U2 Live Under A Cardiff Sky

Now that I have seen U2 live in Rome not just once, but twice, I thought it was time to revisit the previous two times I had seen them, first in Cardiff 8 years ago and then in Athens 7 years ago, both times almost to this day. But first a little bit of history.

I first saw the name "U2" back in 1982 in a Greek (short-lived) magazine called "Phenomenon". I thought it was a strange name for a band but I didn't investigate any further. A year and a half later I read in another Greek magazine, POP+ROCK (the best selling music magazine in Greece at that time) this: "Jim Kerr, lead singer of The Simple Minds got on stage at a U2 concert to sing "Gloria" with their lead singer Bono". Simple Minds were one of my favourite bands at that time so I went and bought the U2 live album that had just been released "U2 Live Under A Blood Red Sky" the opening track of which was "Gloria". The rest is, as they say, history...

I managed to see Simple Minds live for the first time in 2006 when they came to Athens. During that gig I was thinking "now I've seen Simple Minds but I haven't seen U2 yet". I finally managed to do that, 3 years later in Cardiff.

On the day of the concert, from early in the morning the city was dancing to the beat of U2.

It took place at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium which was celebrating its 10th anniversary.

They played all those songs I expected to hear, some that I didn't expect ("Mysterious Ways", "Stay" - I thought they wouldn't play anything from Zooropa anymore - Plus their best live track ever "Bad").

There were several songs from their latest - at that time - album "No Line On The Horizon" which I enjoyed since it was the first time I had liked a new U2 album so much since "Achtung Baby".

"Magnificent", "Unknown Caller" and especially the title track "No Line On The Horizon" were my favourites. I didn't think much of "I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight", which was the next single, and seemed to have been added to the album at the last minute (I made this assumption based on the fact that it was not featured in the Anton Corbijn film featured on the DVD that is included with some editions of the album). A better choice for a single, in my opinion, would have been "No Line On The Horizon" or "Moment Of Surrender".

The highlights of the night were the Desmond Tutu intro to "One" and the volunteers who walked in front of the stage during "Walk On".

The encore started with "Ultraviolet", and just as we were thinking, during "With Or Without You", that everything was over because they said goodbye and the time was 10:30pm (the curfew), they also played "Moment Of Surrender", one of their best songs of the album.

As can be seen from the photo, the 360 degree stage was not placed exactly at the centre of the stadium.

And although all 4 band members were moving all over its length and width (including the "bridges¨), most of the action was taking place at the front part.

And that's how, with the Cardiff concert, the 2009 European leg of the U2 360 Tour ended.

On another note, Cardiff was a wonderful city, and very easy to move around in, since in a radius of only a few metres the railway station, my hotel and the Millennium Stadium were located.

I was in a very central place, where later at night I could witness all the people coming out of the clubs and pubs. They were mostly eating takeaways and throwing their rubbish on the street. At some point they would go gome and then... that's when the seagulls would appear landing on the high street, walking around it as if they owned it and enjoying all the leftovers that were thrown away. They would only leave in the late morning when the municipal garbage trucks appeared.

So that's what I saw in Cardiff, a year later I would see U2 again in Greece...

CARDIFF Setlist
01. Breathe
02. No Line On The Horizon
03. Get On Your Boots
04. Magnificent
05. Beautiful Day
06. Mysterious Ways
07. I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
08. Stay
09. Unknown Caller
10. Unforgettable Fire
11. City Of Blinding Lights
12. Vertigo
13. I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight (Remix)
14. Sunday Bloody Sunday
15. Pride (In The Name of Love)
16. MLK
17. Walk On
18. Where The Streets Have No Name
19. One
20. Bad
--------
21. Ultraviolet
22. With Or Without You
23. Moment Of Surrender

Pet Shop Boys and Goldfrapp @ Brussels Summer Festival

For the whole of last winter, I was on guard for announcements of summer appearances by the Pet Shop Boys. I knew the Super tour was going to be underway and I definitely wanted to catch them somewhere in Europe during the summer. The reason was simple: I had met my girlfriend at their Athens gig in 2013 during their previous ("Electric") tour. But the fact is, I didn't actually meet her at the gig. We were both there, but we didn't know each other. However, on the following day I posted on a Pet Shop Boys fan page and quoted one of their lyrics. She contacted me because of that very post, me met, and the rest is, as they say, history. The only problem was that until this summer, we had never actually seen the Pet Shop Boys together! As luck had it, one of the first summer appearances that they announced was at Brussels Summer Festival and I immediately booked tickets.

The situation might have been a lot more different, if they had announced their appearance in Lucca first. Seeing as most of the gigs I attend are in Italy we might have gone there. But we loved the idea of going to a concert in a different country for a change. Plus, the festival was taking place right there in the capital, so no further travelling apart from our plane journeys would be required. As an added extra, a few days after the Pet Shop Boys appearance was announced, Goldfrapp, who I had also wanted to see live for several years,  were also added to the bill, on the very same day.

What was also great about this festival were the ticket prices. 30 Euros only for a one-day pass giving access to all stages of the festival on any given day. Moreover, if you double that amount and pay 60 Euros instead of 30, you don't get a 2-day pass, but a 10-day pass. Access to all stages for all days of the festival! And the various stages are located at squares and other locations in the city centre.

All we had to do one the day, was to exchange the passes we had bought and printed off the internet with wristbands that would give us immediate access to the stages. Now, one has to be careful with that because entrance is "subject to availability". This means that if a lot of people have one-day passes for a particular day, and they all go to a certain stage, they will not be allowed to enter if that stage is full.

Nevertheless, we arrived just in time for Goldfrapp and we realized we could get very near the front. And then, we realized we could get further to the front and so we did! The band entered the stage right on time and Alison looked fabulous dressed all in red. Wow! I mean, WOW! (I think I'd better continue with the review of the gig because my girlfriend is also reading this...:LOL:). She launched immediately into "Anymore" the lead single of her latest album "Silver Eye" (one of the best of the year so far) and continued with songs old and new.

"Systemagic", "Ride On A White Horse" and "Strict Machine" were particularly enjoyable although she didn't play "Happiness" no matter how loudly someone in the audience kept asking for it!

In fact, "Strict Machine" was announced as "our last song for tonight. I bet you can't wait". I hope she didn't mean that we were bored and we couldn't wait for them to finish because we were waiting for the Pet Shop Boys. 

At least, as far as we're concerned, we went there early because we wanted to see them as well! ("We're going to see Goldfrapp! WOW!" was my reaction back in March when they were added to the bill). All in all, they played just a few minutes short of an hour. Having looked at the day's schedule, I thought they were going to play for much longer, but then the time needed to prepare the stage for the Pet Shop Boys must be taken into account.

Although we were at the front of the stage, it was easy for me to walk towards the back during the break to get a beer (which came with a souvenir plastic glass!) and then walk my way back to the front and find our place.

Now, the festival website strongly advised that drink tickets should be bought in advance from the internet, however, the queues, both for the tickets and the drinks themselves were negligible. (Totally unlike Terra Vibe! :LOL:)

At 22:30 the stage was set for the Pet Shop Boys. I had not looked at the internet for setlists or videos from the Super tour. And I did that on purpose. I wanted  to be surprised on the night.

But their set started just I imagined it would. While on the Electric tour the mostly instrumental "Axis" served as an opener, here on the Super tour the again mostly instrumental "Inner Sanctum" served the same purpose as Neil and Chris appeared on stage from behind  a couple of circular props.

"Inner Sanctum" segued into "Opportunities" and that was followed by "The Pop Kids" segued with "In The Night" and "Burn" our first big surprise of the night. I had noticed the song on the "Super" album, but I had ever imagined that it would work so well live.

And then came "Love Is A Bourgeois Construct". This was my favourite song from the "Electric" album, but they did not play it on the Electric tour. They are playing it however on the Super tour and of course they played it on the night with one of their accompanying musicians on electric violin. It's like they owed it to us.

They did not, once again, forget "Love Etc.", but I did not expect its follow up "The Dictator Decides" to be one of the highlights of the evening. This slow song from "Super" is more important for its lyrics rather than its melody, but it worked so well live (and with another costume change from Neil).

 

"West End Girls" was sung in its extended version form (with the extra verse) and the surprises continued with "Home And Dry" a song I had never expected to see live. Then they proved to us that they don't forget their immediately previous album like a lot of bands who usually play only tracks from their latest album combined with their "early stuff". So they played "Vocal" again on this tour. But the biggest surprise came after that with one of my favourite songs from the "Fundamental" album: "The Sodom And Gomorrah Show".

I was starting to wonder whether they wanted to promote their recent "Further Listening" reissues, but when I looked at the setlist again, I realized they played nothing from "Nightlife", nothing from "Elysium" (understandable, probably) and, here comes the big surprise, nothing from "Behaviour"!

After "It's A Sin", the version of "Left To My Own Devices" that followed was expected and already familiar from the 12 inch of "Undertow". 

For the end of their set they announced "an old song in a new version" and although Neil started singing "Heart" he immediately moved into "Go West"

They returned for an encore of course, treating us to "Domino Dancing", the obligatory "Always On My Mind" (the following day was, after all the 40th anniversary of Elvis leaving us) and they wrapped up the proceedings with an extra dose of "The Pop Kids"

And that was it! The balloons were deflated, the square was slowly emptied and we started walking back to our hotel. You see, that's the beauty of a festival like this which takes place in a city centre: No need to worry about public transport or taxis, your accommodation is probably within walking distance. All we had to do now was go to sleep and dream of our next Pet Shop Boys gig...

 

 

SETLISTS

GOLDFRAPP
01. Anymore
02. Train
03. Ocean
04. You Never Know
05. Slide In
06. Everything Is Never Enough
07. Become The One
08. Systemagic
09. Number 1
10. Ride A White Horse
11. Strict Machine

PET SHOP BOYS
01. Inner Sanctum
02. Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money)
03. The Pop Kids
04. In The Night
05. Burn
06. Love Is A Bourgeois Construct
07. Se A Vida É (That's The Way Life Is)
08. Love Etc.
09. The Dictator Decides
10. Inside A Dream
11. West End Girls
12. Home And Dry
13. Vocal
14. The Sodom And Gomorrah Show
15. It's A Sin
16. Left To My Own Devices
17. Heart / Go West
Encore:
18. Domino Dancing
19. Always On My Mind
20. The Pop Kids (Reprise)

The Joshua Tree Live Under A Roman Sky - Day 2

On my 2nd night with U2 in Rome I was more organized and more relaxed. I went to the stadium early, before the doors opened and even though I had been walking all day - acting the tourist and sightseeing - I felt that I had the energy I was lacking the previous day.

I took the tram and arrived promptly at Stadio Olimpico before the gates opened. When they did, I went straight to my seat, having had the merchandise sorted out the day before. The only problem was, that after I had scanned my ticket and the gate promptly opened and let me through, a person inside the gate tore a piece off my ticket. Come on, this was marketed as a "souvenir ticket" by TicketOne who sells them and it's meant only to be scanned and then kept as a souvenir by the owner (hence the name). What did they think I was going to do with it? Fly it with a drone back over the gate and re-sell it (by an accomplish?) to a ticketless fan who would then realize that he could not get in because it had already been scanned? Be serious! Thankfully, I have the ticket from the previous night still intact!
Anyway, my intention was to catch the full set from Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds from the beginning. Their support slot on the European leg of this tour was one of the reasons that tipped the scales towards me finally buying a ticket when I had a second chance and while I was still thinking about it. I was lucky enough to have seen Oasis at Wembley in July 2009, about a month before they broke up but I wouldn't mind hearing some of the old familiar tunes again, plus some of Noel's solo stuff which was really good last time I checked.
And that's how it was when Noel came on stage. He did several Oasis songs, focusing mostly on the ones in which he sang the lead vocals back then, like "Little By Little". The penultimate song was what I was waiting for, "Don't Look Back In Anger" and the last one was one of the best of his solo efforts "AKA... What A Life".

 

From then on, we had to wait until it got dark and U2 would come on stage while once again poems, sayings and other excerpts were once again displayed on the screen.

 

At long last, "The Whole Of The Moon" by The Waterboys started playing over the speakers and we knew that immediately after it U2 would come on stage. 
Once again they opened with "Sunday Bloody Sunday" but this time we got "A Sort Of Homecoming" instead of "Bad".

Once again, the full Joshua Tree performance was spectacular and I was able to enjoy it even more than the day before. There was no choreography this time during "With Or Without You" though.

Immediately after the album Miss Sarajevo followed with what was probably one of the best accompanying films displayed on the screen, telling the story of a Syrian refugee. Meanwhile, a huge banner with her photograph was circulated over the seats by the crowd.

We also got one of my favourites, "Mysterious Ways" in the post-Joshua Tree part of the show, but not "The Little Things That Give You Away".

Fully enjoyed this second show, it was after all the one for which I had originally bought a ticket for (the previous day was considered an extra) and knowing more about the public transport that night I headed to the square from which the tram was leaveing. I got on one quickly and I even got a seat. There was no metro to get on at the end of the tram line (it was a Sunday and the metro closes earlier but we could get the night bus that would take us to Stazione Termini. Problem was, when said bus came it was already full, so no one could get in. Thankfully the Romans provided extra buses staring from that same stop so I got on one of these and from Stazione Termini I made my way to the hotel afer grabbing the obligatory sandwiches.
In short, The Joshua Tree tour was an amazing experience. The Joshua Tree sequence itself brings to mind The Wall Tour by Roger Waters in the sense that the films displayed on the almost as big screen are probably an essential part of the experience. As for the rest of the set what else could it be but a Greatest Hits package! Consisting of only the biggest hits, if you please!
And when I got back home the first thing I did was play "Rattle And Hum" (the album) and watch the movie. I know it has been kind of disowned by the band and the music press, but it's a chronicle of the original Joshua Tree tour not just anywhere but jn America, the country that The Joshua Tree is about. Plus it was a revelation for me when I watched it at the cinema at Canterbury, Kent, back in the day and made me a bigger fan than I already was and I thought it was much better than "Live At Red Rocks". A few months later it became one of the first video tapes I bought, along with "101" by Depeche Mode, another great concert film (also set in America). People criticize it because it shows the band being in awe of America. So what? Everyone has the right to be overwhelmed by the US when the travel across it. I know I did, a few years later in 2000.

Now, let's just sit back, relax and at long last wait for "Songs Of Experience" which will bring us the 2nd leg of the "Innocence + Experience Tour"...

SETLISTS

NOEL GALLAGHER'S HIGH FLYING BIRDS

01. Everybody's On The Run
02. Lock All The Doors
03. In The Heat Of The Moment
04. Riverman
05. Champagne Supernova
06. You Know We Can't Go Back
07. Half The World Away
08. Little By Little
09. Wonderwall
10. Don't Look Back In Anger
11. AKA... What A Life!

U2

01. Sunday Bloody Sunday
02. New Year's Day
03. A Sort Of Homecoming
04. Pride (In The Name Of Love)
05. Where The Streets Have No Name
06. I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
07. With Or Without You
08. Bullet The Blue Sky
09. Running To Stand Still
10. Red Hill Mining Town
11. In God's Country
12. Trip Through Your Wires
13. One Tree Hill
14. Exit
15. Mothers Of The Disappeared
16. Miss Sarajevo
17. Beautiful Day
18. Elevation
19. Vertigo
20. Mysterious Ways
21. Ultra Violet (Light My Way)
22. One