U2 review

going to be a fairly short review on account of it not really being worth much more.

I'm not a major fan of u2 but i can still appreciate there stuff n thus got myself a ticket in a brilliant seat though i'd have prepared standing.

interpol and Black rebel motorcycle club supported. Kinda weak as far as other bands that have been doing the tour IMO. you can piss on hampden from my mates bird's garden so we just stayed there and turned a nice shade of red until u2 were close to coming on.

I've heard people saying the sound was bad in the manchester gigs and considering it;'s a stadium i wasn't too surprised but IMO the sound was diabolical.

it pretty much consisted of: top line melody with Bono singing (which you made out words here and there), the bass not actually wehat it was playing just that there was bass frequencies in there, same with the drtums, you got the beat but that was about it and the guitars just kinda made up the background. the only thing you could really make out consistently was the backing tracks.

they were tight but as i said, the sound pretty much ruined the thing for me. Bands having bad sound days at festivals when they barely get a soundcheck usually sound much better than this.

when they played the hits the place was bouncing, myself included. the other stuff, not so much.

Bonon wasn't as bad as i expected with regards to his preaching, he made a coupla comments about making poverty history and I had to kinda laugh when he said "6000 people a day die of mosquito bites in the world" i was thinking 60,000 people a day pay you n co 50 quid and up to sing, i dont even want to imagine how much that stage cost and the edge's gear cost upwards of 20 grand at least. don't preach to me about how we should help the poor boy.

when singing sunday bloody sunday they had co-exist come up on the screens with the crescent moon of Islam making the C, the star of David making the X and the cross making the T and it was just tacky IMO. surely someone turned round n thought, listen that just looks stupid bono mate. or maybe that's just me.

in the end. a good gig, not a great one, doesn't make my top 10 by a long shot and definetely not worth the money but it was OK n now i've seen them I don't need to bother again.

I feel the exact same about REM, you should see them just to see n say you have but that;s about it.

sometimes you just come off as a total prick, Jim..... Not just a prick, but ignorant and shortsighted, righteous and naive. (other than that you are lovely )

what? REM are nothing but brilliant live!!! Michael Stipe is my hero I do think that sometimes it takes a certain level of maturity to actually understand some bands/artists/concepts - and I don't mean that in a deragatory way.

Jim, I was waiting for your comments.

I am sorry to hear the sound wasn't that good, I didn't find anything wrong with it on Sunday honestly. I didn't like Bono's preaching that much but as I said before, apart from this, the concert was fantastic. I never experienced anything like it with any other band before (apart from BJ obviously!). It was definitely the best U2 concert I've been to.

If someone would like to see them, I'll be than happy to post some pics.

I didn't think his preaching was bad. he only said a couple of things about making poverty history, he might have said more but it didn't come through in the mix I just thought all the symbolism n stuff was really tacky n naff.

i don't think the charter of human rights is a bad thing, but i do think having a wee girl beamed on 60foot screens reciting parts of it while bono gyrates away is just daft to be honest.

just came across a post on another boardby coincidence with a guy who'd been there:

the sound was a fvcken joke , sounded like they were playing under water.
totally fvcken disgusted.



was a musicians board too. maybe we just notice or are a bit more pedantic about sound?... stadiums aren't exactly reknowned for their acoustics but there was no reason for it to be that bad.

This guy reckons he might have had a bad seat but I couldn't have been in a better position if I tried and I still agree that the sound was diabolical.

didnt seem anything wrong with the sound@manchester...

how can you slag bono off for "preaching"?!

he's one of the few musicians that are actually prepared to try and do something about the sh*t in this world. How much he gives to charity (and i guess rather a lot) isnt the point - do you see Jon working his ass off trying to slash third world debt?!

I was at manchester, and considering how politically charged a lot of their songs are (not in "socially aware" Bounce sense i.e. bollocks), one kind of expects a strong message.

We should give him and Geldoff credit for trying to do something:

30,000 children day a day in Africa.

In all fairness, i didn't pay 70 quid to hear what i hear from him all the time, i paid to see him sing. Save it for Tony Blair and the Pope. As I said, he didn't preach too much, just a bit here and there. if he'd done more I woulda had more reason to be disappointed with the gig because I've heard in other shows he was going on major monologues just killign any momentum and ruining the gig.

I'm not even going to comment on Geldoff. I don't want to waste my tme.

where was the manchester gig and do you play in a band by any chance?

manchester gig was at the City of Manchester Stadium (Commonwealth games/Man City).

sadly not in a band, i consider myself a good singer, havent really found the right group to form any kind of band with to be honest at uni (leeds).

I'd imagine you'd be more anal about the sound if you had any live experience. most people I know in bands are it's just natural and as far as sound goes, it was terrible even for a stadium and the fact u2 have never been the dryest sounding band around.

to be honest i was just pleasantly surprised to hear Bono and Edge's vocals over the crowd (ppl singing along isnt really my thing, at times fine, but i pay to hear the band in the end...!) and everything else seemed tickety boo. My mate knows his tech stuff and he didnt comment, guess its down to personal opinion as with most things..