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2011-06-24 - Glastonbury
 Tour: Various Dates
Songs played: 20
Audio recordings: 2
Videos: 1
  1. Originally posted by wbarenno:I was at the gig at Glastonbury. It was good borderline very good but it wasn’t great. I’ve seen u2 nearly 20 times and I’d say this was the worst I’ve seen them. Not saying it wasn’t good but I don’t think it lived up to that Glastonbury moment expectation.

    The gig was built up a lot. A lot of controversy around it beforehand. A lot of people didn’t want u2 there. There was actually a protest while u2 were playing 😃

    Glastonbury is a big deal in the U.K., it gets massive media coverage. Classic sets on every year. Now since 2011 I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone mention the U2 set. It just isn’t remembered, it didn’t live up to the hype.

    The gig itself. I was right down the front, pretty close to the stage. The first song EBTTRT was an absolute mess. Honestly the tv footage doesn’t do it Justice how bad that first song was. It was awful. But then the fly was mind blowing. Sounded amazing. Then the set was off. From that point it was excellent. Hit after hit. I never actually noticed streets being messed up at the start .Then Stay really killed the crowd. I love Stay myself but it put the brakes on the show . Get on your boots killed it completely. There was also some sound issues from Bono’s mic. Went low for the rest of the gig. Set list was wrong and the songs were placed in the wrong places I thought.

    Now the weather certainly had an effect on the gig. People say well it’s rained at other u2 gigs. Difference is people have paid to see u2 so they are there for u2. At Glastonbury that isn’t the case. The crowd isn’t full of fans. The rain was horrendous. It dampened the neutral crowd. Morrissey was boring as hell before u2. That didn’t help.

    I bring this up because Coldplay played the Saturday night ,elbow supported who were superb and the sun was blazing hot. Honestly the difference between the crowd’s enthusiasm between the Friday and the Saturday was night and day. Coldplay were outstanding that weekend.

    There’s a lot of Glastonbury coverage on this weekend . U2 aren’t on as I said u2 played and it was good but it vanished from everyone’s memory after it happened. It didn’t create what we call here a Glastonbury moment.

    For me being a regular to Glastonbury it was a dream to see them there. I won’t forget it. Like I said it was good but it was just missing that special ingredient that makes a Glastonbury set special. It should have blown everything that had come before it out the water. Radiohead 97 Bowie 2000 Macca 04. U2 should have been top of the list. Unfortunately it isn’t.

    Just to add the gig comes across a lot better on tv and bootleg then it actually did being there in person
    Great post. Thanks for taking the time.
  2. A friend of mine who has been going to Glastonbury since the early 90s and knows his music inside out saw U2 for the first time at Glastonbury. He said it was one of the best gigs he has seen at at Glastonbury. I met him for the first time a few weeks and more or less the first thing he brought up with me (he knows I’m a massive U2 fan) was the recent streaming of the Slane gig on YouTube. He hadn’t seen it before and couldn’t believe how good it was (I’ve got a story about that week but that’s for another time another place). He then mentioned again how good the Glastonbury gig was. As others have said, as U2 fans we can be too critical of them, instead of enjoying them as one of, if not the, best bands to come out of the Northside of Dublin (speaking as a fellow Northside Dubliner!).
  3. Originally posted by wbarenno:I was at the gig at Glastonbury. It was good borderline very good but it wasn’t great. I’ve seen u2 nearly 20 times and I’d say this was the worst I’ve seen them. Not saying it wasn’t good but I don’t think it lived up to that Glastonbury moment expectation.

    The gig was built up a lot. A lot of controversy around it beforehand. A lot of people didn’t want u2 there. There was actually a protest while u2 were playing 😃

    Glastonbury is a big deal in the U.K., it gets massive media coverage. Classic sets on every year. Now since 2011 I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone mention the U2 set. It just isn’t remembered, it didn’t live up to the hype.

    The gig itself. I was right down the front, pretty close to the stage. The first song EBTTRT was an absolute mess. Honestly the tv footage doesn’t do it Justice how bad that first song was. It was awful. But then the fly was mind blowing. Sounded amazing. Then the set was off. From that point it was excellent. Hit after hit. I never actually noticed streets being messed up at the start .Then Stay really killed the crowd. I love Stay myself but it put the brakes on the show . Get on your boots killed it completely. There was also some sound issues from Bono’s mic. Went low for the rest of the gig. Set list was wrong and the songs were placed in the wrong places I thought.

    Now the weather certainly had an effect on the gig. People say well it’s rained at other u2 gigs. Difference is people have paid to see u2 so they are there for u2. At Glastonbury that isn’t the case. The crowd isn’t full of fans. The rain was horrendous. It dampened the neutral crowd. Morrissey was boring as hell before u2. That didn’t help.

    I bring this up because Coldplay played the Saturday night ,elbow supported who were superb and the sun was blazing hot. Honestly the difference between the crowd’s enthusiasm between the Friday and the Saturday was night and day. Coldplay were outstanding that weekend.

    There’s a lot of Glastonbury coverage on this weekend . U2 aren’t on as I said u2 played and it was good but it vanished from everyone’s memory after it happened. It didn’t create what we call here a Glastonbury moment.

    For me being a regular to Glastonbury it was a dream to see them there. I won’t forget it. Like I said it was good but it was just missing that special ingredient that makes a Glastonbury set special. It should have blown everything that had come before it out the water. Radiohead 97 Bowie 2000 Macca 04. U2 should have been top of the list. Unfortunately it isn’t.

    Just to add the gig comes across a lot better on tv and bootleg then it actually did being there in person
    Thanks for your valuable insight. There's a couple of regular U2start members that attended their Glastonbury gig and you all coincide in the same low points, so those of us who weren't there should just trust your judgement.

    Now, if the TV comes across BETTER than how it did in person... Wow, I can't even fathom how bad it must have been there.
  4. I don’t think it coming across better on tv is that big a surprise when you look at the complaints. It was raining so at home we don’t have to put up with that and in particular the way it dampened the crowd, the mic went low again with the tv coverage that wasn’t the case. And the Setlist choices again are more about how it didn’t cater to a festival audience but we aren’t in the audience at home. So if you watch or listen to the show at home it’s actually really good I would say. Take your mind off the negative comments and you’ll hear generally solid performances of songs. The song choices and placement I do think was off slightly as well although I don’t think it needed a major reshape it was just 2 or 3 songs that could have been moved or perhaps replaced. The most noticeable issue with the gig I would say and it is from a visual perspective than just listening is Bono is very restricted looking. At elevation Slane for example you have that festival type atmosphere but Bono was able to let out all his emotions and energy with the big heart stage. The band were also near the end of the 360 tour when the played Glastonbury where again Bono and in fact all the band members were making the most of a big stage. So I think all that contributed to it not feeling special. There’s also the fact that the 360 Setlists at the time were significantly longer and the Glastonbury gig omitted some of the real quality tracks that fans were appreciating on the tour at the time. I urge fans to listen to the gig and write down the mistakes and I don’t think you’ll have a long list, albeit it does start from almost the very beginning of the gig with the real thing mistake but carry on the list and see what you come up with.
  5. Glastonbury is overrated.
  6. Slane was a U2 tour gig. Hometown crowd , too.

    There is no way a festival gig, after years of not playing, and its the famosly anti U2 UKland, can compete.
  7. Originally posted by muzika:Slane was a U2 tour gig. Hometown crowd , too.

    There is no way a festival gig, after years of not playing, and its the famosly anti U2 UKland, can compete.
    True, and there was also no way of it competing even with a great 360 show because you had longer setlists, a stage the band were comfortable with and a crowd ready to enjoy themselves. I think that is the main issue here, fans are talking about having been to several u2 shows I’d imagine that included a recent 360 show at the time and it not being special but why would it be special compared to a standard u2 show. I would rather have witnessed the Montreal gig that was streamed on u2.com or the Anaheim gig from the 18/06/2011 that’s available on here in amazing quality. But if you just listen to the Glastonbury performance there isn’t much wrong with it, the band did play the songs well so if you review it on its own merits it’s hard to knock too many marks off it. Another example of a festival show not comparing to a standard u2 show although without so many of the disadvantages is Devore in 1983. You had Red Rocks around the same time which was a better performance and a longer Setlist. But Devore was again a solid show a couple of issues but on the whole a good early show, Red Rocks was just much better.
  8. I listen to the bootleg now and again and it sounds really good. Like I said in a previous post it looked and sounded a lot better on tv and bootleg then it did actually being there.

    There was a big article about the gig in Q magazine i think it was. Bono mentioned how the stage was literally like a skating rink with the heavy rain. He was saying the shoes he wore was not suitable at all. They also mentioned that someone there had knocked over and destroyed a lot of their effect equipment before the gig happened.

    Found it

    https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.nme.com/news/music/u2-161-1280994%3famp



    I am more or less certain if we had the weather that we had on the Saturday on the Friday then the u2 gig would have been totally different. Bono would have been more confident and totally different. With how the conditions were he was probably scared to death of falling over. Elbow go on before u2 ,the sun shines ,the crowds enthusiasm is sky high and we have that u2 Glastonbury moment . I’m convinced of it.
  9. I should add wbarenno that with my previous posts I wasn’t dismissing or even disagreeing with what you were saying. I don’t think I can disagree with how the show personally felt to you being there. Most people that were there do seem to state it wasn’t great but have different levels of how they enjoyed it. My point is more about the fans that weren’t there which is most of us and how there actually isn’t that much to dislike as a a listener or viewer from home but absolutely the points you raised about your experience in person I take completely on board, I’m in no position to disagree in fact with a personal experience of the show as I wasn’t there. Regarding your last point about a set of different circumstances that could have led to a more special show again I wouldn’t dismiss that but I’m still sort of leaning on the view that even a perfect show at Glastonbury wouldn’t have been better than a perfect 360 show at the time. 360 being a visually more spectacular show and longer performance with all u2 fans , I just don’t think Glastonbury could have matched that.
  10. bonos voice definitely low in the mix towards the middle of set

  11. Originally posted by deanallison:I should add wbarenno that with my previous posts I wasn’t dismissing or even disagreeing with what you were saying. I don’t think I can disagree with how the show personally felt to you being there. Most people that were there do seem to state it wasn’t great but have different levels of how they enjoyed it. My point is more about the fans that weren’t there which is most of us and how there actually isn’t that much to dislike as a a listener or viewer from home but absolutely the points you raised about your experience in person I take completely on board, I’m in no position to disagree in fact with a personal experience of the show as I wasn’t there. Regarding your last point about a set of different circumstances that could have led to a more special show again I wouldn’t dismiss that but I’m still sort of leaning on the view that even a perfect show at Glastonbury wouldn’t have been better than a perfect 360 show at the time. 360 being a visually more spectacular show and longer performance with all u2 fans , I just don’t think Glastonbury could have matched that.
    Yeah I totally see what your saying mate. Everyone’s opinions are different, the show does seem to divide people. The show definitely came across better on tv then it did being there. The bootleg is very good I think.

    Would a perfect Glastonbury show be as good as a 360 show?Yeah I think you might be right the 360 show would always maybe be better. Agree with you to a certain degree.

    U2 at Glastonbury should have been “THE”Glastonbury gig though . It had the potential to be. There’s been a lot of Glastonbury footage on this weekend. Radiohead 97 REM 99 best of’s etc U2 don’t get mentioned at all.

    I’d been to Glastonbury numerous times beforehand and it was a dream seeing u2 there. Even though I don’t think it lived up to expectations and could have been better it was still incredible seeing them there and a good u2 gig is still better then 99% of other gigs 😃