U2

[pjadnoo]

Primal scream did pretty well on the Other Stage at the same time..

The other stage feels a bit more compact and less exposed than the pyramid though, especially if the rains pelting down in the right direction. Primal scream were phenomenal though.

[BlackHole2006]

Head might be hurting only a tiny bit today but I still stand by what I said, despite the rain I personally think they pulled off a blinder

Edited November 16, 2013 by BlackHole2006

[Superscally]

Didn't you learn anything from 2011?

Years of hype

The promise of stage attachments, which amounted to be nothing more than propaganda screens

A very flat performance completely devoid of atmosphere outside of the immediate centre of the pyramid stage where all the bono heads reside

I went there because I thought 'hey they'll play some 80s and early 90s choons like 'The Fly' and they delivered and for that I was grateful until I realized the songs I genuinely enjoyed by the band left me with the same cold feeling as the songs I detest (vertigo, beautiful day, etc.) they are a band that no longer have any soul and my word did that reflect in their live show. Incredibly dull and devoid of any feeling and atmosphere.

You were at a different gig to me then mate, and I was to the far left reasonably far back and we still couldn't move, apart from everyone did. The atmosphere was awesome, I've not been to many gigs where the anticipation of each song was so fevered and I've been to hundreds of gigs. Sorry you had a bad one, but sometimes that just happens. The mud and tiredness got to me in 2007 when I was watching Arcade Fire thinking "I should be loving this" and I just...wasn't.

[danbailey80]

There is no way this would happen. Can't be bothered to explain why but it won't. end of, move on..

[frostypaw]

Always amazing how different people's experiences of the same gig can be

I was all excited for it but thought it was lacklustre, over reliant on a frontman who has become a bit of a gurning parody of himself

[FloorFiller]

didn't go in '11 so can't really comment on how U2 were, but i remember reading somewhere that throughout the entire set Bono was shitting himself because the stage / walkway had become so slippy from the rain and he thought he was gonna tumble over at any minute. not that that's any real excuse for the show being bad or anything, but i know my performance would be somewhat hindered if i was constantly trying to keep my balance

[1waveydavey]

All their equipment broke and none of the band could hear a thing! U2 didn't have to put up with anything like that sort of thing

All of their gear didn't break, they did have some problems and they certainly had monitor sound problems meaning they struggled to hear what they were playing.

It certainly didn't hammer down during the set (unlike the South Park Oxford set where every drop of water ever seemed to empty in to the field at once).

Still, I thought it was bloody terrible conditions for U2 and they did as well as you could expect. My original post wasn't a thread hoping they will play,just a speculative, I wonder....

[Alcatraz]

I enjoyed it in 2011. I was in a phenomenal position, and in the immediate aftermath I was raving about the set.

As time has passed I've had a somewhat revised opinion of it, as really just a good set, not the greatest. But on the night I had no inclination things were going wrong nor did the rain really bother me

Edited November 16, 2013 by Alcatraz

[Porcelina]

They were 'fine', an enjoyable enough gig that was somewhat anticlimactic but mostly due to it becoming abundently clear it's over for them.

Coldplay took their place that weekend.

[russycarps]

All of their gear didn't break, they did have some problems and they certainly had monitor sound problems meaning they struggled to hear what they were playing.

It certainly didn't hammer down during the set (unlike the South Park Oxford set where every drop of water ever seemed to empty in to the field at once).

Still, I thought it was bloody terrible conditions for U2 and they did as well as you could expect. My original post wasn't a thread hoping they will play,just a speculative, I wonder....

Not being able to hear what they, or their band mates, were playing in the biggest gig of their lives

v

A wet stage

[zero000]

Not being able to hear what they, or their band mates, were playing in the biggest gig of their lives

v

A wet stage

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEjJuvJPHm8

Thom Yorke openly laughs at Jonny Greenwood hitting a really bum note during Lucky. Poor Jonny! (Still better than U2 )

[Aragorn]

Please for the love of god NO......

They are not a festival band and I have never seen the pyramid field so empty........

Even getting the space station involved was shit, never again please

I actually thought that was absolutely amazing

Edited November 17, 2013 by Aragorn

[Lubic]

Just watched the first half hour of it - and even as someone who's not a fan - it's good stuff.

However, the weather has nothing to do with the way they front-loaded the set and the anticlimactic shrug that resulted when they finished with Moment of Surrender and Out of Control. Even on the hottest day of the year that still would have gone down like a cup of cold sick.

The main set was good, but I forgot about the encore - most definitely anticlimactic. Might have worked for a fanclub show, but not Glastonbury. I remember briefly thinking "Is that it?", and then "I'm soaked, I want to go back to my tent".

[The Nal]

unless they were wearing earplugs, why would they not be able to hear anything else on the stage?

The drums are usually loud enough anyway, guitars have amplifiers etc. It might not have been ideal, but then that's what festivals are very often like.

Its Radiohead. Theyre amazing. Everything they do is amazing.

[russycarps]

unless they were wearing earplugs, why would they not be able to hear anything else on the stage?

The drums are usually loud enough anyway, guitars have amplifiers etc. It might not have been ideal, but then that's what festivals are very often like.

dunno I've never played the pyramid stage at glastonbury

(though I can play lucy in the sky with diamonds nearly flawlessly on the piano so it wont be long before I do)

[Wooderson]

Its Radiohead. Theyre amazing. Everything they do is amazing.

Hehehe

[Gnomicide]

I enjoyed it despite the weather. It could have been so much better though if it wasn't pissing down and they didn't have the technical issues.

I really didn't expect it would be a thing I'd ever say but Coldplay blew them away the next night.

[DJL]

It is interesting how subjective the busyness of the crowd can be depending on where you were standing. Superscally found it was rammed but i gradually moved across the field, stopping for a while in various spots, having come from the park and on way to the dance village. It wasn't deserted but defintely easier to walk through than other pyramid headliners i've seen.

[Superscally]

I guess you didn't bother with the M*mf*rd field this year? You could have forward rolled across it according to my (ex-)friends!

[Superscally]

Ive never got why they are considered so huge, definitly a band that should have given it up a long long time ago.

Probably the fact that they have a huge number of amazing songs that people like, that inspires them to put their albums at number one and sell out stadiums instantly. Yeah. Probably something to do with that.

[russycarps]

god no! such a boring boring band, the only thing they live off is there frontmans ego the rest of the band are basically his sessions muscions even the edge and that says it all(really ive never seen a more dull lead guitarist in a major band then that guy) Ive never got why they are considered so huge, definitly a band that should have given it up a long long time ago. boring stadium rock by numbers

why would you go and see a band you hate?

What a peculiar fellow you are.

[slamdunkdafunk]

I really enjoyed the 2011 set, I never really got the negativity. Yeah the weather was crap, but hardly U2's fault

[Wooderson]

U2 didn't/don't have the flexibility to adapt to the elements. Theyve become too programmed by the stage show.

[Superscally]

So you do get why they're that big then - you just wish it wasn't the case...

[russycarps]

says the man who gets off on being a forum troll

as for u2? I wouldnt go to see them thats the point, much prefer it to be somebody else.

if you've never seen them why are you in this thread commenting on the 2011 gig?

Truly bizarre behaviour.