Posted August 14, 200915 yr http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8202230.stm U2 gig 'to break Wembley record' U2 play Glasgow, Sheffield and Cardiff after their two London dates U2's first UK gig in their current tour will break all previous attendance records for a Wembley Stadium concert, organisers have claimed. Around 88,000 are expected at the Irish group's concert on Friday - 5,000 more than what is believed to be its biggest previous crowd for a musical event. U2's radical "claw" stage has enabled tour organisers Live Nation to increase the capacity for the sold-out show. As many as 170,000 are expected to see U2 on Friday and Saturday. Wembley's previous biggest crowd is believed to be the 83,000 who saw Rod Stewart perform there in 1995. That figure was matched last summer by the Foo Fighters when the US band played at Wembley following its rebuilding. Tickets are still available for U2's Saturday show, which will see them supported by Glasgow-based rockers Glasvegas. Elbow, who won the Mercury Prize last year with their fourth studio album The Seldom Seen Kid, will support U2 later. Michael Jackson holds the record for Wembley concerts, the late singer having notched up 15 appearances at the legendary venue. The Rolling Stones come next with 12 concerts, followed by Madonna with nine. However, U2 will exceed the American singer's tally when they play their 10th night at the stadium on Saturday. The band's current 360 tour uses three different stage structures, each in the shape of a giant claw. 'Fewer shows' The three steel structures cost between £15m and £20m each and offer a largely unobstructed view of the veteran rock quartet. "Usually a show like this plays to two-thirds of the capacity of the stadium because you put the stage at the end and you don't sell any of the seats at the back and at the sides," tour architect Mark Fisher told the BBC on Thursday. "We sell all the way round, so we carry about 25% more stuff than a normal stadium rock show. "We have a video screen round the back, lights that light the band when they go to the back and loud speakers both on the sides and behind in addition to those that are on the front. "We do fewer shows to perform to the same number of people."
August 14, 200915 yr :dance: :dance: :dance: OMG what a brilliant show! I loved it! am still on a little bit of a high :yahoo: :yahoo: :blush: Too tired to post a review right now, but will tell all about it tomorrow :unsure: I know it's tomorrow already, but will do one later today then :P 2 pics I took tonight, I have more! http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j317/sparkle41/u2/bono.jpg http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j317/sparkle41/u2/u2.jpg
August 15, 200915 yr What a brilliant time I had yesterday, tbh I had heard a mixture of opinions of how U2 sound live from not so good to fantastic so wasn’t quite sure what to expect. Not disappointed in what I heard, it’s up there in my top 5 of best performances from a live act I’ve ever seen. We got there around 4ish, and sat in the car park looking at Wembley stadium, I could hear music! It was U2 doing their rehearsals, omg! So I got a little bit excited! (had to text Jups :lol: ) I could hear them singing Breathe and snippets of no line on the Horizon. When we got in the stadium, we checked out our seats, and was very happy how close we were, about the 5th row on the lower tier, behind the stage. It looked pretty central on the pitch from where we were, and huge, made Wembley look quite small. The hours hmmmm well, not really my type of music, very loud, couldn’t hear clearly what they were singing, and it hurt my ears. :cry: Elbow were great, had a feeling I was going to enjoy listening to them, even if I only recognised about 2 of their songs. U2 came on stage about 8.30 I think it was. It was a minute into the start of the show that I realised it was actually the start of the performance, :lol: :wacko: David Bowie music, Ground Control playing. Breathe sounded great and was a good show starter, although I still think the boots song would have been better :P The first few songs were all from the new album. I can't remember what order but I just remember they were new ones :lol: Vertigo, Elevation, and the Boots song rocked! Everyone went mental! Loads of bouncing! I still haven’t found what I’m looking for was :wub: :wub: one of the highlights for me of the night, atmosphere was just brilliant, and it felt like everyone in that stadium was singing at the tops of their voices to the song. Beautiful Day, another one of my favs :wub: I’ll go crazy if I don’t go crazy tonight, strange version, wasn’t that keen on it, prefer how it sounds on the album. Finished the night with Moment of Surrender, my fav song on no line on the horizon, was really looking forward to hearing it live. I think Bonos voice sounded a bit husky towards the end of the evening, but they were on for 2 hours. Ok, will not waffle on about it anymore, will go find some pics that I took to post now B) oh, and btw, the tour program, I liked, why are tour programs so expensive :( especially when they don't give you a plastic bag to put it in, so I had to buy a U2 t shirt so I could get a bag :P Edited August 15, 200915 yr by Sparkle
August 15, 200915 yr http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j317/sparkle41/u2/3.jpg Bono's jacket had lights on it during one of the songs :lol: how cool is that
August 15, 200915 yr The 2 people at the front there in the middle, our seats were just behind them http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j317/sparkle41/u2/stage.jpg We had a brilliant view when they walked around to play to the audience behind, but tbh I think it was probably only about 30% of the concert that they did that. Didn't miss any of the show though because of the screens thankfully. :lol: it was quite funny to watch people on the pitch standing leg it around to our side when Bono came round to sing.
August 15, 200915 yr http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j317/sparkle41/u2/6.jpg http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j317/sparkle41/u2/8.jpg
August 15, 200915 yr I took these ones for Jups! I think it was the only time the drums were facing our way, so had to be quick with the camera! http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j317/sparkle41/u2/14.jpg http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j317/sparkle41/u2/13.jpg http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j317/sparkle41/u2/12.jpg
August 15, 200915 yr Author Wow! What a fantastic stadium. :o Hampden is such a dump compared to that. :( And you were so close to the stage. Great photos. :wub: :o :o :o I have a confession. When you phoned me from the show and I got to hear U2 playing. What song were they playing exactly? I just heard noise. Loud noise. It sounded ace but I've no idea what it was. :lol: I'm going to be miles away compared to you. And rain is forecast. :nocheer:
August 15, 200915 yr Wow! What a fantastic stadium. :o Hampden is such a dump compared to that. :( And you were so close to the stage. Great photos. :wub: :o :o :o I have a confession. When you phoned me from the show and I got to hear U2 playing. What song were they playing exactly? I just heard noise. Loud noise. It sounded ace but I've no idea what it was. :lol: I'm going to be miles away compared to you. And rain is forecast. :nocheer: :lol: :lol: :lol: It was Where The Streets Have No Name Tbh Jups, I would of been just as happy up in the gods seats, just being there was brilliant :wub: they put on a great show and I really think you get a good view where ever with the way the stage is situated. Will send some sunshine up for Tuesday, it's not going to rain!
August 15, 200915 yr Author Will send some sunshine up for Tuesday, it's not going to rain! Aye right..... :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:
August 15, 200915 yr Author I Still Haven't Found video is fab :yahoo: :yahoo: :yahoo: Has Nada ever returned from her concert btw? :unsure:
August 15, 200915 yr :unsure: Haven't seen Nada around, will look on FB see if she's there Wouldn't worry about leaky roofs, I was thinking last night, if it rains, they will never be able to close the roof at Wembley because the stage seemed higher :lol:
August 15, 200915 yr Author Wembley has a full closable roof thing? :o Hampden should really have one of those considering it's always p***ing down :(
August 15, 200915 yr I thought it fully closed, but have just read it doesn't completely Bono would of got wet if it had rained then
August 17, 200915 yr Great review and pics Sparkle. Glad you had a great time. The general opinion on U2 boards seems to be that although Friday was a very good gig, Sat was mindblowing and the best show of the whole tour so far :o The setlist def was one of the best. Everyone seems to be in shock how good Sat was - the bands energy was on a different level according to fans. It might have been filmed for a DVD or something.
August 17, 200915 yr Story of of my life that, you know every concert I go to, it's always the second show that seems to be slightly better than the first. 3 times that has happened to me this year with artists :lol: I also read that the Saturdays performance was something really amazing, I so wish I could of gone again. Would be great to have a dvd of this tour to keep :wub:
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