What Is It Like to See U2 Live?

The Second Stage Is Where You Want To Be

U2 shows are built so the band can walk away from the main stage and into you. On the Elevation opening night in 2001 a heart-shaped ramp ran into the general admission floor, and the people standing inside the heart had what the Austin Chronicle called the "best 'seats' in the house"; Bono fell backward toward them by accident and staff hauled him back onto the ramp. At the Rose Bowl in May 2017, Larry Mullen Jr. walked out alone to a small kit on the secondary stage in the middle of the floor and started "Sunday Bloody Sunday" before the other three joined him (Grimy Goods). On iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE in 2015 the band walked a catwalk underneath a hanging double-sided screen. If you're on the floor, that second stage decides your night. From the very front of the main stage, an opening-night fan in 2015 found the small stage "hard to see" (U2Tours fan review), so the rail isn't automatically the best spot.

Bono Will Make A Speech, And You Will Have An Opinion

Expect a block of the show handed to a cause. On The Joshua Tree Tour 2017, portraits of women from Sojourner Truth to Malala filled the screen during "Ultraviolet (Light My Way)," and a film shot in Zaatari refugee camp ran behind "Miss Sarajevo." Fans split hard on it. At Twickenham in 2017 a writer for the New Statesman caught himself thinking "There he goes again" when a Syrian teenager appeared on the screen, and still described the stadium as "a giant karaoke machine." In Minneapolis that September, the Star Tribune found him "less preachy than usual until late in the show." You'll get the anthems either way. You just get the sermon too.

Bono's Voice Is The Variable

Bono's throat is the one variable U2 can't rehearse around. Two Lovetown nights in 1989 were moved to Rotterdam because of it (Hot Press). In Sarajevo on 23 September 1997, when his voice faltered, "the audience joined in with so much force that the loudspeakers were overwhelmed" (RFE/RL). At Sphere in 2023 the Star Tribune heard a voice once "godly" that now sounds "more human" (Star Tribune). So sing. Nobody around you will mind, and on a rough night it's the difference.

Six Anthems Do The Heavy Lifting, And "Streets" Turns The Screen Red

U2 don't rotate the core much. On setlist.fm the most-played songs are "I Will Follow" (1,065 times), "Pride (In the Name of Love)" (1,027), "Sunday Bloody Sunday" (949), "Where the Streets Have No Name" (944), "With or Without You" (882) and "One" (836). Expect most of those. "Streets" is the one to wait for: on The Joshua Tree Tour 2017 it opened the album run, the organ swell starting as the band walked back to the main stage and the 200 x 45 ft screen turned red behind a Joshua tree silhouette. Variety lives in one slot at most. At Sphere a stripped-down middle section changed from night to night, and on opening night it was "All I Want Is You," "Desire," "Angel of Harlem" and "Love Rescue Me" (Variety via Yahoo), while the rest of the set held.

It's A Room Full Of People On Their Twentieth Show

The crowd is older and it has history. In Denver in 2015 Westword counted "mostly hardcore U2 fans in their forties" with iPhones in the air. At Sphere the pre-show talk was about 1980s and 1990s shows people had been to. In the Auckland GA line in 2019 a fan from Canada was at his 29th U2 show and put the ethos plainly: "If you're a huge fan of the band, you follow the band" (u2radio.com). The upside for a first-timer: the people next to you know when to sing, what's rare and what isn't. The emotional note they describe isn't a party. A fan blogger called the closing ritual "a statement of gratitude" and "sacred" (Jukebox Graduate). People walk out feeling thanked.