Rock royalty U2 moment to remember

Rock royalty U2 delivered a massive musical moment last night.

In the first of two Perth concerts, supported by hip-hop and music heavyweight Jay-Z, the unique stage set-up, a back catalogue of huge hits and Bono’s charismatic rock star status combined to provide the around 60,000 fans who packed the stadium to the brim with an unforgettable night.

The world class performance and huge “claw”, which combined masses of speakers and a mesmerising video screen facing 360 degrees, though was juxtaposed with the almost third world conditions of Perth’s biggest stadium, with fans having to wait in mammoth lines if they wanted to enjoy a drink during the concert

he concert drew a crowd that was ready to party from the minute U2 strutted oh-so-cooly onto the stage. Older, young, it was a case of even those in the reserved seating areas spending most of the night on their feet dancing to classic rock tunes like Pride (In the Name of Love), Mysterious Ways, Sunday Bloody Sunday and Walk On.

UK rock band Muse – playing in Bassendean tonight – were there to rock on, as was politician Julie Bishop, all glammed up for the occasion, Dennis Lillee and Adam Gilchrist – who got a mention from Bono as the rock star compared his band to the cricketing champions in town for the Ashes.

After Jay-Z had revved up the crowd with his bouncing hits, the crowd entertained itself by starting a huge wave that eventually roared right around the venue, over and over after those sitting on the western side realised just what was going on.

U2 kicked things off with a rendition of Beautiful Day, on this beautiful warm night with the moon glowing overhead.

When Bono lead the crowd in any manner of audience participation, whether it be hands in the air or a mega-singalong, everyone obeyed.

U2’s 360 tour will go down as the biggest ever, and this was the biggest, and most impressive concert Perth has seen. It was visually epic, with Bono at one stage wearing a laser jacket and many cameras hidden all over the alien-like claw capturing every moment while he and The Edge strutted a range of catwalks allowing the masses to get up close and personal with the stars.

One lucky lady, who told the crowd her name was Emily, will never forget her close encounter with Bono, after being pulled up onto the stage only to have him lay in her lap as he sang the romantic In A Little While. While she looked suitably stunned, he slow danced with her, only to leave her with a kiss on the back of the hand.

Bono threatened to end the night’s festivities multiple times, but kept coming back for more before the band left in true rock star style, leaving behind a very satisfied audience.

U2TOURFANS Annual Event

Dear U2TOURFANS - Every year about this time we review our budget and expense for next year to see how we plan to provide the great level of information and support to you the fan as we have the past couple of years.

We have tried the advertising route with very little success, we have tried the sponsorship route that that has turned out to be very helpful to us. Next year 2011 will be a busy year for us. As you can guess we have some great new stuff coming your way.

Here is what we desided to do for 2011 - We have a fundraiser goinng on right now on our site. You can click and make a donation and support our little project and help us be funded for the whole year with one sponsor matching the funds. Amazing what we can do as a team. 

Yes we understand its the holiday season and we know that most of the world has been under a lot of pressure however we believe that if every person helps a little bit we can achieve our goals.

Next year will be the most amazing U2 Tour year in a long time, help us report every show, provide vidoe for every photo and tweet the setlist for every show. We have street teams in place and ready to ride out to the shows.

We thank you in advance for your consideration. Happy Holidays from the U2TOURFANS Teams

U2 Rarities To Be Played On The Vinyl Experience

U2 fan and author John D. Luerssen will bring his extensive collection of U2 rarities to New York’s WRXP this Sunday when he is the special guest of “The Vinyl Experience” host Paul Cavalconte.

Among the goodies that NYC area listeners can hear on 101.9 FM (and stream live via www.1019rxp.com) this Sunday include U2’s 1978 demo “Street Missions,” a 1979 track from the group’s CBS Eire debut EP Three, the band’s long disowned 1982 A-side “A Celebration” and more.

In a special segment of “The Vinyl Experience” dedicated to Luerssen’s new 450+ page book, U2 FAQ: Anything You’d Ever Want To Know About The World’s Biggest Band And More (Backbeat), Cavalconte and Luerssen talk at length about the accomplishments of U2 and the impact the Dublin band has had on the rock world since it first came together at a non-secular arts high school in Dublin in 1976. The show airs Sunday at 9 a.m.

“This is a rare opportunity for me as a fan to highlight some of the awesome lesser known songs in the U2 catalog,” says Luerssen, a Westfield, New Jersey resident who listens to the radio station loyally. “What a thrill to visit the ‘RXP studios and chat with Paul.”

Other rare songs from U2’s catalog slated for the segment include the original version of “Sweetest Thing,” a 1987 Joshua Tree B-side that the band reworked into a massive hit in 1998, U2’s rendition of Lou Reed’s



MASSIVE AUSSIE SHOW

BUSY, busy, busy. Under a giant claw/spaceship/kid’s-toy-on-steroids stage set, in a stadium filled to the nosebleed seats and the inner circle pulsating with energised fans, empty seconds rarely appeared.

Across two hours and 24 of their own songs, U2 managed to slip in lyrical, musical or visual references to the Beatles and David Bowie, AIDS and Sarajevo, INXS and Frankie Goes To Hollywood, family death and African debt, Bob Geldof and Aung San Suu Kyi, Kanye West and Amazing Grace, Oprah Winfrey and Amnesty International. Oh yes, and office Christmas parties.

Too much? Now it is true that total stimulation has been the U2 method since their early ’90s reinvention of the stadium show as audio-visual immersion. Sometimes it has been a treat, sometimes it has been a distraction and sometimes, as in the first of their Sydney shows four years ago, it has been the saving grace in an unbalanced set. But what is striking this time around is how, despite the fixed-to-mega settings of everything, they have balanced the message and the medium so well.

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Most of the extracurricular material was fleeting or lightly handled, earnestness was kept to a minimum (though that’s hardly the worst sin a band can commit) and the in-the-round nature of the stage meant that there was at least an illusion of some intimacy.

Of course intimacy is relative when 80 per cent of us had to watch with one eye on the stage and one eye on the screens, but a charged Bono and the only slightly less sparky Edge seemed more engaged with the songs and in turn the audience than they have been in years.

Even Larry Mullen jnr (who took a walk around the split stage playing congas) and Adam Clayton (wearing more sparkle than a bogan school formal dress) were giving out, not just looking in.

In a show roughly broken up into half-hour segments surprises came with both the old, the return of a neatly thrilling I Will Follow early in the first 30 minutes of guitar rock power and drive, and the new, the reinvention of the weakest song from their most recent album, I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight. This song was done as some kind of house-infused disco number which, in the third rock-as-dance section, segued neatly into bursts of Relax and Two Tribes.

There was not as much time for contemplation or variation (I would have liked to hear superior new tracks such as Cedars of Lebanon and Fez and cheekier old ones such as Lemon and The Fly) and Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me still doesn’t sustain attention no matter what flashing doodads are deployed, but this was U2 in form. Fine form.



U2 fails to Sell Out 2nd Show

They are one of the biggest rock bands in the world, but Sydney has served up a shock to U2 - their second show, last night , has not sold out. Check out the setlist details.

More than 2200 $40 tickets - the cheapest for the Irish band’s 360 tour - are unsold for concert at ANZ Stadium. Limited tickets are also available for more expensive seats, promoter Michael Coppel said.

He said that may be because the unprecedented number of concerts this summer has saturated the Sydney entertainment market.

Mr Coppel, who is bringing other popular musicians such as Linkin Park, Katy Perry and Rihanna to Australia, said he has “never seen the Australian market this busy”.

“Seven national tours that have gone on sale in the last five days,” he said, naming Justin Bieber, Santana, Lionel Richie and James Blunt.

“I think it reflects the fact that when they [U2] toured last time, when their tickets went on sale, there were very few other concerts on sale.

“When they toured this time, they were the last big show of the summer to go on sale, and there was substantial sales already to Bon Jovi, and the Eagles, and Leonard Cohen and Muse and a range of other shows.

“Obviously everybody’s business is slightly affected because we only have a limited amount of people.”

Mr Coppel said one of the reasons that rival promoters had scheduled their concerts all around the same time was that each of them was busy working on their own projects and weren’t aware of what their competitors were doing until they reached the promotional stage.

“Every promoter, if they are honest, would say ‘I didn’t realise it was going to be this busy. Suddenly there are 22 on the market.’”

The cluttered calendar was expected to free up by next winter, as it usually does, and as promoters reassess the number of acts they are bringing in to Australia, he said.

“Hopefully it will be a little less frantic in the summer next year.”



U2 rocks ANZ stadium

IT WAS all about the music, that “space station” of a stage and celebrity shout outs, when U2 opened their Sydney shows at ANZ Stadium last night.

Oprah was in the house, so was Nicole Kidman, Kanye West and Bob Geldof - who was name checked just before Bono dedicated “Stuck in the Moment” to his late friend Michael Hutchence.

For the past two decades, the Irish band have consistently raised the benchmark for the concert experience, successfully using technology to dazzle their audience and refuel their reputation as stadium rock gods.

No matter how many YouTube clips or photos you have seen of this massive contraption which anchors the myriad video screens, lights and speakers to broadcast the action, you will be in awe of The Claw once inside ANZ Stadium.

All that colour and movement is happening above your head but at ground level, moving bridges and catwalks on what Bono calls a “space station” stage, allows Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr to get closer to fans who have remained steadfastly loyal for 30 years.

Describing the production as intimate - as everyone seems determined to do - is a stretch. There is nothing intimate about a concert in a stadium with 60,000 people.

What makes the U2 360 experience communal, is the music itself.

For all the bells and whistles they employ to thrill you, in the end it is all about the songs.

When you go to a U2 concert, you want to sing and Bono knows that, constructing a set with plenty of crowd karaoke moments and the ubiquitous “wave your mobile phones in the air like you really do care” trick.

“Beautiful Day” is always a triumph, “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking” pushes the crowd volume to 11, “Sunday Bloody Sunday” received a Jay Z-assisted twist and the lost single “Magnificent” finally gets its due in the live arena.

U2's Bono named Dubliner

Irish rock singer Bono has just been nominated Dubliner of the Year. The U2 singer, no stranger to awards, claimed he was blindsided but delighted by the title and said being named Dubliner of the Year was the perfect way to wrap up a banner year for the Irish band.

“Dublin is a state of mind and a place. What’s being a Dub? I don’t know, but I am one and proud of it through and through. The messy head, all the earnest conversation, our spunkiness and punkiness, our sense of fun, the self-deprecating over-confidence.

“We are so many contradictions. Dubliner of the Year crowns a great year for me and the band, not everyone’s experience I know. I’m feeling very blessed and grateful, and deep down in my gut, I know this city has what it takes to be a world-beater once again. It already is, in my head.”

Paul Trainer the Editor of The Dubliner, the publication behind the award,  told the press that Bono was the natural winner for the 2010 title.

“Bono has inspired many of the articles we have published over the last ten years. Wherever he goes, he takes a bit of Dublin with him and in the last year he has taken our city to every corner of the earth. He is a Dubliner who makes us proud to be The Dubliner,” he said.

Fellow Dubliner Danny O’Donoghue from rising new Irish band The Script praised his hero as a success story which should be celebrated.

“Bono has got what most musicians search for all there life, heart. His belief changes others. He made it possible for Dubliners to dream, to think ‘what if?’ His belief and drive as a Dubliner got him to where he is today and we all need to be reminded that we drink the same water. So I congratulate Bono and say well done, keep flying the flag for Dublin and Ireland,” he said.



Curfew Ends U2 Show !

U2 360 Tour / Bono Curfew Ends U2 Show before “Moment of Surrender” was performed strict curfews of 10:30 PM local time struck before the band could start MOS.  The boys closed the should with “WITH or Without You” the first time MOS had not closed this tour. The boys were off the stage by 10:28 PM Local time.  Other setlist changes can be viewed from our rolling setlist list. 

Fears of a full-blown sci-fi convention soon took over as the band hit the stage with David Bowie’s Space Oddity blasting over the speakers.

But any thoughts that U2’s mind might not be on the here-and-now were quickly erased as the band launched into their anthem for living in the moment All that You Can’t Leave Behind’s Beautiful Day.

It was an inspired start and one that got the crowd on side early, the audience a slave to Bono’s every thrust and fist pump.

Bono ended the song by trailing off into a short take of In My Life - a nod to the 30th anniversary of John Lennon’s death, on this very day three decades ago.

By the end of the night he had sung snippets of Rain, Dear Prudence, All You Need is Love and Stand by Me as well as replaced the lyrics to the band’s ode to Martin Luther King, Pride (In the name of love) to honor the slain Beatle - “1980, December 8, A shot rings out in a New York sky…”.

It was a touching moment and a reminder Bono is capable of shining the spotlight on others with as much intensity as he hogs it for himself.

When he does grab the crowd’s attention he has them in the palm of his hand, hamming it up along the band’s circular runway, mugging for the camera, taking photos of audiences members on their phones, as well as dragging one lucky woman up on stage to dance with, sing to and lean his head on her lap.

He even delivered a nod to Brisbane’s suburbs before one track, name-checking West End, the Valley and Paddington.

With any stadium show there are plenty of distractions and U2 360° had distractions like few others - the massive 72-foot screen pumps out fluid animation synchronised with the live sound and the light show on stage is truly awesome.

But there was little danger the decadent stage - what Bono affectionately referred to as “the spaceship” - would steal the show.

What mechanical monstrosity could overshadow a set list which contained flawless takes of Where the Streets Have No Name, City of Blinding Lights, Walk On, I Will Follow and Mysterious Ways?

No Line on the Horizon is the band’s commercially under-looked new album and two of its finest cuts were on show last night - Magnificent and Moment of Surrender.

Both tracks seamlessly fitted in with the classic material, a fact which hopefully inspires more fans to give the record another listen.

Miss Sarajevo was a heart-wrenching highlight, Bono tastefully handling Luciano Pavarotti’s operatic bridge, while In a Little While was heart-warmingly sweet, especially with footage of an astronaut from the International Space Station singing the lyric about a man taking a rocket ship into the sky at the songs climax.

An unreleased song, North Star, received an airing but the most obscure choice of the night was a brief run through October’s Rejoice as Bono paid tribute to recently released Burmese political prisoner Aung San Suu Kyi.

With representatives of Amnesty International walking candles out on to the stage, Bono made it clear he would not be rejoicing for long with more than 2000 political prisoners still detained in the country.

Following a short break Bono returned to a darkened stage looking like an extra from Tron.

Wearing a laser suit with a bright red glowing microphone, he led the band through one of Achtung Baby’s finest cuts which previously had little more than a brief live outing on the Zoo TV tour - Ultraviolet (Light My Way).

They followed with crowd favourite With or Without You which had the audience singing like an English football crowd before the band said their goodnights to the strains of Elton John’s Rocket Man.

The spaceship had landed but it was a typically life-affirming and out-of-this-world flight.