Special thanks to our Vertigo Tour correspondent, Stephen Dixon, for filing his report! (Grab a tasty beverage…it’s a great read!)
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Phowar! It took them a while to get here, but after The Wait – missing out on Elevation, being at the tail end of the Vertigo tour, and finally the extra year or so between ticket sales and the concert – the boys finally made it to Melbourne. And delivered.

This story starts even before that. I got on the U2 bandwagon after the release of Rattle and Hum, did Lovetown and settled into Joshua-Tree era U2 quite comfortably, but drifted away for a while during the Zooropa and Pop era. I slowly came back with ATYCLB, arriving fully in the midst of the anticipation stretch prior to HTDAAB.

With HTDAAB still on Very High Personal Rotation, the eventual announcement of the Pacific leg of the Vertigo tour is welcomed. The party is decided – my two nieces Dragana and Ivana, who are in the teenage years, and my brother-in-law. The girls discovered U2 in a casual way with Beautiful Day and have since been primed through exposure to a good deal of the back catalogue. =) My brother-in-law is more of a casual fan who cited Zooropa as has favorite era.

Tickets proved to be the first challenge. It’s been a while since I last bought tickets - like early ‘90s. I’ve never done phone ordering (and definitely not internet ordering), just the traditional Queue Outside The Department Store With The Ticket Sales Counter From Early In The Morning thing. For the first show I decide that the progress of technology has to have made this redundant. Get to work early. Log in. Attempt to get on to the website. Fat chance. All I get is the “We Are Overloaded” splash page.

Refresh.

Same.

Refresh.

Same.

No change at the end of the day when I leave work. Even though the tickets sold before 11:00 AM I believe. D’oh.

Second concert announced. Phew! Second chance at tickets. Right: back to the traditional method. Didn’t do the overnight thing, but got up early. Off to the local news agency which has a ticket sales counter. NO queue. Huh? Where’s the queue? “Good morning, sir. U2? Yes, take this numbered ticket. We shall serve you all in order when the tickets go on sale at 9:00 AM. Number 85 in the queue? No. That’s the second book. You’re number 185.” Thank-you. Off to the nearest department store with a ticket sales counter.

This is more like it. A 100-yard queue featuring people with (and in) sleeping bags, chairs and blankets; playing cards, reading books, chatting. I join the queue with others who had missed on tickets for the first show. 8:00 AM: the queue is allowed to move inside and up the escalators to the ticket counter. Some of us take advantage of the fact that the queue snakes through the furniture department. Some keen ones from the front are counting the queue; I’m about 50, apparently. So far so good. Fellow queuers have friends sitting in front of a computer at home. I’m doing this on my own. Since The Goal is general admission, I think I’m in with a chance of getting what I am looking for.

9:00 AM: sales start. We move forward. Lady in front is on the phone to her friend who seems to have got through to the web site, just as we are nearing the counter. She’s able to leave the queue once being certain that friend has indeed got the tickets for her group.

Word in the queue is that A-reserve seating is already sold out. Glad I’m going for general admission, otherwise I’d be sitting a long way back… I have no problem getting my four GA tickets. I finally get them in my hand, and the day begins to return to normal.

The announcement comes…No show…New dates to be advised soon… sometime… In the words of a controversial Australian tennis player: “COME ON!”

Finally the new dates. November 19. Sunday, not Saturday. During Dragana’s exams. Oh, well. We’re not bailing out now…

Finally the day arrives. It’s a hot one. Forecast temperature is into the high 80s. The nominated entrance is on the north side of the Telstra Dome – in the sun. We drive in, find parking and walk around to Gate 7 at around 1:00 PM.

There’s scary notices on the ticket about not bringing cameras. I leave my slightly bulky G3 behind.

The ‘queue’ consists of a number of barricaded bays around the perimeter of the stadium. We are able to get into the fourth bay. Like sheep in a pen. Good enough to get into the front area near the stage, I guess. Now the wait. We’re in the sun, but at least on the east side so we’ll be soon in the shade. So we sit and wait. Talk. Play mobile phone games. Get let out to visit the refreshment stalls and toilets. Should have brought a paper or deck of cards as the more experienced ones have (obviously I forgot the department store queue a year ago).

Amnesty International have a stand near the gate, but it seems to be a bit quiet for them. Perhaps it’s their choice of theme, calling for the release of David Hicks, in Guantanamo Bay after being arrested in Afghanistan in late 2001.

A sound check. Mostly bits of noise, not much that’s decipherable. Just a bit of Sunday Bloody Sunday’s intro.

More waiting. Alternating between sitting and standing on the concrete, seeing trains go past, others sitting, milling, waiting. Two girls walk past with a long banner proclaiming “iwant2work4bono.com”. Not sure of their motives. Maybe I’ll check it out later.

T-shirt sales seem to have gone well. There’s a back catalogue of U2 wear in the crowd as well, some Popmart, Rattle and Hum, and some 2005 Vertigo stuff around. All high credibility stuff before EBay…perhaps less so in 2006. There’s a few Kanye West t-shirts around too – hope they don’t get bored with the main act.

Suddenly everyone’s up and crowding towards the end of the pen closest to the gate. I muse if it’s for real or if someone just scratched themselves in bay one and triggered a reaction. Soon bay three is drained and then in another moment we get the chance to move forward.

Good fun keeping the party together in all this… The security guards tell us to remove bottle caps from all bottles (so Bono won’t slip on one?) and have bags opened for inspection. Since I’m traveling light all I have to do is toss my cap. Might as well toss the bottle too, since I’ve drained my last water. Nobody seems to care about cameras.

Even though we’re bay four, there are other bays on the other side of the gate that were created after we arrived. So we’re more like bay eight, then. Anyhow, let’s try to get a decent spot near the stage. Hand over whole ticket (where’s my memento? “We’ll give you back one as you leave” Yeah, right.) .Run – oh, security guard, fast walk a bit – run, etcetera across to the front with everyone else. Keep close track of young nieces. Despite their jeans being a little too tight for a fast walk.

We end up between the two runways that lead to the B stages. Not right at the front, but just a few yards back and virtually in front of Edge’s domain on the stage. We don’t have the light curtain here, but the rear is a screen made of a large array of lights in blocks, while the HTDAAB theme of red on black strips and targets is a strong feature of the staging.

It’s now around 5:00 PM. So we still wait. A group nearby start a drinking game. A security guard is happy to take time-out at this early stage to watch with interest. We note the new apartment tower that gets to see into the stadium and wonder what the sound shall be like up there. My nieces glance around and spot a Tom Cruise look-alike. Well, I suppose there’s a resemblance… They take photos from afar on their mobiles before Ivana gets up the gumption to ask for a photo with him.

A briefing about how there is a minute chance of one of the girls being called on stage sometime by Bono, so be prepared to accept the invitation should it happen. More alternating between standing and sitting to balance the strain on legs and posterior. A breeze blows a few times, but otherwise the person density is adding to warmth of the evening.

Getting out for refreshments and relief involves working back through the crowd around the B stage peninsula, getting a dotty stamp on your neck, getting someone else’s ticket back form a security guard at the edge of the area and the anticipation of having to get back inside to your party again later. Brother-in-law looks after sustenance and Goes-Beyond-The-Call, bypassing the food stands inside the stadium and heading back towards the railway station for some Subway. Beats hot chips with tomato sauce. People are buying beer and Coke in open cups and bottled water – with bottle caps. Keep them away from Bono, fellas…

The stage has a row of seats and mikes. Kanye West will not be working alone, but has, in addition to a pair of backing singers and DJ, a string section featuring a harp, cellos, and violins all played by ladies wearing various black dresses and red rectangles across their eyes.

At the appointed time the support act begins. The reaction is somewhat mixed. Some get into it, some try and some don’t bother. Certainly there is a lack of familiarity with the material for a large part of the crowd. Being unfamiliar with the lyrics, I find the sound is not clear enough to help. Although he does seem to have a fixation with rectums. He gets the best reaction with a song (is that the right word for this genre?) that includes a snippet of Sweat Dreams by the Eurythmics. At this point, many more join in to sing along. He expresses appreciation for getting the chance to tour with U2. Fair enough, too.

Then is The Transformation. Lots of activity to rearrange the stage for the main act. And nothing dropped as far as I could see. An average-looking Mexican wave is eventually kick-started in the crowd after a lot of effort and a game of crowd beach ball happens towards the centre of the general admission area. Technicians make sure everything is right. Two kids get to pose on stage with guitars and receive a warm welcome.

At around 9:00 PM the main act begins. Bono enters via the right B-stage with an Australian flag draped around his neck. His jacket’s lining also has the flag theme going, although he has to show us both sides as if to prove it’s not just left over from the English leg of the tour.

As with other shows on the Australian leg, City of Blinding Lights opens the set, followed by Vertigo. Seeing it live gives a fresh perspective to the lyrics, such as:

…As the boys play rock and roll,
They know that they can’t dance,
At least they know.

I never thought of that as biographical until now.

Snippets of other songs are included, although as with Kanye West, not all are decipherable to these ears. He still hasn’t forgotten his meeting with Kylie, though. Spinning Around gets a brief run following Elevation.

For those of us who have not closely studied all of the lyrics in detail, it is interesting to hear some of them more clearly than what is on the studio album. So It’s “Your in the mud”, not “You can educate my mind” in Elevation! (Editor’s note: Bono sometimes makes up lyrics…so the album version may indeed be correct - just that Bongolese set in and he decided to shake it up a little bit.)

The set continues with a good mix of songs from most albums although Pop again seems to be the orphan, along with October. I Will Follow is absent tonight, though.

The boys make good use of the B-stages as they play their rock and roll. Our position near the front means we end up turning to the rear to see what they are doing behind us on many occasions. Our spot at the axis of the catwalk is probably the next best thing to being up against the barriers with in reach of Adams guitar, Bono’s hand, and etcetera.

The First Time makes a welcome (to this listener) appearance. New Year’s Day is not sighted. So a few changes to what may have been expected. But it’s all good. Bono proves he’s not a tenor by singing the Pavarotti bit of Miss Sarajevo in a different key, but well.

The two concert newbies are having a fabulous time, soaking in the atmosphere and the experience. Swinging to the music. Is it bad that my nieces’ first concert experience is U2 at close range? Nothing else will ever be as good!

The surrounding crowd seems to mostly have a good handle on U2’s back catalogue, and even The Saints Are Coming has a surprisingly good number singing along.

The boys are definitely starting to look a little older now. Being close to the stage allowed us to get a good look at their faces. And, sorry girls, I think it’s even starting to affect Larry. (Author ducks airborne tomatoes.) I’m just glad the music’s as good as it’s ever been! (Author ducks airborne tomatoes from a different set of readers.) (Editor’s note: I’ve got a case of tomatoes I’m sending your way - oh, wait…can’t ship ‘em through customs - you live another day tomato free, Stephen!)

The two encores don’t seem to be a surprise. Bono’s choice of lady-from-the-crowd is surprised and quite a bit shy about getting up on stage with him for Mysterious Ways, but she warms to the role and gets through it okay. Sorry nieces, you didn’t make it up there this time!

The launching of the kite during Kite had us wondering whose backyard it would land in before it dipped back into the stadium a few minutes later. Perhaps an extra helium balloon would have helped. What I want to know is, who scored the kite?

As someone who had reviewed the setlist of the shows in the other Australian cities, the biggest surprise came at the end when Edge starts chiming the introduction to Bad. There’s a rousing reception – and a snippet of “40“ has us all singing in the time-honored fashion.

Gaffe (or pun?) of the night ends up going to Edge, who, after stoically enduring a few minor technical glitches during the show and Bono’s comments about being pedantic about getting everything right, says good night to all of us Sydney-siders to the bemused looks of his colleagues.

Attempts by the crowd to revive “40” after the boys had left the stage were going well, until drowned out by the Go-Between’s Streets of Your Town making its final appearance on the Australian leg of the tour, as the signal to say it’s all over, go home to bed (as Bono had suggested during the last encore…). It’s impossible for us all to compete with that…

So after nearly a year of waiting (or nearly a decade, depending on how you look at it), U2’s last concert on Australian soil is over. What a night!

When did you say you’re coming back again, boys?