Yes - MTV’s “Pimp My Ride” took on a Trabbie in a recent episode. Check out part 1 here, courtesy of YouTube:

Part 2 can be found here.

Part 3 can be found here.

Thanks again to U2006com for sharing Desire with all of us through YouTube from Sydney.

Thanks to Peter Wells for submitting his report from the show. He’s also forwarded along some photos from Nov. 10 and Nov. 11. Check them out here: Nov. 10 / Nov. 11
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Main Set: Saturday 11 th November 2006
City Of Blinding Lights
Vertigo
Elevation (incl. Spinning Around)
Until The End Of The World
New Year’s Day
Beautiful Day (incl. ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’ and ‘Blackbird’)
I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For (incl. In A Little While)
Stuck In A Moment You Can’t Get Out Of
Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own
Love and Peace Or Else
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Bullet The Blue Sky (incl. ‘Johnny Comes Marching Home’ and ‘The Hands That Built America’)
Miss Sarajevo
Pride
Where The Streets Have No Name
One (incl. ‘My Sweet Lord’)

Encore 1
Zoo Station
The Fly
With Or Without You (incl. ‘Never Tear Us Apart and ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’)

Encore 2
The Saints Are Coming
Desire
Kite

Phwoar! I am absolutely knackered. I know that I attended the concert on Friday night only 24 hours ago, but it feels like so much longer than that.

After my four hour catnap, it’s time to do it all again. My friend and his accompanying party joined the GA line around mid-morning, but understandably, I end up joining them around 1pm. We are entering via a different gate today, and this side of the stadium is completely exposed to the afternoon sun. Yesterday was a bit muggy, but even today it’s just hot. What makes things even less fun is that the surge forward started at 2pm. But with more than three hours to go until the gates would open, it meant that almost everyone just stood there and baked. Don’t get me wrong – the weather we had is lovely, but it’s just not the sort of weather that makes waiting outside in a closely packed queue a pleasant experience. But we know what we want, and we know that this is the only way to get it.

Well, we got it. All that pushing from the back of the line gradually pushed us very close to the gates and turnstiles. So, by the time we had made it through the stadium and into the horseshoe, I was able to secure some prime real estate – on the fence – on the outer side of the right-hand target stage. Now that we’re out of the sun, time seemed to pass much quicker, and before too long Kanye West & Co. take to the stage. Today, Kanye seemed to have a little extra spring in his step. The crowd seemed to respond better too, although this is not to say that the crowd or Kanye’s performance yesterday were substandard. I think that U2 didn’t make a wrong choice in getting Kanye to open for them. True, he’s not a rock band, but he sings with confidence and passion. I don’t know much about hip hop, but I am under the impression that Kanye is quite the wordsmith and has a repertoire of topical songs that are out there, making a statement. These are qualities that most of us would use to describe U2. Moreover, this tour has probably marked the resurgence of the political statement as a headline act, and the band have come out with guns blazing instead of embracing a cause as it presents itself. I think that desire to be relevant thus makes Kanye an acceptable match; he just doesn’t have a guitar.

The stadium fills up and we keep waiting. There seem to be more beach balls bouncing around than yesterday, and seeing as I brought one with me, I think it’s time to get in on the action. My ball is like a boomerang, as it often kept returning to the target stage after its various sojourns across the stadium. Luckily, a growing number of press photographers around the target are more than happy to reach out to the ball and beat it back into the crowd. Over the runway that lies in front of me, I hear someone in the crowd exclaim “No, don’t take it away from us!” Some stage hands have just pulled up a small flight of stairs and they begin carrying it around the outside of the target, only to reattach it to the stage right in front of me. This has us asking each other “Is the band going to enter the stage from here?”

Wake Up begins and we are peering through the video wall to see if we can see people milling behind stage. I’m pretty sure I see Adam. Larry, Edge and Adam emerge from the back of the stage, as per usual. So… You know what this might mean!?

Billows of smoke pour from further up the runway. The lights are off and City of Blinding Lights is beginning. Emerging from the mist is a huddle of people. And the tell tale sign that this is a rather important huddle? The guy in the middle of it is wearing sunglasses.

Arms reach over the barrier, waving and trying to take photos. With all the movement, the darkness, and the fact that I’d turned off my flash, I can guarantee that I’ve taken some dubious pictures of Bono’s entrance. But I can live with that, because ultimately, I think I made the right trade-off. He had to slow down as he approached the stairs, and as he did, I reached out (through the arms of a security guard) and found myself holding the back of his hand. And if you’re wondering … I found it to be strong and manly. I bet he has a nice, solid handshake.

Bono was handed an Australian flag as he walked up the stairs, which he then draped over his shoulders once he was on stage. The press photographers were snapping wildly, and the crowd both near and far were screaming out as he soaked up the atmosphere. Bono made his way to the main stage to join the rest of the band, draped the flag over the amp in the middle of the stage, and then launched into City.

Tonight’s set list was roughly the same as Friday’s, save a few substitutions and variations. We were treated to a little bit more Kylie Minogue in Elevation, and The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and Blackbird were woven into Beautiful Day. During the bridge of Beautiful Day, Bono has created some Sydney-specific lyrics, which have drawn huge roars from the crowd on both nights.

Bono returned to the target stage for the outro of Until The End Of The World and the start of New Year’s Day. My rubbish luck with my concert photographs was confirmed when my camera battery life ran out. I wasn’t too upset though, because at least now I could concentrate solely on the enjoying the show. If I were to say something profound, it would be that photography is the bane of the lived experience. And really, if I was fussing about trying to take a good shot tonight, there’s no way I would have been able to shake hands with Adam when he came down during New Year’s Day. He has nice hands too. If a picture is worth a thousand words, I think I’ve managed to establish that Adam Clayton is worth more than a picture. Even though I’m only going off two instances, I love it when Adam visits the crowd. He comes swaggering down the runway with this big grin on his face. He crouches down, only to have his tuning pegs fondled by the wandering hands of his eager fans. Perhaps also as a result of not having the camera, I also noticed that Adam drinks water from a pint glass on stage. Isn’t that nice and patriotic?

Two of tonight’s substitutions came in the shape of I Still Haven’t Found and Stuck In A Moment for Yahweh and Walk On. Before he started singing, Bono dedicated this one to Edge’s family, who were in town, and then thanked the audience for being patient and waiting for them to return. Bono sneaked in some In A Little While before throwing it over to the crowd to sing the refrain. Desire replaced Angel of Harlem as the penultimate song of the evening, and it proved to be a big crowd pleaser – it’s yet another song where you can hear the whole stadium singing along. It’s a good thing that the audience knew what was going on, because lo and behold, Bono lost his place. Honestly, from now on, if I ever witness a version of Desire that Bono sings correctly, I’m going to be disappointed. He whipped out his harmonica, wrapped up the song, and then joked ‘That turned out to be a nice little version!’ Don’t practise too hard, mate!

Seeing as last night’s bird kite has probably landed in someone’s front garden by now, this evening’s kite was of the box variety. It seemed to be a bit heavier than the bird too. When he released it from the main stage, the long string dangled into the crowd at the front, and surprise, surprise, the kite descended as people pulled at the string. From where I was standing, Bono didn’t look impressed at all. That song is all about letting go – you can’t go recapturing things and dragging them back, y’know. Thankfully, someone probably thumped the person who grabbed the string, and the kite began rising. No one dared to drag it back down again. It slowly drifted over the stadium roof and into the night.

From down the front, it is quite a challenge establishing what sort of reaction the whole stadium is producing. At a physical level, I learned from one of the event security staff that we had 3000 people in the horseshoe on Saturday night, and 1500 on Friday. So, it could be that with more people in the horseshoe, there was a higher concentration of energy leading from the front. Perhaps Bono’s dramatic entrance with the Australian flag around his shoulders just lifted the mood a little higher tonight. Friday night was a brilliant concert in its own right and there is certainly no way I’ll be forgetting it, but Saturday’s show and audience just seemed to have a different energy about it. I had a very different kind of fun at tonight’s show. The fact that even with a similar set list and only 24 hours after the first gig, it still felt different really says something about the band’s ability to produce a unique performance. It was another wonderful concert experience, and it certainly didn’t hurt that I managed to get me paws on half of the band! Edge, Larry - you’re next!

(from the Sydney Morning Herald, photo by Ken McKay, Rex Features.)

U2 frontman Bono showed his support for Kylie Minogue last night by singing a duet with the Australian pop singer in Sydney.

The duo sang Minogue’s hit, Kids, which the singer originally recorded with Brit Robbie Williams, before 10,000 people at the Sydney Entertainment Centre.

“Ladies and gentlemen, we are in the company of greatness tonight,” Minogue said.

“Let me hear it for Bono.”

Bono emerged on stage holding a diamante-encrusted microphone and wearing a black suit, following Minogue around the stage as the crowd erupted. There was more screaming midway through the song when Bono pulled from his suit jacket a diamante-encrusted cat leash.

Minogue was wearing a leopard-print cat suit.

“It’s such an honour for you to sing with me,” Minogue said.

Bono then jumped in and said, “You’re perfect”.

The pair danced around the stage and Bono got down on his knees, kissed Minogue’s hand and thanked her at the end of the duet.

Minogue kicked off her Showgirl Homecoming Tour in Sydney on Saturday night. It was the first time she had performed in front of a crowd since being diagnosed with breast cancer in May last year.

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.

Isn’t YouTube brilliant? Thanks for sharing U2006com!