CONCERT REVIEW!!!!

(actually it are more just thoughts… and I have so many thoughts about these 2 concerts that I doubt it will be readable :P )

I have been to both the U2 concerts in Amsterdam! :D

I had seat tickets for both shows: (remember this picture? It feels like I made it years ago! :P)

At both the nights I sat in the middle and almost at the back (on tuesday I sat on row 26 of 27), so it is a good thing that I’m not afraid of heights :P

I went alone monday (yeah, all alone in a stadium with 60.000 others there XD)

MONDAY 20 JULY

On monday 20 July U2 give their first show in Amsterdam. I’ve never been to a U2 concert before so I did not really know what to expect… It was in fact my first concert at all! I’ve never even been in a stadium before :P

I was very very excited and could not wait to get there, so I arrived way too early :P Ah well, more time to admire the beautiful Claw :P

The Claw is HUGE! This is what the stadium looked like around 19:00 on monday:

This is what the stadium looked like at 19:00 on monday

The traffic was stuck, so it took a long time before everyone was in their seats…

At 20:00 Snow Patrol started and they were really great! I’m very happy that they were the support act. I am going to listen more to Snow Patrol, but it hasn’t converted me into a fan… they’re just a nice band :)

They played all their famous songs, but I did miss Take Back The City…

And then, at 21:30 Space Oddity played… That song is absolutely the best opening track imaginable for this tour! I absolutely love it! (I already did, but now even more :P) And then Kingdom! :O :D Can’t wait until the next album comes out! :P

Setlist 20 July (from U2gigs.com):

1. Breathe
2. No Line On The Horizon
3. Get On Your Boots
4. Magnificent
5. Beautiful Day / Blackbird (snippet)
6. Mysterious Ways
7. I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For / Movin’ On Up (snippet)
8. Angel Of Harlem / Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough (snippet)
9. In A Little While
10. Unknown Caller
11. The Unforgettable Fire
12. City Of Blinding Lights
13. Vertigo
14. Let’s Dance (snippet) / I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight
15. Sunday Bloody Sunday
16. Pride (In The Name Of Love)
17. MLK
18. Walk On / You’ll Never Walk Alone (snippet)
19. Where The Streets Have No Name / All You Need Is Love (snippet)
20. One

encore(s):

21. Ultra Violet (Light My Way)
22. With Or Without You
23. Moment of Surrender / 40 (snippet)

Larry is the first to walk onto the stage and starts Breathe. Breathe does not give the same feeling as Elevation or Zoo Station, but I do think it is the best song of the album to open with. It was very impressive! And I know it was very very predictable, but I loved it when Bono opened with “20 July, nine-oh-five”! It immediately made the smile that I already had into a much bigger one ;P

Bono also said something in Dutch: “Fijn dat jullie er zijn!” It’s always good to hear Bono say something in Dutch! :)

No Line On The Horizon is surprisingly good live! And so is Get On Your Boots! I have to say that I did not like the Get On Your Boots performances from the Brit Awards and the David Letterman show. I knew that Bono really looked forward to playing it live so I hoped that it would turn out ok… And it really did!

Actually every song of the whole concert was great, so I think I’ll stop naming every song :P The beginning of Beautiful Day was BEAUTIFUL!!! I can’t wait for this show and the next to turn up on U2start.com! Before the first notes of Beautiful Day started I could have guessed they were going to play it… not because I knew the other setlists out of my head, but because of the fact that the Claw was now green and blue and what do they sing in Beautiful Day? Yep, “See the world in green and blue” Haha Bono sang: “See the world in green and blue/ Larry Mullen right beside you” :P I almost forgot! Bono did a very funny sort of robot move with his arm at the end of the song! XD

And then, my favourite of the evening! They played THE song I wanted to hear!!!! :D Mysterious Ways! It was so beautiful… *going into dreamy mode* :) Edge did not do his funky dance, but I could imagine it, so it made me smile ;P

I don’t know Movin’ On Up, so I wondered what he was singing, but it sounded great, just because Bono was singing it :) Oh and In A Little While was so great!!! I might have said before that I became a U2 fan thanks to the Elevation Tour dvd and In A Little While is one of my favourites from that show (together with Bullet The Blue Sky). I thought that this In A Little While was just as lovely :)

Edge’s solo on Unknown Caller was also one of the highlights of this show for me. Unknown Caller together with Mysterious Ways made me reconciled to not hearing Love Is Blindness.

Unknown Caller

The Unforgettable Fire was simply lovely and the Claw was so pretty with City Of Blinding Lights! :) City Of Blinding Lights is actually not really one of my most listened U2 songs, but oh it was so pretty! :P

The Unforgettable Fire

City Of Blinding Lights

The I’ll Go Crazy remix was so much more fun than I expected!!! I really really liked it No, I LOVED IT! Those heads were just too funny! Hahaha how could you not have fun when you see Adam, Bono, Edge and Larry like that! XD It was really hypnotising! And the bass and the djembe were also delicious!!! This was the moment when the most people went to buy drinks (ignorant people!) and hurried to get back when they heard Sunday Bloody Sunday…

LARRY! during I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight

MLK was very beautiful… and Walk On too, but it made me think of the Elevation Tour where it was the last song, so I started fearing the concert was coming to an end… The You’ll Never Walk Alone snippet was also great! I’ve wanted to hear that sung by a full stadium for some time, but never thought I actually would! Thanks Bono! :)

One

What happened next came as a total surprise to me… I had read that Bono was wearing a suit of lights during the encore (very beautiful!), but I did not know there was a microphone coming down from above which Bono used to s(w)ing :P  I was very confused at first (Hahaha that was the right way to Confuse-An-Anna) but I still enjoyed it :) Do you know what it made me think of? Drowning Man! “HOLD ON! Hold on tightly! Hold on…”

I think That Moment Of Surrender is a great song to end the concert with. It’s long and beautiful… It made me go away very peacefully :)

Lovely, lovely, lovely!

When I was lying in my bed what songs do you think were stuck in my head?

Space Oddity and some Snow Patrol songs! XD

TUESDAY 21 JULY

I went home very happy on monday and very glad that I had tickets for the next day!

This day I went with my mother. We had better tickets, because we were now much closer to the Claw. We were seated exactly in the middle of the stadium (I was surprised to find out how well you could follow the soccer if there would have been a soccer game!), but when we arrived at the seats I instantly feared we could not see Larry! One of the legs of the Claw was in the way so that we could not see the middle of the stage! Snow Patrol started with Take Back The City (the song I wanted to hear!) and played again very good! I could just see the drummer, but I wasn’t comforted by that, because he wasn’t in the middle of the stage, like Larry probably would…

This is Snow Patrol, you can see the drummer on the left of that leg...

Setlist 21 July:

1. Breathe
2. No Line On The Horizon
3. Get On Your Boots
4. Magnificent
5. Beautiful Day
6. Elevation
7. Desire / Billie Jean (snippet) / Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough (snippet)
8. Stuck In A Moment You Can’t Get Out Of
9. One
10. Until The End Of The World / Break On Through (snippet)
11. City Of Blinding Lights
12. Vertigo
13. O Come All Ye Faithful (snippet) / I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight
14. Sunday Bloody Sunday / Rock The Casbah (snippet)
15. Pride (In The Name Of Love)
16. MLK
17. Walk On / You’ll Never Walk Alone (snippet)
18. Where The Streets Have No Name
19. 40 (snippet) / Bad / Fool To Cry (snippet)

encore(s):

20. Ultra Violet (Light My Way)
21. With Or Without You
22. Moment of Surrender / Drowning Man (snippet)

Larry walked on stage, and… disappeared behind the leg! :(

No Larry...

I was disappointed for a little while, but when I could see Bono, Edge and Adam so much better than the day before I got over it… Beautiful Day was  very beautiful just like the day before, but Elevation really blew me and everyone there away! IT WAS INCREDIBLE!!! For me THE highlight of the two shows! And then it was followed by an acoustic Desire! Oh, it was so lovely! sigh :) I did now hope that they would play Staring At The Sun next, but Stuck In A Moment followed and was just as lovely as Desire! Edge sung his bit so great!!! Oh, I love his voice! And then they played One!!!! I can’t remember the last time that I have been that much surprised! Did you know that with the exclusion of the 16 May 2001 show, this is the earliest One has appeared in the setlist since 1993? No I didn’t either :P And Bono added the “Hear us come in love” verse!!! (or is it “Hear us coming Lord?” I’m not sure…) I loved that from the PopMart and ZooTV dvd and now he also sang it here!! :D

And then Until The End Of The World! It was just as brilliant as the one from the Elevation Tour Live From Boston!

City Of Blinding Lights 2

The setlist now returned to the songs they’ve played the day before. The songs were again brilliant and I’ll Go Crazy was again very funny :P

Wow… and then they played Bad! :) It’s getting a bit boring, but I have to use the same words again! It was beautiful, brilliant and lovely!!!

On monday they had a milkyway during One and tonight that happened during Moment Of Surrender:

The Milkyway

At first I did not know what concert I thought better, but now I do! Monday was brilliant, but Tuesday was simply incredibly crazy!!! :D I’m very very happy that they decided to have a big setlist change on the second night!!!! :D

I’ve heard a lot about the bad sound of the Amsterdam Arena, but U2 really fixed that! It was really good! :)

I can’t think of a negative thing to say… well, I couldn’t see Larry, but that did not spoil the concert…

I loved every single minute if not second of both shows! U2 is truly the best band in the world!

Home!

Wow! I’m now home from the second U2 concert in Amsterdam…

I don’t know yet which concert was my favourite 20 or 21, they were both incredible!!!!

I’ve made photo’s and I’m going to put them on my computer tomorrow to see if they’re alright and then I’m going to write that review I promised :)

I wonder if I can find that photo from Bono with the alien ;P

I’ll be back tomorrow
Write a review tomorrow
Don’t know if it’s finished tomorrow
Now I need sleep tonight

It’s 2 AM, somebody’s yawning
Somebody’s still up writing this for you
Oh wait, that’s me
Really need to stop right now

Because I’m yawning, yawning
I’m really yawning, yawning
Oh no.  This is a sign that I really should be asleep… If I’m thinking in U2 songs it’s either very very late or I have too much energy… I do hope it’s the first one :P
Oeh! :) That reminds me of something else I can post about in the future the future the future the future

THE FUTURE NEEDS A BIG KISS!!!

Personal Record!

Today I achieved a U2 related personal record. Can you guess it?

Today I had the longest and most U2 dreams in one night.
When I woke up I could remember 5! U2 dreams!
I could remember 3 very clearly when I woke up, but almost forgot the other 2!

1. In the first dream I’m at the U2 concert around 19:00 (I’M GOING NEXT MONDAY!!!). There was no one on the stage and I was staring minute after minute at the gigantic stage. It was bigger than I ever imagined it to be and I just can’t believe my eyes. At 20:00 Snow Patrol starts, but they showed Bono on the screens who was pulling funny faces. XD
2. I was standing backstage at a U2 concert behind a curtain from where I had an excellent view. I stood there watching for a couple of songs and just admired them :) However, the concert was almost over and they were about to play their last song. They wanted the curtain to be closed when they were going to play the last song, so I could not watch them play it if I stayed there. I walked on to the stage so I could see them and had to choose where I would sit: next to Adam, Bono, Edge or Larry. I quickly made my choice and sat next to Edge. I did have a logical reason for choosing to sit next to Edge: I saw that Edge had 4 U2 T-Shirts and the rest had 3, so it was obvious for me to choose Edge who had the most T-Shirts. :P
3. In the next dream the same curtain is there, but now they’re walking to the stage to start the show. It looked a bit like the Elevation Tour dvd, but in my dream they had to walk past the curtain to enter the stage. At the last moment before they open the curtain Louis Theroux joins them. He’s making a documentary about U2 and he had to walk with them on stage.After the show Edge, Louis Theroux and Bruce Springsteen are sitting in a room. Bruce Springsteen has just arrived and Edge wants to shake his hand. He holds out his hand to Bruce, but before he can take it Louis Theroux takes it as if it was ment for him. Bruce and Edge are a bit surprised, but think it very funny. Bruce says to Theroux that he saw him walking with U2 on stage. He also says that he had not thought that he knew U2 personally. Louis Theroux answered that he knew U2, especially Edge, for ages. Edge invents a funny story about him and Theroux knowing each other for so long. Bruce thinks it a very funny story of Edge and plays along with the story. He plays that he is a bit offended that Edge has not told him so before, because he and Edge are spies and calls Edge by a code name: 028. Edge calls Bruce M278 and Bruce laughs very loud at the code name Edge gave him. I thought that if Bruce would carry on laughing like that he would fall of his chair, but Bruce’s mother walks into the room to see why they’re making such noise and that was the end of my dream.Yesterday I also dreamt of U2 with Bruce Springsteen. It was actually very short. There’s this photo of Bono with Bruce Springsteen
   

   Bono and Bruce

   and in my dream I was in that room with Bruce and U2 when that picture was taken (I was dreaming in black and white!) I don’t remember anything about what they were talking about, but I remember Larry and Edge smiling a lot :)

4. I’m watching a program about the Tour de France in the drawing room. Suddenly Bono’s being interviewed. I instantly turn up the volume and I see Bono painting his jeans pink! I was shocked to see that he was being interviewed in a program where I had not expected him, but seeing him painting his jeans pink did not at all shock me. I actually thought it a very pretty shade of pink. He talks and continues the painting and then the program shows Bruce Springsteen who is also being interviewed at a little distance. Bruce is talking for a few minutes and the last he says is: “But I have to admit that Bono is a better singer than me.” The program switches back to Bono and I hear “But I have to admit that Bruce Springsteen is a better singer than me.” It was however not Bono who said that, because it was someone else’s voice, but the program makers wanted it to look like Bono said it. It was not very convincing and was actually very funny to hear it.
5. U2 are in a room discussing things and Larry is shirtless! :O He was extremely muscled and good looking! Adam also pulled of his shirt, but he was not nearly as muscled as Larry, in fact it looked quite weird… like he was made out of clay… :S Hmm, weird :P

Now I’ve written down the dreams I still have a few questions about them:
Why on earth was Louis Theroux in my dream?! :S and more importantly
Have I ever seen Bono wearing pink?! Because it looked awesome!!! :D

Wow! Almost 50 U2 dreams! And Bono is once again in the lead :)

Total U2 dreams: 49
Adam: 11
Bono: 15
Edge: 14
Larry: 10
U2 concert: 7
Bono drumming: 2
U2 & Bruce Springsteen: 3