U2 And Black Eyed Peas 360 Tour Finale In Vancouver

by amyellensoden | October 29, 2009 at 12:52 pm

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U2 and Black Eyed Peas Vancouver | Photo 02

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Last night I went to the final stop on U2's 360 concert tour with the Black Eyed Peas at Vancouver's BC Place and the concert definitely lived up to the hype. Our seats faced directly onto the open bowl area where hundreds of fans were stood waiting for Bono and the boys. The infamous 360 stage was definitely something to look at. The claw-like structure loomed over the standing crowd waiting to come alive at 7pm.

The Black Eyed Peas arrived on stage to a torrent of noise as the lights went down in the 60,000 capacity arena. will.i.am got the crowd going with some banter before the band launched into some of their new songs. They played one of their first hits, "Where Is The Love," mid set and the entire stadium sang along with them. Fergie performed her chart topper "Big Girls Don't Cry" and the Peas performed their newest track "Meet Me Halfway" in which Fergie is prominent. I was honestly in awe of her vocal ability. She has very clear, strong vocals and her talent is definitely showcased live. Fergie was clad in spiked heels, a black vest, and had her hair slicked back. She looked and sounded fierce.

"Pump It" was the next Peas track that really got everyone moving and joining in with them. The Black Eyed Peas have this infectious energy that you can't help but feel with them. Their newer song "Boom Boom Pow" sounded incredible in the arena. Strobe lights began to flicker everywhere in sight. The bass shook our seats in the plaza level and I couldn't see a single person sitting down.

Before leaving the stage and bidding Vancouver farewell, The Black Eyed Peas hyped up the crowd with some more chit-chat before launching into my favourite track off their new album - "I've Got A Feeling." Everyone was dancing, everyone was singing, who knew that U2 fans were also such big fans of the Black Eyed Peas? It felt like we had arrived at the biggest party of the year. The Peas left the stage and after a pretty long change over, it was time for U2.

When U2 took to the stage, BC Place was overcome with noise and cheering. Bono, in black on black and sporting his patented shades immediately started to make use of the elaborate stage set up, moving around to see all of the fans. The Edge, Larry, and Adam began to rock out with Bono. They started off with a few more recent tracks and everyone got moving to their new sound. Bono took a few moments to speak to the crowd, announcing that he'd been out on the town in Vancouver last night. The band played great tracks such as "Get On Your Boots," "Mysterious Ways" (to which we all danced badly, how does one dance mysteriously?), "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For," and "Beautiful Day" at which point the lighting turned an electric green and white lights flew up and down the claw-structure of the stage.

My favourite songs of the night were "Elevation" and "Vertigo." Their performances of these two tracks literally rocked the senses. Multicoloured lights flew up towards to ceiling of BC Place for "Elevation" as the the crowd threw their arms up. As Bono counted us in to "Vertigo," the electricity in the place came alive. A tower above the stage started spinning up towards the ceiling flashing lights. The huge screens set up above and around the 360 stage started to spin with the chorus as images of Bono and the band flickered around in a circle at a dizzying speed. U2 definitely succeeded at creating an atmosphere for this song in particular.

The band interacted with the crowd some more, and Bono announced that Bill and Melinda Gates were in the VIP section at tonight's concert. He thanked them for their contributions to good causes and then had us all sing Happy Birthday to Mr. Gates himself. U2 then took the chance to thank the Black Eyed Peas for their energy and enthusiasm during the world tour. After the thank yous were over it was back to the music.

Some great songs were performed towards the end of the night. I loved their remix of "I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight" which created a similar atmosphere as the Peas did earlier with some of their party tracks. Everyone chanted the chorus along with Bono as the back beat surged through BC Place. "Sunday Bloody Sunday" was followed by "Walk On" which is possibly my favourite U2 song of all time.

The concert started to wrap up with a series of encores including their song "One." Bono described the situation of a political prisoner in Burma and asked to crowd to sing a sweet song to her along with him. We all sang the lyrics to "One" as messages flickered across the wide screens above the stage. Some finals tracks of the night were "With Or Without You" and "Where The Streets Have No Name" to which the lights became fiery orange and red. Everyone in BC Place was with the band until the end and still begging them for more as they exited the stage.

U2 definitely went out with a bang on their final 360 tour concert. It didn't matter what seat you had in BC Place or if you were huddled in the standing floor crowd, the place came alive and everyone shared this band's amazing music together for a solid 2 hours. Bono at one point took a moment to describe his own feelings about this particular tour. He expressed that no tour had ever quite given him this feeling and that he was literally in awe of the love and support that had been given back to the band. I definitely won't be forgetting this show anytime soon and the sense of unity that only this band can create amidst a crowd of thousands.