Why NOT in Iceland?

For our Iceland friend(s) who commented in the Voxbox... :-)

WHITE & RED ACTION for SLASKI STADIUM 5th July 2005

Darek, aka Depe, who will be attending 12 of the next Vertigo shows (remember the U2 minivan?) asked us to post the following information, please spread the word!:

Everyone going to Poland for 5th July gig at Slaski Stadium please join the action of Polish U2 fans!

Fans with GA tickets please take some RED bandanas, towels, spare t-shirts etc. Fans with Grandstands tickets please take some WHITE piece of stuff. During New Year's Day's piano & guitar solo's we shall all wave with this white/red stuff - making the hugh Polish national flag (from perspective of the band). This will be a sort of 'thank you' to U2 for coming to Poland on this tour.

Remember that NYD was written with Poland in mind. Please help us make it! Why not...
We already have a support of many national wide RadioStations, Newspappers, even MTV Poland.

U2 Vertigo Setlist 6.29.2005 // Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, Wales

Main Set:

Vertigo
I Will Follow
Electric Co.
Elevation
New Year's Day
Beautiful Day
I Still Haven't Found
All I Want Is You
City of Blinding Lights
Miracle Drug
Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own
Love and Peace or Else
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Bullet The Blue Sky
Running to Stand Still
Pride (in the name of love)
Where the Streets Have No Name
One

Encore(s):

Zoo Station
The Fly
With or Without You
All Because of You
Yahweh
Vertigo x2

Geldof and Bono Invited to G8 Summit...

article from: contactmusic.com

Live8 organizer Bob Geldof has been invited to address the G8 group of world leaders when they meet in Scotland next week.

Bono is likely to join Geldof at the summit at the Gleneagles Hotel near Edinburgh and the pair have asked former South African president Nelson Mandela to accompany them, when they meet the leaders of the UK, France, Russia, Germany, USA, Japan, Italy, Canada and the European Union. Geldof says, "It is going to happen but we still have to negotiate the when and the how. It will probably be July 6 or 7. "We will say to these eight men sitting at a table to just do this thing. "They have the largest ever democratic mandate to change things. It would be arrogant to ignore it."

Geldof also wants Mandela to take to the stage at the Scottish Live 8 concert at Edinburgh's Murrayfield stadium on 6 July, to coincide with the start of the summit - but he fears the 86-year may be too frail to travel. He adds, "We are trying to persuade him to be at Murrayfield. We want him to be there because it is more politically symbolic than the London gig. That's where the political message comes home. "The reality is that, frankly, I think he is too old and too frail but we are still trying to persuade him. I would love him to be there."

The Joshua Tree Voted U2's Best All Time Album, Pop Worst

Are surprised or aren't you?

The votes are in and The Joshua Tree has been voted U2's best album by an overwhelming majority. MSN is taking a poll asking what are U2's best and worst albums. Pop, not surprisingly, was voted 'worst'. Achtung Baby, another classic U2 disc, came in a distant second, but it is still The Joshua Tree that is considered, what MSN calls, "the most uniformly superb rock album of the past 25 years." We'd like to see a setlist sometime this tour reflecting the results above.

What do you think? Use the Voxbox on the right to put in your two cents.

U2 Vertigo Setlist 6.27.2005 // Croke Park, Dublin, Ireland

Main Set

Vertigo
All Because of You
Gloria
Elevation
An Cat Dubh
Into the Heart
Beautiful Day
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
Original of the Species
Bad // Dirty Old Town (snippet)
City of Blinding Lights
Miracle Drug
Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own
Love and Peace or Else
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Bullet the Blue Sky
Running to Stand Still
Pride In The Name of Love
Where The Streets Have No Name
One

Encore(s):

Zoo Station
The Fly
With or Without You
Vertigo
Yahweh
'40'

U2 Vertigo Tour Setlist 6.25.2005 // Croke Park, Dublin, Ireland

Main Set:

Vertigo
Out Of Control
The Electric Co.
Elevation
New Year's Day
Beautiful Day
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
All I Want Is You
City Of Blinding Lights
Miracle Drug
Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own
Love And Peace Or Else
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Bullet The Blue Sky
Running To Stand Still
Pride (In The Name Of Love)
Where The Streets Have No Name
One

Encore(s):

Zoo Station
The Fly
Mysterious Ways
Party Girl
All Because Of You
Yahweh
Vertigo

Bono vs. Russert on Meet the Press this Sunday

Bono will have a busy weekend as he will be making his first appearance on "Meet the Press" to discuss the global fight against poverty and the July 2 "Live 8" series of concerts this Sunday on NBC. His appearance on "Meet the Press" is scheduled between the Saturday and Monday Croke Park Shows being held in Dublin, Ireland. It will be interesting to see if the interview will be via satellite or if Bono's making the trip across the Pond between shows.

"Meet the Press" is regularly seen from 9-10 a.m. ET, except in Washington D.C. and New York City where the broadcast is seen from 10:30-11:30 a.m ET. You can check local listings or the "Meet the Press" Web site for airtimes in your area.

U2 Vertigo Tour Setlist 6.24.2005 // Croke Park, Dublin, Ireland

Main Set:

Vertigo
I Will Follow
The Electric Co.
Elevation
New Year's Day
Beautiful Day
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses
City Of Blinding Lights
Miracle Drug
Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own
Love And Peace Or Else
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Bullet The Blue Sky
Running To Stand Still
Pride (In The Name Of Love)
Where The Streets Have No Name
One

Encore(s):

Zoo Station
The Fly
With Or Without You
All Because Of You
Yahweh
Vertigo

This Old Studio | U2's Old Studio-turned-apartment auctioned on eBay...

photo courtesy of bayraider.com (TIME Top 50 Website)

from bayraider:
Back in the day, U2 recorded a few tracks at Dublin-based studio Sound Track Services. In 1997, it was sold off and converted into a luxury apartment, which is now up for grabs on eBay. Based in the 'vibrant' Temple Bar area of Dublin (vibrant = packed with drunk Brits on boozy weekend breaks), it has a roof garden and a record shop underneath. Sadly, no news on whether there are photos of mullet-era Bono on the walls, but if we owned it, there certainly would be.

6.25.05 UPDATE: Listing pulled from eBay. (hmmmm...)

U2 Vertigo Tour Setlist 6.21.2005 // Hampden Park, Glasgow, Scotland

Main Set:

Vertigo
All Because Of You
The Electric Co.
Elevation
New Year's Day
Beautiful Day // Promised You a Miracle (Simple Minds snippet)
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses
City Of Blinding Lights // Happy Birthday // Walk On (snippets)
Miracle Drug
Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own
Love And Peace Or Else
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Bullet The Blue Sky // When Johnny Comes Marching Home (snippet)
Running To Stand Still
Pride (In The Name Of Love)
Where The Streets Have No Name
One

Encore(s):

Zoo Station
The Fly
With Or Without You
Yahweh
Vertigo

Vertigo 2005 vs. PopMart 1997 | It's Like comparing Apples with Pears Lemons!

Above picture shows PopMart stage from 1997.


photo credit: ryanr @ flickr.com
Above photo shows Vertigo stage from 2005.

Our interview with Barco, the LED manufacturer for U2's Vertigo stage, from a couple of weeks ago generated a lot of interest leading up to the European shows and the subsequent unveiling of the tour's outdoor stage set-up. Initially many fans had flashbacks to PopMart as they took in the huge red and black striped PA stacks and the mammoth LED screen backing a sprawling stage. In some fan forums there is some debate as to which screens actually were/are better. Well, we decided to contact Barco once again to gain further insight into the differences between the Vertigo and PopMart screens. Sabine Clappaert offered us the following information when we posed the question, "How do the Vertigo video screens differ from PopMart era video screens?":

Sabine: First and foremost, it is not recommendable to compare the screens of the two tours, as they each use a different type of LED technology. A bit like comparing apples with pears (Vertiblog edit: or Lemons!), but that will become clearer in the 'straight up comparison' / explanation below.

PopMart:- Saco LED display with resolution of 95,75 millimeter (the higher the millimeter, the lower the resolution. Thus: 95mm resolution is LOWER than 20mm or 10mm resolution)- Total screen size = 700 square meters

Vertigo:- Barco OLite 510 modules (herein lies the fundamental difference) with resolution of 10 millimeter* Note: Each OLite module measures 112mm by 84mm and has a resolution of 10mm. The blocks are spaced the width of 1 module apart from each other, giving the screen a total fill factor of approximately 18%.- Total screen size = 500 square meters

So, on a side-by-side comparison, the PopMart screen was larger, however, the Vertigo screen actually has a higher resolution.

So there you have it. Vertigo is a higher resolution technology than was used in PopMart.

Vertigo Twice is Just as Nice...

Well, the Vertigo's have it. 125 people voted in our recent Vertipoll asking the question, "What do you think of Vertigo being played twice during a U2 show?" The results are posted above. While it isn't a landslide victory, Vertigo is a closer that most can live with by just about a 3:2 margin.

U2 Vertigo Tour Setlist 6.19.2005 // Twickenham Stadium, London, England

Main Set:

Vertigo
All Because of You
The Electric Co.
Elevation // Hot in Here
New Year's Day
Beautiful Day - Here Comes the Sun
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses
City of Blinding Lights
Miracle Drug
Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own
Love and Peace or Else
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Bullet the Blue Sky // When Johnny Comes Marching Home // Please
Running to Stand Still - Walk On
Pride (In The Name of Love)
Where the Streets Have No Name
One

Encore(s):

Zoo Station
The Fly
With or Without You // Take Me to the Clouds Above
Yahweh
Vertigo // London Calling

Take our Vertipoll! | Vertigo Uno or Vertigo Dos?, that's the question...

Well, there seems to be a love it or hate it attitude when it comes to U2 playing Vertigo twice during a show. Place your vote and we'll tally them up when we reach a hundred votes.

U2 Vertigo Tour Setlist 6.18.2005 // Twickenham Stadium, London, England

Main Set:

Vertigo
I Will Follow
The Electric Co.
Elevation
New Year's Day
Beautiful Day
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
All I Want Is You
City of Blinding Lights
Miracle Drug
Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own
Love and Peace or Else
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Bullet the Blue Sky // When Johnny Comes Marching Home (snippet)
Running to Stand Still
Pride
Where the Streets Have No Name
One

Encore(s):
Zoo Station
The Fly
Mysterious Ways
Yahweh
Vertigo

U2's June 18 Concert to be Broadcast Live on BBC Radio 2...

Today's concert will broadcast on Radio 2 from 2100 - 2230.

U2 Vertigo Tour Setlist 6.15.2005 // Manchester Stadium, Manchester, England

photo credit: fluffy123 over at interference.com

Main Set:

Vertigo
I Will Follow
The Cry // Electric Co. // I Can See For Miles (snippet)
Elevation
New Year's Day
Beautiful Day
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
All I Want Is You
City Of Blinding Lights
Miracle Drug
Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own
Love And Peace Or Else
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Bullet The Blue Sky // The Hands That Built America (snippet) // Please (snippet)
Running To Stand Still
Pride (In The Name Of Love)
Where The Streets Have No Name
One

Encore(s):
Zoo Station
The Fly
With Or Without You
Yahweh
Vertigo // Stories For Boys

Bono and the Edge Seal Their Reputation as Friendly Neighbors...

Back in the winter months of 2002, in Ireland, there was a crisis. Two seals, Charlie and Domino, were rescued on Killiney Beach (near Bono's and Edge's homes) by an artist named Charlie Whisker. Malnourished and injured, the seals were in dire need of medical attention. Four months later, and after much rehabilitation by Charlie Whisker, Charlie the Seal and Domino were ready to be released back into the ocean once again. On that day, the Edge and Bono stopped by with their families to watch the festivities. You can read more at the Irish Seal Sanctuary website.

U2 Vertigo Tour Setlist 6.14.2005 // Manchester Stadium, Manchester, England

Main Set:

Vertigo
I Will Follow
Electric Co.
Elevation
New Year's Day
Beautiful Day
City Of Blinding Lights
Miracle Drug
Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own
Love & Peace Or Else
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Bullet The Blue Sky
Running To Stand Still
Pride (in the name of love...)
Where The Streets Have No Name
One

Encore(s):
Zoo Station
The Fly
Mysterious Ways
With Or Without You
All Because of You
Vertigo

Staring at the Frog... Crazy Frog Ringtone Beats Out U2's COBL on UK Charts

LONDON (Reuters) - The Crazy Frog novelty mobile phone ring tone has topped the British pop charts for a third week running, defeating a challenge from U2, the Official UK Charts Company said on Sunday.

Crazy Frog's version of "Axel F", the theme music to the movie "Beverly Hills Cop", is the first ring tone to have reached number one.

The continued popularity of the catchy "B-ding ding dididing..." tune meant U2 had to settle for second place for their new release "City Of Blinding Lights", taken from their album "How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb".

U2 Vertigo Tour Setlist 6.12.2005 // Arena AufSchalke, Cologne, Germany

photo courtesy of yahoo.com

Main Set:

Vertigo
Beautiful Day // Here Comes the Sun (snippet)
The Electric Co.
Elevation
New Year's Day
City of Blinding Lights
Miracle Drug
Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own
Love and Peace or Else
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Bullet the Blue Sky // When Johnny Comes Marching Home (snippet
Running to Stand Still
Pride
Where the Streets Have No Name
One

Encore(s):

Zoo Station
The Fly
Mysterious Ways
With or Without You
All Because Of You
Yahweh
Party Girl
Vertigo // Stories for Boys (snippet)

Vertigo 2005 | Where the Flame Turns Blue...

Above shot showing crowd holding lighters during opening to 'Streets' is from the Joshua Tree Tour in 1987 at the Syracuse Carrier Dome (Vertiblog crew was there!)...


A random shot of audience cell phones from the 2005 Vertigo Tour courtesy of U2.com...

For years, butane lighter manufacturers would surely see a huge spike in sales in any city where a big rock concert was going on. As any Baby Boomer will tell you, one of the hallmarks of any big gig (including U2) back in the 60's, 70's, 80's, and early 90's was when, during any particularly meaningful song, concertgoers would 'flick their Bic' or 'zip their Zippo' and hold up their cigarette lighters to show their unity in that special moment when audience and band were 'One'.

Today, the cigarette lighter, as a primitive 'instant messaging device', has been replaced by the blue glow of cell phones as they are held high during U2's performance of 'One' during the Vertigo Tour. Once shunned as an item to never bring to a concert, the cell phone has been embraced by U2, to not only provide a special lighting effect, but to also recruit a new generation of technology users to sign up, via text messaging, for the One Campaign, an organized effort to eliminate extreme poverty in Africa in their lifetime. Most people can't help but appreciate the proliferation of cell phones in our culture until they take a look at a stadium full of tens of thousands of U2 fans that are holding them up high contributing to an amazing visual spectacle that a picture can't do justice. To steal a lyric from David Gray, Vertigo 2005 is officially, in terms of the concert experience, where the flame turns blue...

G8 Ministers Back Africa Debt Deal

June 11, 2005 -- LONDON, England -- Finance ministers from the world's wealthiest nations have agreed to a historic accord to cancel up to $55 billion worth of debt owed by the world's poorest nations.

The Group of Eight (G8) ministers -- meeting for a second day Saturday in London -- backed a deal that calls for an immediate scrapping of 100 percent of the debt owed by 18 countries.

Those countries -- many in sub-Saharan Africa -- owe about $40 billion to the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the African Development Bank.

The G8 ministers also said 20 other countries could be eligible for debt relief if they meet targets for good governance and tackling corruption -- bringing the total package to more than $55 billion. [Read More... ]

FBI Will Follow U2 Cyberscalpers: Feds Track Source of Bogus Tix to Boston Shows

By Boston Herald staff
Saturday, June 11, 2005

The FBI is hot on the trail of the cyberscalpers who made grown fans cry at last month's U2 concert at the FleetCenter.

FBI Special Agent Gail Marcinkiewicz, spokeswoman for the Boston office, confirmed the bureau is looking into the scam but said any comment on the case would be premature.

A few days after the Herald reported hundreds of U2 fans had shown up with counterfeit tickets purchased online, the FBI showed up at the FleetCenter, said FleetCenter spokesman Jim Delaney.

Ticketmaster's ticketFast technology allows online buyers to print out tickets on their home printer. The tickets come with a unique barcode that is scanned at the gate. The majority of the bogus paper tickets held by more than 300 U2 fans had been purchased online through other channels.

"Once we knew we were dealing with online fraud, the FBI's Cyber Crime unit launched a full-fledged investigation,'' Delaney said.

State Attorney General Tom Reilly's office weighed in too, Delaney said, indicating it would work with the FBI.

While counterfeit tickets are hardly a new phenomenon, it is rare that a FleetCenter event turns away that many people, including some who had paid as much as $2,000 for a pair of tickets, Delaney said.

"People obviously were looking to get tickets any which way they could,'' he said.

Gary Bongiovanni, editor in chief of Pollstar, the live entertainment trade magazine, said cyberscalpers follow the money, latching on to blockbuster tours such as U2, and track them from city to city.

"There isn't a lot of profit in a $20 ticket, but when you're duplicating paper that can sell for hundreds of dollars, it's a pretty good racket until you land in jail,'' he said. ``The Boston incident just underscores the danger of buying tickets from unauthorized sources.''

Ticketmaster spokeswoman Bonnie Poindexter agreed.

"We can warn people until we're blue in the face,'' she said, "but they only listen when it hits their pocketbook.''

PopMart 1997 Vertigo 2005!

What a difference a(n) (almost) decade makes...







De Standaard, a newspaper out of Belgium, is showing some pictures of the Barco LED screens taken from the dress rehearsal on 6.9.05.

Fan Sites Across Europe Posting First 'Live' Shots from Brussels...

Bjorn Lampe from U2tour.de sends in the first image of a reportedly bald Adam on one of the b-stages...


U2log.com is putting up the first 'real time' images on their Flickr photo pool. They should really be a good source of tour images now that U2 is on their side of the pond...

U2 Vertigo Tour Setlist 6.10.2005 // Roi Baudouin Stadium, Brussels, Belgium

photo credit: www.u2achtung.com
Note that original catwalks had red and black stripes on them, now they are all red...

Main Set:

Vertigo
Until the End of the World
The Electric Co.
Elevation
New Year's Day
Beautiful Day
City of Blinding Lights
Miracle Drug
Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own
Love and Peace or Else
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Bullet the Blue Sky
Running to Stand Still
Human Rights thingy
Pride (In the Name of Love)
Where the Streets Have No Name
One

Encore(s):

Zoo Station
The Fly
Mysterious Ways
All Because of You
Yahweh
Vertigo

NOTE: Setlist is virtually identical to the dress rehearsal the night before, no real surprises to report re: setlist...

U2 Vertigo Tour Setlist 6.9.2005 // Roi Baudouin Stadium, Brussels, Belgium

Pre Leg II Rehearsal:

Intro "Everyone"
Vertigo
Until The End Of The World
Cry / The Electric Co. <-click to watch video
Elevation
New Year's Day 2x
Beautiful Day
City Of Blinding Lights
Miracle Drug
Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own // No Regrets (snippet)
Love And Peace Or Else
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Bullet The Blue Sky // The Hands That Built America
Running To Stand Still
Pride (In The Name Of Love)
Where The Streets Have No Name
Speech One Campaign
One

Zoo Station
The Fly
Mysterious Ways

All Because Of You
Yahweh

U2 to Perform Full Dress Rehearsal Tonight in Belgium...

click on image above for larger image...

Well, we're now at a disadvantage as far as time zones go and are probably offering this to you a bit too late. However, U2 is doing a full dress rehearsal tonight at Roi Baudouin Stadium. The letter reads:

"The show on Friday night is very important to us. We are using brand new screens, Belgian technology in fact, that have never been used before. It is imperative for this tour that we test these in real concert and real time conditions, so that we get the best effect from them.

This means that on Thursday evening, we will be rehearsing the full show from 21:15 until 23:30.

We thank you very much for your understanding!"

So that means, at least by our watch that the show is probably going on as we type this entry... if you're reading this now, get there quick!

We should be getting reports of songs performed and will report anything that is new for the summer shows...

And you thought the minivan was hardcore...

Well, we asked the question, 'How far would YOU go to show that you're a die-hard U2 fan?

We received an email from a Vertiblog reader that said:

"Well this is how far my wife Karin went. She recently got her U2 tattoo. We even named our little son Larry (5) in honour of U2's drummer. We are Ron and Karin from Holland, we are going to the shows on July 13th and July 16th in Amsterdam."

Ron also said that he'd be sending us some pictures from the Amsterdam gigs if possible.

Stay tuned...

Fast Cars Minivans!!

(no, that's not Bono...)

Depe, a fan from Poland, has dressed up one of his cars in preparation for the upcoming Vertigo shows in Brussels. He's got a pretty nice site which you can visit here: u2.homepage.pl. How far would YOU go to show that you're a die hard fan? Have a great picture? Make sure to send it to us at vertinfo@vertiblog.com . And in case you're not familiar with some of the tracks that were left off of the official release of HTDAAB, Fast Cars is a great tune that we're hoping makes the rumored 2006 U2 release.

Barco's OLite 510 Panels Up Close...

It appears as though the LED panels may be able to slide up and down rails to reveal more lighting elements as needed throughout the show, or this could just be part of the assembly process...


A close up of Barco's OLite 510 LED modules used for the Vertigo Tour.


A center stage shot from the field, or the 'pitch' as they say across the pond.

We now see what Sabine and Paul from Barco were talking about by the implementation of their new OLite 510 LED product into the Vertigo stage production.

Open 'Ellipse' Confirmed for Outdoor Gigs... We're coining it "The Horse Shoe"

photo appears on: www.u2achtung.com


photo appears on: www.u2achtung.com

A good look at the b-stages at the end of what we're going to call the 'horse shoe' on the outdoor stage in Belgium. Click on image above for a little bigger image.

The Vertiblog gets ink on Interference.com and Newsday...

The Vertiblog's made a few headlines over the past few weeks. We've been mentioned in Newsday's 'Cool 2 Use' Blogwatch section (5/3), and our Barco interview made it onto U2 fansite, Interference.com. There are also several websites around the world that link to us. We think that's cool stuff and would like anyone who reads this to drop us a line to say 'Hello, hello!'.

Far Away, So Close... Unprecedented fan reporting from around the globe...

Ya gotta love technology. With the advent of the digital camera, fans now have the ability to instantly send their snapshots around the globe (light years away from the Pony Express). In 2001, the shots you see below would have been almost impossible to get this quickly. Thanks to all the fans around the world whose energy and enthusiasm are making the blogging of the Vertigo tour a great deal of fun.

Now speaking of technology:

More stage details are emerging over at www.tram3.tk

According to Willie Willams' diary at U2.com, Bono made some last minute changes to the design of the stage, primarily the design of the catwalks protruding from the front of the stage area.

There's also a great close-up of Larry's drum kit.

Make sure to visit their site for some more great shots of the Belgium stage setup.