They seem to be about as popular as Thatcher in internetland, but they do have a few good tunes. I'll watch with an open mind.

Still a decent enough bunch of musicians, and with an impressive back catalogue. I'll be watching.

Unc. Think there is a BIT of the tall poppy syndrome here. During the punk wars everyone hated Led Zepplin and Queen...or so they said. Now they are Rock Gods again. You never know, it's could have a similar effect Live Aid had for Freddie and friends.

Of course, I don't wish disaster on them as I feel a certain level of affection for them, much like one would have for an old teddy. I do feel now, however, kind of cringed-out when I hear their recent anodyne,unimaginative offerings.

Let's hope they stick to the classics (of which there are many) & they prove all the haters wrong.
To me, they're a typical case of a band who've done great things in the past but now should sod off quietly & gracefully before it gets any worse.

He's both their greatest asset and liability.

Personally i think they are dreadful & will switch off after mozza. Dont get me started on bono

... but only in the, perhaps futile, hope that that great galumphing bell end Bono gets loudly booed and humiliated by tax protesters.

looking forward to it, a great live band

Emma Coupland, from Boston, Lincs, at a muddy Glastonbury with friend Holly Wilson, said: "As we're under 30, we don't really like U2."

Are U2 a classic example of being 'Too Big'...I think people jump on the band wagon and criticise too easily. Surely they should be judged on the tunes alone for this is what they were put on this earth to do. We have to move away from this 'personality pop nonsense'. Bono talks shite..FACT!..But he also sings some good songs. If music was bought purely on the personality of the singer then Dylan wouldn't have sold an album...

but their increasingly desperate attempts to remain current and hip have been somewhat embarrassing. However I shall watch some of their set and pray they do Party Girl complete with shocking solo by his Edginess.

UKuncut (@UKuncut)
24/06/2011 12:45
If you are at #glasto, don't forget: multi-million pound tax avoider Bono will be at the Pyramid Stage later #BonoPayUp #U2Uncut

Uno, dos, tres... catorce

Lights go down it?s dark
The jungle is your head - can?t rule your heart
A feeling is so much stronger than
A thought
Your eyes are wide
And though your soul it can?t be bought
Your mind can wonder

Hello, hello... (Hola)
I'm at a place called Vertigo (dónde estás?)
It?s everything I wish I didn?t know
Except you give me something...
I can feel, feel

The night is full of holes
As bullets rip the sky of ink with gold
They twinkle as the boys play rock and roll
They know that they can?t dance - at least they know

I can?t stand the beats
I?m asking for the cheque
The girl with crimson nails
Has Jesus 'round her neck
Swinging to the music Whoooaaa
Swinging to the music Whoooaaa
Whoooaaa
Whoooaaa
Whoooaaa

Hello, hello... (Hola)
I'm at a place called Vertigo (dónde estás?)
It?s everything I wish I didn?t know
But you give me something...
I can feel, feel

Check mated...
Hours of fun...
Jumping in... yeah

[Edge solo]

All of this... all of this can be yours
All of this... all of this can be yours
All of this... all of this can be yours
Just give me what I want and no one gets hurt

Hello, hello... (Hola)
I'm at a place called Vertigo (dónde estás?)
Lights go down and all I know
That you give me something...
I can feel your love teaching me how
Your love is teaching me how to feel, feel

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, YEAH,
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, YEEEAAAAH!

will be one of THE Glasto sets, up with Macca, Bruce & Bowie>.No matter what you think of Bono, he knows how to do populist, they're bound to go for all the biggies and they're bloody good at their job. The weekend's theirs, no two ways.
And in all the discussion over should U2 play Gastonbury everyone's missing the real question - who in their right mind thought that Beyonce was a suitable headline act?

...at a press conference for Rattle & Hum where the boys explained that it was a really authentic peek into U2 World, no bullshit or anything and then went on to point out how this verse and that verse & that chorus were all from different nights & were stitched together in the edit.

A couple of years ago I went with a friend to see the 3D concert film. he came out raving about how it should be compulsory viewing in schools on account of it's hard hitting political message. I had to be woken up at the end.

On the other hand, every time I've met him and/ or worked with him, Bono has been a delight - after we did the live link up from Hammersmith into the 9/11 telethon at some ungodly hour of the morning he took the trouble to personally thank everybody - and I mean everybody - on the crew which took no little time.

I'm with you Uncle Wheaty! Got a little family interest there so I always have to be on side! Anyway they are still shit hot live!

Double Post!

along with Simple Minds, Big Country, The Alarm and er..Cactus World News.

I remember being quite impressed by their performance of 'Bad' at Live Aid because I liked the kind of repetition groove they got into..I didn't realise they'd only done that because Bono was fannying about dancing with a girl he'd pulled out of the crowd and took a lot longer to get back on stage than the hedge & co were expecting , but nevertheless it stuck with me and I later discovered dance music, and bands like Spacemen 3, the Krautrock stuff etc so I suppose U2 accidentally turned me on to Motorik.

I can still appreciate some of the Simple Minds stuff but U2? Nah. I remember when Achtung Baby came out but I'd heard (to name but three) Joy Division, Pet Sounds, My Bloody Valentine and a whole load of much more interesting music by that point. Wasn't convinced by The Fly, Moved on, sold most of my u2 stuff down Vinyl Exchange and never looked back.

I suppose for me while they were a fave as a child they sort of exist outside my world of music really, they're kind of irrelevant. They're just this 'thing' that does huge gigs. They haven't really contributed toward the development of music in an artistic way other than doing bigger and bigger enormo-gigs which isn't my thing really. I guess they're influential but on a whole strand of music that doesn't interest me...Coldplay, Foo Fighters, Kings of Leon etc.

I shall have a look at the Glastonbury footage with interest and see if it stirs the inner 12 year old U2 fan in me..

I have never been a big fan but do have a couple of their records. For me the problem is, apart from Bono's self-righteous bollocks, that they are just so dull. They are meant to be a “rock” band. Now, however much some of the massive want it to be all about the music, it’s not. Along with the crash, bang, wallop it is about the performance, the attitude, the mythology. I want my rock stars to perform on the edge (no pun intended) of their ability. (The Edge said he didn’t want it too slick – he’s right but they are). I also want them to be out of control, dangerous, witty, or at least have a history of it. I want them to be have a history of upsetting things… not just making an Electro Harmonix Memory Man famous.

Let’s face it you wouldn’t want to party with U2, unless you wanted to have a nice chat about cardigans or Jesus. When they are on stage, however loud, or however pompous it just looks fake, contrived – just like Bono’s messianic fan saving during the eighties. Dull, dull, dull - Cock!

.....and, despite their long career, I remain to be convinced whether any of their songs transcend merely being U2 songs.
They don't have a 'Yesterday' or 'Let It Be' or 'Waterloo Sunset' for example.
'Beautiful Day' is particularly dire.
Was it actually written as a sporting theme?
If so, I think Bono should go and actually watch a football match and listen to the great themes for 'Sportsnight', 'Grandstand' etc.

The Terminator's short arsed, gone to seed annoying little brother with half a cucumber stuffed into his ridiculous leather kecks.

First really heard them when I was about 17, by which time The Joshua Tree and Rattle And Hum had both come out. I admired their gang mentality, their solidity (still the most impressive thing about them: it's still the same four guys with no added extra session musos at the back of the stage). And I liked the stadium simplicity of their songs: the twelve-bar changes of Still Haven't Found and the Bo Diddley beat of Desire.

Then Achtung Baby came out: I thought The Fly and Mysterious Ways were terrific. They seemed to be assimilating that kind of Primal Scream/ Stone Roses baggy funk (it was only after this that big rock groups started getting a "dance element" into their music) and actually doing something more interesting with it (the guitar sound in particular on those two songs). And the cover/packaging was brilliant. A bit too many earnest song, though: One and Wild Horses, etc.

Zooropa: interesting and patchy, a lovable little album. I thought it was a sloppy masterpiece (I would say it was their white album, if that wasn't a cliche). Saw them on tour around this time: I was struck by how much better the "old" songs worked in a stadium environment: stuff like "Pride" is just made for a big old singalong.

Parted ways after that. That next album felt like they were stretching the Achtung vibe too far. And then they got earnest again, but without the good tunes. Which is where they have been ever since.

Still, they played and sang well last night. And the old songs still make a crowd go mental.

..who usually sounds like he's yawning, a guitarist who nicked every idea Andy Summers had, a bass player who's always grinning because he can't believe his luck and a good drummer.
And about 3 good songs.
That's U2 for me afraid.

I couldn't get this out of my head...

They've done a string of marvellous hits over the years.

It's just Bono I can't stomach.

Caught ten minutes on the Beeb, found it moderately entertaining, then it came to that pretentious nonsense with the spaceman. I'll make a point of ignoring them for another twenty years.

"A great performance, a little lacklustre to open, but really warmed up at Where The Streets Had No Name. What really irked me about the coverage was the two channel switchovers between BBC2 and BBC4. Seems ridiculous when you're covering a complete set. The BBC airs the tennis on one channel for what seems like eternity sometimes without a break.

And while I'm on it, the interview with Jo Wiley and Zane Lowe was cringeworthy. Their interview technique is 'Wow, that was great wasn't it?' [gush]. Any decent presenter/journalist would have had a list of points from the show to ask them about, not just gush like teenagers (and talk over the band when they were talking). Bono pretty much had to tell them what to say, pointing out moments he remembered, which actually made him look a bit of a fool, but I felt a bit sorry for him and the others having to be stuck in front of those two, who can't get past "So, how does it feel" as an interview question. The BBC is better than this, and there are better music journalists who could have done a far superior job of covering this. Don't insult your music TV audience - we don't just want to hear presenters telling us how 'amazing' everything is. It's so banal. Lauren Laverne and Mark Radcliffe are so much better for this sort of thing - ditch the Radio 1 'trying to be down with the kids' bozos - they just don't care about the music."

Because I just had to get it off my chest. That is all. I thought the band were OK to be honest. I am a fan, but not a gushy one. It wasn't the best performance I've seen at Glasto (on TV) nor the best performance U2 have done, but I bet, as ever, it was great if you were there. Never quite comes off properly on the TV does it?

I think now that U2 are officially, according to their manager, "A global business," I can officially lose all f***ing interest in them.
I like bands and musicians; I don't think I've got a Barclaycard album or tee shirt.
Ah well, I still have the records, and the memories.

perfectly suited to the occasion.
But when they resume their tour playing the current 'no line on the horizon' setlist, won't part of them be thinking that what they played last night was just so much better!

a hits set of what they'll all know. Ideal. But there seemed to be something missing in the performance. Can't nail it as I am only a casual fan.

Just wondering what it was like in the flesh?

(or maybe it's too problematic to post from the festival. Isn't there a wifi tent or something??)

But they did everything we moaned at Bruce for NOT doing last year.

Play your greatest hits, engage the crowd, get the lighters out and then depart. Job done.

Perhaps the sequencing of the set list was a bit awry (opening a big show with 6 numbers from one album is stretching it a bit - may as well have played the whole damn thing) and the chosen songs predictable, but given the audience demographic, it was what was needed.

...got the sese they didn't have to win the crowd so they didn't try. At no pont did I see Bono look across to the Edge and think bloody hell where did that solo come from - or the Edge look across at Bono and not know what he was going to do next.
Isn't seeing a band without the big show props all about a once in a lifetime - you'll never see this song played quite like this again - that live moment.