The PR people pushing HBO’s upcoming “Off the Record” premiere were kind enough to share with us a half-dozen photos related to the show, including this one of Edge that I would call “dreamy” if I were a girl. 
Other shots include Bono and Edge during the interview, plus Bono, Edge, and Dave Stewart in a studio portrait.
You’ll find all six in @U2’s Flickr Group.
The Australian radio station Triple M 105.1 FM has temporarily changed their name to ‘U2 FM’ in honor of the Vertigo Tour and the new release of U2 18 Singles next week. @U2 reader Dave tells us that “Nothing but U2 songs have been played. Nobody knows how long it will stay U2 FM.”
An all-U2 radio station that will last indefinitely?! Sounds like heaven to me.
Special thanks to Peter Wells for filing his report. He’s also shared with us some great photos too. Check them out here. It’s a long read, but one you’ll enjoy.
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Editor’s note - here’s the “official” setlist as printed for the show:
“I Should Be So (Third Time) Lucky!”
After Monday’s concert, I decided against staying up till the wee hours of the morning, writing my blog as I had for Friday and Saturday. Walking home after Saturday’s concert, my friend Andy proposed and agreed that I should “Write it [the blog] while it’s still fresh”. After the concert on Monday, I said that perhaps this time I would go to bed in the hope of finding that my thoughts had distilled themselves. Moreover, with two concerts under my belt and very little sleep between them, my head was swimming and my ears were still ringing. It was like having a mushroom cloud-swarm of cicadas inside my head. And not while they’re nice and quiet, stuck underground for 17 years in their nymph stage either. I mean a scorching summer’s day, with multitudes of them flying around, ’singing’, where the bush (Australian equivalent of a forest or wood) sounds like, well, the inside of my head after a rock concert, I suppose. Would I lose some of that immediacy by writing the next day? So much ‘happened’ at Monday’s concert, I think it was the right decision to let the dust settle, just this once.
I should elicit a warning though – this could go for a while. I do my best to tell an interesting story. As a first-timer, I’d been giving this ‘blogging’ a little bit of thought. It’s not supposed to be a ‘review’ of the concert like you would expect to read in a newspaper or magazine. I don’t even think that I should be scrutinising Bono’s humanitarian activities; that’s the job of the @U2 News Desk, isn’t it?! This is for a fan site, where most readers either: have been to a concert; will be going to a concert; want to go to a concert. While, with years of analysing the band’s activities, we could probably tell anyone that that was a weak crowd, wrong note or a scorching set, it’s never going to change the fact that most ‘fan site fans’ are going to enjoy a U2 experience simply because what they play and what they represent simply strikes a chord with us. So, this blog is not a reviewing blog … this blog is, err … a chance for me to offer my perspectives on the concert experience, share some stories that made the night memorable, and add something the U2niverse. There was something interesting at almost every step of the way on Monday, so I guess this is one for the trainspotters. Here we go!
I woke up on Monday to a rather grey morning. It was drizzling and the sky over Homebush (the location of the concert venue) was dark grey. Andy, who is commonly known as ‘Lappo’, called me to discuss our travel plans. We had intended to catch the train once again, but the possibility of inclement weather made driving seem like a better option. It was raining when we arrived, and those already in the line were huddled together, wearing ponchos, under umbrellas, and even under tents. On sunny Saturday, I arrived at almost the same time and the line was four times as long. Perhaps the line was shorter because Monday’s more of a work day, because it was raining, or possibly because this third Sydney show wasn’t sold out. I’d been wondering whether this might affect the quality of the crowd or the performance.
I felt that this was a pretty important concert. Not only is it the final one that we’ll be seeing, but it’s also the final shot that Andy has to get into the ‘horsehoe’. That term has somehow made its way into my previous blogs, and various other reports I’ve read; I probably felt compelled to use it as it seemed others were becoming accustomed to it. But for quite a while, I’ve looked at the outdoor stage design for our Sydney shows and thought “It looks like those diagrams from my biology / anatomy textbooks”. And so I offer the term ‘U2terus’ to definitively describe the Vertigo tour stadium stage layout forevermore. I always thought that if you consider the lyrics of ‘All Because Of You’ that say “… I’m being born / I just arrived / I’m at the door / Of the place I started out from / And I want back inside” the concept of the U2terus perhaps starts to make a little more sense, if you know what I’m sayin’, but I digress. I want to see that Lappo gets right up close tonight. He was brutally denied on Friday, and he was late, coming from his cricket match on Saturday. This was it. We wanted to be there early because we wanted to be close.
The clouds blew away and we were left with a mild, but sunny afternoon, which was not as unpleasant as Saturday. While Lappo returned our wet weather gear to the car, a lady came over to see her friends in the line with some exciting news. She had been waiting outside the vehicle entrance to the stadium hoping to snare autographs if any of the band members would hop out of their cars. It was her lucky day, as she revealed the signatures of Edge and Bono on her white t-shirt. She said that Bono and Edge were there for about 10 minutes, signing albums, shirts and tickets. I asked if she was attending the concert this evening, and she was not, having already been to the Friday and Saturday shows. I thought that this was a rather clever idea with a ‘best of both worlds’ feel – you get a good dose of U2 from the two concerts, then come the next day to get an autograph or photo. However, not every city will get the luxury of multiple concerts.
As I mentioned in Friday’s report, we like to play the song guessing game. We’re trying to identify songs that might get the cut, their replacements, and any additions and modifications that Bono might sing. As suspected, Michael Hutchence got the nod, and in a way, I anticipated some sort of showing from Midnight Oil (ex-lead singer Peter Garrett appears in the Zoo slot machine sequence). After the rehearsal in Brisbane, it was revealed that a dash of Kylie Minogue’s ‘Locomotion’ was weaved into Elevation. When I told this to Rico and Lappo on Friday, Lappo laughs about the prospect of Kylie’s ‘I Should Be So Lucky’ finding its way into a U2 number, much to the amusement of those in the queue around us. Our “I Should Be So Lucky” joke is still amusing on Monday, and seeing as Bono made a guest appearance at Kylie’s Sydney opening show on Sunday night – performing the duet, ‘Kids’ – we think that perhaps Kylie might reciprocate and join Bono tonight. Lappo, with his encyclopaedic knowledge of 80’s rock music, jokes that perhaps they could perform ‘Especially For You’ – a duet that Kylie did with then both onscreen and real-life boyfriend, Jason Donovan. I don’t know the lyrics to the song, but I won’t be forgetting the performance if it happens.
The sound check today was rather interesting. We’ve been listening carefully every day to get a potential head start on the set list. For instance, Saturday, I picked up a bass line, starting gyrating around and told Rico to “Name this one!” Mysterious Ways – one of Ric’s favourites from the U2’s concert videos. But it never made the set on Saturday or Friday. Monday, and we are teased again with not just the bass line to Mysterious, but the whole thing, with the live solo-to-outro. Then, ladies and gentleman, let me tell you … I Will Follow! The sharp, opening riff of the old warhorse seemingly cut through the concrete and steel, drawing a cheer from eager crowd outside. Lappo and I crossed our fingers, as we’ve been hoping that U2 draw something from their much earlier years; we really loved the reinvigorated Cry / Electric Co. (Bullet With Butterfly Wings) to An Cat Dubh / Into The Heart medley from the Vertigo Chicago DVD. Now, if only the take Pop for a spin. We also hear All Because Of You, but have a hard time deciding on a song that this might replace. For no good reason, I casually comment that I in my opinion, I’m sometimes surprised by the number of times I’ve heard people yell (in a bootleg) or request, via a sign, for Party Girl to be played. It’s like a badge of old-school U2 hardcore-ness, and quite a unique one at that, seeing as it was originally a B-side. Then, what really draws a big cheer from the crowd are those delay-laden E’s that mark the commencement of Bad. This is another song that we’re both big fans of in all its incarnations. This, and the prospect of a segue into 40 have us really excited because it will make for a vastly different concert, but there are very few places that these two songs could sit effectively in a line up like those we had recently experienced. Still, we cross our fingers that someone inside - possibly Edge, the genius that he is - may be able to solve our currently solution-less equation.
Lappo and I are in almost the exact same spot as Rico, his entourage and myself were at the same time on Saturday. I must also thank the venue staff who, this time, had the sense to continually remind everyone in the queue to stay seated until it was much closer to opening time. Better late than never, guys, but cheers. Would you believe though, that Lappo still has a spare ticket in his pocket today? When the third show was announced after the two previous sell-outs, we thought that we’d still like to go anyway. The tickets to the first show were originally bought by me in the ticket presale. Neither of us managed to get ‘extra’ tickets for the first show when it went on sale to the public. Despite securing our place, I didn’t want to take chances on the second show when it was announced, and I went to camp outside the ticket office in the city to be close to the front of the line when tickets went on sale on a Monday morning. A sore behind would be much less painful than missing out on tickets if the ticketing web site melted down, which it unsurprisingly did. Lappo was hedging our bets by trying to get tickets online, but by the time I had them in my hot, little hands, he received no joy from 45 minutes of constant reloading.
But the third show? Well, we’ve both had our fair share of finance and economics lectures in the last few years, so I can tell you that the market was clearly saturated by this point. Lappo and I were both instantaneously and simultaneously successful with the third offering, and we both bought more tickets than we needed. By concert Monday, I had managed to offload my spares, but Lappo still had one left. It was very close to 5:30pm, when the gates should open, when I heard someone yell out “Spare tickets?!” I yell out, “Buying or selling?” and I can now see someone pacing on the outside of the fence. He’s looking to buy and I grab Andy’s arm to tell him that he could have a buyer. “Face [value]! Face! For $100!”, we call to him. There’s a pause and suddenly we hear back “I’ve got another one down the front!” Suddenly, another ticket springs up in the air from somewhere behind us. I tell Lappo that there are other offers and we quickly agree that it’s better to get a sale than nothing so the price has to be cut (economists and financiers, remember?). The buyer has considerable power here too, as you’ve got to ask, what good is a spare ticket when you’re already in line? “Do it for $75?”, the buyer calls out, and Lappo calls back that he’ll take it. I pass the ticket through the crowd and the buyer starts sifting though his wallet. We know that the gates are going to open soon, and the sense or urgency has us calling for him to hurry up. We seem him with a $50 and a $20, but looking for a $5. Lappo calls out that he’ll “… take $70, just get me my money before the gates open!” The notes are relayed back through the queue and Lappo tucks them away. It was an exciting in a non-rock ‘n’ roll kind-of way, but things are about to step up a gear.
The gates open, late, and we’re off. Lappo asks how I walk so quickly, but I tell him that I’ll save him a spot if he won’t catch up to me. He doesn’t, but I’m back in the U2terus again, and would you believe it (you would), the exact same spot as I was on Saturday night. Lappo comes though with plenty of time to spare and he is a happy man to be touching the fence, as it beats the hell out of what he had the other night. 3000 will be in the U2terus again tonight. I’m watching those beach balls again. All two of them. That get confiscated by the security guards. Tonight, the crowd is not as receptive to Kanye as it was on Friday and especially Saturday. It had me thinking again about whether the whole night might end up a little flatter. I decide to take a risk, and I inflate the beach ball that I brought. Yet, after cleverly releasing it behind me, someone clearly not familiar with the concept of ‘concert beach ball’ and the ‘fun police’ security guards, hits it onto the target. It wasn’t even out there for 10 seconds. Much booing ensues, and finally, the guard hits the ball back into the crowd. Hurrah!
The technicians are testing the guitars. Bass technician Stuart Morgan comes down the right walkway to the target. He has appeared rather focussed the last two nights, but tonight, he hands one of Adam’s blue Herdim picks to a lady down the front. Give it to me; she looks like she doesn’t play guitar, but I do. Bono’s guitar technician, Fraser McAlister, then makes his way down and having seen Stuart relinquish a pick, hands reach out to him in hope of a gift. He stoops down, but isn’t so kind, and cheekily waves his arse at the crowd. Dallas Schoo – Edge’s guitar technician – makes a journey to our target, which he did not do on Saturday night. This gives me a little confidence that I might get a chance to photograph Edge tonight, as he didn’t come over on Saturday either. Maybe he has been reading my blog and is a bit worried about me telling the world what I think of his hands (I’m sure they nice too!).
Those stairs are near me again tonight. We hear a cheer go up from the over on the right and we know that the band has just entered the stadium. My much beloved ‘Wake Up’ begins and commotion towards the front of the stage makes us think that Bono will be coming up the stairs again tonight. The lights are off, the smoke is billowing out, Adam, Edge and Larry are in place, and there’s more movement near outer side of the walkway, near the stage. A black cloth separates and I can see something moving in black, red, blue and white. It is Bono, again draped in the Australian flag. His entry is not the most elegant, and the roadies give him a bit of a push from behind as the clambers up onto the stage from close to ground level. But who cares? They’re out, and this final chapter of the Sydney story is about to be read and written.
[Editor's note: Peter shares the extra song snippets Bono snuck into the setlist were: Vertigo (incl. 'Pump It Up' by Elvis Costello) / Elevation (incl. 'Spinning Around' and 'I Should Be So Lucky' by Kylie Minogue) / Beautiful Day (incl. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band) /Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own (incl. 'No Regrets' by Tom Rush) / Bullet The Blue Sky (incl. Johnny Comes Marching Home and The Hands That Built America) / Trash, Trampoline and the Party Girl (incl. I Should Be So Lucky) ]
Tonight’s set list unfolded beautifully. Bono – effectively our crowd thermometer – was leaping around as the opening songs tore out of the speakers. Crowd mustn’t be doing too badly then? Nice. Vertigo gets the crowd jumping, and I’m extra thrilled to have Lappo by my side. As the band move into the reprise at the end of the song, Bono drops in some extra lyrics. Lappo can see me struggling to decipher what it is and shouts at me “It’s Pump It Up – Elvis Costello”, and boy, was it pumping. Great addition, that one.
Bono purrs ‘Last night I got to sing with Ky-lie! Tonight?… We’re all yours!” Show me a crowd that wouldn’t go wild to hear that. Elevation begins and it again works wonderfully in karaoke mode. Before Edge rips out those Creep-esque crunches, Bono again pops in ‘Spinning Around’, much to the delight of the crowd, but I sigh a little because I already heard that on Saturday. Until … he snaps into ‘I Should Be So Lucky’. I turn to Lappo and yell loudly “He did it! He put it in! You called that, Andy! I can’t believe he did it!” People are looking at me jumping up and down excitedly. They were probably thinking ‘If he loves Kylie so much, what’s he doing at this concert?’
I look to the stage and see Dallas handing Edge the Explorer, and I direct Lappo’s eyes to the pair. “No Les Paul - they’ve scrapped Until The End Of The World. Must be Beautiful Day”, I call, but boy, am I in for a (pleasant) surprise. While outside, I thought that I’d like to use my camera to record some of the ‘different’ songs that we get this evening. I hadn’t dared take any video footage as I’d been trying to amass stills, but current ‘rarities’ are too good an opportunity to pass up. I’m left with no time to organise myself though as Larry clicks his sticks above his head and Edge tears open the space-time continuum with I Will Follow, transporting us back to 1980. I feel that I’ve missed too much to get a nice, complete recording, so I decide to enjoy it and start leaping around again. Bono throws the microphone to the crowd during the chorus, and he gets the response he’s looking for, loud and clear.
New Year’s Day starts pulling us back toward the present and Adam again generously makes his way down our walkway. The Explorer returns to Edge’s hands, and it’s back to the future as the band belt out that perennial crowd-pleaser, Beautiful Day. I try and listen carefully to what Bono adds during the bridge, and I’ve translated it to something like this:
“See the world in green, white and gold,
see the city that never grows old.
See the Opera House with ten sails,
Telstra Stadium, New South Wales.
[can't make it out] … in full bloom,
in November, after the full moon. See the bird with a leaf… etc.”
Edge’s black and white Stratocaster appears and I’m thinking Bad. But now I still haven’t found what I was hoping for, because it’s I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For. Bono, commenting about what we might call ‘mild weather’, wipes his brow with a towel and says “This is hot if you’re Irish!” He continues, thanking and praising Kanye West. Drawing a big cheer, Bono then says “We like it much better, being in Sydney with The Edge, I’d like to say that! What a talented man. An advanced, carbon-based life form”. He tells us that the band love coming here under our big skies, and then extends his gratitude:
“I just wanna thank you for you patience, and waiting in line, and all the trouble you went to to get tickets. This is the third night – never been done before. They say it’s never going to be done again. Do they not think we’re coming back?! [Huge cheer] We’re travelling salesmen, aren’t we, Larry? We’re here to sell our wares… We’ll give you our souls; we won’t sell them!”
And then they took the crowd to church. Gorgeous. Again.
By the end of Found, Bono is down on the left target, dancing and soaking up the crowd’s refrain. Bono points back toward the stage and Edge strikes up Angel Of Harlem. I think that the Beautiful Day / Found / Angel triplet works wonders tonight. Beautiful is a big song that everyone loves singing and reaching out to. We’re encouraged to sing in Found, but even while it’s a slower song, Bono’s words in this next crowd favourite infuse a sense of intimacy in this panoramically sounding song. So, the crowd is just in the mood to sing and sway for Angel. At the end of the song, Bono has three young children – replete with earmuffs - pushed from the crowd, up onto the stage. He said something about ‘cousins’, but I don’t know if they’re from his family as he jokingly feigns interest by saying “Yes, go, on! Take your pictures. Hmph! Off you go!”
Bono, still on the walkway, takes his sunglasses off without fanfare. For instance, on Friday, when I was on that side, he walked down and said “… my father would always say ‘Take off those f*cking sunglasses’”. Sometimes is dedicated to his brother, Norman, who has been out here with the band. Bono tells the story of how he and his brother would watch his father conduct opera on television with their mother’s knitting needles. He finishes the song with a snippet of ‘No Regrets’ by Tom Rush (I had to do some homework!), which is a little bit more understandable than what I believe was something in French, that he sang at the end on Saturday. Piaf, perhaps?
Ahh, now this is where things start to get a little interesting. For one, my camera is charged up, so when Larry comes down for Love And Peace, I can take photos, finally! Bono comes to sing in his ear, and take his Coexist headband from beneath the stage. Larry runs back, leaving Bono with the drum kit. Is this the sign that Bono was full of energy tonight? He whacked the drum so hard the first time he hit it, that the drumstick flew out of his left hand and bounced across the stage. Still trying to get some better photos for you all, I had my head stuck behind my camera, but I could hear it drop to the floor, and had caught a glimpse of it falling out of the corner of my eye. I have to say that Bono did a great job of covering up here, because he didn’t stop drumming to pick it up. He just beat the kit with the one stick that he had, until the roadies passed up another one from beneath the stage. Full of adrenaline and in the spotlight, would you remember to keep drumming, I wondered?
My ribs get poked by a finger on the right-hand side. I turn around and see Lappo, grinning from ear to ear, but with eyes full of shock and awe (didn’t meant to dive into the Republican phrasebook there). His fingers are pointing downwards and he says, as my eyes descend, “I’ve got his drumstick!” Can you believe it? The stick dropped to the floor and I thought it would just get picked up by a roadie quite quickly. But Andy saw it, stooped down and started to reach under the fence. He told me that he motioned to the nearby security guard to kick it out to him, which he did, and bingo-bango, Lappo has just scored an amazing piece of concert memorabilia. “Mate, you had better stash that down your jeans! You won’t be able to jump around to any more songs, but I think that’s a small price to pay!”, I tell him. The drumstick is a Pro Mark Millennium II 5A New Generation. It is ‘Hand-finished in USA’ and made of ‘Japan Oak’. There is a picture of a sumo wrestler on the side. This is all the writing it has on it. It’s smooth and cannot have had much use, although there is a ding or two in it, probably from where Bono hit the side of the drum before he sent it flying into Lappo’s eager hands.
Bono has made his way back to stage after helping to kick off Sunday Bloody Sunday. He further notes that on Friday and Saturday, the band have dedicated this one to those who lost their lives in the Bali bombings, but makes an addition tonight. He pulls a young boy up on stage. Lappo and I saw this boy lining up close to us early in the afternoon. I remember seeing him in line and saying “Andy, how old do you think? 12? And on a Monday? I don’t know that his teacher’s going to be too thrilled.” That’ll make for a pretty amazing show-and-tell news story come Tuesday. I’m not so sure that ‘Rock concert’ is as acceptable excuse as ‘Has chicken pox’ though. But to Sean – this young boy’s name – I think any amount of detention will not diminish what you were able to experience that night. And how ‘fitting’ that his name was as Irish as Sean. Bono said that praying that we don’t become a monster to defeat a monster is a prayer for the next generation, which Sean is a part of. Bono then had him yell the ‘No More!’s into the microphone. His young voice was loud and piercing (I’ve got a cicada in my head with your name on it, Sunshine), but the crowd lapped it up all the same. No need for ‘Rock The Kasbah’ tonight, then.
A quick guitar change and Edge bashes his way into Bullet. Curiously, I noticed much less clapping with the drum beats tonight. Lappo loves Bullet. Loves that opening bottom E, loves the Hendrix-ness of it, loves the anger, and loves the solo. So we’ve been a little bit disappointed by the new version that Edge has been whipping out this Vertigo tour. It’s definitely got a bluesy feel to it, which I suspect may have come because he of his involvement with the Music Rising project, with its roots in the hometown of blues, New Orleans. So, Edge, from me, its thumbs up for the new, understandable, creative angle, but a frown and puppy eyes because we’d loved to have seen you run a virtual Hurricane Katrina through your amps. Because Bono still drags himself down the walkway with the Coexist blindfold on, I think I could be debated down that Bullet hasn’t made an official transition into being about the troubles in Louisiana. Just a thought though. I’ve also been impressed that the flare that Bono lights burns out at just the right time, when they finish the song. Is Willie [Williams] behind this sort of thing? He’s good, no?
Miss Sarajevo is again well received, and as a big fan of this song, I hope they don’t hide this one away once the tour ends. Bono again dedicates Miss Sarajevo to the safe return of our military service men and women from overseas as the Articles from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights rise from the bottom of the screen. This has been a lovely touch, and it is something that is probably better appreciated by the stadium at large, as it’s a little bit harder to read from right down the front. Bono has us again cheering and waving “…for Martin Luther King’s dream! Not just an American dream, but an Irish dream! An Australian dream! An African dream!” Everyone chants the ‘whoa-oh-oh’s and we begin our ascent to Streets. Since Friday, Streets hasn’t given me that same cathartic feeling, but there is still no disputing that it’s a force to be reckoned with.
Bono has been having a bit more fun with us at the beginning of One since he asked us to wave our mobile phones on Friday. He now says that we could use them to “Call your mum … Order a pizza … Flirt with a stranger”, or use them to lend our voices and say no to poverty. The stadium, even though it isn’t as full as Friday and Saturday, produces the ‘Christmas Tree’, which is still a sight to behold. I think that Bono has been quite ‘well-behaved’ with respect to his speeches. He has been able to retain poignancy in all of them without going on for too long, particularly in One, which has now become the sonic medium through which he has been communicating the Make Poverty History message.
One finishes and the band head back behind the stage. Lappo and I agree that we might be about to witness some interesting set list changes. We could get hit by semi-trailer full of Trabants with something from Achtung Baby or Pop. We could quite go for a Bad / 40 / WOWY for first encore. Or, it could be Bad / 40/ Kite for second encore. Could Mysterious Ways make way for WOWY, a la PopMart? And what might precede Mysterious? Surely it’d have to be more Achtung Baby, so perhaps Even Better? We soon get our answer though, as the stage remains dark without the Zoo Station sequences. But I can see Edge emerge with his Les Paul and I’m sure it’s Until The End Of The World. I’m right, and after Edge’s guitar screeches out the introduction, the stage again explodes in white, like from the headlights of that semi-trailer. There aren’t as many people that I can see who are leaping to this one like the crowds from earlier concerts. The way this one ripped out of the box, I fail to see how the crowd could be too ‘tired’ at this point, and I think it’s a case that a lot of people here just don’t know it. Track 4, Achtung Baby, guys. Check it out. We love it. Edge still does not make an appearance, choosing instead to leap up to Larry’s drum kit, but today, Bono descends into the crowd at the front for a while.
He has made it around to my target stage again for the end of the song. The stadium is dark, and then, the synthesisers and wah-wah pedal get a work out as Mysterious Ways blasts out across the ground. Bono jumps around the target, encouraging the crowd to pump their hands into the sky with him. He skips, comfortably and boyishly, down the walkway as he begins the second verse. Adam comes down to pay us yet another visit – he’s the bassist that just keeps on giving. As Edge draws into his solo, Bono motions to someone to come out of the audience. They take their sweet time, but eventually Bono draws this young lady close to him and holds her for a while. He gets her to sit down on the corner of Larry’s podium, while Bono returns to jump and sing for us. Bono took a girl for WOWY on Friday, but not Saturday. Tonight, he’s not tampering with the classics anymore, and our Mysterious Girl is given a new job – Monday’s love song hug-ee. Not a hard job … if you can get it!
Bono asks us to blow a kiss to heaven for Michael Hutchence before Edge begins his outro in WOWY. Second encore opens with Saints, as indicated by Edge’s explorer. Following this, Edge is handed an acoustic and I suggest to Lappo that we might be getting some Yahweh, which we last had on Friday. But no; we get something a little older. Edge begins strumming and I yell to Lappo quite quickly that it’s Party Girl. Pretty special, I tell him, and so spooky that I had commented about this one earlier. Like Desire on Saturday, Bono promptly runs into trouble with this one, and calls a conference between himself, Adam and Edge. It seems like they must have told him to just do a little bit more ‘hoo-hoo’ing when in doubt, but he eventually manages to tell us about the three people in the song (Trash, Trampoline and Party Girl). Bono makes a nice little change, singing instead “When I was three, I thought the world revolved around me: I was ‘right’”.
After all the misdirection, Bono’s technician, Fraser, hands a bottle of champagne to him (how could this help the situation?!), whereby Bono then says “That’s what happens when you take six months off [cheers] … You turn to the drink!”. He pops the cork, shakes the bottle and showers those in front of the stage in the champagne. Bono returns to the microphone to tell us that “I know a girl, a girl called Ky-lie!” If you think that we think that nothing could ‘equal’ the weaving of ‘I Should Be So Lucky’ into Elevation, you’d be wrong. Because we found something that made the grade: the weaving of ‘I Should Be So Lucky’ into Party Girl. Twice in one night? That’s either very amusing, or very lazy! Bono tells the crowd that he “always finds endings a little tricky” and that it’s a “singer-thing” to want to go on and on (yeah, I know your problem, mate!), but he does manage to conduct the rest of the guys to a finish.
The yellow balloons were being readied for Kite – the final song. A roadie came quickly down the outside of the stage in front of us. I had my camera up in the air and did not see him till the last moment. He stuck his hand out and said to me “You’re a hardcore fan. Here’s tonight’s set list”. I managed to squeak out a “Thank you!” before he walked over to help with the balloons. I slide the crumpled and folded sheet into my pocket immediately. I turned to Lappo, now with a big grin on my face and he asked “Is that really the set list?”, to which I could only reply, “Well, it’s not coming out of my pocket again, but I certainly hope so!” It’s no drumstick, but I think it’s a great piece of concert history from a ‘historical’ and fan point. And for the record, a roadie called me a “hardcore fan”. I don’ think it could possibly get much more official than that. But why did he call me “hardcore”? Was it because he saw me there in that spot for two nights, or three if he came around to the other side of the stage on Friday and looked two rows though? (The last scenario’s a little unlikely, admittedly.) Was it because he saw me jumping high, and singing at everything – especially the rare songs? Was I simply lucky, lu-cky, lu-cky, lu-cky? Was I simply lucky in love? Or was it because he saw me in my Elevation European Tour t-shirt? And if you’ve been paying attention, you’ll ask “Peter, I thought this was your first concert?” Then I shall retort “That is true, but it’s not the first time I’ve bought U2 concert t-shirts off eBay”. I’m hardcore, remember?!
This moment really hammered home how amazing a day (at the very least) we had had. Lappo and I entered the gates from exactly the same position that I did on Saturday. Most importantly, he finally got into the U2terus. In a seemingly impossible case of déjà vu, I end up in exactly the same space as on Saturday. We even felt that getting some of the changes in the set list was noteworthy. But then Andy gets a drumstick and I get a set list. For a guy who ended up on the outside of the U2terus on both nights, with his mates stuck on the inside, to finally make it in and then pick up a piece of kit … Well, let’s just say that Andy isn’t harbouring many hard feelings about Friday and Saturday anymore. And for the reporter to get the set list, too? No wonder I didn’t feel like writing straight away!
You’ve got to think, giving a bit of a nod to chaos theory, that what happened this weekend is pretty special. I know that we didn’t have any meetings or sightings of the band outside the stadium, but I’d like to think that I’ve given you all a pretty unique insight into the concert experience. I don’t think it would be almost enough to call it a ‘beautiful day’. More like a divine one. And really, a divine weekend.
Kite has been a joy to behold each night. We have had Tim Moriarty on didgeridoo, joining the band for this beautiful song. His father is an Aboriginal tribal elder and his grandfather is from the south-west of Ireland. I don’t know whether the band will take Tim with them for performances of Kite on future tours, but I think they should give it some real thought. The droning of the didgeridoo worked brilliantly underneath Edge’s sliding and the string loop and it personalised the concert in such a distinct way for Australian audiences. I just can’t fault Edge’s new second solo either. However, watching songs like Yahweh, Walk On and One getting chewed up earlier in the set list had me scratching my head about the closer. It made me yearn for 40 all the more, which never came, sadly.
The recurrent theme on U2 albums and concerts, was that they do not end with the feeling of a ‘kick’ (unless it’s a second rendition of Vertigo), but with a ‘kiss’. Watching Saints go to Angel on the first night really had me wondering whether that rush of blood was going to stay in our limbs, or whether it was going straight to our hearts. Any anxiety I had couldn’t last long though because I love Kite in all shapes and forms. Already an important song to me, I found additional meaning and symbolism through its place in the set, and on Monday, it simply had extra gravity. I was in awe of it emotionally on Friday, but singing “I know that this is not goodbye” doesn’t hold as much gravity when you know that you’re going to see the band the following night. Well, tonight – Monday night – is the final night in Sydney, and that certainty of knowing that it’s not goodbye is replaced with a feeling of hope that it’s not goodbye. There’s no big fan in this Great Southern Land, who, having waited for eight years, could tell you that they aren’t just a little bit afraid about how long it might be before we see our favourite band again. Kite, with its call to let go and the reassuring lyricism of its chorus, is the right song that Aussie audiences deserved to be kissed goodnight with for this particular tour. We don’t know where the wind will take you either, but we pray that it blows our way again soon.
Lappo and I make our way out of the stadium. Every couple of minutes, we find ourselves turning to each other, starting each sentence with “I can’t believe…”. Lappo and I discuss how on earth we would be able to track down signatures to put onto our treasures, but we know that the band has long gone. Lappo suggests that in the remaining days of his week off, we should make a road trip to Adelaide or across the Nullarbor Plain to Perth to chase down a signature. I’ll let you know if it eventuates. But in the mean time, we’ll be getting frames and glass cases made up to store our prized possessions. Then, to drop a favourite Australian quote, they’re “… going straight to the pool room”.
So, it is all over now. For us, it has been an incredible couple of days. I think that you’ve been able to tell that we have really been waiting for these moments for a long time. We were not disappointed. Every night felt different and it was not simply because of changes to the set list. I find it pretty hard to compare all three concerts. Lappo and Rico both thought that Saturday’s concert was perhaps a little better than Friday’s, and Lappo further thought that Monday’s was perhaps a little better than Saturday’s. For me, it was still pretty hard to top the anticipation, emotion and satisfaction that I felt on the first night. My highlights for the whole weekend? There’s so much to choose from! And knowing the words to every song makes it even harder because everything then appears like a hit! Broadly speaking, nothing is quite as much fun as a song that gets the whole crowd singing, jumping and waving. Unique songs were great, whether it was the appearance of a big number or a sleeper hit. It was great being able to see the shows with people who also share a similar level of devotion to the band. It really all starts with Lappo, because if I wasn’t standing around a camp fire on a school camp, pointing at the cassette player that he smuggled into his rucksack, saying “I Will Follow. Lappo, do you like U2 too?”, none of this would have happened. Attending the last concert with the man who started it all is a nice way to bring things full circle. Before I found someone who liked the same band as me, I was too afraid to admit I even had a favourite band. Then Rico got dragged into it too. The two of us have rolled under doors to buy first copies of albums, and we’ve written our names on the wall at Windmill Lane and inside the Siegessaulle (Stay film clip) in Berlin. For all of us, this weekend marked the condensation and precipitation of our own historical, musical storm.
But some specific, unforgettable moments? The rain at the start of Friday created something special. It made for an anxious mood and I won’t forget the moment that Arcade Fire’s Wake Up began to tear through the weeping sky. The heat from the crowd in those early songs seemed to evaporate the rain before it struck our heads.
Miss Sarajevo every night: it’s a unique song, a beautiful one, and as Bono held his operatic notes long and loud, he just sent it into orbit.
Still Haven’t Found was amazing too; it’s one that the crowd loves to sing along to it. With Edge chiming away and Bono opening his heart to the swaying crowd, it never failed to condense the vast feelings of one’s entire life into eight minutes each night. In a moment of intimacy and truth, it truly did, as Bono requested, take us to church.
Getting to the fence on Saturday, and being able to touch Adam and Bono … You always say beforehand that you’re going to shake their hands, but honestly know it’s impossible unless you’re in the right place at the right time. Death to impossibility!
When I was called a ‘hardcore fan’ and was handed the set list, it felt as if the blessedness surrounding Lappo must have rubbed off on me. Awash with adrenaline, I found that final performance of Kite on Monday to be more poignant and special.
Where The Streets Have No Name into One on Friday night. The gravity of this couple, the expectation I placed upon them … they did not let me down. There is not too much I could say about them, because they drew all the air from my lungs. I could be as comfortable discussing them forever as saying nothing about them, but they speak for themselves. One. Streets. Nothing more needs to be said.
If you made it all the way through, my congratulations and heartfelt thanks; I hope you enjoyed it. It was such an amazing weekend, and I feel pretty lucky that interesting things happened to me and my friends so that I had a unique perspective to share with you. I’d like to send an enormous ‘Thank You!’ to Sherry and the Crew from @U2 for giving me what may well be the most important and meaningful literary opportunity of my life. Of course, and on behalf of Sydney too, my ongoing thanks to Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jnr.; I think you’ve given us great lives too. Unlike Kite, I know that this is “Goodbye”.
Thanks to Sarah Richardson for sharing with us her first-ever concert experience as she joined her father, Michael (see his blog entry below) at the last U2 show in Sydney. She does mention about Bono bringing up 3 of his cousins onstage (a question posed on the @U2 blog.)
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“This is a bad concert, especially if it’s the first concert you’ve ever been to. Nothing will ever be as good.” Those were the words of a lady standing next to me in line, as I queued for the U2 concert. I have to admit that she was right; I don’t think anything will live up to the concert on Monday night. It was awesome!
The wait seemed to go on forever, although in reality it was only about 6 or 7 hours. I had heard so much from my dad about Friday’s concert that I just couldn’t wait. The only question was; could I get into the inner sanctum? After a late start, the gates didn’t open until 5:45; there was a rush to get to the inner sanctum. We made it! We ended up about ten rows back from the centre of the stage. Then the wait began again.
Before we could see U2, we had to sit back and watch Kanye West. There is a reason I bought ear plugs! To be honest I give him credit as an artist, he just wasn’t the right artist to open for U2. For you young people out there, it’s like having My Chemical Romance open for Rhianna.
Then finally the time came for U2 hit the stage. Larry, Adam and The Edge walked on stage, but where was Bono? He came running onstage with the Australian flag wrapped around his shoulders, while the band played the opening chords to City of Blinding Lights. Without as much as a word to the crowd he began to sing. True to the name of the name of the song the lights were blinding.
Without breaking momentum the band broke into Vertigo. It was an entirely new experience to see 70,000 people counting to four in Spanish, and using the hand signals that go along with it. Next came Elevation, and the screaming of the song didn’t stop. I learnt a valuable lesson here, do not be a small person in a crowded mosh pit unless you plan to mosh! Wonder how Bono coped when he was younger?
Bono broke into one of several Kylie snap shots with Spinning Around; he would later try his hand at Lucky. Still on a high from Sunday night I wonder? A shock to the crowd came when the Band launched into I Will Follow. Many people cheered and joined to jump in. This song is older than I am, but growing up with my dad ensured that I still knew the words, so the singing began again.
The next number to hit the set was New Year’s Day; this was followed by Beautiful Day. Interacting with the crowd, Bono changed the refrain to include references to the Opera House, Sydney, New South Wales and finally us here at the Telstra Stadium. The crowd got a kick out of that one!
Another crowd pleaser came in Still haven’t found. Here, for a short time, Bono pulled onstage three of his young cousins. This wasn’t the last time crowd members joined him on stage. We them broke into Angel of Harlem, followed by Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own. Straight after this came Love and Peace Or Else, here Bono pulled on a headband/blindfold which he later told us said Coexist. Bono pointed out that in the spelling out the word Coexist, there was a Muslim sign, the Star of David, and The Cross of Christ.
Sunday Bloody Sunday saw another youngster, about 10, pulled on the stage. Sean was asked to yell out “No More” several times and remained on the stage for the duration of the song. We were asked to “imagine that Sean’s generation was the one to Make Poverty History.” This was the first of many mentions of the poverty that rocks this world. The Band then started up Bullet the Blue Sky which was followed by Miss Sarajevo.
My dad was over the moon with the introduction to Pride, yet another oldie that I know the words to. Next came one of my personal favorites Where the Streets have no name. Especially in a crowd this is a touching song. After this Bono asked us to pull out our mobiles. The lights went off and everywhere you looked you could see mobile’s raised. We were asked to join the campaign and Make Poverty History. We sms’d our name to 191 221. (For those of you who want to join the campaign.)
The Band took another break here, before coming back with an encore set of Until the end of the World, Mysterious Ways, and With or Without You. During this song, Bono pulled an ecstatic girl in her early twenties to the stage and kissed her hand. He sang With or Without You while kneeling in front of her, the look on her face was priceless.
Another short break before the band came back with The Saints are Coming. The energy in the crowd was pounding. Next they brought back another old favourite, Party Girl and the show was finished with Kite. The send off was so moving, they had a kite which they flew, before setting it free on “I know that this it not goodbye.”
Bono asked us not to forget them. He told us other bands would come and go, but he asked us to keep them as number one. He said “Do they not think that we will come back.” Maybe this is a hint that there will not be such a big gap between tours. I certainly hope so.
For my first concert it was absolutely awesome. There was so much energy, all of the band got into it. The view was amazing, and the band lived out and surpassed my expectations. The merchandise available was great (just ask my mother, she has to pay the bill) I will never forget my first concert. I will never forget U2.
Special thanks to Michael Richardson for filing his latest report from Sydney. He’s also passed along some photos - check them out here.
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The anticipation of seeing U2 for the second time in 3 days was more intense than waiting 11 months to see them on the Friday after purchasing the tickets. Getting into the inner circle on the first night was amazing; could I do it again? What songs would change for this concert? Would the band be in a party mood with three gigs down and this the last night in Sydney? Would it rain again as they had forecast? How would my 14 year old daughter find her first ever concert? The answers to these anxious questions follow.
With apologies to those that missed out on any night, the answer to the first question I’m pleased to say is “Yes”. I had resigned myself to not making it in tonight because of how far back in the queue I seemed to be, but I really wanted to be there so that my daughter could witness U2 up close and personal. (Editor’s note - we’ll have her review shortly).
I have to say the Lord was gracious and not only got us in but had us near the main stage. For the Love Town shows in 1988 I was 3 rows from the very back of the Sydney Entertainment Centre and I can tell you that it is a completely different experience when you are so close to the stage. You feel like you’re a participant in the show not just an interested observer.
Despite a sudden but heavy down pour at lunch time, the show was dry (other than a Bono induced shower mentioned below).
There were 6 song changes for the night. Gone were Yahweh, Walk On, Zoo Station and The Fly; while End of the World moved from the main set to the first encore and Angel of Harlem from the second encore to the main set before Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own.
The first change for the night came after Elevation when the opening siren call of I Will Follow rang out across the stadium. How excited was I? Had the band read my earlier review and the disappointment of not hearing anything from Boy on Friday night? If songs could have a genealogy then Elevation and Vertigo would surely be descendents of I Will Follow; sharing intensity and a sense of urgency as common genes.
The next change was the inclusion of Still Haven’t Found, which had an elongated intro chord as Bono firstly mysteriously disappeared from the stage only to return and talk to the crowd before introducing some tiny young cousins, complete with ear muffs to protect their hearing. It seemed like Edge or Larry must have signalled to him to get a move on because he rushed them off stage and started the song. This great sing-along song was followed by another with the relocated Angela of Harlem.
Was the band in party mode? Absolutely! I don’t think I have ever seen Edge pogo up and down so much (or at all) in any of the concerts I’ve attended or watched on video or DVD. He just seemed to be so relaxed and intent on enjoying the night. Adam likewise strutted around full of exuberance, constantly smiling at the crowd. Larry was he usual self, tight in his drumming and equally tight with expressing emotion.
Bono was in his element of course; flirting with the girls, talking incessantly to the fans and singing so many snippets of other songs. His appearance with Kylie the previous night had clearly had an impact as he tried his hand at “Spinning around” and “I should be so lucky”. I’m sure I also heard lyrics from the Beatles, Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin during the course of the evening.
At one point Bono acknowledged that other bands would visit our shores and that we would want to see them too; but he asked that we keep U2 as our number one band. Which we all promised, of course. He also noted that no one had ever played 3 nights at this venue and that someone had said it was a record that would not be broken. He then raised our hopes by asking “Do they not think we’ll come back” and with that he promised not to leave it so long.
During Sunday Bloody Sunday he hauled a young boy out of the audience, similar in age to Gareth from the Chicago DVD. He talked about how young people like Sean were the hope for a peaceful future and got him to belt out “no more” a few times.
The first encore brought the next two changes with the slot machine footage being followed by End of the World and then Mysterious Ways. During this song Bono danced with an aboriginal looking girl and made her hang around for With or Without You.
The last change and biggest surprise of the night was kept for the second encore when Party Girl made an extended appearance. I’m sure that most of the second generation of U2 fans were wondering where this one came from but for the fanatics and diehards this was a welcome bonus. Bono brought out a bottle of champagne to mark the occasion and promptly sprayed it all over the audience. Then there was this odd moment where he, Edge and Adam stood in a huddle and seemed to just talk among themselves, oblivious to the crowd around them, although Edge was still strumming away. Eventually they broke up and launched into the song with us all singing along too.
It’s always hard to compare concerts and I’m sure the most recent always leaves the strongest impression but I think I would have to say that the combination of being closer to the stage, the different set list and taking my teenage daughter to her first ever concert made this the best U2 show I’ve witnessed.
It wasn’t quite up there with the sheer joy and ecstasy of the Slane Castle show, but they were definitely in a very relaxed and comfortable frame of mind. Yet they were never in danger of being lazy or complacent. Tonight’s set list had bouts of energy, moments of seriousness and some poignant, reflective moments. But most of all it provided so many opportunities for band and audience to interact and be one. And that is what makes U2 the best in the world for arena shows.
When I’m surfing the Net at work while waiting for something to do, I try to keep it at least somewhat work related, which means news sites and grammar blogs. And today, my two favorite things — U2 and grammar (I’m a geek, OK?) — converged in one place. Bill Walsh, copy chief at The Washington Post 
and author of a couple of my favorite books on copy editing, posted this “sharp point” on his blog, using the cover of “Rattle and Hum” to illustrate his point on colons and subtitles.
“Do you see a colon in the title of that movie? Does it matter? Of course not, I say in a new SHARP POINT.”
