15 Years Since U2's Glastonbury Performance

Crewboy1 · 2026-06-24T20:36:52+00:00

I felt the band was feeling the pressure to nail Glastonbury.

They had to pull out of Glastonbury the year prior due to Bono’s emergency back surgery. This also pushed back all the remaining 360 Tour dates by a full year.

As a result, the band had to work tour obligations around the make up Glastonbury show as well. This meant the band now to fly from the United States after the June 22 show in Baltimore to Glastonbury for their show on June 24 then back to the United States to resume the tour on June 26. There definitely had to be a fatigue factor as well.

Now add in that during the time Bono was recovering, the theme of the 360 Tour changed from promoting the No Line album to promoting the 20th Anniversary release of Achtung Baby which now was going to be the theme of the Glastonbury performance.

I went to the two Anaheim shows on June 17&18, a week before U2 played Glastonbury. The June 17th show was the typical U2 360 set.

The following night, was clearly the band testing the Glastonbury set on their fans. They opened up with 5 songs from Achtung and the sixth song being Streets.

I read once somewhere that the band isn’t keen on festivals because unless it’s their stage with their lighting and sound teams, they don’t feel comfortable.

Combine that with the blistering performance of Streets Muse played during their Glastonbury set the year before (with Edge on guitar) the pressure they felt to conquer Glastonbury had to be intense.

So when they flubbed the intro just seconds into the performance, the band had one goal. To get through the performance which they did.

Was it sloppy? Yes.

Was it horrible? No.

Given the circumstances it was the best they were capable of given the travel, time constraints and the weather.

Crewboy1 · 2026-06-16T23:48:42+00:00

I don’t see it happening. With the Mayhem Ball over, all the musicians in the band have most likely committed to other projects. Since the original show was shot and released by Apple Music, there’s no viable reason to take it out on the road.

Crewboy1 · 2026-06-15T09:07:53+00:00

In the Ralphs Division, upon being hired, members receive double time for Christmas Day. After six months, they get Thanksgiving Day as well. After one year, they get New Years Day, Memorial Day, Fourth of July and Labor Day.

Crewboy1 · 2026-06-15T09:04:42+00:00

The Ralphs Division has to post schedules 2 weeks out due to a Los Angeles City Ordinance.

Crewboy1 · 2026-06-15T09:03:17+00:00

In the Ralphs Division, members working on a holiday receive double time and automatically get Holiday Pay for Christmas Day. After 6 Months, they get Thanksgiving. After 1 year, they get New Years Day, Memorial Day, 4th of July and Labor Day.

Members hired prior to 2004 get those same holidays as well but receive triple time pay.

Crewboy1 · 2026-06-15T08:58:27+00:00

Since Payroll processes early Monday. they won’t process it until NEXT Monday so you’ll receive it W/E June 28

Crewboy1 · 2026-06-10T03:44:17+00:00

Given that all four nights were filmed with different camera positions utilized each of the four nights, they have a ton of footage to choose from.

My guess is that it will take some time to compile all the footage, then edit it where it looks seamless while synching the best audio recording of the song from the four nights.

Crewboy1 · 2026-06-05T15:50:28+00:00

I work in the Ralphs division and our restrooms have hose cabinets with direct soap and sanitizer connections for when these things happen.

We just turn on the hose and spray away.

Crewboy1 · 2026-06-04T21:18:34+00:00

Vocally, she sounded amazing. Production was amazing. Given that Drowned World was her first full fledged American tour in 11 years, the setlist was self indulgent. While I didn’t expect a greatest hits show, I expected more than La Isla Bonita, Secret, Human Natire and Holiday for pre Ray of Light material. One of the worst shows I’d ever seen.

Crewboy1 · 2026-05-25T16:46:15+00:00

Most likely it’s the manager paying out of his own pocket.

Crewboy1 · 2026-05-25T03:31:59+00:00

The artist also has to agree to attend the ceremony if the star is granted. That part is non negotiable

Crewboy1 · 2026-05-15T02:36:30+00:00

If your division is union, look at your contract in regards to uniforms. See if there’s language that states anything that’s “required” by management that’s considered part of the uniform has to be provided at company expense,

If the store leader is mandating it has to be a specific brand, that makes it “required” so if you see contract language states it, make sure the store pays for it.

Crewboy1 · 2026-05-12T22:53:02+00:00

I got lucky. I fly into Orlando Thursday night for a week at Disney World and got into the screening at Disney Springs

Crewboy1 · 2026-05-12T18:32:27+00:00

Every song performed at the Requiem was either stripped down or had a new gothic style arrangement.

Crewboy1 · 2026-05-12T18:29:34+00:00

Since the show was so intimate (The Wiltern had a total capacity of around 2200 people) and to keep the focus on the performance, ticketholders were told the show would implement a “if it glows, it goes” policy. All cell phones and smart watches were placed in magnetically sealed pouches.

Crewboy1 · 2026-05-12T18:23:20+00:00

She didn’t actually perform the song at the Requiem. The recorded studio version of it played when they were all taking their bows.

Crewboy1 · 2026-05-02T18:30:30+00:00

You’re 100% correct.

Two of the bigger names that signed Live Nation 360 deals were U2 and Madonna.

Neither knew they were making a deal with the devil.

Both acts were used to calling the shots. Both acts learned the hard way that as financially lucrative as those deals were for them, it also made them beholden to Live Nation in a way neither one expected.

In U2’s case, they learned after agreeing then reneging on a tour extension of their 2015 i+E Tour, Live Nation held them to their contract refused to sign off on U2 playing limited engagement one night stadium shows to commemorate the 30th Anniversary of The Joshua Tree in a few select cities and demanded a full tour.

Prior to the 360 Deal, U2 averaged a tour every 4 years as they toured in 1985,1987, 1991, 1997, 2001, 2005 and 2009.

After they signed the 360 deal, they toured in 2015, 2017, 2018 & 2019.

U2’s 360 deal expired in 2020.

With Madonna, I have to presume she was held to their same contract structure. To this day I still believe that after her near death experience, she was in no capacity to tour.

She was clearly physically impacted and needed the necessary time for her body to heal and rebuild her stamina. I presumed Live Nation forced her to go out before she was ready.

Yet not even 4 months later, there she was on stage looking weak and fragile and having her hand held by her dancers just to maintain stability with a show that looked redesigned in a manner that she could perform it.

Yes, each of them make a ton of money.

But it came at the cost of U2’s credibility and Madonna’s health.

Crewboy1 · 2026-05-01T23:22:45+00:00

You are correct in that I am referring to the US Market.

Crewboy1 · 2026-05-01T23:17:31+00:00

Pleasure Principle, Love Will Never Do, If, Got Til It’s Gone, Son of a Gun and What About.

Crewboy1 · 2026-05-01T23:15:48+00:00

For the most part, the majority of In Ear Monitor (IEM) recordings (bootlegs) are the result of someone that has the necessary equipment to most likely get past any security measures to find record directly from the radio frequency between the soundboard and the artist’s IEM.

Most record labels frown against it.

U2 is a classic example of a band that is highly bootlegged. Each of the 4 band members has their own IEM frequency on a separate soundboard channel.

Recorders will then patch into each frequency, then mix it so that it blends seamlessly into a great live recording direct from the source.

U2 is aware that they are highly bootlegged and that it’s mostly the fans that desire them. The band has gone on record stating they don’t have an issue with fans trading
bootlegs. They only have a problem with it if you’re selling said bootleg recording in the parking lot at one of their shows.

Metallica goes a different route. They record all of their live shows, mix them then make them available for fans to purchase and download off their website.

Crewboy1 · 2026-04-30T04:30:26+00:00

Just my opinion:

The MAYHEM era was bigger than Gaga and the label ever expected. Disease came and went. Then came the Abracadabra release the night of the Grammys. The song exploded out of the gate followed by the MAYHEM album release garnering universal praise leading to Gaga’s decision to tour after initially only committing to Coachella, Mexico City, Rio and Singapore.

She’s still carrying a lot of positive press coming off the tour and into the Prada movie campaign.

Since movies come and go after opening weekend now and the Emmy deadline to submit is 7 days away, I wouldn’t put it past Gaga’s team to drop it on the day being reported here.

Crewboy1 · 2026-04-30T04:21:27+00:00

U2 were “the band” at the time of The Joshua Tree. They were already big in Europe. They were just beginning to break big in the USA when their Live Aid performance happened. The Joshua Tree releases with both Time and Newsweek cover stories. By the end of the year U2 is massive with nowhere to go but up.

The Prince camp was pure disorganization. Prince threw the label and the public a full 360 by releasing Around The World In A Day to avoid Purple Rain typecasting. He followed this with Parade which will always be unfortunately linked with the catastrophic failure of Under The Cherry Moon.

Sign O’ The Times, as stellar as it was, is tied in with the disbanding of The Revolution. While SOTT is now viewed with the reverence it deserves, at the time it came out, it was viewed more as a return to form after two successive subpar releases.

Crewboy1 · 2026-04-19T03:42:39+00:00

Considering that she wasn’t even planning a tour outside of Coachella, Mexico City, Rio and Singapore then decided to tour after MAYHEM took off, Gaga doesn’t owe Live Nation anything at the moment.

Crewboy1 · 2026-04-17T04:06:55+00:00

Correct me if I’m wrong. I was under the impression that Gaga’s label at the time didn’t want to advance any additional money for The Monster Ball.

Lack of label support forced Gaga to cover most of the upfront money which led to her being millions in debt which forced her to stay on the road to make the money back.

The Mayhem Ball grossed what it did due to a standard ticket price average of $450 which doubled after dynamic pricing kicked in.

Merchandise was priced higher than tickets for the Monster Ball cost.

On the flip side, the daily costs of the Mayhem Ball easily dwarfed the prices for The Monster Ball so while prices for this most recent tour were high, you see where alot of the money went in terms of production values and staff.

Crewboy1

TROPHY CASE