the band sounded great from our place on the floor. Not too loud, not too quiet. Everything was crisp. I’ve been to plenty of shows, both stadium, arena, and smaller venues, and this was one of the best sounding ones. No distortion whatsoever. I’ve heard from some in the stands that the sound was not so good, but again, from our place it was perfect. Even listening back to the videos I took, it sounds very good.
I was particularly impressed by the visuals of the show–specifically those during TJT portion of the show. Streets is obviously iconic and seeing them pose in front of the red screen with tree (while simultaneously seeing the drumset lowered in front of us) was so freakin’ cool. The visuals really add to songs like Bullet and Exit, especially. The latter has never been a favorite of mine, but after seeing it live, I really really like it. It’s partially because of the visuals but also partially because of Bono’s new “alter ego”, Shadow Man. He really gets into the character and it is very entertaining to see, both on the screen and right in front of you on the catwalk or B stage. It also is a perfect way of “jazzing” up a song that otherwise might not stand out in the live show.
I don’t get the Salvation Army visual for RHMT, but it’s cool I suppose.
Speaking of songs I normally don’t like, the live performance of Wires really made me like the song more. It was an energetic, fun song live.
The post-JT set seems to flow pretty well considering the songs and how different they are. I particularly enjoyed Ultraviolet and the uplifting female message behind it and the visuals on screen. I also really enjoyed Miss Sarajevo and the accompanying video, which was very touching.
Beautiful Day and Elevation might not be die hard fan favorites, but they brought a lot of energy to the stadium after some solemn songs. Everyone around me was bouncing up and down for Elevation and they were also singing/dancing to BD. I really enjoyed the visuals for BD as they matched the song perfectly and really added to the experience. I think the Elevation/bridge part with Larry on screen is cute, considering how reserved/shy he is otherwise during the show.
Oh, and One? No matter how many songs I hear that song, I don’t think I’ll get tired of it or the message. It was every bit as good live at this show and seeing Adam join Bono on the B stage was sweet. The crowd around us seemed to like it a lot.
Ending with Little Things is a bit of a risk for sure, and I’m still not sure how I feel about it as a show closer. That said, it sounded good live (not as smooth as the Kimmel performance, obviously) although most around us did not know the words. I think it was a mistake for U2 to start playing it live without releasing it as a single so that fans could listen to it and maybe learn it before coming to the show. We knew the words, but that’s only because we’ve listened to the Kimmel performance. It’s very telling that even the “hardcore” fans in GA who waited many hours to get close did not know the lyrics, so I can only imagine that casual fans up in the stands had no idea what U2 was playing.
I did notice that fans in the stands began to leave during the last song. I think this was a combination of the old “leave before/during the encore to beat the concert traffic” thing and this being a new song with low interest. I don’t think it’s at all a poor reflection on U2’s live show, though.
People have been reporting online that Bono’s last words on stage right after Little Things was “well, it is Wednesday night” which was said in response to the crowd leaving early. That’s not what I or others heard, though. We heard Bono say “and that was just a Wednesday night!” which was presumably said as a compliment to the crowd energy (i.e. it’s a week night, but we still had a hell of a show with these fans). Again, Bono seemed to be very energetic and into the crowd all night, no hint of it being a low energy show on the band’s part, anyway.
All in all, I thought it was a terrific concert. Would I have enjoyed more songs? Of course. But I&E (with its 25 song setlist) was a bit of an outlier as other U2 tours have been closer to 22 songs. They play for just about 2 hours nonstop, with hardly a break, which I can imagine may be a little tough for Bono’s vocals at this stage. And the openers get 45 minutes, so it’s nearly a 3 hour concert when combining their time with U2’s. All that to say, I’d like to see them add more songs and, if necessary, take a longer break between the encores and perhaps start a little earlier in the night to deliver a longer concert.
I was especially happy to hear songs like NYD and Bad, both of which I had never heard live before. Bad sounded particularly good at this show and hearing the crowd participation + turning the lights out (and having the fans light up the stadium with their cell phones) was really cool.
I also want to give props to Heinz Stadium, their security, and the GA line runner for a very smooth, enjoyable queueing process. They really had their stuff together from start to finish and it showed. No snafus like in Vancouver or other cities.
My niece, being a U2 n00b, had a blast and was overwhelmed at the scale of the concert as she had never been to a concert of this size/scale before. I noticed a lot of younger fans in the crowd, which was awesome to see.
We’ll be headed to the Cleveland show in a few weeks and then Detroit in a few months. Very much looking forward to those shows, but secretly hoping that U2 changes up the setlist a bit before the Detroit show.
