4U2Play

I had the great fortune to attend 14 Vertigo Tour shows over the past 19 months.

Here are my 5 favorites:


5. Oakland 2 - November 9, 2005

- Inside the Ellipse, stood near the back for a change, lots of room to jump around
- Crowd was really pumped up, the Ellipse was already packed during Damien Marley's set
- "IWF"and "Gloria" back-to-back, awesome, totally awesome
- Moving speech by Bono during "One", talking about how the Bay Area "dreamt up the 21st Century"
- "Fast Cars" with Courtney on tambourine
- "Bad" to finish


4. San Jose 2 - April 10, 2005

- Scanned into the Ellipse for the second night in a row, very exciting, ended up in front between Bono and Edge
- Bono was in high spirits, having attended church that morning, much improved over the night before
- Opened with "LAPOE", great mood setter
- "An Cat Dubh", my favorite "Boy" song
- Debut of "OOTS", with Edge on piano
- Bono borrows Bratty Cat's lipstick
- Iris, Iris, Iris! Amazing dancer with Bono during "MW", brought the house down


3. Mexico City 2 - February 16, 2006

- Inside the barrier, between the two B-stages, lots of room to move around
- Awesomely loud crowd in Estadio Azteca, 75,000 screaming U2 fans
- Amazing visuals, we stood in the perfect spot to see the full effects of the giant video screen
- Great crowd singalong to "Cielito Lindo", a traditional folk song
- Show ends with "Fast Cars", "OOTS" and "40"


2. Tokyo 3 - December 4, 2006

- Entered the arena five minutes before everyone else, saw U2 doing their soundcheck ("OOC", with Bono saying "too much echo, lower the echo, please")
- I was in a great mood that night after worrying about the GA situation for three days... ended up on the front rail between Bono and Edge, my favorite spot
- Received a copy of the setlist before the show began
- John Sampson walked over and handed me Bono's guitar pick after Bono had used it out on the B-stage
- Japanese crowd was mental, really really into it
- Funny moment when the crowd sang the "woo oohs" to "Elevation" wrong... Bono tried to correct it, but he just gave up
- Instead of the usual crowd dancer during "MW", three Maiko (apprentice geishas) shuffled across the stage as Bono bowed to them
- They nailed "WITS"
- "Vertigo" to end, crowd went ballistic


1. Las Vegas 2 - November 5, 2005

- No Ellipse, but 8th row on Adam's side
- First chance to see the cool visuals
- Smallest arena of the tour, very intimate setting
- Brandon Flowers and Mary J. Blige as surprise guests
- Crowd sings Happy Birthday for Dennis Sheehan
- Hard rockin' setlist, no acoustic stuff
- Ended with "Bad", segueing into "People Got The Power" as they left the stage while the crowd kept singing

bratty_cat

1. San Jose 2
- Despite GA debacle going in where we lose our place at the front of the line, my friend scans in for the ellipse and we get front rail, right in front of Bono. He borrows my lipstick during the show (and thanks to 4U2Play, the moment is caught on "film").

2. Las Vegas 2
- Inside ellipse, front rail between Bono and Edge. Mary J. and Brandon Flowers and the first time I hear Bad live in years! A few hours after the show, I literally hit the jackpot and win $4K which covers our suite at the MGM and then some!

3. Oakland 2
- Outside front rail. Both Bad and Gloria played in the same show. One of my fave setlists on this tour!

4. San Jose 1
- My second Vertigo show (after SD opener) and our first GA experience on this tour. Outside front rail. Bono borrows our disposable camera and attempts to take a pic of himself during COBL.

5. Tokyo 3
- My 9th and last Vertigo show. Just two very, very short fans away from the rail on Adam's bstage (totally unobstructed view and no pushing). Great concert, great crowd energy and the chance to meet awesome fans from around the world!

4U2Play

Hey Bratty Cat!

Hmm, great minds think alike.

I edited my above post to include your famous lipstick incident , another great moment from SJ 2... SJ 2 maybe deserves a higher spot on my list, come to think of it.

You never told me about hitting the jackpot in Vegas, what a great night you had: U2, front rail and money.

bratty_cat

Hi Nick!

Ah, Vegas...Yes, I hit multiple jackpots on a dollar slot machine at New York, New York. It was about 5:30am after the second show and I was practically comatose. Had I not been catatonic, I would have walked away after the first jackpot (like any sensible person) but I believed the casino guy when he told me that sometimes the machines hit twice. In the end, I hit max jackpots twice and multiple small ones to total about $4K. Two days later I met Bono at work. It was a particularly good week

Axver

Well, out of the ten I saw, I'd rank them like this:

1. 2005-05-26, Boston
- Gloria
- Spontaneous Out Of Control
- Bad closing
- Band on a huge high, amazing atmosphere
- I was front row!

2. 2005-05-28, Boston
- The Electric Co.!!
- An Cat Dubh/Into The Heart (which is especially fun when you're in GA and have a girlfriend to dance with)
- First WGRYWH in 12.5 years
- Almost as good a position as the 26/05 show

3. 2006-11-25, Auckland
- Incredibly moving One Tree Hill to close; my single best live moment by any band ever
- Bad in LAPOE's spot
- Beautiful acoustic Walk On with a snippet of You'll Never Walk Alone
- Bono wearing an All Blacks jersey, and then revealing the Irish one underneath!

4. 2006-11-19, Melbourne
- The First Time!
- Bad to close
- Best Miss Sarajevo I've heard
- Just a couple of rows from Edge in a packed stadium
- Edge's hilarious "thank you, Sydney!"

5. 2006-11-13, Sydney
- The return of I Will Follow
- The funniest and most catastrophic Party Girl ever
- UTEOTW is a great encore opener
- A very relaxed "party" atmosphere

__________________
"Mediocrity is never so dangerous as when it is dressed up as sincerity." - Søren Kierkegaard

“Who buys U2 records anyway? It's just music for plumbers and bricklayers. Bono, what a slob. You'd think with all that climbing about he does, he'd look real fit and that. But he's real fat, y'know. Reminds me of a soddin' mountain goat.” - Ian McCulloch


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celticbhoy

Out of the 17 I saw, I'd rank them like this:

1. 2005-10-14, NY
- Gloria & Electric Co
- Requested & Sang Party Girl........and got Bono's champagne
- First into Elipse
- Bono's Set List
- Great atmosphere as last of 5 night stand

2. 2006-11-19, Melbourne
- First into stadium
- Bad to close out the show
- Party Girl much better than the Sydney debacle
- Peter Garret ( Midnight Oil ) stood in pit in front of me for first 3 songs , jumping around like a man possessed
- Bono's Set List
- Last show in Oz and band really on fire , Best Stadium show i saw

3. 2006-11-18, Melbourne
- First into stadium ( there's a bit of a pattern here , i think i should seek help !! )
- Fiancee at her 1st U2 concert in front of bono with me , finally she understands why i travel the world for this band !!
- I Will Follow outstanding as was The Fly
- Bono's Set List

4. 2005-06-25, Dublin
- First into stadium , which was funny as i was on o'connell st at 4pm selling a friends spare tickets , while they held my spot in the queue !!
- Bono's Set List
- Out of Control, Electric Co & Party Girl

5. 2005-10-10, NY
- I Will Follow & Electric Co
- Bad & 40 to close out the show
- First into Elipse
- Adam's Set List

roll on 2009...........

partygirlvox

I was only at 3 ...

But..

1. Buffalo 9/dec/05
On my birthday, after lots of travelling and anticipation
In a small arena, and I was on the rail
At the end of love and peace or else bono handed me one of larrys drumsticks. Sums it up really.

2. Cardiff 29/June/05
First U2 Concert
In an amazing venue - such a huge stadium, I had nosebleed seats but still felt part of everything.
Opened by the killers
Played absolutely everything I wanted, and closed with vertigo which (contrary to popular belief) was amazing

3. Hawaii 9/dec/06
My birthday again, with lots of anticipation and travelling
Huge party atmosphere, for both band and audience
They played window in the skies and angel of harlem (two of my many favourite songs) and bono played the harmonica in the latter.
I was on a rail again.

4. Last Croke Park
I wasn't there - but have a bootleg and really wish I had made the effort to go. 26 songs (I think?) and all of them brilliant.

5. Melbourne
Only wish I had been there to witness the booing!

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Kinsa

I only went to 5 concerts, so here's how I rank what I saw -

1) Vegas 2 -
Just a phenomenal night of music. The band and the audience had such a real connection, to me its hard to put in words, but it was like having a real spiritual experience (yes, I know that sounds totally corny ) Loved the setlist, loved Mary J, and Brandon Flowers, loved Bad with People Got the Power, just loved the show!!

2) Phoenix 2 -
Great night of music, loved the setlist, and the boys were just on their game that night.

3) Honolulu -
This was a great show, but I didn't care for the setlist as much as others I have seen. Felt like the middle portion of the show (LAPOE, Miss Sarajevo, etc.) lagged in energy a bit. But the two encores were

4) Anaheim 2 -
First show I saw this tour, so it was just great to see everything. Loved watching them work out 40 in front of everyone.

5) Vegas 1 -
This show was good, but definitely lacked the energy of a great U2 show. But, it did have a lot of songs I really wanted to hear, albiet acoustic versions (Wild Horses, Walk On), plus it had Elvis baby!

J_NP

Funny this thread .....

People are saying I " only " went to 5, 4 .... poor me .....



What about people who could attend 1 or better people who couldn't attend any ....... what word should be used ?

Kinsa

I don't think anyone is stating "poor me", but the question asked to rank your top 5 concerts, so if you only went to 5, that is relevant information for everyone to understand your ranking.

And for those who could only attend 1 or no shows, well, then, there really isn't anything for them to rank, right? So why does it matter what word should be used?

Zootlesque

I only attended 25 shows. Didn't like any of them.

Chizip

poor you

Zootlesque

What can I say? I have high standards.

corianderstem

My list is pretty easy out of the 6 shows I attended, because there was only one show that I can honestly say did nothing for me (Vancouver 2).

1. Vegas 2
First and only time in the ellipse! Second row! Great show, great company, just all-around awesomeness.

2. Seattle 2
My one time not in GA, and it was SUCH a rocking show. Nice not to have to worry about GA and not seeing. My $160 was completely worth it. Gloria! Bad! The first appearance of Vertigo x2! That show was amazing. I only ranked Vegas 2 higher because I was in the second row.

3. New York 10/10/05
Decent spot on the floor, really great show.

4. Portland 12/19/06
Back of the floor by the mixing board, but still a good time and a fun show.

5. Seattle 1
In comparison to the other shows I saw, it wasn't great by any standards, but it was the first time I'd seen U2 since 1997, and I was only two heads back from the rail on the floor. I just about popped my head off with excitement.

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partygirlvox

I'm not saying poor me, i only went to 3 shows. But when you compare that to the 10+ that alot of people on here have been to.. it seems oddly insignificant. Plus its hard to pick your top 5 when you have been to under 5 shows.

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