by Rach - again!

Having read a number of U2 Vertigo concert reviews - US, Europe - including Great Britain (GB - of which Scotland is a part!!) it is interesting to compare comments.

GB - as a nation - tend not to voice from the heart opinions unless we really know what we are saying - U2 PLEASE LISTEN to what we have to say!

We are NOT like some (BUT, BY NO WAY all) of our pretentious US cousins who seem to see EVERYTHING in a positive light - sorry about the generalisation - I know it’s unfair -

HOWEVER

being VERY aware of this tendency I rarely complain - without good reason - (I’m Scottish), BUT when you pay £65 to see, and hear, the world’s best band you expect a certain quality.

I was encouraged to see so many other honest comments about the sound quality, in differing areas of the stadium, on Tuesday 21st June 2005.

We bought 6 U2 tickets for Glasgow - totally believing we would hear a reasonably good level of delivery - so wrong! I have been to many, many great concerts - performed in totally different sizes of arena - in the last 15 years (Genesis, Stones, Bon Jovi, REM, Oasis, Coldplay, Scottish Opera! U2 x 4 etc. etc - husband, friends and I have varied musical tastes) BUT, I have NEVER been to a gig where I couldn’t actually make out what was being said, or sung. I am very aware that live gigs cannot - and should not - be perfect. They are live, real and to be appreciated as such.

Initially the atmosphere, in our area, was magnificent. Vertigo 1 was met with an incredible response from an amazing group of people - obviously a mixture of committed fans and a typically enthusiastic Glasgow audience (One of the best audiences - honest and totally unpretentious - listen to their genuine opinions PLEASE! - I love Glasgow concerts because of this.)

Having listened to Vertigo, moving on through All Because of You and Electric Co. then on to a very average rendition of Elevation we all seemed to be exchanging questioning looks - basically saying - What’s that? Was that it? What did he say?
By the time the band played New Year’s Day - despite total U2 dedication - we were becoming totally p****d off. The audience response declined - not surprisingly - during the next few numbers - until it was clear we were all staying there waiting for something to totally change / or someone to tell the sound crew they needed to sort something out.

At the end of session one I really thought the message might get through before the encore - SORT THE SOUND OUT - didn’t happen either then or prior to encore 2 !! (heard no claps/cheers for encore 2 - totally fed up by then)

Afterwards we considered:
• We know we had high expectations which might not have been met - BUT THEY WERE BEING MET - everything would have been fantastic - if we had heard the concert!

• The audience knew all the words BUT £65 for a mega karaoke is not on. The base/vocal quality was dire and - as has been said before - it was no better than an average pub band.

• Probably a large proportion of the audience would have supported Bono’s admirable and totally worthy causes if we had heard what he had to say (sorry to go on about this but imagine any politician delivering a PP Broadcast without sound!)

U2 please sort this out - we are consumers and having spent mega £'s trying to see, and appreciate, your concert I might have felt better donating £350 to charity.

We could have stayed in with a few bottles of good wine, DVD of concert and quality chat with friends about the GREAT U2. Didn’t want this - never will - SORT THE SOUND!

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