What fans need to know:
1. The #351 Special Event Express Bus Service from the NY Port Authority Bus Terminal to the Meadowlands WILL operate for the Springsteen concerts. First bus will depart NY Port Authority (board from "Area X" located at 41st Street and 8th Avenue street level) at 4:30 PM. Roundtrip fare is $10 (all customers must purchase roundtrip tickets). After the concert, buses will depart frequently for up to 90 minutes or until all bus customers are accommodated.

2. The new rail line gives New Jersey fans statewide rail access to the Meadowlands Sports Complex with connections at Hoboken Terminal and Secaucus Junction. Fans coming from NYC connect through Penn Station New York.

3. Trains will operate between Hoboken, Secaucus Junction and the Meadowlands Rail Station beginning at 3:30 PM. There will be no dedicated event mass transportation to the Meadowlands Sports Complex prior to 3:30 PM.

4. The Meadowlands Train Station is located near Gate B at Giants Stadium

5. Return rail service begins immediately after the concert ends and will continue to operate for up to 2 hours after the event

Those are just some of the tips you learned if you took a look at the document linked in Monday's Bruce Springsteen post. That's the same post that lists which album The Boss will be playing in its entirety each night of the Giants Stadium run that kicks off tonight (9/30).

As NBC reminds us, "Nearly 85,000 turned out for the U2 event last week -- the largest crowd in Meadowlands history -- and the massive delays getting to and from the stadium (up to three hours each way from New York) caused some fans to swear off NJ Transit altogether." NJ Transit is hoping to avoid those problems tonight.

Continue reading "Don't forget about the Boss bus to Giants Stadium "

photos by Tim Griffin

"This [U2] concert [at Giants Stadium] was originally scheduled for 25 September 2009 and was only announced after strong ticket sales for the show on the 24th of September. It was moved to the 23rd so that the stadium would be free to host a rescheduled New York Jets game.

During Muse's opening set, frontman Matthew Bellamy plays a snippet of U2's The Fly at the start of Uprising.

U2 change the setlist position of No Line On The Horizon: previously always second in the 360° Tour setlist, it is played tenth while Magnificent slots in at second. Breathe returns as the opener after missing the previous gig entirely. Unknown Caller misses a 360° Tour gig for only the third time. It's Bruce Springsteen's birthday, and although he does not join U2 on stage, the band play a medley of his song She's The One and their own Desire early in the main set; due to technical limitations, Desire is listed as a snippet. This is Desire's first appearance on the second leg, nearly two months since it was last played." [U2 Gigs]

Newsday also points out that "Bono dedicated "It's a Beautiful Day" to Quincy Jones, somewhere in the crowd, by blending that song with Michael Jackson's "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough.""

NY Times adds that, ""Walk On" was dedicated to Aung San Suu Kyi, the opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate who has long been under house arrest in Myanmar, and dozens of her supporters paraded onstage with her photograph."

The Star Ledger says, "It was the biggest concert in the stadium's history. More than 82,000 tickets were sold, and though an attendance figure was not immediately available, it didn't look like there were many empty seats."

82,000 tickets should help U2 come close to paying for what the concert actually costs to put on (though nothing about it will help pay back what it's doing to the environment... 200 trucks... 82,000 commuters...)

Speaking of commuters...

It went from cheers to jeers for throngs U2 fans as they tried to make their way to and from last night's concert at Giants Stadium -- and many warned those headed to the final show tonight to be prepared to wait at the train station.

Some New Jersey Transit riders say they waited for up to two hours for a train and that it turned a wonderful night into a nightmare.

Concertgoer Andrea Giantonio tells 1010 WINS what should have been a 20 minute trip home to Hoboken took over two hours.

NJT officials say there were plenty of trains, but there were too few ticket machines to accommodate the throngs of people.

And they do it all again tonight (9/24). The rest of the pictures from last night, and the setlist, below...

Continue reading "U2 played Giants Stadium - pics, reviews, the setlist & lots of angry people stuck waiting in train stations"