Review - Moncton

Seats: General Admission - Front Row Centre

Moncton, New Brunswick. Originally, Minneapolis was supposed to be the tour closer.  Then Pittsburgh was added on as the last date.  My friend Chris and I had GA tickets for both cities, but when Moncton was rumoured to be the last stop at the end of January 2011 and then when tickets went for sale on February 8, we committed on going.  We were at the closer of the 2006 Vertigo Tour in Honolulu and were intent on seeing the last show of 360°.  Our Moncton caravan slowly grew.  My sister Brenda was adamant on going and I convinced my friend Patrick to attend as well.  We bought 4 GA tickets and were set to go.  As the last two legs of the tour progressed in South and North America, we kept encouraging more of our friends to go to the Moncton gig despite its remoteness.  In all, our caravan of traveling U2 friends came together for one last hurrah - Brad B., Colleen, Amp, Drew, Patrick, Vik, Chris, Noah, and Julie.  Collectively, we must have seen easily over 300 shows between us on this tour, and on average attended 20-30 shows each.  We certainly don't think we're more devoted than other U2 fans, because there are different ways to express ourselves as fans.  Some collect all the CDs, others study the lyrics closely, and for us - we travel to different shows (which was certainly a privilege).  We had some amazing adventures on the 360° Tour, and I felt lucky to be with this group of GA gypsies.  A few of our other traveling buddies - (Tickle Me) Jorge, (U2Brother) Mark, (Fer) Fernando, (San Fran) Nick, (Argentina) Flavia, (São Paulo) Jana, and (Toronto) Anu were unable to go to the show but they were with us in spirit.  Others had joined in on our camp for the ride - my sister Bren, Sandra, Colleen's mother, and Anna from Edmonton.  There were other U2 friends that made it to Moncton - Martijn, Tony, Babette, Kheilia, Naomi, Rob, Carolyn, Emily, the Boston pack, and the U2Valencia crew.  Vik was the last to commit in coming to Moncton because of work obligations, but ironically was the first to get there and inevitably start the queue.  He told us he had to get to Moncton six days ahead because flights from London, UK on that Sunday was the only one that didn't cost a mortgage.  Fair enough.

360° Tour - Moncton, New Brunswick

Setlist: Even Better Than The Real Thing, The Fly, Mysterious Ways, Until the End of the World, I Will Follow, Get On Your Boots, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For - Ballad of Springhill, Stay, Beautiful Day - Space Oddity, Elevation, Pride, Miss Sarajevo, Zooropa, City of Blinding Lights, Vertigo, I'll Go Crazy (remix) - Discotheque, Sunday Bloody Sunday, Scarlet, Walk On, One, Hallelujah - Where the Streets Have No Name, Hold Me Thrill Me Kiss Me Kill Me, With or Without You, Moment of Surrender, Out of Control, 40

Comments: The U2 360° tour ends with three artists on the bill at the Magnetic Hill Music Festival in Eastern Canada. The three bands (U2, Carney, and Arcade Fire) are spotted watching each other perform throughout the night. Bono sings a bit of 'The Ballad of Springhill' (AKA but incorrectly referred to as Springhill Mining Disaster sometimes) in honor of the nearby town devastated by an earthquake in 1958. It's the first time Bono's sung any of that song since 1987. The show concludes with a full-band version of 40, each member leaving the stage separately, with Larry last to go. The 360° tour ends as the most successful tour ever, grossing $736 million on sales of 7.2 million tickets (u2tours.com).

Download: U2-2011-07-30 - Moncton 2011 (1C)
Taper: Walkin' Dude
Source: SP-CMC-8 > Edirol R-09
Transfer: .wav @ 24/48 > Cool Edit Pro > CD-WAV/FLAC v1.7.1 > .flac > xACT (VBR mp3)

360° Tour - Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Setlist: Even Better Than the Real Thing, The Fly, Mysterious Ways - Someone Somewhere in Summertime - Promised You a Miracle, Until the End of the World - Anthem, I Will Follow, Get On Your Boots, I Still Haven't Found - The Promised Land, Stay, Beautiful Day - Space Oddity, Elevation, Pride, Miss Sarajevo, Zooropa, City of Blinding Lights, Vertigo - Two Hearts Beat As One, Miss You - I'll Go Crazy (remix) - Discotheque - Psycho Killer - Life During Wartime - Please, Sunday Bloody Sunday, Scarlet, Walk On, One, Hallelujah - Where The Streets Have No Name, Hold Me Thrill Me Kiss Me Kill Me, With Or Without You, Moment Of Surrender, Bad - In The Garden - Walk On The Wild Side - 40

Comments: The final 360 tour show in the US ends with a bang. First, Bono brings two fans (Matt and Melissa) on stage during With Or Without You. He announces that they've been to 60 shows together and invites them to slow dance on stage during the whole song, which they do tenderly - making an amazing moment. After Moment of Surrender, the band huddles and U2 plays Bad for Andy Rowen, whom the song was originally written about in 1984 and who is at the show tonight. Rowen is brother of Bono's Lypton Village friend Guggi (Trevor Rowen) and Peter Rowen, who's on the cover of Boy and War. With a few snippets thrown in, the song runs for almost nine minutes (u2tours.com)

Download: U2 - 2011-07-26 - Pittsburgh 2011 (1A)

Taper : heartland

Position : GA field, front left, Edge's side

Lineage : Sony ECM-719 => Iriver iHP-120 running Rockbox (WAV, 44,1kHz) => USB => Peak (cut, mix, tracks) => FLAC => xACT (VBR mp3)

360° Tour - Minneapolis, Minnesota

Setlist Even Better Than the Real Thing, The Fly, Mysterious Ways - Rain, Until the End of the World - Anthem, I Will Follow, Get On Your Boots, I Still Haven't Found, Stand By Me, Stuck in a Moment, Beautiful Day - Space Oddity, Can't Stand the Rain - Elevation, Pride, Miss Sarajevo, Zooropa, City of Blinding Lights - Singing in the Rain, Vertigo, Miss You-I'll Go Crazy (remix)-Raindrops Keep Falling-Discotheque-Life During Wartime-Psycho Killer, Please - Sunday Bloody Sunday, Scarlet, Walk On, One - Purple Rain, Hallelujah - Purple Rain - Where the Streets Have No Name - Singing in the Rain, Hold Me Thrill Me Kiss Me Kill Me, With or Without You, Moment of Surrender - Singing in the Rain

Comments: Bono references the fact that at one point, Minneapolis was set to be the final show of the 360° tour, and declares that tonight is the start of the 'end of tour party'. Somali pop star K'naan, whom Bono spoke with before the show about the famine in Somalia, joins the band on stage to sing Stand By Me for the people suffering in Somalia. Bono dedicates Stuck In A Moment to Amy Winehouse, who died earlier in the day. It rains throughout the show, prompting Bono to sing rain-related snippets at almost every opportunity (u2tours.com).

Download: U2 - 2011-07-23 - Minneapolis 2011 (1B)

Taper: Major Tom

Location: General Admission DFC between walkway and soundboard
Source: Milab VM-44 Link > Oade CM pmd661 @ 24/48

Download: U2 - 2011-07-23 - Minneapolis 2011 (1A)
Taper:  "The Fridge aka: alzeppelin
Location: General Admission DFC between walkway and soundboard
Source: Coresound High-End Binaurals > Bass Roll-off Box > M-Audio Microtrack II @ 16/44
Transfer: M-Audio Microtrack II > USB > Goldwave > Traders Little Helper > xACT (VBR mp3)

360° Tour - East Rutherford, New Jersey

Setlist: Even Better Than The Real Thing, The Fly, Mysterious Ways, Until the End of the World - Anthem, I Will Follow, Get On Your Boots, Magnificent, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For - Promised Land, Stay - In the Wee Small Hours, Beautiful Day - Space Oddity, Elevation, Pride, Miss Sarajevo, Zooropa, City of Blinding Lights, Vertigo, I'll Go Crazy (remix) - Discotheque - Psycho Killer - Life During Wartime, Sunday Bloody Sunday, Scarlet, Walk On, One, Hallelujah - Where the Streets Have No Name, Hold Me Thrill Me Kiss Me Kill Me, With or Without You, Moment of Surrender, Out of Control

Comments: U2 plays two more songs than most shows and, at more than 2.5 hours long, this show is possibly the longest of the entire tour. Edge mistakenly begins to play a bit of Stuck In A Moment before realizing he should be playing Stay. Salman Rushdie is at the show. Bruce Springsteen and Patti Scialfa are also there, but rumors of a guest appearance on stage never come to fruition. Bono dedicates Moment of Surrender to Clarence Clemons (u2tours.com).

Download: U2 - 2011-07-20 - East Rutherford 2011 (3C)
Taper: JB
Editor: Kathleen
Gear: Edirol R9 CA 11 Mics CA 9100 Preamp

360° Tour - St. Louis, Missouri

Setlist: Even Better Than The Real Thing, The Fly, Mysterious Ways, Until the End of the World, I Will Follow, Get On Your Boots, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For- Many Rivers to Cross, Stay, Beautiful Day - Space Oddity, Elevation, Pride, Miss Sarajevo, Zooropa, City of Blinding Lights, Vertigo, I'll Go Crazy (remix) - Discotheque - Life During Wartime - Psycho Killer, Sunday Bloody Sunday, Scarlet, Walk On, One, Hallelujah - Where the Streets Have No Name, Hold Me Thrill Me Kiss Me Kill Me, With or Without You, Moment of Surrender 

Comments: It's an extremely hot night in St. Louis, with the temperature in the 80s and 90s during the show. Bono dedicates Moment of Surrender to victims of the recent tornadoes in Joplin, MO (u2tours.com).

Download: U2 - 2011-07-17 - St. Louis 2011 (1B)
Taper: Randombloke
Remastered: Drew W.
Location: Bleachers to the rear left of the stage
Gear: Zoom H2 Audio Recorder 48khz 24bit using the rear stereo microphone

360° Tour - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Setlist: Even Better Than The Real Thing, I Will Follow, Mysterious Ways, Until the End of the World, Get On Your Boots, Magnificent, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, Stay, Beautiful Day - Space Oddity, Elevation, Pride, Miss Sarajevo, Zooropa, City of Blinding Lights, Vertigo - It's Only Rock and Roll, I'll Go Crazy (remix) - Discotheque - Life During Wartime - Psycho Killer, Sunday Bloody Sunday, Scarlet, Walk On, One, Hallelujah - Where the Streets Have No Name, Hold Me Thrill Me Kiss Me Kill Me, With or Without You, Moment of Surrender, Happy Birthday

Comments: Magnificent is played in its album style, not the remix, and is played for the first time since June 17 in Anaheim. At the end of the show, Bono leads the crowd in singing Happy Birthday for Nelson Mandela, who turns 93 in four days (u2tours.com).

Download: U2 - 2011-07-14 - Philadelphia 2011 (1A)
Taper: Tapehead2
Location: Section 104, row 7
Source: Schoeps MK4 > actives > Nbox > Edirol R-09 (24/44.1)
Transfer: SDHC card > wav file > Sound Studio > xACT > FLAC (level 8) > xACT (VBR mp3)
Taper's Request: For personal use only

360° Tour - Toronto, Ontario

Venue: Rogers Centre

Setlist: Even Better Than The Real Thing, The Fly, Mysterious Ways - Someone Somewhere In Summertime, Until the End of the World - Anthem, I Will Follow, Get On Your Boots, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, Stay, Beautiful Day, Elevation, Pride, Miss Sarajevo, Zooropa, City of Blinding Lights, Vertigo, I'll Go Crazy (remix) - Discotheque, Sunday Bloody Sunday, Scarlet, Walk On, One, Will You Love Me Tomorrow - Where the Streets Have No Name, Hold Me Thrill Me Kiss Me Kill Me, With or Without You, Moment of Surrender

Comments: Five songs that missed the previous show in Montreal have returned to the setlist today. Four of these were in the main set: I Will Follow, I Still Haven't Found, Stay, and Pride. The fifth was Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me, returning to its usual spot in the encore (u2gigs.com).

Download: U2 - 2011-07-11 - Toronto 2011 (3B)
Taper: Edgerulz
Location: Left of GA Center (edge's side) about 10-12 people from circle
Gear: Zoom H2 handy recorder low gain, 69 recording level
Lineage: cool edit track splitting > FLAC > xACT (VBR mp3)

Review - Montréal 2

Seats: General Admission - Front Row Centre

After a two hour nap, those of us sharing the same hotel room at the Quality Inn - Vik, Anu, Patrick, Chris, Lia and myself - shuffled ourselves back to the queue like zombies for the 5AM roll call in the GA queue.  Unsurprisingly, there was chaos in the queue.  There was a GA list circulating for the second show at the same time as the GA list was developed for the first show.  I'm not a fan of such a system.  How can one line up for a second show when the first has not even started?  This kind of system was tried and failed in Dublin for the multiple shows there and it was unfortunate that an advanced list was taking place in Montreal.  Brad (B) and I lamented the days of old fashioned queuing in which your place in the queue was determined by when you exactly got there and (for the most part) you don't leave except for food and washroom runs.  In any event, that early Saturday morning, a different list had superseded the previous list and there was a commotion at the front.

360° Tour - Montreal, Quebec

Setlist: Even Better Than The Real Thing, The Fly, Mysterious Ways, Until the End of the World - Where Have All The Flowers Gone, Out of Control, Get On Your Boots, All I Want Is You, Stuck In A Moment, Beautiful Day - Space Oddity, Elevation, New Year's Day, Miss Sarajevo, Zooropa, City of Blinding Lights, Vertigo - Teenage Kicks, I'll Go Crazy (remix) - Discotheque - Please - Life During Wartime - Psycho Killer, Sunday Bloody Sunday, Scarlet, Walk On, One, Hallelujah - Where the Streets Have No Name, Ultraviolet, With or Without You, Moment of Surrender

Comments: The setlist featured a few changes from the first Montreal show. Out Of Control returned to the setlist, appearing for just the fourth time this tour (and fifth time for 2011). All I Want Is You returned to the main set for the first time since the 17 June 2011 show in Anaheim; it had only been played once in the interim, as a spontaneous end to Nashville's encore. AIWIY was followed by Stuck In A Moment, making just its third appearance on this North American leg; its last performance was on 18 June 2011.

The main set changes were rounded out with New Year's Day, which rotated into the spot normally occupied by Pride; this is the first time since 15 May 2011. This means that today's show is just the second show this leg at which Pride was not performed; the other show was 14 May 2011, Mexico City. After the main set, there was another change to come in the encores, when Ultra Violet was played for the first time since 22 June 2011. It is also worth noting that the intro to Streets was a snippet of Hallelujah; Bono has only sung this a handful of times before, all in June 1997. With Or Without You was sung complete tonight with the extra Shine Like Stars verse, for just the sixth time on the 360° Tour (u2gigs.com).

Download: U2 - 2011-07-09 - Montreal 2011 (2B)
Taper: DF
Location: GA Adam side behind red zone (toward back front of side PA stack)
Lineage: D8 line out >  PC line in > EAC (Record Wav tracking) > Cool edit PRO EQ bass 64 > 125 down> 80 down again> HAR BALL 9% Wet balance curves > WAV > FLAC > xACT (VBR mp3)

Review - Montréal 1

Seats: General Admission - Front Row Centre

"I just arrived. I'm at the door where I started out from, and I want back inside."

I had seen U2 for the first time ever on May 1, 2001 at the Target Center in Minneapolis and I was behind the stage in the nosebleed section.  I had a blast and enjoyed every moment, but I saw everyone in the pit and thought, "Man, I want to be one of those fans."  Very prescient words.  A few weeks later, on May 28, 2001, I was in Montreal (Molson centre) with my close friends Chris and Eddsel where we planned and queued up all day to try to get as close as possible to the stage.  We were numbers 7, 8, 9 in the queue and were lucky to get front-row-centre on our first go at the GA.  It was an epic journey and a memorable show.  10 years later, I'm back in the city where my GA adventures started can can confidently say, "I am one of those fans."

360° Tour - Montreal, Quebec

Setlist: Even Better Than The Real Thing, The Fly, Mysterious Ways - Tryin To Throw Your Arms Around The World, Until the End of the World - Where Have All The Flowers Gone, I Will Follow, Get On Your Boots, I Still Haven't Found - Promised Land, Stay, Beautiful Day - Space Oddity, Elevation, Pride, Miss Sarajevo, Zooropa, City of Blinding Lights, Vertigo, I'll Go Crazy (remix) - Discotheque - Psycho Killer - Life During Wartime, Sunday Bloody Sunday, Scarlet, Walk On - You'll Never Walk Alone, One, Will You Love Me Tomorrow - Where the Streets Have No Name, Hold Me Thrill Me Kiss Me Kill Me, With or Without You, Moment of Surrender - Rain

Comments: The setlist contained no real surprises. I Will Follow returned to the set after missing the previous concert in Chicago, and Moment of Surrender closed the show for the first time since Miami on 29 June. Before I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, Bono introduced the band as members of the Royal Family, an apt comparison as William and Kate had wrapped up their tour of Canada recently. Larry was described as Prince William, Adam as Kate, Edge as the Prince of Wales, and Bono as one of the Queen's Corgis. He also included several shout-outs in the course of the show to Guy Laliberté, the CEO of Cirque du Soleil, who had appeared in a Space Station broadcast during the first North American leg in 2009.

During Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me, a few drops of rain began to fall; it looked as though the weather would hold off, but in the final verse of Moment of Surrender it began to pour down, leading Bono and Edge to duet on a snippet of Rain to close out the show (www.u2gigs.com).

Download: U2 - 2011-07-08 - Montreal 2011 (1B)

Taper: Desertsky
Location: GA, right of soundboard
Source: Korg MR-2 (internal mics) handheld, recorded at 1-bit/2.8MHz DSF
Transfer: MR-2 > SD Card > PC > 1-bit DSF files > Audiogate > exported 24-bit/96khz WAV > Audition 3.0 > 16-bit/44.1 kHz > CD Wave > FLAC Front End > xACT (VBR mp3)

360° Tour - Chicago, Illinois

Setlist: Even Better Than The Real Thing, The Fly, Mysterious Ways - Tryin To Throw Your Arms - Independent Women, Until the End of the World, Out Of Control, Get On Your Boots, I Still Haven't Found... - The Promised Land, Stay - In the Wee Small Hours, Beautiful Day - Space Oddity, Elevation, Pride, Miss Sarajevo, Zooropa, City of Blinding Lights - My Kind of Town, Vertigo, I'll Go Crazy (remix) - Discotheque - Life During Wartime, Sunday Bloody Sunday, Scarlet, Walk On - Battle Hymn of the Republic, One, Will You Love Me Tomorrow - Where the Streets Have No Name, Hold Me Thrill Me Kiss Me Kill Me - My Kind of Town, With or Without You, Moment of Surrender - One Tree Hill, One Tree Hill

Comments: Bono sings a bit of Trying To Throw Your Arms Around The World at the end of Mysterious Ways. It's the first time that song's been sung since December 10, 1993. Bono dedicates Moment of Surrender to his former personal assistant Greg Carroll, who died 25 years ago this week. He sings a bit of it at the end of Moment, then strikes a deal with the crowd to play it in full, saying 'Here's the deal: If we screw it up really badly, you don't put it on the Internet.' The band then goes on to play a full version, much to the delight of fans at the show and online.*

Download: U2 - 2011-07-05 - Chicago 2011 (3A)
Taper: Ademotte
Location: Field, slightly in front of soundboard, in line with right speaker stack
Source: Church Audio CA-11 cards => UGLY pre-amp => Tascam DR-2D (24/48)
Transfer: DR-2D => WAV => Audition 1.5 (dither to 16-bit) => WAV => Magix Audio Cleaning Lab => WAV => FLAC (level 8) => xACT (VBR mp3)

* www.u2tours.com

360° Tour - Nashville, Tennesee

Venue: Vanderbilt Stadium

Setlist: Even Better Than The Real Thing, The Fly, Mysterious Ways, Until the End of the World, I Will Follow, Get On Your Boots, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For - The Wanderer, Stay, Beautiful Day - Space Oddity, Elevation, Pride, Miss Sarajevo, Zooropa, City of Blinding Lights, Vertigo, I'll Go Crazy (remix) - Discotheque - Psycho Killer - Life During Wartime, Sunday Bloody Sunday, Scarlet, Walk On - You'll Never Walk Alone, One, Amazing Grace - Where the Streets Have No Name, Hold Me Thrill Me Kiss Me Kill Me, With or Without You, Moment of Surrender, All I Want Is You

Comments: U2 plays Nashville for the first time since Dec. 1981. Bono sings a bit of The Wanderer with Edge playing quietly as he sings. It's the first time the song has been sung at a proper U2 concert, and was only performed once before - November 2, 2005, as part of a TV show taping in an empty Staples Center. At the end of the show, Bono brings a blind fan on stage who wants to play a song for his wife. The fan gets Bono's Gretsch 'Irish Falcon' guitar and starts playing All I Want Is You as Bono sings along. The rest of the band eventually joins in for a magical moment. When the song is over, Bono gives the fan the guitar to keep. Carrie Underwood, Michael W. Smith, OneRepublic and many other artists are at the show.

Download: U2 - 2011-07-02 -  Nashville 2011 (1B)
Taper: BP
Location: Recorded about mid GA field, directly in front of left stack
Lineage: Core Sound Binaural > CS Battery Box (flat) > Zoom H2 24 bit 44.1 hz > Sony Sound Forge 10 > smooth compression, normalize, convert to 16 bit w/triangular dither > CD Wave editor for track splitting > Traders Little Helper for flac conversion > xACT (VBR mp3)