Special thanks to Michael Richardson for filing his report, and for providing us with some photos! To see his photos, visit here. A highlight, as Michael points out below, is that Bono’s brother, Norman, was at the show.
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What can be said about a U2 show that hasn’t been said before? The band wowed Sydney again last night with an impressive set list of favourites and an energy that many younger bands would struggle to match.

My friends and I arrived at Telstra Stadium 6 hours before the gates opened and by then there were about 400 people ahead of us in the line. Within a couple of hours this number had doubled and we started to get our first orders to bunch up. Two or three times there was movement and excitement in the crowd, with rumours that the gates would open early and we all surged forward only to be disappointed by announcements that gates would open at the published time.

As we waited in the blazing afternoon heat, the road crew went through the sound check and we all strained to pick the chords and the beats. “That’s New Year’s Day; is that on the set list?” we all wondered.

Late in the afternoon storm clouds began to gather from the west and calls to family confirmed that rain was imminent. As we waited the skies clouded over and, while there was the odd drop or two, it soon passed over us. Or so we thought.

Late in the afternoon the crowd control people handed out leaflets with instructions on what was allowed and not allowed in the stadium. It also had the all important map of the arena showing the stage and general admission crowd barriers. There was no ellipse but two B-stages reaching antennae like from the stage, encircled by a crowd barrier. Everyone wanted to be in the inner circle. Who would make it, what were the entry criteria, could we get in we all wondered.

At 5:30 the cheer went up and we moved as one towards the gates, bags checked and bodies scanned we jogged our way under the stadium with futile shouts from the crowd officials not to run. Once out on the field we hurried towards the front where many had already taken up their positions in the inner circle. There was no order of priority; those who got there first got the best positions.

At last we made it through to fin ourselves only 4 people back and half way along the outside of the left B-stage. Everyone was blown away about how close we were to the action. We may be only a couple of years younger than the band but we giggled with the excitement of a child at Christmas. As Bono says, “You can’t take the boy out of this man”.

Kanye West tried hard to please, but many wondered why he was there and knew nothing of him or his music. With plenty of up and coming Australian rock bands, he was an odd choice. A bit like having Kylie Minogue supporting the Sex Pistols!

At 8:30 the house lights dimmed and the sound of the Arcade Fire boomed across the stadium. And the rain began to fall! Road crew scrambled to cover equipment up but we all knew there was no turning back from here. Instead of dulling the mood of the crowd, we all seemed to move closer to each other and the intimacy of the night increased.

When the intro to City of Blinding Lights started and the band hit the stage, we erupted as one in a sea of arm waving adulation. We had waited 9 years for this tour, held our tickets for 11 months and queued for many hours on the day. Nothing was going to dampen our spirits. At the end of the song Bono gestured to Edge to keep it going and sang a few lines from “I can’t stand the rain”.

Then it was a full on assault of the eyes and ears as they launched into Vertigo, Elevation and Until of the end of the world. It was during this latter song that Edge lead the first foray onto the B-stage, much to the delight of the crowd around me.

So far the set list had been exactly the same as the Vertigo DVD from Chicago, but to my disappointment, there were to be no songs tonight from Boy. Instead we were treated to New Year’s Day and a euphoric Beautiful Day that delivered, as if on cue, the end of the showers; leading Bono to sing a few lines from the Beatles’ “Here Comes The Sun”.

The Edge was certainly on fire, as Bono had promised us, but Larry seemed to be drumming with a renewed passion and more physical menace. Yahweh therefore gave the band and the audience a chance to stop and catch their breath after a frenetic opening cluster of songs. But not for long as this was immediately followed by a powerful rendition of Walk On.

Before introducing Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own, Bono dedicated it to his brother who was in the audience that night. Oddly, he called him Bob before suggesting that they were all called Bob in his family.

The middle of the set brought on the political anti-war triplet of Love and Peace, Sunday Bloody Sunday and a searing Bullet the Blue Sky. During these Bono paid tribute to those Australians who died in the Bali bombings and talked of the need to “Not become a monster in order to slay the monster”.

With Bono commanding attention on the right-hand B-stage, Adam made a well received voyage along the left side reaching into the crowd with his bass. Over the last couple of tours he seems to have become comfortable wondering out into the limelight and receiving the applause he so richly deserves for his anchoring role within the band.

Included within Bullet were a few lines from Hands That Built America and Johnny Came Marching Home. Larry’s pounding drums were a potent match for Edge’s blistering guitar.

Miss Sarajevo made another appearance and seems to be gaining acceptance as a legitimate and worthy entry in the U2 canon; mainly due to Bono’s accomplished handling of Pavarotti’s part. His holding of the long note towards the end makes the hairs stand up on the back of your neck.

The exultant Pride was followed by the equally elating Where The Streets Have No Name; which Bono again aligned with Africa’s “journey of equality”. This song has always been a visual delight but the coloured lights and flag images really take this into a new dimension.

One brought out the activist in Bono as he urged the crowd to take out their cell phones and “make a milky way of lights” and to help stop the stupidity of poverty. The names of those who sent a message to the One campaign that night appeared later on the giant light screen. One concluded with the “Here us coming” verse and brought the opening set to an end.

The first encore took us back to the giddy days of Zoo TV with Bono at his posture posing best when delivering Zoo Station; which was followed by the furious buzzing energy of The Fly and concluded by With or Without. During this one Bono hauled a girl out of the audience to dance with him and as she left he broke into Joy Division’s “Love will tear us apart” but there would be no “stars in the universe” tonight.

The encore finished with some spontaneous humour from the band as Bono firstly signed off with “It’s goodnight from Bono”, only to be followed by Larry signing off by borrowing from the 70’s English comedians “The Two Ronnies” by saying “And it’s goodnight from Bono”.

To wild cheers from an adoring crowd, U2 returned to the stage to give The Saints Are Coming its third public airing. A borrowed song perhaps, but one that U2 played with unsurprising ease given their punk roots.

The Angel of Harlem made an appearance, providing another opportunity for the audience to indulge in a sing-along echoing the words of the singer; before the set was closed with Kite. For this the band were joined on stage by a didgeridoo player. I love this song so much for its heart aching words and passionate vocals; but it never struck me as a show closer yet it fits in so well.

The emotion of the song was increased when a colourful kite was lofted high above the audience by helium filled balloons and swayed in the breeze. Beneath it the singer attempted to burn through the string as he rhetorically pondered which way the wind would take it. As fate would have it, the kite crashed into the giant visual screen bringing a gasp of despair from those watching. But the singer had faith and after a view moments it broke free of its snag and floated off into the night sky lit by a spotlight from below. Bono sang “I know that this is not goodbye” and so did we. We knew we’d see them again but we also knew that the time had come to bring this show to close.

You always leave a U2 concert wanting more; wishing that they could have played another particular song that you wanted to hear; but you never leave disappointed with what they did serve up. There were no dud choices in this set list and after the break they really did sound refreshed and ready to give it their all. After nearly two and half hours and 21 great songs we all went home satisfied that it had been well worth the wait.