saw U2 in concert last night...good show! (1 Viewer)

[Ted Lee]

i watched them last night at arco arena. had premo seats (and paid a premo price).
i must say it was a very enjoyable show.
i really love the edge's guitar style - that "ringing" thing he does is awesome.
bono did a great job entertaining the crowd. he pulled some of his usual moves including pulling up a freaked-out chick, lots of crowd-touching, some minor political ranting, etc. the stage was heart-shaped, with the contest winners etc. being in the center of the heart. bono did a good job walking around the entire set, giving everyone a chance to high-five him, etc.
considering how scratchy his voice is getting, it held together pretty well. it cracked at times, but i doubt anyone noticed or cared.
he was sweating a lot...guess he's not gettin' any younger!
a very poignant moment was near the end, when they played "one" - they posted the names of the victim's of the sept 11th tragedy. quite touching.
they played for about two hours...a very good setlist of old and new songs. they played "i will follow" which totally rocked!

 

[MickeS]

I've only seen them live once, back in the early 90's some time. That was the best concert I've ever seen! I'm not a big fan of theirs, I only have "The Joshua Tree" CD, but that was a spectacular show, and they are great entertainers. They have had so many popular songs on the radio that even though I don't have any of their other records, I still recognized almost every song. They are also good musicians, and they seemed to have fun performing.

They had the guys from ABBA come up on stage and play "Dancing Queen" with them, that was fun also.

Seems from Ted's message that they're still a great live band, I wish I would have seen them when they played in Phoenix a while ago....

/Mike

 

[Ted Lee]

mike -
i can whole-heartedly recommend their best-of cd. it has all the major tracks. if possible, try to get the double-cd (with a bunch of b-side covers on the second disc).

 

[Ernest Aguayo]

MickeS:

The current tour isn't over yet. In fact, they are playing Phoenix this Friday, 11/23 at America West Arena.

I think ticketmaster.com still has seats. Or, there might be some tickets released the day of the show like at noon; I've seen them do that before. Or, you could try a ticket broker/scalper if you run out of options.

Just letting you know in case you do want to catch them in Phoenix this time around. They are definitely worth it!

Good luck....

Ernest

 

[MickeS]

Thanks! I didn't know they were going to play here again!

Wow... $45-$130 for tickets. I didn't know it was that much. I bet the $45 aren't even that good. When I saw them in Sweden, it was only about $25/ticket, but that was a few years ago of course. I've never been to a concert in the US, are these normal ticket prices?? I wish I wasn't so low on money right now...

/Mike

 

[Ted Lee]

here's my story on the ticket prices.

i originally got the 45 dollar general admission tickets. that would have gotten me on the floor, right next to the stage (but remember, they were general admission - i'd have to have gotten there like 4 hours early!) i thought that was a pretty good setup, but my girlfriend is kind of short and she didn't feel like standing. so i ended up getting the 130.00 tickets. i must admit the seats were premium - dead center and approximately 10 rows up from stage-level. they were among the best seats i've ever had to a concert.

but you know how it goes at concerts...you can only stare at them for so long, plus they have four huge monitors on top of the stage - one for each member.

if i had to do it again, i'd probably have been totally happy with the cheap tickets. i know concert going is a total visceral experience, but i bet you'd be okay with the cheap tickets and just listening.

anyway, if you go, let us know what you think...i bet you'll have a good time!

 

[Ernest Aguayo]

MickeS:

Yeah, concert tickets are pretty pricey these days.

The $130 tickets are reserved seating lower level. $85 is reserved seating upper level. $45 is EITHER behind the stage or general admission. If you manage to get a GA ticket and are one of the first 250-300 fans they let in the door, you get to be in the "heart" a special area in front of and actually within the main stage/catwalk.

Fans line up as early as overnight to guaranteed a spot in the heart. I got there at 9am the day of the show to make sure, but if you get there around noon you should be okay like Ted said.

All the trouble of trying to get into the heart is TOTALLY worth it. You have plenty of room to move around and have special access to the heart all night - you can come and go as you please. Plus, being like 20-30 feet from the band all night is VERY cool. Even if you don't get in the heart, a GA ticket for only $45 is an amazing deal.

(You might be able to find a GA ticket for Phoenix from a U2 fan who doesn't want to scalp it... they sometimes have extra tickets they just need to unload at cost. Try a Yahoo group like "U2tour" or the forum postings at interference.com. Email me privately if you need some help digging through these places. You might still get a great GA ticket, don't give up.)

Good luck!

Ernest

 

[Brian O]

I usually try to get seats right next to the mixing board, usually at the back of the first section or the middle of the floor. You are at the optimal spot for sound and are close enough to see the stage well, but not to close to get blown out. It's nice to have your hearing later in life.

 

[MickeS]

Well, I ended up not going, because of my financial situation... next time I hope to be there though.
The seats that were left on Wednseday were the $85 seats all the way up on the sides of the stadium, not too interested in those anyway.
/Mike