U2 were bloody brilliant.
Wow! I have found it very difficult to describe this gig without using an expletive closely followed by an adjective meaning "dead good". Bloody brilliant. F***ing awesome. Damn fantastic. The best gig I have EVER been to. I managed to run my phone batteries flat by taking photographs (most of which came out all black with a bright white light in the middle) and videos (which look a bit like the photos but sound as though someone is banging loudly on pots and pans whilst swinging the cat around the room) but as soon as it's charged and I've downloaded the pics I'll get one or two up here, so for those of you checking the site by email or RSS, check back.
The long and winding road to the stadium
I read a couple of reviews today and noted some folk were commenting on how badly organised the public transport was. To be honest, I didn't have a bad experience at all really. It took us a lot longer to get there than I'd expected. I've no idea where the stadium (ANZ Queensland Sports and Athletics Centre) was located but it seemed to take an age to get there from James and Melissa's place, where I was staying. Imagine my surprise when, after over an hour on trains and buses we drove past a sign for the Sunshine Coast. Given that James and Melissa live right next to the main road up to the Sunshine Coast this was a tad concerning. So, it is very likely that the duration of the journey was solely down to how shockingly bad Brisbane public transport is but, as most of the time I had no idea where I was and was just following James, I can't really comment. It was a wee bit stressful though as Jill got there at 6.15pm and had queued up and got our tickets and was standing outside listening to the support band, unable to go in because they wouldn't let her leave my ticket outside for me to pick up, whilst we were still waiting for a train in the city chatting up drunken Melbourne Cup tarts and trying on their hats. Other complaints I read included the fact that the gig was at such an out of the way stadium when there's a perfectly good one right in the city which is far more accessible by public transport. That seems like a fair comment to me.
Then when we finally got to the stadium at about 7.45pm (having missed the support act, Kanye West) we struggled to find Jill amongst the 45,000 plus other people meandering around. Eventually we did meet up and it was a pretty smooth ride from there really. James and Melissa went off to do their thing in the general admission mosh-pit area, which I think was a bit more stressful due to the vast numbers of people trying to get in through one gate. I heard they even ran out of beer.
VVV is for Vertigo
Jill and I, on the other hand, queued for about five minutes and made it in to the stadium in time to visit the loo, buy water, queue for booze tickets and then queue for booze. And then began the mission to find exactly where row VVV was. Yes, as imagined it was three alphabets (minus the X, Ys and Zs) up some steps . In fact we ended up pretty much as far away as we could get. Right at the back at the top of the stadium, slightly to the left but not much. Despite the fact that U2 very closely resembled ants from our viewpoint I think we had the best seats in the house. We could see the entire stadium and I got a good idea of what a 45,000-strong crowd looks like, we had a beautiful breeze (it being an open air stadium) and were way up in the stars. Generally I noticed that, other than the mexican waves undulating around the stadium prior to the band's entrance, the majority of people in the stands sat. It is ironic that the seated area is referred to as the stand and I really can't comprehend how anyone could go to such an electifying show and not get up and dance. We were fortunate that those around us were very enthusiastic and danced, sang, jumped up and down, stamped their feet, yelled and rammed on the corrugated iron at the back of the stand for the entire performance. There was an incredible atmosphere.
Lights, big screens, elevation and an electrifying performance
U2 didn't neglect us either. Not only did they delay the show by thirty minutes to ensure we'd got in and settled, they were also kind enough to have erected a 30 metre or so screen made up of goodness-knows-how-many lights right behind the stage, and two large screens either side of that which showed live images of each of the band members. The light show was incredible. From pretty patterns, to clips from their videos, to shots of the gig, we saw it all thanks to that big screen. They even dedicated two of their first songs to us. They didn't specifically state they were dedicated to us but... Vertigo... Elevation... it's fairly obvious, isn't it? There was also a circular walk-way which came right out into the crowd but we were so far away we could only tell there was someone on it when the spotlight shone down.
The performance was energetic and full of classic U2 anthems. I was expecting to mainly hear tracks from their latest album, "How to dismantle an atomic bomb" and maybe a couple from one or two albums before that but I was pleasantly surprised to receive something of a greatest hits performance with as many golden oldies as new tunes. I've included a track list below for those interested.
Yes it's f***ing political
Bono did go a bit political on us but I didn't mind. It's to be expected really and he's not aggressive or angry about it, he's passionate and informative and I happened to agree with a lot of what he was saying. He spoke mainly about ending poverty in Africa but he also mentioned Amnesty International and human rights abuses. He specifically mentioned David Hicks, the Australian man the same age as me who has been held in Guantanamo Bay for about five years now without trial. He called for David Hicks to be brought back to Australia. No more, no less but I was interested to note a division in the crowd. The people in front of us specifically weren't particularly impressed and Jill heard one of them comment that Bono "has no idea about Australians and Australian culture" or words to that effect. I was then interested to read this comment on The Courier Mail newspaper's website:
well Bono you overindulgent prat , Who the heck do you think you are? fact is most Aussies despise David Hicks He would have if he hadn't already shot at Aussie troops so the general consensus is stay out of our politics, sing your pretty little songs and go interfere in some other countries politics. Davis Hicks can rot over there and you can join him if you like,I'm not sure that this person is the best example of Australian intelligence, I do hope not as his grammar and puntuation are appalling, but it certainly gave me an insight into the Australian psyche with regards to this matter. A little while ago I read Enemy Combatant by Moazzam Begg, a British Muslim who was arrested and detained by American forces for three years without charge or trial before being released by the British government. He mentions Hicks in his book and talks about how he was a very quiet chap and didn't seem to fit in. Being white and western he struggled to converse with the other detainees, most of whom spoke some Arabic. He had also ceased practising his faith and was harshly criticised by some of the other prisoners for this. I have often wondered why the Australian government hasn't sought to bring Hicks back to Australia. Now I'm wondering if perhaps it is because the Australian people don't want him back. Personally I believe it is inhuman and immoral to detain anyone without trial, let alone subject them to some of the horrors reported by Begg.
A milky-way of mobile phones supporting a worthy cause
But back to the gig. One of the highlights was when Bono asked the crowd to create a milky way with their mobile phones. It was amazing, beautiful in fact to see all these tiny screens sparkling in the vast stadium. He then asked everyone to SMS their name to a number to show their support of the Make Poverty History campaign. And this morning everyone who did so received a text message from "Bono" thanking them for their support and directing them the Make Poverty History online campaign.
The last song of the encore was Kite, which made me think of Toby, and they finished by releasing a kite into the sky which was a beautiful and touching end to an extraordinary evening.
The home stretch
Except then there was the journey home and there have been a few complaints about this too. Buses back to the city, or Banoon station - the one that appears to be in the middle of nowhere by virtue of the lengthy train journey from the city to get there but is actually close to the road going to the Sunshine Coast - were provided but it was mayhem trying to get on one. There seemed to be no order, and you know how we Brits like our queueing. We attempted to get a bus to the city but it was just crazy. An impossible crowd pushing and heaving and who knows how long we would have waited. So we got a bus back to Banoon and really didn't wait that long, although it was a teensy bit hairy for a short time when the crowd discovered a middle doorway on the bus right close to where we were standing and practically pushed us onto it. We managed to get straight onto a train which took us all the way home and were were in bed by 2am.
Then I was up at 6.30am to begin the long journey back to the Coast. I'm now incredibly tired and I'm off to bed. Good night.
Track List
Would you believe I remembered all of the songs, only there was one I didn't know and I got another mixed up with something else. So, for the sake of giving them in the right order I borrowed this list from a website but I'll be jigged if I can remember which one:
1- City of Blinding Lights
2- Vertigo
3- Elevation
4- Until The End Of The World
5- New Years Day
6- Beautiful Day
7- Yahweh
8- Walk On
9- Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own
10- Love And Peace Or Else
11- Sunday Bloody Sunday
12- Bullet The Blue Sky
13- Miss Sarajevo
14- Pride
15- Where The Streets Have No Name
16- One
Encore:
17- Zoostation
18- The Fly
18- With Or Without You
19- The Saints Are Coming
20- Angel Of Harlem
21- Kite
(By the way, this afternoon's so called dangerous storm was a bit of a disappointed. After a couple of lightening strikes and moments after my last post, it changed its course and headed north, leaving us with darkness, immense amounts of rain, a bit of giddiness which soon passed and not much else, although plenty of nearby areas suffered hail and lightening strikes.)
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