2020 headliners

[henry bear]

56 minutes ago, SwedgeAntilles said:

Boy is my face red

Red Swedge (80’s leftie reference, for those who’ve definitely heard of Nick Cave but aren’t ‘over familiar’ with the work of Kendrick Lamar)

[efcfanwirral]

47 minutes ago, incident said:

They played fine. I enjoyed it, but I would have enjoyed it more on literally any other night.

The weather really was that bad - it was by far the worst weather of any headline slot in the past (at least) 15 years.

I absolutely loved it - first time seeing U2 and was a great setlist. Barely noticed how wet i was til after! 

[CaledonianGonzo]

Revisiting A Hard Days Night on BBC4 feat. our Saturday evening headliner at the moment- and it's not too grotty to see it.

[Bisque]

2 hours ago, crazyfool1 said:

I was going to say that ... looking back at youtube ... but bizarrely I cant remember it being that wet  must have been my glasses fogging up ... watching it back now just look at the water on the tv lens ... its wet !!

It was that fine rain that soaks you through.

Weather the next two days was great though & the mud dried out well.

We watched the set almost on Kidney Mead under a gazebo with some mulled cider. I can’t remember if it was a bad set or not but I remember getting easily distracted & chatting to friends for their older songs, grabbing some extra clothing as the temp dropped, good job we weren’t disrupting proper fans down the front.

I’m sure U2 would love another crack at doing it again in better circumstances.

[Crazyfool01]

6 minutes ago, Bisque said:

It was that fine rain that soaks you through.

Weather the next two days was great though & the mud dried out well.

We watched the set almost on Kidney Mead under a gazebo with some mulled cider. I can’t remember if it was a bad set or not but I remember getting easily distracted & chatting to friends for their older songs, grabbing some extra clothing as the temp dropped, good job we weren’t disrupting proper fans down the front.

I’m sure U2 would love another crack at doing it again in better circumstances.

yep im sure my memory did it justice it was even better than the real thing 

[strummer77]

Not really into U2 but remember it feeling a big one and staying after Mozza to see what it was like. Remember having a decent spec and the start seemed really promising, with vibrant visuals even possibly benefitting from the rain. However as it went on weather made it one that was never going to go down amongst the greats.

They were clearly trying their hardest and attempting to pull out the stops, but the conditions were challenging for band and crowd. Can’t really remember a headline band having to combat the weather as much.

Not being a fan I very much doubt I would go personally see them attempt it again, but would not be against them having a second chance to nail it. It’s been almost a decade and those conditions mean they have as genuine reasons to repeat as any of the other ‘legends’ who have done it. 

[Bisque]

5 minutes ago, crazyfool1 said:

yep im sure my memory did it justice it was even better than the real thing 

I’m not a U2 fan, I like some of their singles from the 2000’s, but I knew it was a band I should be able to say I’ve seen.

Kind of glad we had an early night as we went full on the next two days when the sun came out  for Friendly Fires/Coldplay & Beyoncé.

[Hugh Jass]

Recall some dicking about with the space station at one point.

[Toilet Duck]

1 hour ago, Hugh Jass said:

Recall some dicking about with the space station at one point.

There was, they did it regularly during the Acthung Baby tour (which they were celebrating the anniversary of at Glasto). Generally it’s a bit of a gimmick, but that night, the astronaut in question was Mark Kelly, husband of Gabby Giffords who had survived an assassination attempt earlier in the year, so the space oddity quote “tell my wife I love her very much, she knows”, was quite poignant. Lost on most of the crowd I expect (probably just thought it was U2 being U2!). For the record, the set looks way better on the BBC footage, weather was 2007 awful!

[Hotchilidog]

15 hours ago, The Red Telephone said:

Apropos of nothing, I have just been watching some of U2’s headline set in 2011.

I didn’t go that year, but they look and sound really good.
 

I appear to be one of the few people who enjoyed it. I agree the weather was dire, but watching U2 out of their comfort zone and having to dig deep was fun for me. Also had one of my favourite nights out afterwards despite the downpour.

[Badlands]

I enjoyed U2, but the second half wasn’t a patch on the first. Stay is probably in my top ten moments.... pure goosebumps.

[wro_lap]

Wait... is this an episode of U Talkin’ U2 2 Me?

[CaledonianGonzo]

1 hour ago, Badlands said:

I enjoyed U2, but the second half wasn’t a patch on the first. 

Also my experience. The weather didn't so much banjax their set as the fact that they came out swinging for the first 40 minutes or so before settling into Sexy Boots mode - at which point the pulse of the gig flatlined.

[FuzzyDunlop]

A speaker on the right of the pyramid stack also blew / had water issues. During Sunday Bloody Sunday. 

Following that - the set wasnt great.

And that dick with the green laser annoyed me too.

I did enjoy U2 though

[Zacko]

I also cannot really remember much from the set at all. I wasn't even that pissed or anything, and I do recall them being generally on form (I mean they're U2 after all), but to this day I often forget I've even seen them. 

I'm glad we all seem to have a sort of collective rain induced amnesia!? 

Edited January 4, 2020 by Zacko

[Hugh Jass]

10 hours ago, Zacko said:

I also cannot really remember much from the set at all. I wasn't even that pissed or anything, and I do recall them being generally on form (I mean they're U2 after all), but to this day I often forget I've even seen them. 

I'm glad we all seem to have a sort of collective rain induced amnesia!? 

I recall standing there watching my pint slowly fill with rain water. 

A thoroughly depressing evening. The highlight was watching Morrissey get the hump when he realised most of his crowd had gone to see Radiohead.

[Doug85]

On 1/3/2020 at 4:20 PM, SwedgeAntilles said:

Upon closer inspection it also happened in 2016 and 2017...

[Thunderstruck]

On 12/19/2019 at 9:34 PM, Madyaker said:

Could be amazing, just as likely to be shite and I’m a fan

Yeh, I've only ever seen them once on stadium arcadium tour and luckily they were on form. I've heard some awful stories of how shite they can be live though! I'd pay a lot if they were guaranteed to pull of a gig like slane castle. 

[maelzoid]

On ‎1‎/‎3‎/‎2020 at 6:26 PM, The Red Telephone said:

Apropos of nothing, I have just been watching some of U2’s headline set in 2011.

I didn’t go that year, but they look and sound really good.
 

I loved it. They were brilliant and to this day I am baffled by the negativity that set attracted. Weather was atrocious though...

[zeppelin]

24 minutes ago, maelzoid said:

I loved it. They were brilliant and to this day I am baffled by the negativity that set attracted. Weather was atrocious though...

Personally I think part of it's down to it seemingly being cool or the done thing to hate Bono. 

I really enjoyed the set, minus the weather of course! 

[CaledonianGonzo]

4 minutes ago, zeppelin said:

Personally I think part of it's down to it seemingly being cool or the done thing to hate Bono. 

It's not though. The setlist was front-loaded and therefore the show wound up being anticlimactic. They finished up on two songs most of the crowd didn't know.

[Johnnyseven]

1 hour ago, Thunderstruck said:

Yeh, I've only ever seen them once on stadium arcadium tour and luckily they were on form. I've heard some awful stories of how shite they can be live though! I'd pay a lot if they were guaranteed to pull of a gig like slane castle. 

I saw them at Leeds Festival in 2007 (I think) and they were absolute dog shit. Really didn't look like they didn't want to be there.

[Hugh Jass]

1 hour ago, zeppelin said:

Personally I think part of it's down to it seemingly being cool or the done thing to hate Bono. 

Bono doesn’t exactly make it difficult for us though...

[RarerThanDandyB]

So when do we reckon Kenny will be announced? 

[Hugh Jass]

Just now, RarerThanDandyB said:

So when do we reckon Kenny will be announced? 

Not for a while I’d wager.