by Jonathan Marshall

Went to U2 in Glasgow - rocked big time. Openers were Black Rebel Motorcycle Club (destroyed by the worst mix ever) and Interpol (a class act - enjoyable, and a much better mix than BRMC).
U2 were fantastic - extremely lively gig. Setlist is on the main page, so will just mention the snippets I recall:

Elevation (snippet of I Can See for Miles)
Beautiful Day (snippet of Blackbird?)
Bullet The Blue Sky (snippets of Please, Johnny comes marching home)
Running To Stand Still (snippets of Walk On, Happy Birthday)

Wild Horses was a great addition - full band redition, Running to Stand Still was dedicated to Aung San Suu Kyi (thus the Happy Birthday as it's her birthday this week). The second rendition of Vertigo blew away the first version - was really ramped up + had a full light show. Light show as a whole was fantastic - nothing much for the first set due to the how light it is in these parts.
Only really fully cranked up for the encores - Zoo station/The Fly taking full effect. Was great use of the screens though throughout, really going well with each song. I was surprised how well the older/more obscure songs went down - everyone practically seemed to know Electric Co + Wild Horses. The Glasgow audience was great - really getting in to it.

Was impressed with the handling of the GA line/queues at Hampden. I've heard we were let in a little later than expected (queues started moving at 4:50 or so, with an advertised concert start at 5:30 - actual start was BRMC at 6, Interpol at 7:15, and U2 at 8:35 or so, after they played 1979 by Smashing Pumpkins (first track in the warmup set repeated). Intro was to Wake Up as per usual, though no "Everyone" intro.

GA was handled in at least 30 queues - we got there around 4:00pm and were around 20th or so in the queue we joined (depended on ticket - longest was around 50 people). Everyone lined up in the GA lines got in to the front section of the stadium. They were still letting people in there at around 5:30, though there were still people coming in to the stadium at 8:30 when U2 were about to come on. Was a nice fine day - a little hot in the heat (who would have thought!) but was better than it raining. Rain shelters over Larry's drum kit + the keyboards etc. were removed before U2 came on.

Sound was great from where we were (around 3-4 metres in front of the left B-side, 1 person out from the rail on the left of the left catwalk. I can understand that the sound may not have been so good in other places due to echo - not really much can be done about that in a stadium setup like it was (stage was on the long edge of the stadium). Seating was reasonable, though IMO they sold one block too far around on each side. GA is the place to be though - much better view + vibe all around.

Here's looking forward to them playing Oz next year!

If there's interest in the original photos (3 Mp) drop me a mail.

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