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I'm happy that this show is being released, but I think it's a tremendous step down to have to go from the TV broadcast version being in high definition to a standard definition disc - especially when every U2 live video release since 2009 has had a Blu-ray high definition option. I understand and respect that not every subscriber has Blu-ray, but it's been industry standard for some time to include both a Blu-ray disc and DVD in the same package - it only bumps up the manufacturing cost about 50 cents to do so. U2.com has had no problem with sending out gifts in formats that not all subscribers have; I doubt everyone has a record player, but they send out vinyl. This is a baffling decision. Unless, of course, the band is separately planning on releasing a Blu-ray version for sale to the general public. Which would be frustrating in its own right, because then I'd essentially have to pay for it twice.

Alas, I must work in the evening so I can’t attend, but sending my best wishes to all who can.

My favorite part of the E&I show is the last two songs - Love Is Bigger and 13. I got lucky in that the person last night left during One, so I got to enjoy my favorite part of the show in peace plus with some extra space. So I guess it works out in the end. My dad has joked that ever since I was a kid that I had an “a—hole magnet” on my back, because this always happens to me. Whether it’s a concert or a play or a movie, I’m almost always next to the jerk who won’t shut up. But im really trying to look at the bright side here. The show itself was phenomenal, my favorite part of it wasn’t disrupted at all, and security made sure no one got hurt. All things considered, it could have been a lot worse. That crowd chant after Love Is Bigger was incredible. I wish we could have tricked the band into playing the song again

I was up in the 200 level for MSG 3, and I really enjoyed getting to see a show from a vantage point where I could see both stages and the screen unobstructed, as well as a view of all of the lighting effects built into the stage floor. I feel like on this particular tour (and the 2015 version), the band weren't really playing to the floor audience to the degree that they had in the past. You could easily pick a spot where they'd be right in front of you for at least a song, but they weren't necessarily looking at you. The eyelines just seemed different. And that's not a good or bad thing, just an observation. When I was on the floor with GA in 2015 and again this year, I didn't really feel like the band were connecting with the people in front of them, in the way I felt that connection on all of the other U2 tours I've seen. Being in the upper level and seeing the big picture, I better understood the reason for that decision. It really felt like they were playing to the whole room, and to the majority of the audience in the stands, more so than the minority on the floor. As a result, I felt more energy sitting in the upper level than I do for most other acts from that distance. It was actually pretty cool to be higher up but to still feel the band making an effort to connect to those who weren't immediately in front of them. I guess it's a little late at this point, but if anyone is thinking about seeing one of the European shows and wondering if it's still worth doing without GA tickets, my answer would be a resounding yes. My favorite spots to be in for The Joshua Tree, 360, Vertigo and Elevation tours were always right in front of the main stage (or as close as possible to it), but for these i&e/e&i outings, I really loved getting the full view. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it from the upper level. At no point did I think "Damn, I wish I was on the floor" which is usually what happens when I'm in the upper level for a show. I did not end up seated next to that person from MSG1 and MSG2. That was the plus. On the downside, this was the show I brought my wife to (she's not a big fan but indulges me by coming along to a single show), and she was seated next to possibly the worst person I've ever encountered at a U2 show. There's no real polite way of saying it, but this guy was just a jerk. He got progressively angrier as the show went on, to the point where it was necessary to go to security because those of us seated near him started worrying about our own safety. He really became unbearable during the Staring At The Sun/Pride combo. When Bono was talking about peace in Ireland, he started screaming at Bono that he was a traitor. By the middle of Staring At The Sun, he just kept screaming "Go back to Ireland!" at him. And then, when Pride began, he just started screaming "F--- you!" over and over and over and over, and that's when we got security involved. Listen, I get that we don't all share the same politics, but at a certain point, I don't understand why you're paying to be offended. If you don't like U2's politics and don't like hearing about them, don't go to a U2 show. If you're offended that U2 didn't support the IRA, don't go to a U2 show. And if you do go, be prepared to accept that not everyone will share your viewpoint, and find a way to express your opposition to the viewpoint being offered by the band with silence, not by shouting obscenities. I've been seeing U2 for over twenty years, and while I've seen some people roll their eyes at Bono's speechifying, I never imagined that I'd be sitting next to someone who was cheering more for the bomb exploding than for song protesting the bombs. After the show was over, my wife mentioned some of the other things he was saying during the show and I just felt so awful that she had to sit next to that. Ever since we met, she's heard me talking about how U2 fans are a real community, and how we believe in being good to each other and stressing tolerance above all else in our collective political leanings, and instead she had to sit next to a guy screaming obscenities and racial slurs. I apologize for ranting about this now, I'm just so shocked that it even happened. It's one thing to have the person that I had at MSG1 and MSG2 who lacked some self-awareness and was a little bit rude and loud and obnoxious, but that MSG1/2 lady wasn't actually malicious. This guy last night was. And I also want to give credit to the security guard at MSG. Once I spoke to the security guy, he positioned himself unobtrusively at the end of my row, and just stared at the racist troublemaker for the rest of the night. And as soon as the guy saw that he was being watched, he shut up. As to the show itself, it was great - just as good as MSG2. I had a funny moment early on when "Red Flag Day" wasn't played. The thing for me is, I love How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb, and it had been more than a decade since I heard the band play a song from that album other than Vertigo and City Of Blinding Lights, so I was very cool with getting another performance of All Because Of You. But it seemed like there was a split second where you could see the people in the GA section slightly deflating because it wasn't Red Flag Day or Gloria or something even rarer, and then a second later, it was almost like you could see a conscious decision of "I'm going to enjoy this song anyway even if it's not the one I wanted!" But I, for one, am very happy that All Because Of You has come back this tour. I really got choked up at the end of the performance. By the end of Love Is Bigger..., I was getting a little teary-eyed. It's such a beautiful song with such a beautiful message, and it has such a great sound to it. And I was just a flat-out mess of waterworks during 13 (There Is A Light). For me, the best parts of E&I 2018 were the performances of the new songs. I didn't like You're The Best Thing About Me, Get Out Of Your Own Way and American Soul on the album, but in concert, they were phenomenal. The acoustic version of Best Thing was just gorgeous and I can't believe how much my opinion of that song has changed just from hearing a different arrangement. I can't wait for a tour DVD to come out, and maybe they'll even throw a live recording of just that song out as a b-side or something down the road. It's great. If that acoustic version had been around a couple years ago when I got married, I would have loved to have incorporated it into my wedding somehow. It's just so beautiful. I've never seen a U2 tour before where the played so few songs between so many shows as they did on this one, but I have to say, it worked a lot better in person than I thought it would on paper. And each and every new song was fantastic and well worth the price of admission. The minor quibbles that I have might have just been that I would have liked to have heard even more new songs, and that I wish they would have given some of the songs that were played regularly on both I&E 2015 and JT2017 a rest this time around. I don't want to say I was bored, but I was less wowed by something like Elevation this time around than I was in the past. And I didn't need to see the exact same productions of Iris, Cedarwood Road, Sunday Bloody Sunday and Until The End Of The World as we saw in 2015. But Love Is All We Have Left, The Blackout, Lights Of Home, You're The Best Thing About Me, Get Out Of Your Own Way, American Soul, Love Is Bigger Than Anything In Its Way and 13 (There Is A Light) were all spectacular in concert, and they were the true highlights of the show for me. It is a wonderful thing that the thing I was most excited for at a U2 show was not to hear their old songs but to hear their new songs. That's the sign of a healthy band that's still creatively vital. And I hope I never lose that feeling.

I'm hoping we have a shot at Red Flag Day today. I know there's zero chance of it happening tonight, but I would still love to hear The Showman, Landlady and Little Things. So if the band is feeling like delivering a surprise miracle, I humbly suggest those.

Sweet, enjoy! Will be seeing you from up in section 200-and-something!

I wish I could see that too! I think I just laughed, because really, what else can you do?

You know what? I did have a great show. I wasn't sure what to expect, I was feeling a little "blah" about going, but the band really seemed to take it up a notch, and there was more energy in the behind the stage/side stage spot that I had on night 2 than there was on the floor spot I had on night 1. As for this person, she was... better, but not great. Before the show began, she used the zoom lens on her camera to zoom into Larry's setlist by his drumset and them screamed over and over that Gloria was on the set, which was kinda disappointing because I would have preferred to have been surprised. She unfortunately took up half of my seat. She had friends a couple rows behind her and kept turning around to scream comments to them about the show, but at least they were positive. I got elbowed a lot, got my foot stepped on a bunch of times, and she kept trying to annex even more of my space. So it wasn't the greatest neighbor experience ever. But at least she wasn't complaining all through the show. There's no doubt that she's a fan, but I wish she had been a little more self-aware. I'm sure I've been guilty of being a bad neighbor before, but I really try to put an effort in. Like, for my GA show on Monday, I was one person behind someone on the rail and I was determined to not try to worm my way into a rail spot, and tried to keep the people behind me from pushing me forward, so that I didn't end up accidentally pushing the people in front of me. It's the little stuff like that that I think can go a long way to making the collective experience a lot better for everyone.

I suppose this is as good a place as any to mention it, but I absolutely love the acoustic version of "You're The Best Thing About Me" - I'm loving all of the live performances of SOE songs, even the ones that I didn't like as much on the record, but this one took the biggest leap for me. I loved the idea of the song but I didn't like the version on the album, which to me sounded a little lifeless and generic. But this acoustic version is sweet, tender and beautiful - it's romantic and soulful, and I love the atmosphere of them performing it with the lights dimmed. The transition from Acrobat to Best Thing also works incredibly well to me. That was the one that I was skeptical of just reading the setlist on paper, but when you're actually there, it makes sense. And The Edge really shines as Bono's secret weapon - Edge's verse just sounds incredible. I could listen to this version every day.

In my entire U2 going life, I have never before sold a ticket to a show that I planned on going to. I may have sold an extra ticket where I wound up with more than I needed, but I never took a show off the calendar before. It was a really tough decision for me at first just because it goes against my own instinct. But I also bought the Newark ticket before there was an MSG 3, and before I had decided to see Boston 2. And I bought that Newark ticket when it looked like that could have been the last U.S. show on the tour. All of that has changed. Definitely no complaints on my part about them adding to the tour a little bit - it looked like I'd only see two or three shows at first, and now even after selling Newark, I'll be seeing five in total, so I did pretty OK here! It is a great venue. I was only there once, to see Bruce Springsteen in 2012, but he gave a phenomenal show, the crowd was great, and I was front and center on the GA floor - a truly perfect concert-going experience that I'll never forget. That's why I was open to traveling to Newark in the first place. And I'd consider going back there in the future. Just for my own amusement, I looked up some of the stats I had written down during the 8 show run at MSG in 2015. Over the course of those eight nights in 2015, U2 played a total of 41 unique full length songs (not counting snippets or partial performances). They played 19 of the exact same songs each night, which left about 5-6 changes per night. Looking over my notes, it looked like they rotated a minimum of four songs per night, with the highest number of changes from one night to the other being as high as six. They had more spontaneous moments on that show, including special guest appearances by Lady Gaga, Jimmy Fallon, The Roots, Paul Simon and Bruce Springsteen. They played a b-side from Songs Of Innocence, and resurrected two songs they hadn't played in decades (October and Two Hearts Beat As One) for special performances. They also played songs outside of the show's "script" - by which I mean, they'd occasionally break the rigid structure of the tour and do another song if they felt inspired to even if it wasn't the "right spot" in the show to do a different song. For E&I at MSG in 2018, by contrast, they play a total of 24 songs each night, with only one changing. And to be clear, I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that. It's hard to complain about song selection during a show that prominently features "Acrobat" - if they walked onstage, opened with Acrobat, and then called it a night, I'd probably still feel like I got my money's worth! But I guess what I'm trying to say is, I was able to (slightly) conquer my fear of missing out this time! I am so excited for the show on Sunday. Having a little breather before now and then will only increase the anticipation. I think next time they tour, instead of seeing every single show they do in my area, I might try to space that out and take a couple mini vacations to other cities and spread it out. Especially if, going forward, U2 are going to be more of a band that doesn't change their setlist at all, there's less incentive to see a ton of shows in a short time period when it might be more fun to see more over a longer period of time. I remember, for instance, how much fun it was in 2011 and 2017 when I had three consecutive weeks where I'd see one show a week in a different city - I felt a little like I was "on tour" too and the lack of variety didn't seem to matter as much.

Just curious for anyone who was at both MSG shows and/or the Nassau Coliseum show... was it just me, or was MSG 2 the best of the bunch so far?

I decided not to go on Friday, but I will be there on Sunday! So far, I saw then at Nassau Coliseum, the second Boston show, and the two MSG shows. I was not at all impressed at Nassau Coliseum - the acoustics in the building where I was sitting were just terrible and I couldn't hear anything clearly, which may have led to my reaction, so it could have been the band was better than they seemed. I really enjoyed the Boston show but felt a couple of the transitions between songs/themes seemed a little clunky. And the first show at MSG was technically good but I had some people around me that made it harder to enjoy. But last night, MSG 2, it seemed like a much better show. I don't know if it was just a matter of where I was sitting or just the stars lining up right, but the performance seemed much more energetic and heartfelt, and I totally got into it in a way I didn't get into any of the others. So I figured that perhaps it was best to not overdo too much of a good thing and stick with just MSG 3 as my last show and to let go of Newark. Some changes to my work schedule also made it so that one was going to be a little bit of a hassle to get there, so I think that was honestly more of a factor in me not going than the GA scene at MSG 1. I honestly feel a little relieved to have found a buyer for that ticket from this forum, so I know it'll be in the hands of a fellow fan who will love it. At the point where going to a potential show ends up inducing more stress than excitement, it's probably not a good idea to go! But this just makes me more excited for MSG 3 on Sunday! I am really hoping for Red Flag Day on Sunday, fingers crossed!

You are not going to believe this, but when I got to my seats tonight - the person next to me was the disappointed woman who complained all through Monday's show in the GA area. I don't think she recognized me, but I mean, what are the chances??? :)

The Sunday night show isn't technically sold out - at this point, you can go to Ticketmaster and get face value tickets starting at the $112 price range - a little pricey but readily available if the goal is just getting in the door, just FYI.

Have a great time! I'm headed out shortly as well. I have a lower level ticket behind/to the side of the main stage - it should be at just enough of an angle to get a glimpse of the screen, as well as a great view of the band when they're playing in the main stage area.

I'm going tonight and Sunday in seats which I'm hoping might be better - at least there won't be any doubt over where my spot is! I have a GA ticket for the Newark show, but honestly, after last night's experience I'm seriously considering selling it (if I do, it'll be face value of course!)

I was in GA last night and I was completely and utterly shocked by something that someone said to me during the concert. Someone tried to push me out of my spot during Staring At The Sun, and actually said "I know this song means more to me than it does to you." Like, really? How would you know that? I also had someone standing next to me who complained the entire show, loudly. Every time Bono would speak, she would yell that it was word-for-word the same as the thing he said the night before, and was apparently trying to convince everyone around her that this was a terrible show that they should not enjoy. I get being disappointed that it doesn't change as much as previous tours, but she was trying to make everyone around her as miserable as she seemed to be. Just bizarre. Between the difficulty in obtaining tickets from the fan club, the rising cost of admission, and the hassle of people like that on the GA floor, I'm starting to question why I do this. I just don't get the mindsets here. If you don't like the show, don't keep going. If you want to be close to the band on the GA floor, get there early, don't try to shove people who got there before you. These things used to be common sense! I hope that no one attending tonight has to deal with anything like that! :)

For the I&E tour, this was more than just an internet rumor. The official press release, the official U2.com website, and the LiveNation and Ticketmaster pages, from December 2014, all contained verbiage from the band and promoters about there being two different shows from night one to night two. Sometime around April 2015 (several months after all tickets were sold out), the band gave an extensive interview to The New York Times and it was mentioned within that article that the two night idea had been abandoned in rehearsals. That article then stated that instead, the band would perform the same Act I set each night, and that the Act II (post-intermission) set would vary wildly from night to night - which also did not happen. So that was a bit more than internet rumor. What apparently happened, as per the Times article in 2015, was that the band developed two different setlists to perform on the I&E stage, but then became concerned that fans would be upset and disappointed if they only attended one show, and missed hearing their favorite hits that were instead played on the other night. I don't think it's logistically difficult to perform two different setlists on back to back nights - plenty of other artists do this as a matter of routine. The band simply got cold feet and decided not to do it. In and of itself, there's nothing wrong with that decision. But I think it was clumsy and misguided that the idea of there being two different shows was used to drive sales, and then once the tickets were sold, the idea was abandoned. Some fans felt that they did not get what they paid for, and were upset by what felt to some like a bait-and-switch. However, no such announcements were made for the current tour, so there was no expectation that this current tour would vary wildly from night to night. What I think has been surprising is that, for the 2015 tour, the band played about 4-5 different songs per night in cities that had more than one show. On the 2018 tour, the band is switching only one song per night in cities that had more than one show. There's very little precedence for U2 playing that static of a setlist in the same city for multiple regular tour dates, so that has come as a surprise to some.

It's hard to disagree with that. I think we had a bigger case in 2015, when the band said in advance of tickets going onsale that fans should buy tickets to both nights, as there would actually be two different setlists being performed. The band went back on that announcement only after the tickets were sold. So I think fans who bought tickets to both nights in 2015 may have done so because the band promised two different shows, and I think those fans have a reasonable case about being disappointed then. No such promises were made for this current tour. Historically, the band has rotated a handful of songs from night to night when performing in the same city - when U2 did play eight shows in NYC in 2015, on average, they changed about four to six songs from night to night while maintaining the basic structure of the show. By comparison on 2018, so far, U2 are basically changing one song per night for multiple night stands, so that is less than what they've done historically. That's also on par with what they did during the JT2017 tour; the thing is, because JT2017 was such a special occasion show with a unique focus on one specific album, I don't think fans expected that to carry over to this next tour. I think most fans who are used to attending multiple shows on the same tour were expecting that 4-5 song variety that's held true in the past, and weren't expecting it to be just one song being rotated. I can understand being disappointed by that. If your expectation was that there would be 10 songs different from night to night, that was probably never realistic, but I don't think it was unrealistic to anticipate there being about four songs changed from to night in the same city to another.

I doubt they'll ever come out and announce it, but it never seems to last long in the setlist. I remember being at the show in Boston in May 2005 where they played it for the first time in 12 years, and I thought, "Wow, they're playing this right before the next leg starts, I wonder if this is going to come back in a big way" since it got such a great response from the audience and sounded so great, but it didn't stick around. I then saw them in the fall of 2005 when they were trying it as an acoustic number, and it got an even greater response from the audience, and I thought maybe then it would stick around... but it didn't. I honestly am unsure as to why that song seems to be on a particularly short leash, but it does seem that way.

Ultimately, and I don't mean this to sound as negative as it probably will, but... before the 2015, U2's official website, U2's promoters, as well as Live Nation, and Ticketmaster, all told people that they should purchase tickets to both nights in the same city because the band would be playing two different shows. After the tickets were all sold, the band then walked this back, and did not play two different shows. If we couldn't count on U2 to play two different shows on a tour when they actually sold tickets on the premise that they would, I think it's probably not realistic to expect them to play two different shows on a tour where they made no such promise prior to it beginning.

Heck, we were specifically instructed by the official channels - U2.com, Live Nation, Ticketmaster, and U2 press releases - to purchase tickets to two nights for the 2015 because Nights 1 and 2 would be completely different shows. Then, after tickets were sold out, they changed their minds - but not before telling people that they should buy for both nights.

As long as we're requesting b-sides, "Crystal Ballroom" should have made the actual album for Songs Of Innocence and I'm very disappointed that I didn't hear it in 2015. They played 8 shows at Madison Square Garden and didn't play it there once, but played it in cities where they had significantly fewer shows. I think Bono was even overheard saying to a fan that it was actually the most important song on the album. And yet... didn't really get much of a chance to find an audience. Some of U2's deep album cuts and b-sides are among their very best work, and there are times that I wish the band would take more of a chance on playing them live. I don't know when the expectation for concerts changed so that the only songs played would be ones that a majority of the audience would instantly recognize - personally, I'm okay with seeing a band and hearing songs that I didn't know (or didn't know very well) in advance. Some of my all-time favorite songs from U2 as well as other acts became all-time favorites precisely because the bands introduced them to me in a live setting. I love "The Little Things That Give You Away" as much as I do probably because they played that song at the end of the JT17 show I saw. When a band spends 2 1/4 hours playing all hit songs known by everyone in attendance, and then makes a point of playing a brand new, unknown song as the last performance of the night, that sends a signal that I find very hard to ignore - that says, to me, "pay attention closely, something special is happening." I don't know when the rest of the audience stopped feeling that way and started equating "I don't know this song" with "time to leave" or "bathroom break".

If the band was ultimately unwilling to play two different setlists on the 2015 tour - after the official press release and promotional materials all emphasized that ticket buyers should purchase tickets to both nights, as two different shows would be performed - I think there's a less than zero chance that this will happen on a tour when no such announcement was made.

I do love the first track, and I love the first half of Lights of Home - but then I lose a little bit of my connection with the material. 6 and 7 are growing on me I think You’re The Best Thing About Me is a great song title and great idea for a song. It doesn’t live up to its potential in my book. I didn’t love American Soul when it was called Volcano and I still don’t love it. Theres something about Get Out Of Your Own Way that sounds more like an A.I.’s mimicking of a U2 song rather than feeling like an actual U2 song. And I think “The Blackout” covers a lot of the same thematic ground as those two but has a much more kickass sound. But I mean - it’s great that I want to hear more from the record. There are few things as disheartening as a new album you don’t want to hear anything from.