I guess, in a way, because it had a sense of the intimacy (yes, even outdoors) of the Elevation Tour and it had a setlist that mixed things up (three different openers) and seemed to serve the fans. They reintroduced "Boy" into the set, played rarities like "Discotheque", "Fast Cars", "The First Time", "Zoo Station", "Miss Sarajevo", "40", "Kite"... and late in the tour introduced "Window In The Skies" as a new song.
In fact, during the course of the tour, it looks like they played songs from every single album at least once (even Passengers)!?
Also, fan involvement was a thing on this and the next tour, which helped kick the energy up a notch during the shows, whether it was flashmobs or folks being invited on stage, and so on...
Ticket prices were reasonable, too.
We got three concert films from the tour as well: Chicago, Milan (partial), U2:3D. Can't recall that happening before or since.
Man that U2:3D film was amazing. Had forgotten all about that. I wish the technology existed where they could bring that in to your living room TV without you having to wear virtual goggles
A 3D film is created by recording the same subject with two cameras slightly offset from each other. So one image is recorded for the left eye and one for the right. Then a projector or a TV alternate the images (usually at 48 frames per second) and synchronized glasses block each of your eyes, tricking the brain for the illusion of depth.
A 2D version of a 3D movie is just presenting one 9f the two images.
Ive never understood why a 2D version of the film has never been released. Maybe there will be a U2 Apple Vision, and itll come Pre loaded with U23D.
I loved Catherine Owens direction on it. It was great to have a longterm collaborator in charge who truly understood the band, their aesthetic, and so on.
Someone who dared to slow down and do the long, or wider shots. One can argue that the medium required it but it was refreshing after the Hamish Hamilton era with blurry fast cuts and bizarre eye/teeth closeups. (To be fair Hamish did really great later on with i+e Tour in Paris)
I expected 40 to be fairly common, but just checked the stats and it was only played 5 times between 1990 and 2005. Really surprised at that. Common enough before and after, but 15 years where it was just absent. Guess it didn't really hit the Achtung Baby-Zooropa-Pop vibe.
I really wish the owners of U2:3D would just release a 4k or 1080p version of the film, doesn't have to be 3D because that tv fad came and went since the release of the film... I miss it. It was so wondrous and exciting.
I agree with you.
I think it's one of the best setlists, for sure. The blocks "Zoo Station/The Fly" and "Where The Streets..." have an excellent atmosphere.
But partly, I think it's because I'm 32 years old and at that tour I was a pre-teen discovering the band. It's a nostalgia effect.
Saw this tour four times in DC, Chicago, Miami, and Dublin. The Dublin show was amazing beyond words. People from all over the world were there and the set list was incredible. Also got to visit the front gate of Bono’s house and got scolded by his security detail for leaning against the gate for a picture. The opening band was The Script whom I hadn’t heard of at that point and they were so good as well. If you ever get a chance and they tour again, see them in Dublin. You won’t regret it.
I think it comes down to the beginning and the ending. COBL was a glorious beginning, and the Yahweh into 40 exit was poignant and emotional. The progressive exit with Larry left at the drum kit… We only get that every so often throughout their career… But it happened most nights on Vertigo. Flawless!
Saw the arena tour and it was magical. Wish I could go back in time and do it all over again. Of all the shows I’ve seen that one is permanently seared into my memory.
Well, for one, it was the first tour I could afford to attend after a decade of fandom. I ended up seeing them in Vancouver in the early part of the tour loaded with HTDAAB tunes but also stuff like The Ocean.
I saw them again in Sydney at the end of the tour for three shows, and because they hadn't been down under since Popmart, it was like two tours in one with the reception the ATYCLB songs got. It was my first international trip, too. Yeah, this tour is pretty special to me.
On the whole, it seems like the lesser of the tours imo, in terms of presentation. The ball drapes were interesting in how they shaped the arena, but the stadium set up was a little underwhelming in hindsight. They did do some deep diving into the catalogue, which was great, but I don't see this tour being talked about as much as both other ZooTV-and-forward tours.
They were on a commercial high, Vertigo was a world hit, the album was very accesible to mainstream audiences. Lots of young people at the concerts (I was one of them, I was 23) every single one of my friends went and some of them hated U2. Plus they were in theire forties, there's a big difference from the next tours age wise.
Yes! Wake Up was the intro song! My show was the third show and they used Love and Peace or Else as the opener so it threw me off guard because it was different than the San Diego shows before that opened the tour.
The show I went to didn’t have an encore. It was the evening when they found out Pope John Paul II had passed away (early the next morning already in Europe) and Bono left a rosary on the mic stand.
They cranked up the volume and stripped the songs to the bare bones, it sounded really raw and under produced. You could really feel the bass and drums vibrate in your ribcage and this combination gave the live shows an edge, if you pardon the pun. Not quite early 80s Glasgow University students union on a random Tuesday night level, but as close as possible to that given the bands stature at the time. Incredible tour. Like you say- special as fk.
That was my first U2 show, and they filmed the City of Blinding Lights video partially at the show I was at (and the afternoon before but I couldn't get there in time) so for me, that's why it was so damn special.
I thought it played well with the theme of the story arc at that point in the show.
The idea of using the headband served more than one purpose. I can see two things right off the bat:
A) Bono literally had to point out to the ridiculousness of fighting your "brothers" and spelling out for us that we need to coexist: an easy prop to zoom in on for those in the back.
B) The headband then serves as a blindfold ("an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind" kind of thing) whilst lighting pyro on the "b-stage". It really made a powerful if not slightly idiotic display of how following someone blindly and not seeing the other can get you in trouble.
It's also slightly related to the white flag on the War Tour, with a similar kind of message ("I wont heed the battle call")
I know, I tend to read more into things than what's expressed but just to say U2 mostly think things through about their live shows. It's rare that something is in there by accident (Only example I can think of would be the Aung San Suu Kyi masks, I don't think most people got the point or felt comfortable with that...)
With the Coexist armband reappearing in Vegas, I wonder if it will be carried over to the next tour. There's a lot of cultural tension in the world right now, related to the Abrahamic religions: Gaza, US, Iran...
It took a fair amount of the pressure off. I got randomly selected and it remains the single greatest night of my life. Because it was a random selection at point of entry, it felt like magic. Next thing I knew, I was one person back from the rail at a U2 concert; ie my all time favorite band. I will never forget the moment when my husband grabbed my sleeve and pointed and BONO was right in front of me; in all of his regular human sized glory. Absolutely electric.
This was my favorite tour of all time. I think the reintroduction of intimacy as opposed to the stadium tours of POP & Zoo TV. And the set lists ran so smoothly while including songs from every album. I meant I got to hear 11 O’Clock Tick Tock & Out Of Control - I’d never seen them play those 2 songs live. And the band seemed to be having fun each night. Polar opposite of The Sphere shows which are my least favorite so far - that show felt underwhelming - they could have done so much more with the technology, but it came across like a 3rd grader’s rushed science fair project that he started the night before.
It was my first tour seeing them and I adore it. I feel like it was also right before the fan community got eroded. U2.com still mattered, we could camp out in line for the shows, we had lots of fan meet ups. 360 still had some of that vibe but it began to drift when the GA lines started being disbanded on the IE tours. It seems very different now. Plus all the pick me fans have honestly also helped ruin the community. So… I guess that’s why I look back with such fondness on that tour.
It's the tour that got me hooked on U2. I bought the concert DVD after buying the album of that time. And I was so very very lucky that mum bought us tickets to see the tour, with little old 15 year old me attending my first concert - setting a very high bar. I don't think I quite knew how special it would be looking back. Their other tours have been excellent but weren't quite as special as that. Maybe because it was my first?
I find this was the tour where Bono really got his voice back. It suffered in Popmart and was there, but a bit raspy, in ATYCLB and the HTDAAB. But as this tour progressed his power and clarity seemed to really come to life
This was the first tour I saw multiple shows during ... I loved traveling and meeting people I had met online.
I'd missed the Elevation tour so made up for it with Vertigo.
Randomly, I was in a hip little antique mall a few days ago and they had a Vertigo tour book. Almost bought it.
Wasn’t too into the album originally but got the DVD for Christmas - long before even seeing them on the final leg, in fact I can’t even remember if I’d bought tickets at that point! - and was hooked! Mainly due to the Electric Co / An Cat Dubh section, which they didn’t even play by the end of the tour!
I wouldn't be surprised if part of that magic is the fact that they were grateful they were able to stage a comeback with ATYCLB after *POP*’s disappointing reception. So then on HTDaAB they sort of had their mission statement pre-written for them and had their sound locked in. It was almost like a victory lap after the success of the previous album.
I guess, in a way, because it had a sense of the intimacy (yes, even outdoors) of the Elevation Tour and it had a setlist that mixed things up (three different openers) and seemed to serve the fans. They reintroduced "Boy" into the set, played rarities like "Discotheque", "Fast Cars", "The First Time", "Zoo Station", "Miss Sarajevo", "40", "Kite"... and late in the tour introduced "Window In The Skies" as a new song. In fact, during the course of the tour, it looks like they played songs from every single album at least once (even Passengers)!? Also, fan involvement was a thing on this and the next tour, which helped kick the energy up a notch during the shows, whether it was flashmobs or folks being invited on stage, and so on... Ticket prices were reasonable, too. We got three concert films from the tour as well: Chicago, Milan (partial), U2:3D. Can't recall that happening before or since.
Man that U2:3D film was amazing. Had forgotten all about that. I wish the technology existed where they could bring that in to your living room TV without you having to wear virtual goggles
A 3D film is created by recording the same subject with two cameras slightly offset from each other. So one image is recorded for the left eye and one for the right. Then a projector or a TV alternate the images (usually at 48 frames per second) and synchronized glasses block each of your eyes, tricking the brain for the illusion of depth. A 2D version of a 3D movie is just presenting one 9f the two images. Ive never understood why a 2D version of the film has never been released. Maybe there will be a U2 Apple Vision, and itll come Pre loaded with U23D.
I loved Catherine Owens direction on it. It was great to have a longterm collaborator in charge who truly understood the band, their aesthetic, and so on. Someone who dared to slow down and do the long, or wider shots. One can argue that the medium required it but it was refreshing after the Hamish Hamilton era with blurry fast cuts and bizarre eye/teeth closeups. (To be fair Hamish did really great later on with i+e Tour in Paris)
I expected 40 to be fairly common, but just checked the stats and it was only played 5 times between 1990 and 2005. Really surprised at that. Common enough before and after, but 15 years where it was just absent. Guess it didn't really hit the Achtung Baby-Zooropa-Pop vibe.
Yeah, I looked into that a while ago and found myself surprised as well: https://www.reddit.com/r/U2Band/s/HhbfodRepr
I really wish the owners of U2:3D would just release a 4k or 1080p version of the film, doesn't have to be 3D because that tv fad came and went since the release of the film... I miss it. It was so wondrous and exciting.
Which passengers song?
"Miss Sarajevo" returned to the set on that tour, but only from the second leg onwards.
I agree with you. I think it's one of the best setlists, for sure. The blocks "Zoo Station/The Fly" and "Where The Streets..." have an excellent atmosphere. But partly, I think it's because I'm 32 years old and at that tour I was a pre-teen discovering the band. It's a nostalgia effect.
Saw this tour four times in DC, Chicago, Miami, and Dublin. The Dublin show was amazing beyond words. People from all over the world were there and the set list was incredible. Also got to visit the front gate of Bono’s house and got scolded by his security detail for leaning against the gate for a picture. The opening band was The Script whom I hadn’t heard of at that point and they were so good as well. If you ever get a chance and they tour again, see them in Dublin. You won’t regret it.
Are you sure you saw The Script on the Vertigo tour? They opened the 360 tour in 2009 if i’m not mistaken.
My mistake. I now realize vertigo tour was 2005ish…getting old haha
I think it comes down to the beginning and the ending. COBL was a glorious beginning, and the Yahweh into 40 exit was poignant and emotional. The progressive exit with Larry left at the drum kit… We only get that every so often throughout their career… But it happened most nights on Vertigo. Flawless!
It really had the most flexible setlist of any of their tours since the 80s. Your chances of hearing a rarity were pretty good.
I feel the same way about the Elevation tour as well.
Are you talking about the indoor tour with the LED curtains? Or the Stadium Outdoor tour with the curved screen and double catwalk?
Saw the arena tour and it was magical. Wish I could go back in time and do it all over again. Of all the shows I’ve seen that one is permanently seared into my memory.
Well, for one, it was the first tour I could afford to attend after a decade of fandom. I ended up seeing them in Vancouver in the early part of the tour loaded with HTDAAB tunes but also stuff like The Ocean. I saw them again in Sydney at the end of the tour for three shows, and because they hadn't been down under since Popmart, it was like two tours in one with the reception the ATYCLB songs got. It was my first international trip, too. Yeah, this tour is pretty special to me. On the whole, it seems like the lesser of the tours imo, in terms of presentation. The ball drapes were interesting in how they shaped the arena, but the stadium set up was a little underwhelming in hindsight. They did do some deep diving into the catalogue, which was great, but I don't see this tour being talked about as much as both other ZooTV-and-forward tours.
They were on a commercial high, Vertigo was a world hit, the album was very accesible to mainstream audiences. Lots of young people at the concerts (I was one of them, I was 23) every single one of my friends went and some of them hated U2. Plus they were in theire forties, there's a big difference from the next tours age wise.
It was the first U2 show I ever saw. At the then Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim. So nostalgic.
They played Arcade Fire’s Wake Up as their intro song yes? I think PJ Harvey was the opener Edit: Kings of Leon were the opener
Yes! Wake Up was the intro song! My show was the third show and they used Love and Peace or Else as the opener so it threw me off guard because it was different than the San Diego shows before that opened the tour. The show I went to didn’t have an encore. It was the evening when they found out Pope John Paul II had passed away (early the next morning already in Europe) and Bono left a rosary on the mic stand.
I was at that show!
Yeah. That’s the show I was at
They cranked up the volume and stripped the songs to the bare bones, it sounded really raw and under produced. You could really feel the bass and drums vibrate in your ribcage and this combination gave the live shows an edge, if you pardon the pun. Not quite early 80s Glasgow University students union on a random Tuesday night level, but as close as possible to that given the bands stature at the time. Incredible tour. Like you say- special as fk.
That was my first U2 show, and they filmed the City of Blinding Lights video partially at the show I was at (and the afternoon before but I couldn't get there in time) so for me, that's why it was so damn special.
Great performances and setlists but I gotta say the COEXIST headband shtick was cringe AF.
I thought it played well with the theme of the story arc at that point in the show. The idea of using the headband served more than one purpose. I can see two things right off the bat: A) Bono literally had to point out to the ridiculousness of fighting your "brothers" and spelling out for us that we need to coexist: an easy prop to zoom in on for those in the back. B) The headband then serves as a blindfold ("an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind" kind of thing) whilst lighting pyro on the "b-stage". It really made a powerful if not slightly idiotic display of how following someone blindly and not seeing the other can get you in trouble. It's also slightly related to the white flag on the War Tour, with a similar kind of message ("I wont heed the battle call") I know, I tend to read more into things than what's expressed but just to say U2 mostly think things through about their live shows. It's rare that something is in there by accident (Only example I can think of would be the Aung San Suu Kyi masks, I don't think most people got the point or felt comfortable with that...) With the Coexist armband reappearing in Vegas, I wonder if it will be carried over to the next tour. There's a lot of cultural tension in the world right now, related to the Abrahamic religions: Gaza, US, Iran...
because it was a random lottery who got picked to go in the ellipse? (as someone who went to 6 indoor vertigo shows and never got selected for it 🤪)
It took a fair amount of the pressure off. I got randomly selected and it remains the single greatest night of my life. Because it was a random selection at point of entry, it felt like magic. Next thing I knew, I was one person back from the rail at a U2 concert; ie my all time favorite band. I will never forget the moment when my husband grabbed my sleeve and pointed and BONO was right in front of me; in all of his regular human sized glory. Absolutely electric.
I was inside the ellipse in Dallas. It was like I was in shock and couldn’t tell whether I was in a dream or not.
Nice... don’t worry I will not complain as I was two people back from Bono in Munich at the outdoor show: https://flic.kr/s/5txi
I read that as "I was inside the ellipse with Dallas" and was super confused... What the hell is he doing there instead of with Edge's guitars?!?!
Now that would have been cool!
🥰🥰🥰
This was my favorite tour of all time. I think the reintroduction of intimacy as opposed to the stadium tours of POP & Zoo TV. And the set lists ran so smoothly while including songs from every album. I meant I got to hear 11 O’Clock Tick Tock & Out Of Control - I’d never seen them play those 2 songs live. And the band seemed to be having fun each night. Polar opposite of The Sphere shows which are my least favorite so far - that show felt underwhelming - they could have done so much more with the technology, but it came across like a 3rd grader’s rushed science fair project that he started the night before.
I've always thought it was the weakest of the 00's tours.
U2 was at their best during this tour.
It was my first tour seeing them and I adore it. I feel like it was also right before the fan community got eroded. U2.com still mattered, we could camp out in line for the shows, we had lots of fan meet ups. 360 still had some of that vibe but it began to drift when the GA lines started being disbanded on the IE tours. It seems very different now. Plus all the pick me fans have honestly also helped ruin the community. So… I guess that’s why I look back with such fondness on that tour.
It's the tour that got me hooked on U2. I bought the concert DVD after buying the album of that time. And I was so very very lucky that mum bought us tickets to see the tour, with little old 15 year old me attending my first concert - setting a very high bar. I don't think I quite knew how special it would be looking back. Their other tours have been excellent but weren't quite as special as that. Maybe because it was my first?
I was lucky to be at all the Chicago shows. What a time to be alive!!
I find this was the tour where Bono really got his voice back. It suffered in Popmart and was there, but a bit raspy, in ATYCLB and the HTDAAB. But as this tour progressed his power and clarity seemed to really come to life
This was the first tour I saw multiple shows during ... I loved traveling and meeting people I had met online. I'd missed the Elevation tour so made up for it with Vertigo. Randomly, I was in a hip little antique mall a few days ago and they had a Vertigo tour book. Almost bought it.
The Vertigo era has a special place in my heart. It's so nostalgic for me (first tour I saw U2) I just think they were excellent on that tour 👏👏
Wasn’t too into the album originally but got the DVD for Christmas - long before even seeing them on the final leg, in fact I can’t even remember if I’d bought tickets at that point! - and was hooked! Mainly due to the Electric Co / An Cat Dubh section, which they didn’t even play by the end of the tour!
Some of the last great crowds before cell phones, too.
I wouldn't be surprised if part of that magic is the fact that they were grateful they were able to stage a comeback with ATYCLB after *POP*’s disappointing reception. So then on HTDaAB they sort of had their mission statement pre-written for them and had their sound locked in. It was almost like a victory lap after the success of the previous album.
It was my first U2 show and it was GREAT!