Belfast Shows 1 And 2 #U2ieTour Reviews + Comments Thread

[Max Tsukino]

Where you there in any of these nights?

Which were you highlights?

Please share your impressions (either if you were there or if you were following the shows online), your photos and your videos with the community...

Thanks!!!

What Was Your Favourite Song(s) Of Each Night?


Fan Reviews #U2ieTour poll Belfast

[zoocelt]

Was at the second night and enjoyed it as ever. Similar set list to Glasgow 2, which I was also at but good to get Out of Control. Delighted to get Bad/40 again too.

 

Was glad to be able to take in more of the show this time, as I was a lot more sober than in Glasgow...

 

Invisible is a real highlight. A grower of a song - one of their best for a while - but very well done live with the screen interaction. Plus I love Larry's little wave to the crowd behind him towards the end of the song.

 

Good to notice things like these a second time around - Bono's little "there is not them...there's only us" dance moves as well....

 

Got good views of the guys at various times on the walkway and a real treat to be so up close to them.

 

I just thought at times the crowd wasn't as into it as I would have thought. I think the high ticket prices maybe made for a more sedate crowd and they only came alive really for the "biggies" like Streets and Pride. Not many band t-shirts about, put it that way....

 

A minor gripe, though. Great show and great to see the guys in a venue like that as opposed to the usual stadiums.

[liverpool54321]

Part of the new Oliver Jeffries sequence for Wolves last night.

[liverpool54321]

Belfast show 2

[liverpool54321]

The band show 2

[yardie]

Well, what can ya say...really....without doubt the best U2 performance I have ever seen. They were tight, they were polished, they absolutely failed to disappoint in any department.

Night 1 in Belfast will be etched in my mind for as long as my brain remembers etchings.

 

I waxed lyrical about my New York experience earlier in the year, but here they were, the band you have followed since your musical consciousness was old enough to appreciate good music, in yer back yard ....well, almost.

 

Belfast had been 18 years in the making, and the experience of seeing them perform 25 miles from your house, well as they say during 'The Fly' , blazoned across the screens, even since the days of ZOOTV - "It's very simple."

Just a 25 min train journey from home to Belfast to meet the wife to take in our 2nd show of 2015.

 

I pass the SSE daily by car going to and from work, and the excitement had been building certainly for the previous 48 hrs as I noticed the trucks starting to roll into the Titanic quarter area of Belfast....like a kid in a sweetie shop I was....this was actually happening.

 

After hopping off the train , across Great Victoria Street the world famous Crown Bar for a couple of pints before meeting up with the 'other half' - our room booked in the 'Cathedral quarter', some dinner in 'The Whig' - then a short walk across the Lagan River to meet my brother and sister n law (who were staying in the Titanic quarter area) which has become kinda customary when U2 play in Ireland. But ....this was Belfast, the caterpillar turned butterfly, the ugly duckling turned swan, a city whose past is so well documented that sometimes the residents of it have sometimes had cause to cringe at their own impasse. Indeed the wider residents of a country north and south likewise at our own impasse.

 

I almost felt proud walking across the Lagan footbridge  - hell no, I felt very proud - the SSE lit up as a symbol of change, a city where 30 - 35 years earlier few big name acts had a desire to visit - too dangerous they said - perhaps they were right. One not so big act visited though, some band from 'the south', some band called U2 - it wasn't 'too dangerous' for them back then - and they were back.

 

The show didn't dissappoint, the venue just right - there would be no bad seat in the house this night, the band so close to the audience that you could almost reach out and touch them from row Z , but a venue large enough to allow the full 'Innocence and Experience' tour machine to be presented to an audience the band had relied heavily upon in their formative years, an audience that most times would make that short trek to Dublin on previous tours, they wanted the band here, and from the off, you could see the band really wanted to be here too! A venue large enough to create a rousing welcome - we welcomed the band on stage.

The usual opening - then BOOM! - Electric CO.......the tone for the evening was set, it was going to be some ride.

 

And it was.

 

Belfast humour in a clip I've subsequently seen...." so what's your name?' Bono asks the young woman plucked from the crowd - "Theresa" she replies, - "we're you from Theresa" asks Bono....wagg in the audience shouts "Donegal Road!"....only in Belfast. Well, Italy's close.

 

The setlist - well, if you've followed the tour, you kinda knew what you were gonna get. Audience reception like I have never heard. Highlights for me included....well, hard to pick one, we just got involved in every song, shutting up for Every Breaking Wave and October, well....it would have been rude to sing over Bono, wouldn't it?

 

Notable mentions though to I Will Follow, Until the End of The World, Elevation, Bullet, Streets, With or Without You.....so wonderful to hear 'Zooropa' blend into 'streets' - "when we refuse to hate, because we know that love will do a better job," said Bono. How true.

 

'With or Without You' - when we got our 'shine like the stars' moment - blessed were the peacemakers indeed - Bono looked a man visibly pumped up and taking their pre encore initial accolades and applause - a four piece band that looked like they had had a thoroughly great experience themselves to that point.

 

'Ole, Ole, Ole, Ole,' rang out.

 

It's written in the stars that I am never to hear 'Bad' performed live, but you know what? - after Wednesday night I'm not sure that I care anymore. A truly memorable night and so privileged to have been a part of it.

 

A stadium lit in Red, White and Blue - our thoughts to the citizens of France. 

[Timk68]

Just home from Belfast 2 , well in 31 years of following the band last night was right up there in terms of quality of performance, atmosphere and lasting memory. I'm glad I chose this venue to watch the show. I'd almost forgotten how good they are live in a smaller venue , I saw them at Wembley for 360 but there was just no intimacy as there was light night.

So many highlights but if I have to pick a few - angel of Harlem, bad/40 incredible, the opening of the show with out of control, I will follow is just pulsating, still love Pride and the Bullett / Zooropa / Streets arrangement is superb.

Met some really nice people too, great to share the night with the people of Belfast and further afield.

Hope to make Dublin 4th night now.

Edited November 20, 2015 by Timk68

[martymc]

My first time to see the band perform indoors and nothing comes close to what I experienced last night. It was unforgettable & unbelievable in equal amounts. The place was electric and what a 1st 4 song salvo. I was hoping for Electric Co, but knowing it was played the 1st night I knew it wouldn't happen again but I won't complain.

 

Had a brilliant spot in the Southside MGZ and met a couple of very decent guys in there who made the waiting before the show started fly in. Best wishes to Frank  from Glasgow and the English lad from Yorkshire ( I think) Cheers lad and stay safe.

Edited November 20, 2015 by martymc

[Timk68]

Somebody shouted Bono they were from Derry and Bono mentioned it and seemed really pleased. Was a nice moment.

[Anjana]

This thread is a great read:)