Giants Stadium Meets Giants of Rock

About five months and three weeks shy of St. Patrick’s Day, the Irish rock band U2 is set to perform two concerts at Giants Stadium, with a massive stage and blizzard of lights complementing a raw sound that borders on rock ‘n’ roll religion.

U2 is scheduled to perform at the home of the Giants and Jets football teams in northern New Jersey tonight and Thursday. And Hudson Valley fans of the Dublin-based band have plenty to say about this ensemble’s new album, legacy and live performances.

U2TOURFANS File Photo “What I love about U2, besides their incredible musical talent, is the fact that they are rock stars with soul. They’re all high school friends who came together through their love of music. They’re not manufactured by a big music producer, they didn’t answer an ad in the paper, they came together as friends who enjoyed playing music and remain friends to this day.That’s what it means to have soul. They’re family men who realize family (in whatever sense you believe that to be) is more important than money or any of the luxuries that come with it.

“If all the fame and fortune went away, they’d be just as happy - that’s soul.

“They understand their fans are the ones who have gotten them where they are today, not their music. They thank their fans for blessing them with the life they’ve gotten to live - that’s soul.

“They are the only ones who can sell out stadiums across the globe, and can unite thousands of people though music. They know, in those crowds, there are friends and foes. They know if enemies can share one commonality, they could become friends - that’s soul.

Need to Know:

Weather:  Expected Rain tonight ( light )

Parking: No comments or issues on tailgating have been posted

Trains: All trains in and out are expected to be fully loaded

Tickets: Yes you can still get tickets on STUBHUB (We do not endorse)

Directions:
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Camera/Videos:  Remember the band has no offical comment. However you run the risk of some secuirty staffer trying to stop you. Remember if its small its good.

Twitter:  We will along with about 20 other people twitter the show.

 Photos/Videos:  We have a video drop box.

Size does matter, U2 overpowered

Review: Poor

Globe Staff / September 21, 2009

Editor Note: Be sure to see the video below.

The nearly sold-out crowd was indeed, but the show, which repeats tonight, didn’t quite take off like it should have. Instead it revved its motor, flashed its headlights, and stayed firmly grounded as U2 stumbled over an unlikely hurdle: a sprawling stage setup that often dulled the sensation of a tight-knit performance.

If there’s any outsize band with the charisma, chops, and catalog to pull off a tour of this magnitude, it’s U2. And it certainly tried, relying on Bono’s magnetism and his bandmates’ inspired playing, not to mention an audience that was clearly stoked.

The insurmountable problem, however, was the expanse of the stage, which connected to an outer circular one where Bono and guitarist the Edge and bassist Adam Clayton roamed like satellites. At times each member, in his own spotlight, was working a different part of the stadium, to the point that they sometimes lost the intimacy of playing as a unit.

Granted, these guys are so good and seasoned that they don’t need to be rubbing shoulders to convey their camaraderie. But when they really connected - when Bono seemed awed by the Edge’s acoustic accompaniment and backup singing on “Stuck in a Moment You Can’t Get Out Of,’’ or when Bono leaned into Clayton during the high point of “Elevation’’ - the chemistry was intense and contagious.

Entering to the swelling strains of David Bowie’s “Space Oddity,’’ a fitting opus for a show that was supposed to shoot into orbit, the band tore into “Breathe’’ with the Edge wailing lyrically as Bono slowly surveyed his devoted flock.

The arena anthems, which at a U2 concert tend to be shouted rather than sung, came fast and furious, from newer (“Get on Your Boots,’’ “Beautiful Day’’) to older (“Mysterious Ways,’’ “Sunday Bloody Sunday’’). It’s hard to deny the charm and vitality of those classics, which inadvertently made some of the more recent songs, especially the ones from the band’s latest album, “No Line on the Horizon,’’ pale even more than they should have.

“Magnificent’’ and “I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight,’’ with its playful dance-floor coda, felt like stadium rock for stadium rock’s sake. “Unknown Caller’’ dampened the spirited vibe mid-set with elliptical lyrics (“escape yourself and gravity’’) masquerading as self-help advice.

But even that misstep couldn’t deaden Bono’s charisma. He’s become the prototypical frontman who knows how to work stadiums; in fact, you suspect he’s at his best in front of 50,000 people. During “City of Blinding Lights,’’ Bono plucked a young girl from the crowd and essentially serenaded her as they walked the length of the outer stage, even putting his famous tinted glasses on her at one point.

It was a small gesture, a fleeting moment of intimacy, that reminded you of how magical Bono and his bandmates are when they connect to the audience - and with one another.

Would you agree ? Let us know your comments below.

Landing Perfect

Last night the spaceship - as Bono called the in-the-round stage setup - landed at Gillette Stadium and four Irish aliens emerged as the biggest rock stars in the world. That’s what happens when you project yourself on a 360-degree, 14,000-square-foot video screen.

Those who despise Bono, Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr. for growing up (and up and up) to be a parody of the furious, little new wave punks they began as would have hated U2’s latest, greatest show on earth. But for 60,000 fans last night (and for thousands more tonight), it was a mothership - a 150-foot tall, pastel green and orange-spotted, claw-shaped mothership buzzing with a million points of light - come to take them to planet U2.

Bono’s king, but Edge is the prime minster, the genius who fearlessly leads his ace rhythm section. His complex-and-simple, full-frontal, buzzing, reverbed, shimmering guitar drove “Get on Your Boots” and “Elevation,” “Vertigo” and “Where the Streets Have No Name.” Even Bono’s bigness was overcome by Edge’s intimate acoustic guitar and delicate high harmonies on “Stuck in a Moment You Can’t Get Out Of.”

Taken in total it was a typical U2 show, which means it was unlike anything else. Bono championed peace and political awareness - “Sunday Bloody Sunday” was recast an anthem for a free IRAN, “MLK” and “Walk On” were dedicated to Burmese political prisoner Aung San Suu Kyi. Edge was, as Bono said, a test-tube baby born of Jimmy Page and Stephen Hawking. Mullin and Clayton provided the brilliant heartbeat for hits from “One” to “With or Without You.”

Not the flash of Zoo TV or the earnestness of the Joshua Tree Tour, but a middle ground that topped neither. But not bad for a band that played the Somerville Theatre six-months ago.

U2 lands with a bang at Gillette Stadium

Review: U2 lands with a bang at Gillette Stadium

BY KEN ROSS

FOXBORO - U2 didn’t so much play Gillette Stadium on Sunday night as it landed there, in a spaceship no less.

The Irish rockers brought their 360 Tour to Foxboro for the first of two concerts (the second being tonight), and while they’re touring in support of an album that hasn’t exactly torn up the charts, this tour has blockbuster written all over it with its dazzling displays of lights, fog, imagery and sheer size.

The band got a late start, not taking the stage until almost 9 p.m. after being ushered in by the sound system blaring David Bowie’s classic “Space Oddity.” Immediately, they ripped into four numbers from their latest CD, “No Line on the Horizon.” Bono started out with “Breathe,” then went into the CD’s title track, the toe-tapping “Get on Your Boots,” and finally “Magnificent.”

“We’ve got new songs, we’ve got old songs, we’ve got songs we can hardly play, and we’ve got a spaceship,” Bono declared to the crowd before launching into “Mysterious Ways” and “Beautiful Day.”

The “spaceship” Bono referred to resembled a giant canopy with green legs stretching over the round stage and catwalk, much like a giant bug, and a soaring steeple topping it all off. Hovering above the stage was a giant cylindrical projection screen that ascended and descended throughout the show and displayed the band in a gargantuan form just right for a stadium show.

The band followed “Beautiful Day” broke into a ripping version of “Elevation” with Bono sweating profusely in the chilly night and the crowd frenzied for the first time, fists pumping wildly.

“I think you’ll feel right at home in our traveling rock and roll laboratory,” Bono said in introducing his band mates, The Edge, Larry Mullen, and Adam Clayton, referring to them as Experiments 1, 2 and 3.

From there, they broke into “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For,” and let the 60,000 or so assembled sing the first few stanzas.

And it seemed as though no one was at a loss for the lyrics.

Then Bono transitioned into a heartfelt few choruses of “Stand By Me,” again with the masses providing the sing-along. Then it was back to the “No Line on the Horizon” CD with the inspirational rocker “Rise Up.”

The band dipped back into the vault with a stirring “New Year’s Day” with Clayton crossing one of the stage’s two bridges to the catwalk to play before the fans and the Edge playing to the thousands who were watching the show from the rear.

The Edge grabbed an acoustic guitar for a poignant version of “Stuck in a Moment,” and also provided an effective falsetto at the end of the song.

At one point the giant circular projection screen extended almost to the floor and resembled a multicolored honeycomb with Bono and the band standing about ten stories tall over the audience.

For “City of Blinding Lights,” Bono plucked a young girl who looked about 12 out of the audience, though she didn’t seem to know quite what to do up there.

The concert struck a nice blend of rockers and rock ballads, with tunes like “Vertigo” picking up the crowd when needed.

One of the more inventive moments of the evening was an incredibly throbbing, rhythmic rendition of “I Know I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight.” “Sing for your sanity, Boston,” Bono implored as black and white images of the band members’ faces flashed rapidly on the screen.

Bono ended the song on his knees begging for “freedom on the streets of Iran,” then the band broke into “Sunday Bloody Sunday” as the images of Iranian reform protestors flashed on the screen.

Dozens of audience members walked out onto the ring in support of a woman named Aung Aun Syung Sun Kyi imprisoned in Burma for her opposition to the government.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu delivered a message that “God will put a wind at our back if we work with each other as one,” after which Bono broke into a heartfeld rendition of “One.” For the uplifting number “Where the Streets Have No Name,” Bono went into after singing a few bars of “Amazing Grace.”

The encore was ushered in by a poem by Maya Angelou while the video screen showed the solar system with floating apples, car keys other objects.

Snow Patrol, also from Ireland, warmed up the crowd in fine fashion after the inner circle of fans enthusiastically participated in a sing-along, something that hasn’t always been the case for the band in their role as U2’s opening act. Fans reacted enthusiastically to “Light Up” and, especially, “Chasing Cars,” and “All that I Have.”

Good Evening Foxboro

FOXBORO-What weighs more than 54 tons, glitters like crazy, and swings? If you’re thinking Aretha Franklin in Vegas singing “Since You’ve Been Gone,” you’re not far off the mark.

It’s U2’s current tour, and it lands at Gillette Stadium for two shows Sunday and Monday. “Land” being the operative word: Bono refers to the stage for this tour as “the spaceship,” and for once the outspoken frontman is demonstrating some modesty. Put another way, if only Tom Brady could cover the field at Gillette like this 90-foot tall, steel structure that will reach to every corner of the field, the Pats would have won by three touchdowns Monday night.

Think Zoo TV, the band’s 1992-93 tour, on steroids.

The tonnage is to help mark the band’s first stadium tour in a decade, and its never-ending quest to take the spectacle and somehow find the intimate amid it all.

Proving you wrong

And, if you think you know U2, the band is hoping to prove you wrong. After two late-career masterpieces, “All That You Can’t Leave Behind” and “How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb,” the band decided to toss up a few curveballs. Its latest CD, “No Line on the Horizon,” is not loaded with obvious hits that jump out off the speakers and grab you by ears and drag you to the dance floor, like “Vertigo” or “Beautiful Day,” nor drop-dead gorgeous ballads like “Sometimes You Can’t Make It on Your Own.” Its charms are a bit deeper. Too deep, some critics and fans seemed to think, as the album was not - relatively speaking - as well received as its immediate predecessors.

U2 TOUR FANS FILE PHOTO 2009But give U2 some props for still believing in the idea of The Album, with songs laid out like a roadmap that don’t give up their power in tiny bites or when downloaded one track at a time. Working with producers like Brian Eno, who the members of U2 knew would push them outside the Top 40, and traveling to Morocco to find new sounds to pour into their music, they weren’t afraid to turn their backs on the platinum blueprint. Sure, in interviews this soul searching sounded pretentious and self-indulgent. But if not them, who? Are you hoping Maroon 5 or Lady GaGa decide on their next records to push outside their and our comfort zones? I thought not.

U2, like Neil Young, is unafraid. Bruce, Joni, these artists had or have the cache to avoid the easy path, it’s true. But they also have more to lose by heading out for uncharted territory.

Of course, the primal elements of any U2 record remain on “No Line on the Horizon”: great melodies, the Edge’s amazing fretwork, and Bono’s vocals, always intense enough to move even the dead. In short, when “Get On Your Boots” blasts from the stage this weekend, shake your booty. There’s a reason a review in The New Yorker a few weeks ago made the claim that U2 was that rare band whose new material was as popular and relevant as its seminal hits of yesteryear.

More twists

Reviews from the North American leg of tour, which kicked off in Chicago a week ago, indicate the band has taken the groove-heavy aspects of some of “No Line” and incorporated it into the live show. Even chestnuts like “Where the Streets Have No Name,” have a new rhythmic feel with a percolating Larry Mullen Jr. and Adam Clayton. Subsequently, Bono’s vocals are more syncopated than they’ve ever been. Some of the songs, especially those off the new CD (recent setlists indicate about seven of these tracks will be played each night), retain their atmospheric nature in concert, as U2 finds the ghosts in its music.

It’s all part of the journey.

Some sameness

Some things will remain. Fans can expect Bono and company to use the huge stage to deliver high-tech histrionics one moment, and lighter-lifting intimacy the next. U2’s penchant for highlighting different causes will also be on display, always a fine complement to the band’s uplifting numbers. Then there’s the band’s awesome sense of theater: Bono’s never been within a mile of a stage he didn’t own.

Gillette Fans this is 4 U

360 Stage File Photo U2TOURFANS

WICKED LOCAL FOXBOROUGH GILLETE STADIUM Officals have requested that we inform you AGAIN. DO NOT ARRIVE EARLY ! ( Before 3PM) We have included the must know details at the bottom of this story. Remember we told you. Hey take a photo with our name and send it us “U2TOURFANS”

Sunday and Monday about 140,000 of you get a chance to experience a show that has been considered the largest stage in the world. If you have been out to the stadium you may have had a chance to see the steel crew building the set for Sundays show. Be sure you read the details. You have warned. Really we mean it. Read it - 

We have some here is what you need to know

The songs: A big chunk of the set doesn’t change from night to night, including U2 opening with a quartet of new songs “Breathe,” “No Line On The Horizon,” “Get On Your Boots” and “Magnificent.” But among the new tunes and expected hits (“Beautiful Day,” “Vertigo,” “One,” “Bad,” “With Or Without You”) are some surprises. Last week, the band debuted “Your Blue Room,” a song from the “Original Soundtracks 1” album recorded under the pseudonym Passengers. Also, the band has been tucking in snippets of covers, including “All You Need Is Love,” “Blackbird,” “King of Pain,” “Stand By Me” and “Amazing Grace.”

Bono: U2TOURFANS FILE PHOTOBono has been quoted saying that this is really a two act show. The first act is about the personal, the soul-searching of a young man, expressed by “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For,” “Stuck In A Moment You Can’t Get Out Of,” “Unknown Caller,” etc. The second half focuses on the political and global with “Sunday Bloody Sunday,” “Pride (In the Name of Love),” “Walk On,” etc. Bono admitted that most people would not have thougtht or figured this out. However a few pints and you can see clearly the concept. 

The stage set: Nicknamed “the spaceship” by Bono, U2’s latest monstrosity is its most monstrous. Built for a reported cost of $40 million, the rotating stage features a 90-foot-tall canopy and a 54-ton, 360-degree video screen made up of a million pieces, including 500,000 pixels and 30,000 cables. Just when you thought Bono’s head couldn’t get any bigger, it’s about to be blown up by a million watts.

The opener: Remember Izzy from “Grey’s” well they made these boys famous, Snow Patrol has been out with U2 since the Euro days, ( miss only a couple of shows) Some the other cities will get the Peas, or Muse, sorry no such luck here.

U2TOURFANS FILE PHOTOThe new album: We will be the first to say that this album needs time to grow on you. Its really better then you think. You will want to listen and know a couple of the songs prior to going to the show. You can expect atleast seven songs from the new album

Is better than you think. Really. And you’ll want to get to know these songs before the show: expect seven of them to get played.

The details:

1. Dont arrive before 3PM the lots will not open and your wasting your time and you will be turned away. Now that does not mean you can’t line up on the street as if your going to a game which we all know happens. Either way Gillette stadium will not open the parking lots early.
2. GA Fans can line up at 3PM - Not earlier, so no reason to camp out or waste your time.
3. Opening Act “Snow Patrol” expected to start at 7 PM EST
4. Headliner: U2 will take the stage around 8:30 PM EST ( P.S. now thats the published schedule we all know that the band likes a well timed show. So that means it could start 8:35pm or 8:40 PM) Again chill your going to want to rest up for this one. 
5. One photo booth, now this is cool. Be sure to find it. Take a photo and your picture may be one of the photos that wll appear on the big screen.
6. Cameras: If your a true fan you know the band really does not care if you snap off a couple of photos. Small camera, video suggestion your choice small. Now that does not mean we said bring one. Thats really your choice.
7. Last important item: Bring lots of money your going to spend some coins and hey its worth it your not going to see U2 again for hum dare we say another year?
   

U2TOURANS Updates: You can follow us on twitter. You can view the videos on youtube and the photos and set lists can be found here. We also have a ticket exchange and a drop box for posting. Of course we wll give you full credit.

U2TOURFANS

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Bono, The Edge and Elvis Costello

Bono and The Edge tapped an edition of the Elvis Costello TV show “Spectacle” Elvis and his band begin the show by performing three U2 songs -

• Please
• Dirty Day
• Mysterious Ways

Elivs did interview the boys with a couple of performance breaks to mix it up a bit. Bono and Edge performed

• Stay

Bono sings ‘Two Shots’ with Elvis’ rhythm section. Then the whole ensemble - Bono and Edge plus Elvis and his band - do the final three numbers together.

Tapping was done at Masonic Temple which is owned by MTV

Short Set list

• Stay (Faraway, So Close)
• Two Shots of Happy One Shot of Sad
• Alison
• Stuck In A Moment
• Pump It Up
• Get On Your Boots

News Credit: ATU2,U2TOURS, U2GIGS, Hollywood Reporter, U2TOURFANS,

Review Chicago Sunday

Bono singing ’Chicago’ in the introduction to Magnificent, with the audience, unsurprisingly, in seventh heaven. ’One for the money, two for the show, where are we in the world… Union Street.’

The second show a chance to win over the Chicago news. The band was rehearsing “Your Blue Room” earlier in the day and they did not disapoint. For Your Blue Room, widely agreed to be among the most beautiful tracks the band have ever written, released on the 1995 album Original Soundtracks when the band recorded as Passengers with Brian Eno

It debuted live during the main set, 14 years later.

Fact: This was the only second Passengers song that U2 has ever played live. Adam did not have his spoken verse rather it as done by te astronauts (International Space Station) pre-recorded from the first show.

Couple of points

• During “One” a few of the vocals, missing
• Elevation was mixed into a couple of songs
• Unknown Caller was incomplete, mixed in a some of Breathe

The band had some other changes, most of the tweeter comments said while the flow was different it fe

lt little like a start and stop. This joint was jumping for Elevation, while Until The End of the World and Stay, another couple of songs which have been played sparingly to date, also had 65,000 people lost in the music. ’Green light, Seven Eleven/ You stop in for a pack of cigarettes/ You don’t smoke, don’t even want to/ Hey now, check your change….’ And if the suit of lights for Ultraviolet is making a name for itself, welcome to the steering wheel microphone swinging low from high up in space station - now with added LED’s.

Most will agree its an amazing show. Song selection is key we wonder what you thought ?

Videos posted on U2TOURFANS channel - Credits to twitter followers, and wide news release.