what can I expect at U2?

[Simon B]

So U2 have done a few shows around the country now, any idea what I have to expect next weekend?

Peoples thoughts, I have heard that the sound at homebush was quite laclustre, more venue fault then sound guy......

Cheers

[Kris]

Holy CRAP! What a show. U2 deserve the "greatest band in the world" title. In the last 2 years I have seen Live, Prince, Coldplay, Sigur Ros and a few more but nothing came close to last night.

Friday night the sound was less than stellar. There were some wireless issues and the sound was not as clear as I had hoped. I was in the A reserve. There was rain and lightning.... perhaps that contributed? But yeah, disappointing but only really in comparison to the next show.

Saturday night I was in the elipse. Sound was absolutely incredible, smack in the middle. Clean, clear and punchy but not offensive volume.

I felt though, that the band played SO much better on Saturday than they did on Friday. The band felt sloppy on Friday and Edge made a few mistakes too. There was only one mistake on Saturday, when Edge came in one bar too early after the breakdown in Elevation. It was cool seeing the ribbing he copped from the rest of the guys.

If I die tomorrow I would die a happy man. I was six feet from the band at various moments and watching them play so well and so passionately was just the most amazing experience. The production increased the vibe but even though the scale was huge it didn't detract from the band and the music.

I'm going again tomorrow night so I will post info on that when I can.

Enjoy the pics.

[Text_Edifice]

Expect a wait... We got there a good half hour before Kanye West was due to start and missed his entire set while waiting in line to get into the stadium (this might just be a Brisbane thing though).

Maybe my experience was tainted by the wait, or maybe the band were a little jet lagged, but to be honest I've seen better live shows in the past 12 months (most recently Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals).

Bono was singing really flat for the first couple of songs, missed several cues and you could tell the band weren't entirely on their game.

The whole thing felt a bit lacking in spontaneity as well - the band just looked like they were playing through set pieces. Bono pulls child on stage from crowd, Bono rants on local political issue, Bono advertises make poverty history and gets the crowd to SMS their support (actually that was kinda cool!), etc. I was surprised by how little the rest of the band made use of the stage (in comparison to previous tours) - in fact the whole show kind of hinges on Bono's charisma though admittedly there's a lot of it.

To top it all off the sound wasn't great... but it wasn't loud either and I could conmfortably take out my plugs halfway through.

The music was great and U2 are one of my all time favourite bands but I don't think I'd do the stadium rock experience again any time soon.

[Luke Garfield]

I was a bit unsure of my feelings about the show on Saturday night.

I was in the B reserve close to the floor on the left side of the stage (looking at the stage). My wife who is not an engineer and purely enjoys music said the sound was poor to begin with - she was quite right.

It was very muddy in the bass and low mids at the start of the show (I had in molded plugs with -5db attenuators) which excentuates this but I had made sure to wear them for some time before the show started to allow my ears to adjust). When I took them out to take a listen the sound was very washy, understandably so given the venue.

However it did take quite a few songs to sort out the balance and even after an hour of the show Bono's vocals were still clipping in the "louder" songs. I felt the PA was a little under powered in this respect but this was the biggest show I had been too and I'm not sure what the norm is. I was with 3 other people including my wife and by the end of the show they all had some hearing fatigue which has passed today so for a 2 1/2 hour show it must have been a quite acceptable level. I can imagine it would have been much fuller where Kris was.

The Edges guitar sounds were spot on but seemed a little swallowed or overpowered from time to time. Keeping in mind there was a little wind during the show and that was blowing the sound around a little.

Larry was tight and looking serious as ever - drums seemed to lack the power I was expecting. He did a drum intro to Vertigo and it was quite full but lacking the oomph. I guess it was a bit of a MOR mix for the wide spread of punters attending.

Adam's bass sound has always been a little weak in the live shows I've seen on DVD IMO but still holds things together. It was probably a little more filled out last night - which is cool.

THE VIBE

Both my wife and I who are strong fans of the band went away a little unsure of how we felt about the whole show.

As Kris said the band was tight and I particularily thought the edges sounds were nailed. Bono put on a stellar vocal performance.

I think I was "distracted" by the constant barrage of "messages" that Bono was trying to send out. Now don't get me wrong I agree with much of what he is saying. I was happy to support "Make Poverty History" and I thought that was a highly effecctive way to put across that message. But I felt that they over-shadowed what the whole experience is - it is music with soul. I think the songs speak for themselves.

It's very hard for me to pin-point what it is that bothered me about it as I also feel strongly about the issues but really felt that the music had lost it's potency - which can be far more moving and effective than "propaganda" ... I think there is other times and places for some of what was said.

In all. A very cool show which I quite enjoyed and am glad I saw. Thanks for the pics Kris. Once I was inside I wished I had tried to smuggle my camera in as my phone is of the mega-pixeless kind.

Too anyone else who's going to the shows - don't take the negative points of my post along with you - go and enjoy it with a fresh perspective. Maybe I'll feel differently about it in a few days ;-)

PS. We walked straight to our seats with no lines and no waits. Kanye West had done half his set but we weren't that concerned. CROWD HIGHLIGHT - The guy in A reserve who kept stealing the beach balls from the standing section much to the crowds applause and amusement. He also started the mexican wave that made it round the Stadium at least 5 times. Security were "cooly" relaxed about the whole beach ball thing which was cool of them.

[Simon B]

Kris those pics are awesome.......

the pic of bono gives a really good example of the guitar rack for edge.
I am suprised he uses a pod pro let alone 2 of them..... and the only other bit of rack gear I can guarentee from looking is four tc 2290's

[Simon B]

also, now I feel old...... in my day........ well along time before my day, people use to show respect with lighters...... now they have been replaced by mobile phones

and I am only 24

[astrovic]

Simon, in which case you would have been about 11 when I saw U2 in '93 (or thereabouts) at the MCG - it was all lighters back then, especially cos holding up a Motorola "brick" in those days for a 6 minute ballad would wear your arm out!



Yeah, I know mobiles by then were a lot smaller (and you wouldn't wave them above your head either!) - I just wanted to refer to the brick for added effect. Then again, I kinda like the thought of 10,000 punters waving their mobiles around like idiots!

FWIW, they are an awesome live band - but from 5 billion rows back at the MCG, they could have been just about anyone. I haven't done a "stadium" gig like that since as I miss the intimacy

[Kris]

Monday night show....

Much louder than Saturday. It was obvious from the first note, I was almost ducking for cover when Edge went up high. The other giveaway was that, standing in the elipse (again!!!) I could hear the reverberations from the back of the stadium. I couldn't hear that on Saturday.

The whole vocal/guitar mix seemed to have some serious presence/mids boosted compared to the Saturday show. Band was firing on some songs but not so on others.

For me, all three shows were just awesome but Saturday night was definitely the highlight. With regards to sound issues all I can say is loud music and concrete don't mix. But I had a blast and made some new friends so that was cool.

oh yeah, the mobile phone thing looked mad. I'll post a pic soon.

anyway.... kris = tired + happy + inspired.

[Chris H]

Try this for a U2 experiance!!!
Saw it on another forum and had to pass it on.
http://theshermanfoundation.blogspot.co ... -bank.html

[Sheer Noise]

I couldn't watch it... I got to the first "one bank" and had to stop it... that's terrible!!!!

Hahaha.

[Roy]

Whoa! That's really bad because they seem so serious. It doesn't appear to be a joke. Very, very disturbing.

[smash]

Well slightly late but here are my thoughts.

I went Saturday night - not in the ellipse, but near it, and Monday night, in one of the corportate boxes, partly listening off delay's partly off the main rig.

First impressions: Saturday - Spectacular. Monday- Great.

Saturday night I heard probably the best live mix I have possibly ever heard.

The Kick drum had both weight ( you could feel it) and Clarity ( it wasn't muddy), I could easily distunguish individual bass notes, and not just a wash, Edge's guitar sounded amazing, and I thought the vocals were brilliantly mixed.

I was actually very impressed with the sound, and when you add the vibe of being with that many other people who are just as excited as you are, it was unbeatable.

Monday Night was a little different.

In the box, the sound was still good, but it was much more constrained by environmental factors.

The delay stacks were vissible swaying in the wind and the vocal sound seemed to be coming in and out of phase with itself.

My little sister, who is a musician/songwriter, but not a "sound person" said to her that the vocal would sound really clear, than muddy, than really clear, then, muddy etc.

In any case, I and my group of friends still had a brilliant night, and our "singing" totally blocked out the vocals anyway.

I think the fact will always remain that the best sound in an event like this will always be had on the floor, which is why I generally get my tickets there, and you are able to be more relaxed in the stands.

That's my experience anyway.

[Simon B]

I just saw the edge and bono perform with pearl jam at the make poverty history concert in melbourne....... shock!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I never expected that....... my god

evermore played as well........ not really a huge fan but their performance was incredible....

walk in.... dave hueghes walks out and then after a bit of jabbering.... please welcome "pearl jam" silence for about 5 seconds... then the realisation he just said pearl jam

[Roy]

Here's something I found on eBay. Thought it was interesting. I'm guessing Rick would probably know something about it. Pretty expensive listen. Only for a collector.

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/U2-desire-MEGA-R ... dZViewItem

[smash]

How do we know that someone didn't just dump a DAT of Desire onto Red Vinyl themselves and write "Desire" on it?

[Roy]

Hahaha! That's a good point Smash. So is the fact that it's a huge amount of money that could buy a nice mic or pre amp.