88K Fans, Wembley Bad Review ! We got the Videos

U2TOURFANS August 15, 2009

This is a strange time for U2. Their latest album, No Line on the Horizon, has by their standards sold weakly; yet on Friday they played to 88,000 people, the greatest number a band has crammed into Wembley.

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Now back to the London Day 1 Show Review

A whopping 88,000 fans lapped up the band's performance on what critics have described as their "mindblowing" Claw stage, which graced Croke Park three weeks ago. The record was previously held by Foo Fighters, who drew crowds of 83,000 last year.

Live Nation said in a statement before last night's show: "The U2 360 shows at Wembley Stadium on August 14 and 15 will see an expected attendance of between 165,000 to 170,000 over the two days with an expected attendance of 88,000 on Friday breaking the previous attendance record at Wembley." Old favourites, including Beautiful Day, Mysterious Ways and With or Without You, were lapped up the crowd.

BAD REVIEWS POURING IN - telegraph.co.uk

After about 25 minutes, though, either the sound improved or my ears got used to it, and the band unfurled two lovely ballads: a huge and hymnal I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For and a gentle acoustic version of Stuck in a Moment You Can’t Get Out Of. They decently kept to a minimum the songs from the dreary No Line on the Horizon: six, from a setlist of 22.

The older hits (Sunday Bloody Sunday, Pride, a glittering Where the Streets Have No Name) were best, except for One, ruined by Bono, who sang much of it lackadaisically off the beat.

Perhaps he’s performed it so many times it bores him. Well, it doesn’t bore the fans and they’d paid through the nose to hear it. Still, he didn’t overburden us with his politics; just a tribute to Aung San Suu Kyi, the Burmese pro-democracy campaigner, and a cheery video message from Desmond Tutu.

There was a striking scene at the end. Before the final song, Moment of Surrender, Bono ordered the stage lights to be turned off. Suddenly all was a galaxy of mobile phone screens, winking in the dark. U2 can spend what they like on their swanky stage but the most beautiful sight came when we couldn’t see it.

Photo image copyright @2009 AFP/Getty

SMASHED RECORD U2 ROCKS LONDON

U2TOURFANS August 15, 2009

U2's first UK gig in their current tourhas broken the attendance record for a Wembley Stadium concert, organizers have said.

About 88,000 people arrived at the Irish group's concert on Friday - 5,000 more than what is thought to have been the stadium's previous record.

U2's radical "claw" stage has enabled tour organizers Live Nation to increase the capacity for the sold-out show.

Wembley's previous biggest crowd is believed to have been the 83,000 who saw Rod Stewart perform there in 1995.

Elbow, who won the Mercury Prize last year with their fourth studio album The Seldom Seen Kid, were supporting on Friday.

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Behind-the-scenes look at U2's stage for the 360 Degree tour.

U2TOURFANS August 14, 2009

A Behind the scenes look at the London show and comments from the U2 360 Tour.

Jake Berry, Production Director Said “The band's reaction upon seeing the stage for the first time was like Wow. Every show, every production has a wow factor. Our show just lasts a little longer than anybody else's. They were just amazed. Everything they thought it could have been the whole idea from Mark (Fischer) and Willie Williams the set designer and the show designer, the whole concept was to make something big enough so the whole stage would be intimate. And believe it or not the larger the show was, the more intimate the show looked. So it's accomplished all those goals."

Willie Williams had this to say "It's a very interesting dynamic when we all sit round a table and talk about things because what's unusual about U2 is they really are a group. There are four of them and they all have their input. And in the live show, Bono does really has more of an input because, at the end of the day, he's the one that has to pull it off. He can't turn around and fiddle with his amplifier when something's going wrong. But they all have the power of veto and they're all involved and they all come up with ideas. It's a wonderfully collaborative process."

A name we have not heard from Arthur Fogel, CEO of Global Touring and chair of Live Music for Live Nation had this to say "Certainly with respect to U2, there really are no masters of performing live. It's a privilege to be able to work with them. They're really an inspiration to a lot of artists to keep pushing the envelope to develop shows that excite people and that are really what live shows are all about."

Mark Fischer, Architect had a comment as well, "It's something you can't replicate in your living room or on your Ipod. And in the digital world, you need to know why you're going to bother to shell out a hundred and odd pounds for you and your lover to come see and this thing rather than stay at home and that's what we're in the business of doing. So it's memory, you'll remember this. Anyone who comes to this show, in 20 years time will say 'Remember when you were at Wembley, when you saw U2, 360degrees? It was amazing.'"

Crew News: Production workers, lighting and sound technicians and video production staff were busy with the final preparations ahead of the Irish rockers "360 Degree" shows on Friday (August 14) and Saturday (August 15) at the Wembley Stadium.

The whole stage comes in three parts. First, comprises of covering the entire pitch with flooring which enables them to drive cranes and trucks onto the field. The second part takes four days to build the steel structure and the last day composes of testing the lights, sound, video equipment, sound check and any last minute changes. Taking down the entire production takes approximately two days.

Supporting acts for the London shows will be Mercury Prize winning band Elbow on Friday and Mercury Prize nominated Scottish rockers Glasvegas.

U2 will continue to tour Europe until the end of August and move onto the United States and Canada in September.

Noise Costs 80 Euro - U2 Promoters forfeit cash !

U2TOURFANS August 13, 2009

More than 120,000 fans in Zagreb for U2 gigs

U2TOURFANS August 11, 2009

ZAGREB — More than 120,000 fans from all over southeastern Europe have gathered in Zagreb to see legendary rock group U2 on their only stopover in the region on their current 360 Degree Tour of the world.

It is the Irish band's first visit to the region since their concert in Sarajevo in 1997. Local media have dubbed the two shows "the performance of the decade."

Some 63,000 people filled Zagreb's Maksimir Stadium on Sunday night, and as many again are expected at a second concert on Monday, organisers said.

More than 40,000 fans have arrived in the Croatian capital from countries including Austria, Hungary, Slovenia, Serbia, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Slovakia and Romania.

The event has dominated news in the Croatian media for the past week, with detailed reports of the setting up of the stage on the home turf of the Dinamo Zagreb football club.

The futuristic décor is dominated by a huge metal structure nicknamed "the claw", which measures 50 metres (160 feet) and weighs 390 tonnes.

The opening concert on Sunday lasted around two hours and included songs from "No Line on the Horizon", the band's 12th album which was released in February.

Zagreb is one of 15 European cities on the 360 Degree Tour, which began on June 30 in Barcelona and will end in October in Vancouver, Canada, with a total of 44 concerts scheduled.

By the end of the tour, the group will have performed before an estimated three million fans.

Posted via web from U2TourFans.Com Real Time Updates

U2 360º Tour - Gelsenkirchen Set List

U2TOURFANS August 3, 2009

Comments: Fans have said this show should be a do over. Not the best. A couple of errors, slow, and even a stop and re-start.

Breathe
No Line on The Horizon
Get on your boots
Magnificent
Beautiful Day
Elevation
Still haven't found what I am looking for
Stuck in a moment
Unknown Caller
The Unforgettable Fire
City of Blinding Lights
Vertigo
Crazy to tonight
Sunday Bloody Sunday Rock The Casbah snippet in SBS
Pride in the name of love
MLK
Walk On/You'll Never Walk Alone snip
Where The Streets Have No Name
One

Ultra Violet (Light My Way)
With Or Without You
Moment of Surrender

Claws, Trucks and Crew all add up

U2TOURFANS July 29, 2009

Claw by the numbers

Vital statistics for the superstructure for U2’s 360˚ Tour. There are three of these on tour. The flown production load, which is normally loaded in during the 24 hours preceding the show, weighs almost as much as the superstructure from which it is hanging.

Superstructure Statistics
Across stage width across bases: 64m (210’)
Up/down stage width across bases: 48.5m (159’)
Height of the superstructure: 30m (100’)
Height to lightning conductor (tip of pylon): 51.8m (170’)
Clear span across stage: 57.5m (189’)
Clear span up/down stage: 41.5m (136’)
Height to underside octagon truss: 25m (82’)
Tip to tip length of pylon: 43m (141’)
Total unloaded weight of superstructure: 190 tons
Total production load applied to superstructure: 176 tons

Stage Statistics
Ellipse major axis: 22.5m (74’)
Ellipse minor axis: 15.5m (51’)
Height 2.5m: (8’ 3”)
Under-stage tech area (including under upstage runway): 289m² (2900’²)

B Stage Runway Statistics
Ellipse major axis: 53m (174’)
Ellipse minor axis: 46m (151’)
Width: 2.4m (8’)
Height: 1.3m (4’ 4”)
Circumference on centerline: 147.5m (484’)

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