U2360 – Olympic Stadium – Helsinki, Finland (II)
Surprise… during the soundcheck for the second show in Helsinki the band rehearses Bad, No Line on the Horizon acoustically, as well as Pride and I will follow (just the riff at first and then full band).
It’s ‘crazy set’ night and U2 prove they are definitely confident and in a great mood this leg of the tour.They mix it up completely, bringing back I will follow, No Line on the Horizon and Pride, as well as Edge and Bono playing a totally new song together called ‘Every breaking wave’ (mp3). “No one’s heard that before, including the two of us…”
Continuing his series of madcap band introductions, this show Bono says: “On my left, on bass guitar, the Aapo of this band, Adam Clayton; behind me on the drums, Lauri Mullen Jnr; to my right on lead guitar, The Eero … and who does that make me, I’m somewhere between Simeoni and Juhani…” Gobbledegook for most, but to the Finns it’s crystal clear. Bono’s refering to a 19th century Finnish novel called Seven Brothers, by Aleksis Kivi. Aapo is ‘logical and peaceful’, Lauri is ‘solemn and a loner’, Eero is ‘intelligent and clever’, while Simeoni is both ‘alcoholic and religious’ and Juhani is the most ‘stubborn’.
Before ‘I still haven’t found’ Bono mentions a lot of U2 family members are in the audience: his daughter Jordan, nephews, nearly all of The Edge’s family including kids Holly, Sian and Levi as well as his parents Garvin and Gwenda who are ‘on the road’ with the band. Bono thanks Gwenda for being the first member of U2′s road crew.
Picture by Oli
Watch parts of the show: part 1 (33mins), part 2.
U2360 – Olympic Stadium – Helsinki, Finland
First of two shows in Helsinki, Finland. It is the first time the band have played here since Popmart (August 09, 1997). Between 3 and 3.30pm the band rehearsed Discotheque (riff), North star, Glastonbury, Miss Sarajevo, City of Blinding Lights.
Around 8pm there appears to be a problem with the screen. It’s fully extended and won’t budge. Crew member Rocco tells the crowd they want to try to fix it. Meanwhile the crowd entertains itself: no less than 3 simultaneous waves go around the stadium. Around 8pm the problem is fixed (video). However, during the show not everything on the screen works as it should. ‘Crazy’ also suffers from technical problems with the backing track.
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