nbayer

Anybody have pics to post from the red zone? It looks like the stage is pretty high up from the field level, so it might be hard to see the band over near the center of the stage.

Hello: I have 2 very good seats for Saturday June 3 in Chicago in Section 108, row 2, close to the isle. (Thanks to U2.com!!) I am very happy with those seats and thankful to have gotten them, but I was thinking of trying to arrange something special, as the concert also falls on my wife's birthday. On the very unlikely chance that there is someone out there who is having second thoughts about standing all night and looking to swap from red zone to seats for some reason, shoot me a message. I realize that is probably not going to happen, but file this under "it never hurts to ask." Thank you. Nathan

Thanks for the info. We booked the Morgan instead.

Was hoping someone could weigh in on these lodging options for the weekend: Fleet Street Hotel, The Morgan, Temple Bar Inn, or Eliza Lodge. All are located pretty close together in the Temple Bar area. Eliza is by far the most expensive, so unless it is significantly better than the others, we will probably choose one of the others, but I'm open to it if it is the best. Fleet Street and Morgan include breakfast, but that's not a huge factor. Temple Bar Inn looks very modern and new but the rooms look smaller. But again, probably won't be doing anything there except sleeping, after arriving home quite late. Reviews suggest these are all "noisy," but we've stayed often in New York and Chicago, and we live in a bigger city, so are not really bothered by that. Thanks in advance for any feedback! See you all at the show!

I could be wrong, but i think i have a bootleg tape buried in the basement somewhere from a 19887 or 1988 show in Chicago with Red Hill Mining Town on it. If am remembering correctly, Bono stops the song and tells everybody to shut up for a second. He says something like "this isn't the Beatles, its U2." People were screaming and whooping it up. Maybe that's why they stopped playing it. I think that's Springhill Mining Disaster you're thinking of. I believe you are absolutely correct. The Peggy Seeger song. Thanks Oh, and I've been waiting to hear "A Sort of Homecoming" forever..

From Joshua Tree, Trip through Your Wires and One Tree Hill. From other albums... I've been waiting for the return of Last Night on Earth since PopMart. The version from the Mexico City show is just amazing, and i thought it would have projected very well in the arena shows on the 360 tour. Thematically, I think it fits the times. Oh, and Hawkmoon and God Part II.

I could be wrong, but i think i have a bootleg tape buried in the basement somewhere from a 19887 or 1988 show in Chicago with Red Hill Mining Town on it. If am remembering correctly, Bono stops the song and tells everybody to shut up for a second. He says something like "this isn't the Beatles, its U2." People were screaming and whooping it up. Maybe that's why they stopped playing it.

Dublin and Chicago. U2's home, and their "home away from home." Something great always seems to happen in Chicago. I'm going to try to avoid knowing anything about the set list, stage, or show before going on June 3. I may not be able to help myself, but it would be a great surprise. Special thanks to U2.com to accessing these tickets!!!

Somebody who is connected needs to get this thread to the band!

All great suggestions. What this shows is the depth of the band's catalogue and how they could really mix it up more. I've seen Pearl Jam on consequetive nights, with almost no overlap at all. Of course, they play 30 plus songs, which allows more breathing room as well, in addition to the fact that they don't have a lot of technological stage design they are tied to. But with U2's pretty standard set of 23 songs, the hits that they always play, and about 1/3 of new stuff, it doesn't leave much room for change. I'm not complaining. From what I've seen here, the show is going to be amazing. I'll take whatever they play. And to be fair to the band, I did see an amazing "Your Blue Room" in Chicago that has only been played about 5 times. And I saw them close with Bad once, which is the only time that ever happened.

What would you want to hear that would be totally out of left field, but perhaps a hidden "chestnut " for long time fans? I'd take any of these... God part II Last Night on Earth (which is just amazing live) Dirty Day Wild Honey Original of the Species So Cruel Crumbs A Sort of Homecoming What are yours?

I love the band, but sometimes they [read: Bono] over think things way too much. I've seen Pearl Jam on consecutive nights, and on occasion there is quite literally no overlap in the set list at all. But again, PJ charges $30, and their shows sell on the band's energy, and the promise that absolutely anything can happen on any given night. Which often does. Heck, they played the entire album No Code, which they had never done before (they had never played any entire album front to back before) in Molina Illinois last fall, of all places. Then they played Yield in its entirety in Milwaukee. (I was there for that one.) They also played for three and one half hours. But when you spend millions on your tour staging, and charge upwards of $400 a seat, as U2 does, you can't just get on stage and "screw around," which is what often makes PJ shows so special. They only map out the first 17 songs or so on any given night, and wing it from there. But when you put on something of the scale U2 does, there is so much money riding on it, that it has to work. You can't ever "let some air out of the balloon," so to speak. You've got to play the hits, keep it safe, and not venture far from the experimentation that made you so great in the first place. I see parallels to the release of the bands latest album. Bono is too worried about perfection, and appealing to today's pop audience, and that gets more attention than just making your art. I'd advocate the Neil Young approach, for example. Just keep putting stuff out there, critics be damned. And if your albums came out a little more often, it wouldn't be hyped up so much. Some would fail, some would be incredible successes. But pursuing the art means that you put your art out there. U2 has worked with so many different producers, and tinkered so much over the last six years, it feels more like a product than a work of art. (I'd kill to get my hands on what came out of the Rick Rubin sessions) Pop your own bubble and just put your art out there, critics be damned. Who gives a fuck? That's the rock and roll attitude. Don't get me wrong, I do like the new album. I think the acoustic stuff on the Songs of Innocence + proves how good many of the songs are. Personally, I would rather have had a rock and roll album than a pop album, and I hope they make one of those again some day. If they would do their thing more often, and put out more albums, it would allow them more space to breathe and be artists. Waiting this long between albums just makes it more of an "event" that gets overanalyzed and scrutinized My advice to the band, which I love, would be to "pop" their own bubble.