The U2 360° Show

Last Monday, Stephen, Malory, Stephany, and I saw U2 perform at the new Dallas Cowboys Stadium in Arlington! This was a really fun event for us. Stephen drove up from Waco that evening and met us there. It was my fourth time to see U2 and my third time to see them with my brother. Getting to see them with Stephen again was very cool for me, and it was great getting to experience one of the biggest bands in the world, and one of my favorites, with Stephany.

Here are some pics of us on our way to the Cowboys Stadium.





Stephen wore appropriate attire.



The new stadium is really massive. With standing room on the floor area, it can hold up to 111,000 people, so there were most likely at least 100,000 people at this show. The huge television screen (which wasn't used during the concert) hanging in the center of the ceiling measures 160 feet long by 72 feet wide and is supposedly the world's largest. This is definitely the place for over-consumerized football games and rock shows.

Here's the stage setup prior to the show starting. U2 went with a spaceship theme (or something) this tour. The novel idea was that you could see the band from all directions, hence the tour was called the U2 360° Tour. Also, U2's screen circled the stage and could be viewed 360°.



There was a Bono impersonator in our section. Pretty decent get-up, but for real, like Bono's hanging out in Section 230.



And here's us!



Opening was the British band Muse. I wasn't very familiar with them, but Stephany knew them, and Malory is a really big fan. They put on a really great show, and their music was a very good complement to U2. They had lots of energy and good sounds, and consequently, they rocked the place.











The band had a pretty good lightshow going, although it was nothing compared to U2's performance (which is appropriate for the opening band, but, hey, at least they got to use U2's 360° screen).





And U2.

What completely surprised us was, prior to the band emerging, the house sound system playing David Bowie's "Space Oddity" ("This is ground control to Major Tom...") in its entirety while the stage began spewing smoke, followed by a countdown. Then the band walked out onto the stage and the drummer, Larry Mullen Jr., played a short drum solo leading into the opening song for the evening, "Breathe," from the band's latest album, No Line on the Horizon.





The image on the screen here is part of the art theme from their new album.







About halfway through the show, the 360° screen started separating and lowering, which was really cool. It turned into a pretty awesome display.











When the band came back for the encore, Bono emerged in a suit displaying red LED lights, and a lit-up circular microphone-swing-thing (yeah) came down from the ceiling. It was a fairly simple setup, but I thought the lighting was really cool. Bono would occasionally hang/swing on the microphone during this part of the show. I was very happy that the opening song for the encore was "Ultra Violet (Light My Way)" from 1991's Achtung Baby. It's one of my favorites from that album, and I don't think I'd ever heard them play it live before.







And another shot of the stadium on our way out. It's like a contemporary Texas Death Star right in our backyard.



It was a really fun evening for us, and we enjoyed being able to see such a great concert (a rarity for us these days - and we know that will continue to be the case for a while)!

Nathan