Bono Welcomes U2BRTHR To The Stage

The returns to Canada this time to Montreal for a 4 night run. This was the first of four nights that the band's setlist can be considered to be on normal rotations at this point. A couple of familiar rotations in "Electric Co, and "I will follow"  and "Ordinary Love" stayed in the set list.

Perhaps the most interesting part of the evening Bono brings Mark Baker to the stage, any dedicated U2 fan knows Mark as @U2Brthr has an amazing documentary Mark was on the stage to film "Meerkat" Elevation.  We reached out to Mark to get a quote and he had this to say "I haven't left the MTL residence yet.  I fluctuate from ear to ear smiling or tear swelling. Barely slept. Too surreal." Truly an amazing evening for this dedicated U2 fan.

Venue: Bell Centre Montreal, QC, CA June 12, 2015

Set List

  1. The Miracle (Of Joey Ramone)
  2. The Electric Co. / Send In The Clowns (snippet) / Anthem (snippet)
  3. Vertigo
  4. I Will Follow
  5. Iris (Hold Me Close)
  6. Cedarwood Road
  7. Song For Someone
  8. Sunday Bloody Sunday
  9. Raised By Wolves / Psalm 23 (snippet)
  10. Until The End Of The World

(Intermission)

  1. Invisible
  2. Even Better Than The Real Thing
  3. Mysterious Ways
  4. Elevation
  5. Ordinary Love
  6. Every Breaking Wave
  7. Bullet The Blue Sky
  8. The Hands That Built America (snippet) / Pride (In The Name Of Love)
  9. Beautiful Day
  10. La Vie En Rose (snippet) / With Or Without You

Encore(s):

  1. City Of Blinding Lights
  2. Mother And Child Reunion (snippet) / Where The Streets Have No Name / California (There Is No End To Love) (snippet)
  3. I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For / People Have The Power (snippet)

Bono was a bit more political expressing his concerns about of Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan for human rights abuses as well as the current violence in Yemen  Speaking to the crowd in French and English.

Nick Walker Capsures U2's Passion

One Frame At A Time

We have thousands of requests that come into us weekly about wanting access to shoot a U2 concert. Some of them start out like this, “ We are such big fans of U2” Others start out like this “Can we please meet the band” or something like this, "I take pictures all the time and I am really good at it"  Sometimes you get a one diamond in the ruff and we are lucky to have Nick Walker on our team. His images will ignite the passion of evening and take you back to that U2 experience.  

Concert photography is nothing like you would think. Its not glamorous, no catering is provided and the chance of actually meeting the band stands somewhere between “no” and “HELL NO” and do something stupid like walk away from your handler and find yourself outside the venue with your camera in your hand.

Shooting for a major tour is not as easy is walking in with your pocket camera and shooting what ever you want.  Most bands like U2 limit the shot. First three songs, or maybe first and last three. 

Sometimes its one and done. U2 has always allowed fans to bring their cameras into the show. Our photographers arrive early and stay late to get that memory captured. Capture that feeling and do it quickly before you lose your shot that's what most editors say. Images are complex and full of passion this requires more understanding of what the band will do and will not do. Example if you know that "The Edge" never walks during the first song you can move your focus over to Adam and vice verse.

To be a U2TOURFANS concert photographer you have to understand that your job no matter what you personally want to do. GET THE SHOT! That is all that is asked of you. The process is to become part of the team starts with our team looking at your past work. If you say your fan, we automatically push your application to our special file.  

We have some great photographers on the team like Nick Walker.  “An enigmatic aura to my otherwise existential ethos of normalcy. It was not discovered until my twenties; I wanted to photograph the beauty of the world, the harshness of its reality, the people and the places affected by its events, and I wanted write about it all. My lone want is infinite desire.”  Nick has been part of the team since The 360 Tour. He images have been viewed/downloaded over 10M times.  Nick provided some great shots from the Denver 1 and II show that surely will amaze you.

How do you become a photographer for U2TOURFANS? Do not ask us, show us your work and we may consider having you join our team.

Montreal Next Stop, Denver Fans Say Good Bye

Nick Walker / U2TOURFANS 2015

Nick Walker / U2TOURFANS 2015

Second show and the band gave the crowd a little treat with a couple of tunes that had their premiere in LA. The Denver crowd was very upbeat and the band seemed to be well rested even during the meet and greet. The break does a band well. Now they have a few days off as they head to Montreal for a few nights. 

As the tour makes its way around the Americas its clear that the show has a groove and with a couple of twists and turns they glide thru the evening set with ease.

Bono was very talkative and the crowd was upbeat. Social media during the day gave fans a possible hint of what to expect as the band rehearsed Volcano and Ordinary Love.

A couple of departures from the set list. Bad, Sweetest Thing and When Love Comes To Town. Beautiful Day and closing out the evening with One.

Set list and video updates can be found here.

Look Who Was in Denver and The Set List

gav_n.jpg

Denver! Denver! A very special evening for us, reporting the U2 tour for the fans we have a lot of moving parts from our camera crew, video and photo teams and behind the scenes back in New York the team that keeps it all running together for you. 

Last night we sent one of our youngest team members out to report the show and provide you the set list real time.

Gavin happens to be one of our best and dedicated social media reporter team members. Denver also happens to be home to one of our best photographers Nick Walker.  

Denver Pepsi Center June 6 2015

  1. The Miracle (Of Joey Ramone)
  2. The Electric Co. / Send In The Clowns (snippet) / Rocky Mountain High (snippet)
  3. Vertigo
  4. I Will Follow
  5. Iris (Hold Me Close)
  6. Cedarwood Road
  7. Song For Someone
  8. Sunday Bloody Sunday / When Johnny Comes Marching Home (snippet)
  9. Raised By Wolves / Psalm 23 (snippet)
  10. Until The End Of The World

(Intermission)

  1. Invisible
  2. Even Better Than The Real Thing / Desire (snippet)
  3. Mysterious Ways / Young Americans (snippet)
  4. Desire / Love Me Do (snippet)
  5. Angel Of Harlem
  6. Every Breaking Wave
  7. Bullet The Blue Sky / Black Dog (snippet) / 19 (snippet)
  8. The Hands That Built America (snippet) / Pride (In The Name Of Love)
  9. Beautiful Day / I Remember You (snippet)
  10. With Or Without You

Encore(s):

  1. City Of Blinding Lights
  2. Mother And Child Reunion (snippet) / Where The Streets Have No Name / California (There Is No End To Love) (snippet)
  3. I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For / Stand By Me (snippet)

Snippet provided by U2GIGS

U2 filmed “Under A Blood Red Sky” 32 years ago and Bono referenced this a couple of times to the audience.  The set list was pretty much the standard with a few changes in and out.  Leaving “40” behind and finishing out the show with “Stand By Me” and “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For”

Giving Back to the community fans found away to make a young girls dream come true.

Lizzy Lawton, 14, is undergoing treatment at Children’s Hospital Colorado in Aurora for Ewing’s sarcoma, a rare cancer affecting bone and soft tissue. This week, she started her seventh of 12 rounds of chemotherapy for this bout of the disease. Messages all over twitter about needing tickets the show and in the end fans came thru and provided tickets and helped raise some funds for her. 

U2 fans have always been about giving and giving back in major ways. One Campaign, RED and other organizations always see an up tic during U2 concert tours.

Vote for U2's Number 1 Twitter Fan

I'm U2's biggest fan !  That's a sentence that most often follows with but I am upset with them about this or that. U2 fan's over the years have grown into a movement.

A carefully monitored group of fans that all have claim to the biggest fans. Converge on to social media during every concert. Sharing their views on the set list, what the band is wearing and just about anything that is related to their band. We wondered who would you think is the biggest U2 fan in the world?  Denver Is

We put the question to you. Who do you think is the biggest U2 fan in the world. Here is a list of U2 fans that almost every show happen to be on social media sharing and creating a string of conversations.

Pick the one you think has created the most buzz and would be the most interesting U2 fan to meet.  

We have been very busy over the break with cleaning up our mail box which is full of your images. Help us share the those images. Please no personal images of yourself while we all may think you look wonderful we do not want to be posting pictures of you and your ( fill in the blank). Now we do want to have all of your videos and images that you would like to sent that would be related to the show, the band and the tour. So be sure to credit yourself and send them into concertphotos@u2tourfans.com

Today is a travel day. In the business is also known as a break. Tomorrow load in starts for a few days of shows in Denver and the tour is moving across the country and thru Canada. The band is on point. The bands manager said all we can do is move forward. We pledge to keep supporting the positive vibes and focus on the music, show and you the fan. 

Bono For Lesbians, Good Bye LA, Hello Denver !

Kevin Mazur / U2 / U2TOURFANS 2015

Kevin Mazur / U2 / U2TOURFANS 2015

A couple of days of rest and the band are ready for the fifth and final show at the Forum.  Sound check had fans a buzzing about the possible set list additions of “The Troubles, Volcano, Ordinary Love and No Line on the Horizon. 

  1. The Miracle (Of Joey Ramone)
  2. Out Of Control / Good Times, Bad Times (snippet)
  3. Vertigo
  4. I Will Follow
  5. Iris (Hold Me Close)
  6. Cedarwood Road
  7. Song For Someone
  8. Sunday Bloody Sunday / When Johnny Comes Marching Home (snippet)
  9. Raised By Wolves / Psalm 23 (snippet)
  10. Until The End Of The World / Love And Peace Or Else (snippet)

(Intermission)

  1. Invisible
  2. Even Better Than The Real Thing
  3. Mysterious Ways / Burning Down The House (snippet) / Young Americans (snippet)
  4. Volcano
  5. Ordinary Love
  6. Every Breaking Wave
  7. Bullet The Blue Sky / Black Dog (snippet) / 19 (snippet)
  8. The Hands That Built America (snippet) / Pride (In The Name Of Love)
  9. Beautiful Day
  10. The Troubles
  11. With Or Without You

Encore(s):

  1. City Of Blinding Lights
  2. Mother And Child Reunion (snippet) / United States Declaration Of Independence (snippet) / Where The Streets Have No Name / California (There Is No End To Love) (snippet)
  3. One / My Sweet Lord (snippet) / Invisible (snippet)

Snippet Provided by U2GIGS

This would be the first show that NLOTH would appear. We got an early image that suggested that a departure from the set list might happen.  First set “Out of Control” returned and fans not disappointed with the additions of “Volcano” and “Ordinary Love” a couple of technical issues with the piano gave Bono the chance to banter about with the crowd. 

Spotting a sign “Lesbians for Bono” Bono reconfirmed that he is for lesbians, giving the crowd and social media a spike. The evening ends with “One” and the long week ended. The crew begins the load out and on to Denver for a few days.  LA will always been remember for some public reasons and so much so public.

The tour is in full swing and for the most part fans around the world have only one major complaint “ Why not my city?”  The tour hits select cities with the now confirmed highest reseller ticket prices ever. Some conversations suggest that Latin America is on the horizon and why not.

Bono and the boys love Brazil, Chile, Peru and Columbia all of those cities would sell out within minutes. For now the boys have the summer’s hottest North American tour and the marketing machines are smiling from ear to ear with the amount of social media interactions. The future looks bright and in the rear views a foundation that has built the largest rock band in the world.