U2 Hits Glastonbury 2011 - All Discussions and Downloads

Originally posted by ric:here's my thoughts for what they're worth!

ok firstly (as i mentioned a few times) i missed seeing it live which to put it lightly, was a bit of a drag as i've been going mad with excitement about this ever since it was first announced back in 2009. so anyway i got back from where i had been on the sunday morning and managed to avoid any information whatsoever about what had gone down all day long but it was an agonising wait until my parents had gone to bed and i could watch it in HD, alone and on a big widescreen TV in the darkness, pretending it was still friday night.

so maybe it was the massive expectations i had or the 2 year buildup but i have to say when i reached the end of the show i was left with a slightly underwhelmed feeling... i think the thing that bothered me most throughout was bono seemed very uncomfortable and this seemed to manifest itself in him coming across as slightly cringeworthy in my opinion... and what the hell was with the maassive over-use of snippets?!?! i mean a couple of snippets in a gig are ok i suppose but this was something else and the novelty wore off very fast - and a lot of them were not even done very well!

and finally i thought the setlist was seriously underwhelming... i know it might have been wishful thinking but i was convinced we would get at least ONE massive surprise and that was really all i wanted! even if the setlist had been identical but with one song they haven't touched for 15+ years i would've been happy. i know its not cool to moan about the setlist but i really thought with it being such a special occasion we would've got something!!? and there were a lot of hints in the buildup that suggested we would..

as for what they did play probably my biggest disappointment in that area was streets! i mean possibly one of the most awesome and mind blowing aspects of a U2 show is the intro to streets. it wasn't a problem for me where it was placed in the set but to go straight into it like that was a serious missed trick. some of my personal fav most epic moments all involve the intro to streets - think R&H, ZOO sydney and popmart and how any one of those would've translated and it seems such a waste.. oh and playing boots was a bizarre but some might say brave move when you consider the negative reaction that song got in the UK.

but its not all negative! the fly was amazing, one was absolutely mind blowing and up there with some of the best versions i've ever heard and i was SO relieved they saw sense and left out glastonbury (the song) on the whole it wasn't a bad gig at all, in fact i was a great gig but it just seemed to not hit the spot in some way that i can't quite put my finger on.

i've been thinking all day about the possible reasons why i might be feeling the way i do about it and i think it might have something to do with the fact that given the occasion i couldn't help trying to view the gig through the eyes of a non fan or even a hater ie: the kind of people i was hoping may be 'won over' or 'converted' by what they saw... and unfortunately i found myself feeling embarrassed by bono and that possibly the band didn't choose all the right songs for the job in hand. of course the 'hits' had to be played but i was hoping they would pull out some things that non fans in the crowd would find eye opening and not what they would associate U2 with (yes im probably talking about something from pop or zooropa )

Originally posted by KieranU2:[..]

And? We still talk about other shows sometimes like this. Also, Glastonbury was a special event for U2, as it was their first proper festival in many years & they may never even play a festival again.

[..]

http://www.u2start.com/torrents/details/282/

Originally posted by ric:
as for what they did play probably my biggest disappointment in that area was streets! i mean possibly one of the most awesome and mind blowing aspects of a U2 show is the intro to streets. it wasn't a problem for me where it was placed in the set but to go straight into it like that was a serious missed trick. some of my personal fav most epic moments all involve the intro to streets - think R&H, ZOO sydney and popmart and how any one of those would've translated and it seems such a waste.. oh and playing boots was a bizarre but some might say brave move when you consider the negative reaction that song got in the UK.

Originally posted by AidanFormigoni:Should I get the biggest version to burn a b-ray and play it on my PS3 or should I get the dvd one to watch it everytime everywhere?

Really don't know what to do here, but I just got the audio and I'm starting to listening to the hole thing for the first time now

Originally posted by jofice:Goosebumped a bit while watching Streets. Crowd was really up for it.

Originally posted by WojBhoy:Just a short review from me, now I've had the chance to gather myself.

Watching the whole performance on iPlayer is a surreal feeling - the sound is crap on TV/computer compared to how it was in real life lol. The mistakes are more evident as a result but that doesn't detract from how it was (for me, at any rate).

I was expecting the ZooTV opening, but still wasn't prepared for it. Having seen the same setlist twice in '09 (Wembley 1 and Sheffield), it was amazing to see those songs being whipped out with gusto. With pretty much every song, I got shivers down the spine. Opening with so many big guns kinda made the set feel a bit top heavy, but I don't really care, 'cause it was brilliant all the same. Stay caught me by beautiful surprise, and I very nearly cried when they played Bad. Never thought I was ever going to hear that loop or that riff live. Not to mention my shock and awe at them whipping out Out of Control at the end lol - one of the best shocks of my life. So great being amongst such a massive crowd at such a massive occasion singing along to One, Streets, Pride, ISHFWILF, Beautiful Day etc.

Objectively, I'd say there's a case to suggest they were arguably the weakest of the headliners. The atmosphere for Coldplay was electrifying, and Beyoncé's performance was absolutely insane - one of the best I've ever seen from any musician/artist. I don't think this performance would have necessarily changed their current place in the British musical spectrum - Coldplay and Beyoncé are far more contemporary and relevant to the current generation and I think U2 are arguably now on a downward slope in terms of such relevance, but for all that, being there to see U2 at Glasto was one of the highlights of my life

Aside from the boys' performance, on Glasto as a whole - if you ever get a chance, GO. No second thoughts. Just, GO. It's the most insane thing I've ever experienced, the sheer scale of the thing and the ridiculousness of it all is not to be missed.

Originally posted by PEDRO67:Everyone was up for the Streets - U2 and non-U2 fans alike. Folk behind me were going bananas

Only blip to the tune was a small 'interruption' at the intro when Edge's effects weren't fully locked in. I could hear at right away - even at the show but still, made no difference in the grand scheme of things

Originally posted by dtpc191991:In any other country, U2 would have been far better received than Coldplay, it's just that the British tend to be biased towards their own musicians. Bono said in an interview in 1981, that he felt the British were a very cynical audience because of their established musical tradition and that the band were finding that difficult to overcome even then.

EDIT - [..]Again, completely agree - the band are seen as part of the musical establishment, i.e. the biggest sin any band can commit, which I think is complete nonsense. I mean, I find it hilarious that people criticise them on the basis of being mainstream etc., and yet I can't say I know more people who dislike them than I know who actually like them, and to my mind mainstream means being more popular than unpopular. That and Bono's reputation has a much more negative impact here than anywhere else, because of the general cynicism of the British public. For all that, everyone I knew was looking forward to seeing them, the general feeling being 'yeah Bono's a wanker but U2 are (going to be) amazing' (which was also repeated re. Chris Martin and Coldplay, interestingly - both had a bad rep. for being renowned for talking too much bollocks lol), and hardly anyone was left disappointed - the only person I can think of was one of my friends who said that they were good, but he'd got such high expectations in his head that the relatively stripped-down performance (in terms of stage, lights etc.) took him back some.