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  1. Originally posted by yuri31:I've just talked to a friend of mine who worked in the US during the summer and went to both Boston shows. His conclusion: the audience was lame.


    As someone who was at both shows, I can admit that the crowd in the upper levels on night 1 were definitely lame, but part of that was probably due to sound issues.

    The crowd in the lower levels on night 2 were much better, but GA on both nights were rocking (at least they looked that way to me). It made me wish I was down there with them.

    When watching DVDs, I always wonder if the crowd's atmosphere varies based on location... not geographically, but stadiums versus arenas.


  2. Good day, gentlefolk

    Originally, I surmised this post would do well under the "360 Tour hits Tampa" thread. Unfortunately, it was completely ignored. Hence, I'm reposting it here.

    I was at the Tampa show, on the floor. At first, I ended up in front of the outer catwalk, on Edge's side, because I had been talking to some people and had forgotten about my plan of just hanging back until the show starts (standing around too long is bad on my lower back, and thus I paid the price when I tried to walk back to my car, after the show). So, I made the mistake of remaining there until Vertigo, not noticing that I would be better off in the middle, farther back, where the "bloody sunday pit" was, until my brother alerted me to that fact. Over there, I found some people who shared my enthusiasm, and we proceeded to tear it up, beginning with "I'll go crazy".

    I was pleasantly surprised that at a Tampa show, there would be people like this, at all - I just wish I had known about that before spending half the show in the wrong place. Nevertheless, from my perspective, the rest of the crowd didn't seem to be so into it, WHICH is why I am bemused, for the third day in a row, reading reviews on u2gigs and u2tours, who praise the crowd participation, a handful even calling it among the top u2 concerts they've seen. I'll continue reading them as they come in, but, checking youtube footage, I can't tell too much, yet. Obviously, 99% of it is focused on the band, 99% of the time.

    So, what are you all's thoughts on this?
  3. Originally posted by platonic:Good day, gentlefolk

    Originally, I surmised this post would do well under the "360 Tour hits Tampa" thread. Unfortunately, it was completely ignored. Hence, I'm reposting it here.

    I was at the Tampa show, on the floor. At first, I ended up in front of the outer catwalk, on Edge's side, because I had been talking to some people and had forgotten about my plan of just hanging back until the show starts (standing around too long is bad on my lower back, and thus I paid the price when I tried to walk back to my car, after the show). So, I made the mistake of remaining there until Vertigo, not noticing that I would be better off in the middle, farther back, where the "bloody sunday pit" was, until my brother alerted me to that fact. Over there, I found some people who shared my enthusiasm, and we proceeded to tear it up, beginning with "I'll go crazy".

    I was pleasantly surprised that at a Tampa show, there would be people like this, at all - I just wish I had known about that before spending half the show in the wrong place. Nevertheless, from my perspective, the rest of the crowd didn't seem to be so into it, WHICH is why I am bemused, for the third day in a row, reading reviews on u2gigs and u2tours, who praise the crowd participation, a handful even calling it among the top u2 concerts they've seen. I'll continue reading them as they come in, but, checking youtube footage, I can't tell too much, yet. Obviously, 99% of it is focused on the band, 99% of the time.

    So, what are you all's thoughts on this?


    so there was only a few of you 'tearing it up'
  4. Originally posted by prksoda00:[..]
    30 seconds of texting "OMG THIS CONCERT IS LONG/LAME/THEY PLAY TOO MANY NEW SONGS/THEY"RE PLAYING OLD SONGS I DONT KNOW"
    30 seconds of taking crappy cellphone pics/vids
    30 seconds of texting again
    30 seconds of drinking beer
    30 seconds of trying to have a conversation on their phone "BUT ITS TOO LOUD I CAN'T HEAR YOU!"








  5. Interesting to read that the tearing it up section was further back and not by the rail. You wonder why the people want to be at the rail if not to 'tear it up'.
  6. I have seen U2 in America 2 times, when I lived there. Both in Chicago. The first one was one of the DVD filming days, 9th of May of 2005. That night the crowd was kind of lame, I was 12 and I was short so I kept jumping on the seat with my 10 year old brother and the two men behind me kept moaning about little kids in concerts and left to get bear during songs like Running to Stand Still and going to get a beer or go to the bathroom during Into The Heart and Zoo Station. That´s when not sitting down. The people around me only stood up during the all time clasics and recent hts (COBL, BD, Vertigo, Elevation, One, Pride, SBS and Streets). My bro and I were young and knew all songs and jumped up and down. The second show, 21st of September of the same year, was way better, in terms of crowd and setlists. It wasn´t as close as South Americans or Europeans crowd bu it was normal. I got to the conclusion that the DVD day, everything was too "scripted" allowing no room for surprises while on th second concert we got WGRYWH, Fast Cars and Bad... surprises that made everyone jump. This can be heard on the bootleg.

    Now, I live in Brazil again. I have been to quite a few concerts here, not to a U2 one though. I know that what I am gonna say now maybe off topic but I have to say it so my theory will make sense. Here in Brazil, there is only one adequate arena for shows with 20,000 people or more, and it is in Rio. So we have most of our concerts in old stadiums such as Morumbi, or in Racing Venues such as Interlagos, or in Samba Squares, or in old gymnasiums. These are nowhere near apropriate. Same happens with ticket sales, it is really messy. Sum this up to the fact that huge bands don´t come here as often... Two concerts at every 4 - 6 years for the bands that are, lets say "nicer". And people here are really passionate. Due to all of these facts what happens is, people have to stay 5 hours in line waiting to get the ticket, or on the phone waiting 3 hours to be answered, or waiting 2 hours in the internet if it doesn´t collapse. Then, on the day of the concert, for you to get a nice spot you have to get there early, like in the morning and wait all day to get in through one gate. By the time of the concert, you have done so much and spent so much, things that require a lot of passion, that you don´t, I´m sorry for the words, you don´t give a fuck if you´re seeing or not, if you´re close or not, you just jump and enjoy the most you can. You never know when they´ll be back and if you will be ne of the first ones to put your hands in the tickets. For example, I went to the Iron Maiden Concert here in Interlgos. Got there four o´clock, luckily enough we could get in with a little line because we got in through the regular parking lot (which costs a lot) and there was an exclusive gate there (there were 3 gates for 60,000 people). We got in and next to us were people that arrived in the morning and there were 30,00 people in front of us. We could hardly see. The ground was muddy as hell, I felt like I was in Woodstock! They even had to delay the concert an hour and a half because there were too many people outside. When the concert started, I could see EVERYONE juping, waving, dancing, crying or whatever! It was awesome! People even broke one of the side rails to get closer and the army had to take them out of there. So cool. And so different from the U.S. where I could get there an hour before the concert, walk two blocks, get a hot dog and go to my seat. I whish one day to go see U2 in Europe to compare, I also need to watch U2 in a stadium in the U.S.

    The ideal thing for me would be the logistics of US with the crowd of Soth America and Europe.

    If any of you want to see how the crowd here in BR are, just type U2 TV Globo in Youtube. It´s nuts!

    thanx for reading
  7. Wow, Victor, nice to see you're such a young fan (and nice to see you've already seen U2 twice!! awesome!! )...

  8. Originally posted by LikeASong:Wow, Victor, nice to see you're such a young fan (and nice to see you've already seen U2 twice!! awesome!! )...

    [/offtopic]


    thanx man!!
  9. Originally posted by djrlewis:[..]

    Interesting to read that the tearing it up section was further back and not by the rail. You wonder why the people want to be at the rail if not to 'tear it up'.


    So they can go to work the next day and say "We were so close to Bono and his band!"
  10. Originally posted by MoodyJ:[..]

    As someone who was at both shows, I can admit that the crowd in the upper levels on night 1 were definitely lame, but part of that was probably due to sound issues.

    The crowd in the lower levels on night 2 were much better, but GA on both nights were rocking (at least they looked that way to me). It made me wish I was down there with them.

    When watching DVDs, I always wonder if the crowd's atmosphere varies based on location... not geographically, but stadiums versus arenas.





    You are entirely correct about the GA. We had Adam-side rail in the pit for night one in Foxboro and it was seriously going off. Great great night.
  11. alright; I'm back with some time to spare...

    what is this supposed to mean? Is it a question? If so, it lacks a question mark.
    Originally posted by djrlewis:[..]
    Interesting to read that the tearing it up section was further back and not by the rail. You wonder why the people want to be at the rail if not to 'tear it up'.

    Yes, that's what you would think. E. g. at heavy metal concerts, the pit is usually immediately in front of the stage. Of course, that's a very different pit - a mosh pit. However, I know of nobody who'd mosh at a U2 show. Here, it'll be bouncing, and a kind of dance, which is fun in its own right. However, I have to agree with prksoda00 that, mostly, people who cling to the rails in front, their motivation is primarily just to stare at the artist.

    Of course, I have seen the inner circles at u2 360 shows participating handsomely, and I'm still in the process of looking up youtube videos that show the middle of the floor, between the soundboard and the stage, more clearly, in order to assess this.

    Nevertheless, I don't think it's a fair judgment to say that the most hardcore u2 fans always end up in the inner circle.

    Thanks for the insightful story, Victor.

    I did the search, am watching "u2 - where the streets have no name - live TV Brasil 2006", right now. Don't know if this is the best example of what you mean, and the video quality is low, but I can see the crowd is at least participating a great deal. In fact, on my list of lifetime experiences, I gotta put "be at as many South American concerts as possible" - at least there I won't stick outta the crowd like a madman XP
  12. I didn't have a single problem with the crowd at the second Foxboro show. There was a decent amount of people jumping around.
    The whole culture of cellphones and junk is aggravating when watching boots and stuff, I wouldn't make a judgement about it though, it happens everywhere. Just try watch Muse at teignmouth, far worse than any american show I've seen.
    US fans like to drink beer more it seems, I don't mind it-thats how some people enjoy a concert. Can't make someone jump up and down.
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U2start is run by fans for fans. Help us reduce personal costs. Consider to make a donation to support us.
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