OK, back for more.

Here is the review of the Dublin Coldplay/Interpol show for the U2-fan:

–>Interpol is just cool. They look cool, they do cool musician moves, they sound cool.

–>Coldplay came out after 9 p.m., but it was still completely light out. In fact, when we were herded onto buses at 11:15, it was still not entirely dark.

–>In Politik, Chris sang “Give me 20,000 Irish people in Marley Park. Give me Bono and Andrea Corr, Seann McGowan and Christy Moore.”

–>He claimed that this was the largest Coldplay show ever. But he must have meant a headlining show, because the people at Slane or Coachella would beg to differ.

–>They did a cool thing where they came out with disposable cameras, took photos of the crowd and then threw them into the crowd.

–>Like U2, they had to mention that they wrote the next song for Johnny Cash. It’s called “Til Kingdom Come” which is a great song on the record, but loses something live.

–>Before they came out, they had to play a Beatles song, just like our boys used to do. Instead of Sgt. Pepper, they played Tomorrow Never Knows.

–>Before the last song, Fix You, Chris said “I hope you all enjoy U2 this weekend. They’re still the best band in the world, but we’re a close….I don’t know. We’ll be second or third for the next couple of years.”

Extra Notes:

–>One of the differences between North American crowds and Irish is that groups of men find it perfectly acceptable to take off their shirts and hug each other while jumping up and down to the music. I asked my companions, but they declined.

–>Any wall-like surface becomes a urinal over here. The back fence was awash in liquid as a police officer stood by. Try that a Madison Square Garden.

It was a great show, I was far away, and it remained light out. Their songs simply aren’t as good as our band’s. But they had their equivalent of our Streets experience during In My Place with the spotlights.

Fun and relaxed. Water 2 Euros per bottle. Calling Woodstock: give that a try.

Back in a second…

AG.

SP is dragging me away before I can write anything.

Coldplay was fun.

Big ups to my homeys from Belgium who shared a pint with us last night.

More later.

AG

Notes:

–>I forgot to say how polite everyone is here. It’s really something. The cab drivers are nice, the shopkeepers are nice, even the bartenders are nice. They don’t do that thing in America where they look for the biggest tipper or the hottest plastic woman.

–>Irish people say the word “feck” much better (and more often) than we do. Sometimes in the middle of a word. Example, this weather is fanfeckingtastic. It really is sweet.

–>A word of advice if you’re going to more than one show out here. Keep it to yourself. Do not tell the hard-working cabbie that you might have tickets to all three shows. He may get pissed and try and guilt you out of a pair or two. You are here for one show and hoping for more tickets later. You’ve been warned.

–>A note to the international branding community. Why is a candy bar called something in one country, called something else in another. Except Skittles, which is a word that cannot be defined in any country.

–>SP and I ate breakfast with a nice couple from Chicago this morning. We mentioned that both of us have traveled to Chicago for separate U2 shows. He said his company was getting a suite for “team building” reasons for one of the shows in the Fall. When you wonder who those suits are inside the ellipse, look no further. Some people don’t know the luck they have.

–>Special note to those in Ireland right now. The paper mentioned that there was a possible rail strike on Thursday morning. Just in time for the Cricket championships and the U2 shows. Have a backup plan in place.

–>There was another article in the Irish Examiner today about the text messaging portion of the shows. In an incredibly humorous sidebar, which wasn’t meant to be, the paper helpfully listed what they called “The Setlist”. It wasn’t from any particular show, just the usual suspects. The funny part was, at the bottom, next to an asterisk, was the phrase “may change slightly” which all we fans know to be wishful thinking. May change slightly. We can all dream.

–>We took the train from Galway to Dublin, where I now sit, high above the crowds of sun-worshiping people. This is one of the most beautiful days I’ve ever seen. Grafton Street is buzzing. The train had more than one fan of Coldplay on it. It was jovial. Something we yanks don’t get to do much is just sit on a train and listen to headphones. Coldplay and Interpol shuffling on the iPod, as the countryside whizzed by. It brought a smile to our faces.

–>I am officially the tannest person in Ireland, non African/South Asian division.

–>If you’re going to the Coldplay show tonight, I’ll be wearing the white Angry Little Asian Girl t-shirt. I’m very shy so come say hello.

Back later with more,

AG.

U2 London Twickenham
Originally uploaded by rocktographer.

“rocktographer” has posted a bunch of shots from London to our @U2 Flickr Group, including this great closeup of Bono and Edge, and some others like it.

Great stuff — keep it coming, fans!

Just got back from a bus tour of the Cliffs of Moher and The Burren, which was pretty cool. The driver was an old guy who repeated himself three times no matter what he was saying. For example, “those cliffs are 210 meters, they are 210 meters, 700 feet straight down.” He was pretty funny, the crowd international, but here’s the U2 related stuff that of course no one else on the bus but me and SP would catch. He had a CD of Irish music. We knew exactly two songs. Dirty Old Town, which you might remember from the “Dream It All Up Again” show in 1989, or maybe you heard it on the ZooTV tour. Either way, did you know there was a second and third and even a fourth verse? Next up on the CD hit parade was Cockles and Mussels, which I swear I’ve heard on a live recording, but now can’t find on u2tours. So we sang along to those two ditties.

Another thing that’s going on here in Galway is that every bus service in town is offering rides to the shows for about 20 Euros round trip (or as they prefer here, “return”). So the band’s photo is up in a whole bunch of windows.

The Irish Lottery gave away a luxury box for 10 people at one of the shows. The cool part was that they needed to know the names of the people attending and those names couldn’t be changed on showday. I don’t know who donated the box, but the poster was cool. Entry was done by texting a central area. Congratulations to whomever won such a lucrative prize.

Those of you I’ve met know just what a wussy, sissy, girly drinker I am. Rum & Coke? fine; Cosmo? better; Lemon Drop? now you’re talking. So I was completely surprised by my newfound love of what they refer to here as the nectar of the gods, that is Guinness. Smooth, delicious, it even looks cool. And you can’t be in a hurry to enjoy it.

Answer Guy reminds you to drink responsibly.

Game we’re playing: spot the Yankee. Abercrombie and Fitch clothing: check. Raising arms to scream “Yahoo!”: check. I’m going to try out a Ukrainian accent tomorrow.

On the train tomorrow to Dublin in time for Coldplay/Interpol. Should be a good warmup. It isn’t getting dark until ten so I don’t know what bands do for their light show.

We’re getting close, people.

Talk to you tomorrow,

AG.

Hey gang. I hope this is what turns out to be the first of many missives from my hajj to the promised land. I’m about to do some touristy things that I’m embarrassed to report, but I’ll be back with U2-related stuff later tonight. For everyone headed out here for the shows, don’t be a stranger.

AG.