This past Friday, I went to see U2 perform (again) at Angel Stadium in Anaheim. This show was rescheduled from the original date of June 2010, after Bono had injured his back doing backflips or something. I swear, I love his enthusiasm, but he needs to recognize that he’s getting older and can’t be doing that crazy shit. One of these days they’ll be playing and Bono is going to throw out his back on stage. Anyways, I held on to my tickets anxiously until they made the announcement that they were doing a resale (this is still in 2010) — well, the tickets I had were kind of shitty so I gambled and tried to find better ones. I insisted on getting better seats than I did at the Rose Bowl two years ago, plus I wanted to be on the left side instead of the right.

Nope. Didn’t happen. Settled for right center, because, for some reason, left center were hundreds of dollars more. BUT, I did manage to get closer seats. I was at field level G for less than I had paid for my original tickets, which were much further away.

Thinking parking was going to be as difficult as it was at the Rose Bowl, I arrived at around noon. We drive by the stadium to check out the parking situation — EMPTY. And nothing to do in the parking lot, unlike the Rose Bowl where there were vendors, food and other bands playing. It looked like a ghost town, other than the GA line which had been forming about 3 days prior. So we headed over to Disneyland for a bit to check out Downtown Disney and grab a quick lunch, thinking that would drain off some time. We head back to the stadium and IT’S STILL EMPTY, but we decided to park anyways. Oh, and if you have U2 tickets, the city of Anaheim must think you’re rich because they charged $25.00 for parking. There were two cars for my group, so make it $50.00. And the police blocked off all the hotel lots and public parking areas around it because…well, it’s only natural for the police to make things more difficult. It wasn’t until around 3:00 or so when people started to pour in. We roamed for a bit and then got word the stadium was opening at 5:00, so we got in line and listened to the soundchecks for a while…

At 5:00 it was go-time. Unlike the Rose Bowl, there was NO organization. There was one gate and a massive herd of people waiting to get in…but once we managed to get through it we found our seats and we were all set for the show. For the record, they don’t allow SLRs into any of their concerts, so I took these with my Canon SX210 IS point and shoot. It did pretty good considering the low light and the fact that my hands were shaking violently through most of the shots…anyhow…onto the pics…

It was so nice to see the claw again. After reading some reviews about some previous U2 shows here, I had my doubts about Angel Stadium. But I actually liked it better than the Rose Bowl – granted, the capacity is less, but the vertical construction gave for better acoustics and we were much closer because the seats rise rather than push outward.

The control room and the stadium starting to fill up.

One of the Lenny Kravitz’ crew members preparing for action…

At sundown, Lenny went on and played a few songs. Excellent performance…I like the way his guitar setup sounds. Very loud but the sound is crisp and not rough or scratchy.

Lenny on stage.

This guy was such an idiot. The most high-pressure kettle corn salesman ever. He was trying to tell ME that “YES, I DID WANT KETTLE CORN” and even after we told him no he would come back and insist that we buy it (for $10 a bag) because “WE WERE HUNGRY”. GTFO, dude…I don’t normally mind these guys, because if I want something I’ll flag them down. Don’t come to me and start trying to guilt me into buying shit.

There was about a 40-minute intermission between Lenny and U2. During that time the crew was changing over all the equipment and getting the lighting and cameras ready. They had random facts circling on the screen too…

Tech climbing up to his suspended rig…

The facts suddenly disappeared from the screen and the whole stadium stopped…

The band walking toward the deck towards one of the most electrifying intros ever – “Major Tom” by David Bowie transitioned into the dark song “Even Better Than The Real Thing”. Between the crowd and Edge’s guitar, I don’t think I’ve ever heard anything so loud in my life. Here is a video, with Cloverfield-inspired camerawork:

Bono and Edge…and Adam in the background.

Communication with the International Space Station during “Beautiful Day” (pre-recorded video, of course…)

“Until The End of the World”…

Screen expanded for “Zooropa”, “City of Blinding Lights”, “Vertigo”…

“Magnificent”

Towards the end I started guessing the rest of the set list. I knew one would be “Where The Streets Have No Name”, it’s been played at nearly every U2 concert since the song came out.

“Hold Me, Thrill Me”, the song from Batman Forever…I was surprised they threw it in there instead of Ultraviolet…

Bono hanging up his laser coat…

Edge, Larry and Adam during “Moment of Surrender”…

Edge doing work…

Bono talking towards the end…overall it was a great show. It was great to see them again, I don’t know if/when I will be able to in the future. The few wishes I had didn’t come true. I heard “The Fly”, my favorite track, being played during soundchecks and it wasn’t on the setlist. A fellow fan told me that they are practicing that song for the Glastonbury Festival, whom U2 will headlining on June 25th, 2011. They also didn’t play any of the recently circulating songs from their new album, “Songs of Ascent”, such as “North Star” or “Mercy”. They played them at all the European tour stops but I guess not in North America. Anyways…still 9/10 and I did think it was better than the Rose Bowl, although the attendance here was much smaller, the sound and staging was just so much better. Until the next tour…see you later…

– Matt