Bruce Springsteen, 2013-06-15 - NJ.com, BS in London: Plays entire 'Darkness' album at Wembley Stadium on Saturday

http://www.nj.com/springsteen/index.ssf/2013/06/bruce_springsteen_in_london_pl.html

Bruce Springsteen in London: Plays entire 'Darkness' album at Wembley Stadium on Saturday

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band perform before a huge crowd at Wembley Stadium in London on Saturday.(Sam Batty @sam_batty via Twitter)

By Stan Goldstein/The Star-Ledger
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on June 15, 2013 at 5:54 PM, updated June 15, 2013 at 5:55 PM

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band performed for the first time at the new Wembley Stadium in London on Saturday and the fans got quite a treat with a full album performance of "Darkness on the Edge of Town" as well as some other gems.

Bruce had played at the old Wembley Stadium three times on the Born in the U.S.A. tour in 1985 and twice in 1988, once on the Tunnel of Love tour and once on the Amnesty tour.
The news stadium, which is one the same site, opened in 2007 and has a capacity of 90,000.

After 11 days off, it looks as Bruce and the band were in fine form on Saturday playing a 31-song, three-hour-and-11-minute show.

A nice six-pack to open with "Land of Hope and Dreams," "Jackson Cage," "Radio Nowhere" (which I'm glad to see early in the show, it's usually played later in the main set), "Save My Love" (yes! should be played more, only the fifth time this tour and the first time in 2013), "Rosalita" (another early appearance) and "This Hard Land" (played for only the second time in the main set in 2013).

Cool to see "Light of Day" close the main set, just like it did on many shows on the Tunnel of Love, 1992-93 and Reunion tours. The show closer was once again "Thunder Road" played solo acoustic with the crowd singing along. Bruce finished his last show, June 3 at San Siro Stadium in Milan, Italy the same way.

It was the second time "Darkness" has been played in full in 2013, the other shwos was on May 4 in Solna, Sweden.

Show began at 7:23 p.m. local time (five hours ahead of New Jersey)

Set list

1. Land of Hope and Dreams
2. Jackson Cage
3. Radio Nowhere
4. Save My Love (sign request)
5. Rosalita (Come Out Tonight) (sign request)
6. This Hard Land
7. Lost in the Flood (sign request)
8. Wrecking Ball
9. Death to My Hometown
10. Hungry Heart

Entire "Darkness on the Edge of Town" album
11. Badlands
12. Adam Raised a Cain
13. Something in the Night
14. Candy's Room
15. Racing in the Street
16. The Promised Land
17. Factory
18. Streets of Fire
19. Prove It All Night
20. Darkness on the Edge of Town

21. Shackled and Drawn
22. Waitin' on a Sunny Day
23. The Rising
24. Light of Day

Encores:
25. Pay Me My Money Down
26. Born to Run
27. Bobby Jean
28. Dancing in the Dark
29. Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out
30. Twist & Shout
31. Thunder Road (solo acoustic)

Show over at: 10:34 p.m.

Next show: Tuesday at Hampden Park in Glasgow, Scotland

U2, 2009-08-15 - Wembley Stadium, London

I was in London to see 2 amazing shows by U2 (Friday and Saturday).

First part of U2 by "The Hours" and "Glasvegas".

Took some photos and videos.

First part was by The Hours. They played for 31 minutes.

A video of The Hours (1):

The Hours-Ali In The Jungle, Wembley Stadium, London, UK, 2009-08-15
http://youtu.be/LCqUxjYSW4I
And the video:


Second part was by Glasvegas. They played for 43 minutes.

Finally was time for U2. They played for 141 minutes.

Loved this second show. Stayed on the first balcony and I shot the complete show in video. U2 sang 3 of my favorite songs (that they didn't play on the first show).
During the day I already had listen to the soundcheck of one of those songs (New Years Day).
U2 played 2 of my favorite songs ever: "Bad" and "New Years Day". They also played "Stay (Faraway so Close)", other of my favorite songs.

"Today, U2 played their second of two concerts in London. The soundcheck featured two songs that have traditionally been paired together in U2's setlists, Until The End Of The World and New Year's Day. At some point on all four of the last tours, the former has come to immediately precede the latter in U2's setlists; it was rare on Vertigo, but on ZooTV, Popmart, and Elevation, it was a segue played often. Tonight, the pairing made its first 360° Tour setlist appearance, showing up early in the main set.

Bad was played for the fourth time on this tour, while Stay showed up for its fifth tour performance. It looks like the movement of Desmond Tutu's speech to precede One rather than Streets has become a permanent change. Interestingly, Bono snippeted a line of A Day Without Me during the middle of The Unforgettable Fire; this is our first recorded snippet of the song, and its first recorded live appearance of any kind in our database since 18 April 1985. Although I Will Follow has been soundchecked before a couple of shows recently, this is the first appearance of any kind for a song from Boy during an actual 360° Tour concert.
by Axver."

"Second and last show in London’s Wembley stadium tonight. Newspapers reviewed the first show as “a qualified triumph for vaulting ambition“, “with a sound so hissy that it might as well have been coming from a clapped-out transistor radio”.
Support acts of tonight are The Hours and Glasvegas and during a last minute soundcheck the band played New Year’s Day and Until The End Of The World.
Among tonights attending celebrities are Kevin Spacey (in the royal box), Lars Ulrich, Jimmy Page, Robert Downey Jnr and (the inevitable) Neil McCormick.
Reports are the roof is opened further than previous night, which benefits the sound.
When the last notes of tonights show fade out U2 will have played before an estimated 1.600.000 people in 21 gigs, with three more European shows to go…
The setlist gets a bit of a mix-up with the inclusion of UTEOTW, New Year’s Day and Stay:
Before they play Stay Bono tells the crowd Joe O’Herlihy has buried one of Edge’s guitar picks in the foundation of Wembley stadium when he was visiting the building site…
Big thanks to the Editor-in-chief of U2log and her fabulous live feeds!"

Here it is the setlist:

1. Breathe
2. No Line On The Horizon
3. Get On Your Boots
4. Magnificent
5. London Bridge Is Falling Down (snippet) / Beautiful Day / Here Comes The Sun (snippet)
6. Until The End Of The World / Break On Through (snippet)
7. New Year's Day
8. I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For / Stand By Me (snippet)
9. Stay (Faraway, So Close!)
10. Unknown Caller
11. The Unforgettable Fire / A Day Without Me (snippet)
12. City Of Blinding Lights
13. London Calling (snippet) / Vertigo / Rock And Roll (snippet)
14. O Come All Ye Faithful (snippet) / Crazy Tonight / Two Tribes (snippet)
15. Sunday Bloody Sunday / Get Up Stand Up (snippet)
16. Pride (In The Name Of Love)
17. MLK
18. Walk On / You'll Never Walk Alone (snippet)
19. Where The Streets Have No Name
20. One
21. Bad / Fool To Cry (snippet) / 40 (snippet)

Encore(s):
22. Ultra Violet (Light My Way)
23. With Or Without You
24. Moment of Surrender

Some photos of U2 taken from the iPhone (3):

http://twitpic.com/dztoc
http://twitpic.com/dzuy1
http://twitpic.com/e0hug

Some videos of U2 (25):

U2-Intro (Major Tom + Kingdom), Wembley Stadium, London, UK, 2009-08-15
http://youtu.be/I688D6aGHAg
And the video:


U2-Breathe, Wembley Stadium, London, UK, 2009-08-15
http://youtu.be/8qLQT1b5v0g
And the video:


U2-No Line On The Horizon, Wembley Stadium, London, UK, 2009-08-15
http://youtu.be/nkAs8uGj4V8
And the video:


U2-Get On Your Boots, Wembley Stadium, London, UK, 2009-08-15
http://youtu.be/PYmAxXDRbQU
And the video:


U2-Magnificent, Wembley Stadium, London, UK, 2009-08-15
http://youtu.be/3axv-qYgn5c
And the video:


U2-Beautiful Day, Wembley Stadium, London, UK, 2009-08-15
http://youtu.be/uCJ55EIr1_M
And the video:


U2-Until The End Of The World, Wembley Stadium, London, UK, 2009-08-15
http://youtu.be/NZ6OxhcDoig
And the video:


U2-New Year's Day, Wembley Stadium, London, UK, 2009-08-15
http://youtu.be/34R2wWRuUug
And the video:


U2-I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, Wembley Stadium, London, UK, 2009-08-15
http://youtu.be/BTQhD7Epj7w
And the video:


U2-Stay Faraway, So Close!, Wembley Stadium, London, UK, 2009-08-15
http://youtu.be/Xl7gTQc2Tps
And the video:


U2-Unknown Caller, Wembley Stadium, London, UK, 2009-08-15
http://youtu.be/4iwPvt4gwx0
And the video:


U2-The Unforgettable Fire, Wembley Stadium, London, UK, 2009-08-15
http://youtu.be/vaMdtMzK_1M
And the video:


U2-City Of Blinding Lights, Wembley Stadium, London, UK, 2009-08-15
http://youtu.be/wUdZEqI8Fdw
And the video:


U2-Vertigo, Wembley Stadium, London, UK, 2009-08-15
http://youtu.be/rRobQdlPTQE
And the video:


U2-I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight (Remix), Wembley Stadium, London, UK, 2009-08-15
http://youtu.be/7_wpQ307hRo
And the video:


U2-Sunday Bloody Sunday, Wembley Stadium, London, UK, 2009-08-15
http://youtu.be/TINTb3jAP_g
And the video:


U2-Pride In The Name Of Love, Wembley Stadium, London, UK, 2009-08-15
http://youtu.be/fgIv1N30KBE
And the video:


U2-MLK + Walk On, Wembley Stadium, London, UK, 2009-08-15
http://youtu.be/gd3tUaisuWE
And the video:


U2-Where The Streets Have No Name, Wembley Stadium, London, UK, 2009-08-15
http://youtu.be/osDK896oWgg
And the video:


U2-Bono Talking London (After "Streets", Before Tutu), Wembley Stadium, London, UK, 2009-08-15
http://youtu.be/BO3EFFE1Kqw
And the video:


U2-One, Wembley Stadium, London, UK, 2009-08-15
http://youtu.be/bbFyCDFGXq0
And the video:


U2-Bad, Wembley Stadium, London, UK, 2009-08-15
http://youtu.be/oLRorpgz0bI
And the video:


U2-Ultra Violet (Light My Way), Wembley Stadium, London, UK, 2009-08-15
http://youtu.be/rWQIj-qNhxg
And the video:


U2-With Or Without You, Wembley Stadium, London, UK, 2009-08-15
http://youtu.be/yNHpMHQSZZM
And the video:


U2-Moment of Surrender, Wembley Stadium, London, UK, 2009-08-15
http://youtu.be/SJcbIBTF_RM
And the video:


Here it goes a review of a fan who was also on both shows at Wembley Stadium. I like the review.

"U2 360 at Wembley Stadium

I experienced something recently I will probably never experience again in my life. A production of such magnitude, such enormous scale, that it would be near impossible for any band, other than U2, to pull off.
It was a last minute decision to go – I didn't care much for their latest effort No Light on The Horizon – but when cheap tickets were offered I chose to grab them, purely because I anticipated a spectacle. I'd seen U2 play on their Vertigo tour back in 2006 in Auckland, New Zealand; it was amazing. I'd heard they were taking their new show to a new level... and they weren't kidding!
We took our seats high above center field at Wembley Stadium, London; the stage below us was truly a masterpiece of engineering. 'The Claw', a four-legged structure that covering the lozenge-shaped center stage and outer ring catwalk. A 360˚ expandable video screen hung from the center of The Claw displaying the tiny figures of Bono, The Edge, Larry and Adam jaunting about on the vast stage area.

The video and lighting were impeccably designed and timed; from runway lights to one of the largest mirror balls you're ever likely to see. At my distance the band themselves felt a little underwhelming – not helped by my feeling their most recent album was fairly pedestrian – I had difficulty connecting at times throughout the concert. But, thankfully, they were gracious enough to play many of their mega-hit songs and that successfully got everyone standing up from their seats.

The feeling of 88,000 people singing Where The Streets Have No Name is not one that will leave me soon.
Sunday Bloody Sunday was hauntingly relevant as images of recent turmoil in the Iranian elections was projected and the entire stage was flooded in green light. Bono also drew attention to Burmese political leader Aung San Suu Kyi who has lived under house arrest for much of the last twenty years. U2’s most iconic songs transcend age, race and historical events; paying testament to their ability to capture the essence of what it means to live in this world and why they've stayed on top of the music world for almost thirty years.
The pure enormity of this epic show and the chance you’ll never see anything on this scale again (well, until their next tour I suppose) prompts me to suggest you go and see this concert when it comes near your town... even if you agree with me in generally panning No Light on the Horizon.

Story and photo by Miles Langley
http://www.twitter.com/milesnz "

Next a special post about the amazing Patrick Swayze death on September 14th 2009.

U2, 2009-08-14 - Wembley Stadium, London

I was in London to see 2 amazing shows by U2 (Friday and Saturday).

First part of U2 by "The Hours" and "Elbow".

Took some photos and videos.

"U2's first UK gig in their current tour has broken the attendance record for a Wembley Stadium concert, organizers have said.

About 88,000 people arrived at the Irish group's concert on Friday - 5,000 more than what is thought to have been the stadium's previous record.

The extra capacity for U2 was made possible by a 64ft-high stage, the tallest in the world, called The Claw.

U2's radical "claw" stage has enabled tour organizers Live Nation to increase the capacity for the sold-out show.

The four-legged, crab-like construction ensured that there was more room for fans.
Frontman Bono said: 'The Claw means more people can fit into the shows and everyone will be closer to the action.'
Show director Willie Williams, who developed the solid steel contraption, added: 'It's a really amazing spectacle - when you are on stage all you can see is people.'

Wembley's previous biggest crowd is believed to have been the 83,000 who saw Rod Stewart perform there in 1995.

That figure was matched last summer by the Foo Fighters when the US band played at Wembley following its rebuilding.

Elbow, who won the Mercury Prize last year with their fourth studio album The Seldom Seen Kid, were supporting on Friday."

A video I made on the afternoon (1):

U2-View of the CLAW And Stadium, Wembley Stadium, London, UK, 2009-08-14
http://youtu.be/hF0KVYPlKGY
And the video:


First part was by The Hours. They played for 32 minutes.

Second part was by Elbow. They played for 41 minutes.

Finally was time for U2. They played for 129 minutes.

On this first show I stayed just in the middle of Edge and Bono on a second row. The stage was a little high but I saw it very well. The concert was excelent.

"Today, U2 played their first of two concerts in London - the last city of the European leg to receive two concerts. Before the show began, the band did a soundcheck that featured Mysterious Ways and Your Blue Room. The latter has never been played live before.

During the actual gig, U2 seemed to be playing it very safe setlist-wise with the tabloid media's reviewers presumably attending in droves, though Stuck In A Moment was victim to some errors. Then the band threw in a considerable surprise: at the end of the main set, Mysterious Ways (featuring an extremely brief Norwegian Wood snippet at its end) followed One. Although Mysterious Ways has often been second-last in both main sets and encores, this is the first time it has ever actually been a main set closer. This tour, when One has been played after Streets (i.e. all but four shows), it has typically been the main set closer - the only previous exception was when Bad followed it in Dublin on 27 July 2009.

As a matter of interest, the Desmond Tutu intro was again before One rather than Streets. On the statistical front, tonight's performance of I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For was its 500th live appearance, while Streets was played for the 666th time.
by Axver"

Here it is the setlist:

1. Breathe
2. No Line On The Horizon
3. Get On Your Boots
4. Magnificent
5. London Calling (snippet) / London Bridge Is Falling Down (snippet) / Beautiful Day / Blackbird (snippet)
6. Elevation
7. I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For / Movin' On Up (snippet)
8. Stuck In A Moment
9. Unknown Caller
10. The Unforgettable Fire
11. City Of Blinding Lights
12. Vertigo
13. Crazy Tonight / Two Tribes (snippet) / O Come All Ye Faithful (snippet)
14. Sunday Bloody Sunday / Rock The Casbah (snippet)
15. Pride (In The Name Of Love)
16. MLK
17. Walk On / You'll Never Walk Alone (snippet)
18. Where The Streets Have No Name / All You Need Is Love (snippet)
19. One
20. Mysterious Ways / Norwegian Wood (snippet)

Encore(s):
21. Ultra Violet (Light My Way)
22. With Or Without You
23. Moment of Surrender

Some photos of U2 taken from the iPhone (6):

http://twitpic.com/du0jh
http://twitpic.com/du0s7
http://twitpic.com/dv1gh
http://twitpic.com/dv1ql
http://twitpic.com/dvq1b
http://twitpic.com/dvqhs

A video of U2 (1):

U2-With Or Without You, Wembley Stadium, London, UK, 2009-08-14
http://youtu.be/9t-fsqjKReE
And the video:


Next the story of the 2nd concert of U2 at the Wembley Stadium, London on August 15th 2009.