U2 Giant Show

U2’2 360 Tour pulled into New Jersey tonight (Wednesday) for a two night show with its massive stage, trucks, crew and sound.

U2TOURFANS FILE PHOTO U2 played a refreshingly casual set (see euro set list) taking a 60,000 seat venue and reducing it to a “one love” melting pot of people. It’s hard to view this massive show as intimate until you have attended. Which if you have not had a chance and you’re in the tri state area Thursday night is your last chance to see them this year rumors say expect to see them again 2010 – However that’s rumor right now.

Bono played host, introduced his mates, Adam, Larry and of course The Edge, it seem as if to say he did you know these guys.

The venue considered to be “Bruce’s” home was paid some respect as Bruce Springsteen celebrated his 60^th birthday. Amazing in that Bruce turned 60, I guess we are all getting older. The boys covered “She’s the One’ then moved right into their own classic “Desire.” There was a dedication to Quincy Jones who we are told was in the crowd by blending Michael Jackson’s song “Don’t Stop “Till You Get Enough. This could be considered part of the show. It was mixed into the euro sets often.

Bono has never been to shy for words. Spoke out to the UN which happens to be in town by mixing in “Not right now” into their new song “Get on Your Boots” Comment was “I don’t wanna talk about wars between nations.”

As expected most of the songs came from their 12^th studio album, word is that we can expect lucky 13 to arrive shortly (2010) Most of the fans agreed that the favorites such as “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For,” on which Bono gladly let the crowd take lead vocals, and “Sunday Bloody Sunday,” which he bookended with salutes to political dissidents in Iran seem to keep the crowd engaged.

The vague space them was centered around some astronauts appearing on the giant wrap around screen.  The boys did make fun of that as Bono cracked a joke “One step for a small man.”

Over all most fans will agree……………………… Well we will let you fill in the blank. Thursday is here

Calling all Giants Stadium Fans

U2 fans going to the concert tonight. We have a special request. We want you to sharpie, pen, or crayon our U2TOURFANS name on anything inside the stadium. Send it to us soon as possible. Your image could be our front page story when we do the morning review. Remember to send it to us via email u2tourfans@gmail.com  Your name and thats all will be needed. The best shot will be posted the rest will make our wall of fame.  Be creative ! Remember you have to be inside the stadium ! Have fun with it. Thanks from The Crew

Tonights show follow on twitter for those you that are not lucky to attend.

We will have the videos posted later, and for those of you that want to send us photos and videos you can use our drop box service.  

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:
View Larger Map

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.

U2's 360 Tour Rolls Forward

Having played two nights in Boston, NYC is on the horizon.

Irish eyes smiled upon the boys from Ireland Monday night as they played their final show in Boston. Their tour moves forward to NYC. 

U2 used Monday night to change up the set a bit starting off with “Magnificent” as the open instead of “Breathe” (Considered to be the first major change of the tour).  Breathe was skipped all together. However “Your Blue Room” and “Stay” “Mofo” and “Stories for Boys” found their way into the show as snippets.

Wednesday night the band hits Giants Stadium for a two-night stand. Will the weather hold up? We will have to wait and see. Expected evening showers on Wednesday and a little rain on Thursday afternoon we will have just to wait and see.

Remember that the boys will be on SNL this weekend with Megan Fox. This should be an amazing short set.

Back to Giant Stadium, we have not heard the rules yet. Nor do we expect to hear anything about tailgating rules. NYC/NJ can handle the crowd. However we will keep you posted.  

Blackberry Bust

A marketing failure ! That’s what someone will call the “Blackberry Loves U2” U2 most likely have been very happy with the sponsorship. Really no extra work done from the band. Consider the video ( apple like) and the commercial shoot. That’s about all we have heard from Blackberry. Sad truth here. The RIM marketing team and the advertising agency have failed ! This was a slam dunk if ever I saw one. The market demo of a blackberry user fits right into the bands audience.  Maybe the program could be simply that the wireless carriers did not want to pony up to the marketing table. In order for this to be a succesful promotion some carrier like AT&T or Verizon needed to be a part of the North American tour. Phones are great, however you need a network. So maybe the truth is in the promotion. RIM may not enjoy the co-marketing dollars it head expected to have for this event. Its a stange promotion for sure. Almost sad.

Boy Genius Report, the author writes about going to see the U2 concert and notes, while BlackBerry may love U2, but “U2 doesn’t love BlackBerry.” He writes: “What’s so unsettling is how disconnected RIM was from the event. Sure, there were a couple banners strewn about Soldier Field, but no one noticed. And the folks that did notice didn’t care. Instead of using this opportunity to push their brand forward, it almost seems like just a second thought to throw some quick marketing dollars to try act like your company is doing something in the consumer and ‘cool’ department.”

Remember last week we had talked about the launch of the new application aimed at U2 Fans well we believed then and now that this surely was a BUST. Fans wanted more. The lack of full tunes, or videos or even something different then you can get from our site. The news, information,videos, and photos left you with a so what feeling. You can get all of that from your fan site. ( ah like U2TOURFANS.com)

Unfortunately, the application can only be considered late given that the tour is more than halfway over, and more likely can be considered a complete bust because it does not feature full-length songs, unlike the name would suggest, “U2 Mobile Album.” In addition, despite BlackBerry being the tour’s official sponsor, there are no tie-ins between the application and the live concerts, which misses a big opportunity for the historically enterprise-focused company to appear more consumer-friendly.

Beyond timing, the application is also missing out what could be a big opportunity. In the online demo, it says new features are coming soon, including the ability to chat with friends at shows and meet other fans from around the world. It makes you wonder, however, if these features will even come out before the tour ends?

Well we will always have this cool video to reflect on what could have been. We tend the think that blackberry will get it right for the second and third legs of the tour. Lets face it the press has been hard on them already.  Enjoy - Story written on my blackberry bold -

Want to hear what Bono hears?

If you happened to take a cigarette break on the north concourse of Gillette Stadium last night, about a dozen songs into U2’s US-tour kickoff, you might’ve noticed two young men who were not acting like everyone else. For one thing, they were facing away from the stage — a view that afforded them, if anything, a look across Patriot Place, in the direction of the ticketless crowd standing three ardeep in front of the CBS Experience. For another thing, they were wearing studio-monitor headphones and shit-eating grins.

It seemed an awful expensive way to listen to your iPod. Then I saw ‘em offering a few passers-bye a listen to the headphones, and decided to take a closer look. “Listen to this,” one of them said, and placed the headphones on my ears.

They were listening to U2 playing behind us, in real time — and the sound was impeccably crisp, full-bodied, with perfect instrument separation. Bono’s voice had the kind of standing-next-to-you-in-a-crowded-elevator feeling that no stadium speakers (and very few live albums) can reproduce. The sound through the headphones reminded me of a tape a friend once gave me of the Rolling Stones playing in Australia in 1973, taped off the soundboard, in which you can hear Mick Jagger’s breath on the mic in between verses. Commercial recordings clean that sort of thing up, so hearing that faraway voice so close, and unedited, delivers a startling intimacy.

So how’d they do it? Part serendipity, part genius: headphones-guy was plugged into a pager-sized Sennheiser wireless receiver — the type of device that has replaced on-stage monitors for musicians as the way they hear themselves during the concert. He believes his Sennheiser is identical to the model Bono uses . And during soundcheck, he’d simply run through the various channels until he found the one the soundboard was broadcasting on. Bingo.

There was another big difference between what was on the headphones and what the larger audience heard: the subtle but unmistakable sound of a click track. You could even hear a soft voice at the beginning of each song counting the band in, “One, two, three, four.” To longtime U2 fans, it will come as no surprise that the band uses one — lots of artists do, especially when their live show incorporates triggered samples or effects. The presence of the click track led headphones-guy to believe he might be listening to the mix being piped to Larry Mullen’s headset, though there was no way to be sure. Listening to the band the way they hear themselves suggested a plausible explanation for the size of Bono’s ego: maybe he thinks everyone hears him this way. 

Replicating this experiment yourself could get expensive: Sennheiser receivers run about $800 — about the price of three decent U2 tickets. But given the degree of outrage expressed by some upper-deck fans about the quality of audio at last night’s show (for the record: the sound from my seat, in the lower deck, was very good), you could certainly see some cheaper version of this technology — or perhaps a venue-operated version, perhaps a twist on the way Gillette gets a few bucks for binocular rentals — becoming an easy upsell. 

 Review due to be posted later today -

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.

U2's two-day visit to Foxboro

FOXBORO - U2’s two-day visit to Foxboro started uneventfully Sunday night.

State police had made no arrests at Gillette Stadium as of 9 p.m., shortly before the 360 Tour concert started, said Lt. David Wilson, state police spokesman.

Foxboro police said they had no arrest information at press time.

Wilson said concert traffic backed up Route 1 north around 9, but it was unclear how far the snarl went. He believed traffic would start flowing once the concert started.

Route 1 reportedly was backed up after the parking lots opened at 3 p.m. Stadium officials had warned that fans arriving before 3 p.m. would be turned away.

The stadium gates were scheduled to open at 5 p.m.

The same restrictions apply to tonight’s concert, which Foxboro police expect to be more challenging because it coincides with the evening rush hour.

The event is expected to draw about 65,000 fans each night, including 7,000 fans on the field.