The ReviewThe BandsAthlete (sp?)Nice band, described as coldplay like but more electronical. The music was nice, but I haven't really heard most of it due to the acoustic and volume. But what I heard was very OK
Snow PatrolYou probably know it from Live 8, especially Run was very good, but the rest was good too. Again, the volume could have been turned up a bit...
U2They were playing wonderfull, I think one of the best shows so far.
The atmosphereIt was warm in the stadium, but not unbearable, around 25 celcius I think. The beer (Grolsch) was not my favorite brand, but there wasn't much time to get beer anyway (especially not during the show).
The crowd was wonderfull, made me think of Slane Castle, 50,000 people with the hands in the air. We did a wave before U2 came on that lasted 5 or 6 full rounds, ground crowd included. Bono invited some big dude on the stage, and he carried Bono around during beautiful day, and as always he picked up a chick during with or without you.
The soundDecent, better then I expected, because I heard that the arena was a big echoeing piece of concrete. It wasn't perfect, not really good, but just good. Sometimes the high notes were snerping, and the "elevation guitar" sounded way more dissorted then it was, and especially with the support acts sometimes text wasn't understandable, but when the stadium was packed the clothing killed most echoe.
The lightningThe show was impressive, the flash during Streets, the lights of COBL, the smoke-light with With or without you, the flags with One, the video show with The Fly (Popmart-like)... very nice. We had 4 "normal" video screens, one for each band member, and a larger LED screen on the background, like popmart but smaller. Besides that, a few rows of big lights, on the front of the stage and in 2 poles next to the big screen.
There were 2 B-stages, a sort of splitup of the heart from elevation, with the Vertigo-balls on the ends of it.
Other thingsEnough parking places, enough clothing stands, my fries were cold (
crying ), Bono played the drums in the start of Sunday Bloody Sunday (oil can like drums on the b-stage, which larry left from Love and Peace, in which they were all on the B-stages), Yahweh was acoustical with Larry on keyboards, We had no second vertigo but "40", and Who's gonna ride your wild horses and Miss Sarajevo weren't on before either, at least not in the other 2 dutch shows. We had I will follow instead of An Cath Dub, but all dutch shows had that. No traffic jams when we left (
eek ), The first song I heard on the radio when we left was "One"
Playlist1. Vertigo
2. I Will Follow
3. The Electric Co.
4. Elevation
5. New Years Day
6. Beautiful Day
7. I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
8. Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses
9. City Of Blinding Lights
10. Miracle Drug
11. Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own
12. Love And Peace Or Else
13. Sunday Bloody Sunday
14. Bullet the Blue Sky+some song snippets
15. Miss Sarajevo
16. Pride
17. Where The Streets Have No Name
18. One+unchained melody (snippet)
19. Zoo Station
20. The Fly
21. With Or Without You
22. All Because Of You
23. Original Of The Species
24. Yahweh
25. 40
Some PicturesThe doors just openedCity of blinding lightsThe bandOneThe FlyPhotos from another site (more closeup)http://spaces.msn.com/members/ccmotorcycles/http://www.u2-vertigo-tour.com/reviewdetails866.html -A lot of pictures!
This site Is a good site if you're looking for free pictures of any concert, all playlists, several CD-covers for concert recordings...
As you can see, I was quite far from the stage, but we did have a very good view at everything
Other reviewsSpoke very, very good about the concert, and people that have been to multiple concerts all found the Saturday show (so "my" show) the best of the three, and one of the best overall. The sound was sometimes spoke about as bad by the critics, but well, it was the arena, and the sound tech. did their best.
Some people said "After Pop U2 hasn't moved forward with their music, and now show-technically they also came to a halt"
I don't agree on that, yes, in some way it was Elevation with an extra screen and different B-stage, but where elevation focussed on intimacy, Pop on Video, Vertigo went for light, with a bit of Pop-influence in some songs. So it was different, really.
Find The musicSeveral torrent recordings are on the internet, I haven't heard any of them yet, but you can always try.
I don't know how they recorded it (a good recorder is hard to hide in your pants), I don't know the quality of the sound (from the recording device, or the spot it was recorded from), and I don't know if it's a good download or a hoax by sound technicians to track illegal downloaders. All at own risk, but if anyone does try, I'd love to hear what you think about it if it's succesfull
mrgreen -Note: this is not to make anyone jealous, just to share the fun and give an impression of the concert
3nodding