5-Day Trip to Seville & Coimbra – Part 5

Part 5 , part 4 can be found here.

Saturday, Oct. 02, Coimbra: Gig Day.

Up around 9:00, we had a leisurely breakfast in the hotel, and we found a nearby supermarket to stock up on the usual provisions. Got a taxi to the venue and got there just before 11:00. Alan and Claire were along shortly afterward with Sandra, their Portuguese friend from Porto. The GA queue was again, well organized, but no shade this time, so while Coimbra was cooler overall than Seville, the lack of shade meant the line experience was a little hotter. It was all good, though. We met Fernando a Portuguese friend of Sandra, who lives and works in Dublin. The day went fast enough.

Security was noticeably higher in Coimbra, I suppose they’re not used to mass invasions in their city, so they were not taking any chances. We passed what I can only describe as a SWAT team of armed policemen en route to the stadium. The stadium is near enough to the city centre, so there were plenty of shops around if we needed anything. It was agreed to go outside the inner circle again and go left of centre—Edge’s side all the way. It was quite a struggle getting into the stadium in the lead up to the gates actually opening. It got a bit messy, disorganized and a bit squashed.

There was another queue across the road, well away from the main GA line, for some strange reason the barrier was opened on this queue, allowing in a mass stampede of people who had not been in the line early. It was quickly stopped and the queue jumpers were efficientlyy excommunicated. Once we were in, we got a good spot close to the left of stage claw leg, and had plenty of room leaning on the barrier. What made this easier is that most of the Portuguese were mad to get inside the inner circle. It turned out that by pure coincidence, we were right by the press area. After Interpol left the stage, several dozen photographers were literally right in front of us, we were all asked to cheer, etc., and as we were at the barrier we were in quite a few of the photpgraphs taken (more on this in Part 6).

We were all very happy with our spot, and it quickly became apparent that the line of sight of the stage was the best I have had, because this spot is on a straight line barrier, you see more from here than where we were in Seville, which was a curving barrier. It is also maybe 15 feet or so further away from the inner circle ramp, making it possible to take more into your field of vision, as you are slightly further away than say at the centre outside rail.

The crowd were yet again really up for it. The band came on around 21:45 ish, and Bono came out left of stage and did his usual shimmy for the waiting photographers. The opening was class, “Coooooimbra” he roared over the opening intstrumental track. This is beginning to work well I think, it doesn’t come across that well on YouTube footage, but being there near the front, it certainly does.

It’s hard to describe what a difference our viewing location made: I saw more of a U2 360 gig at this one, than the previous six I have attended. As Coimbra is essentially a University City, Bono asked each band member what subject they would have studied if they had took a University course. Edge said he had a ‘plan B’ of being a male model, Larry just said he would have done a professional music course, and Adam said he might have tried chemical engineering. Bono said he would opt for Traveling Salesman, as that’s what he does in U2. It was nice to see each band member say a quick few words into the microphone, and maybe its something they should continue to do.

“Until The End Of The World” was a really excellent version, not least as the bridge stopped straight in front of us, so we had Edge straight ahead for half of the song, including a rather unusual moment where he was looking straight at us for several seconds. Joe caught it in this video. Joe has some other video footage from this gig and the Seville gig loaded up also.

Later, we got a repeat performance of “Mercy” and “North Star,” great to hear these new and unreleased tracks again, but maybe a pity not to have seen “Every Breaking Wave,” which I notice has only been played three times over the 22 gigs of the European leg. “Miss Sarejevo” prefaced by “In A Little While” was again great to hear, the European Space Station footage kicks in and the astronaut singing a verse of the track works well. A girl was pulled up on stage and as Bono says goodbye, he sings “Miss Sarajevo”. What a great track, and his operatic version is still really powerful.

For the encore, “Hold Me Kill Me Kiss Me Kill Me” replaced “Ultraviolet” in the set. Nice to see both alternate tracks over two gigs, but I still prefer “Ultraviolet.” There was no stopping Bono during the encore songs. He was swinging all over the place, thankfully showing no signs of back problems.

From a viewing perspective, this was the best vantage point of all the U2 360 gigs I have attended. From an overall perspective it’s in my top three of the seven U2 360 gigs I have been to. Berlin still ranks near the top, as does Dublin # 1. This is definitely the area where I’ll be heading to if U2 play the Ireland or the UK in 2011. The GA standing experience is tough, but having friends around you makes a big difference.

After the gig, we walked up to the student area and Sandra found a nice bar, where we finally had a well-earned rest and a few late night beverages. It was time to say goodbye to Alan, Claire and Sandra. Alan and Claire: it really was great to meet the both of ye. We had some laughs and with you, Alan, I had some of the most unusual discussions about U2 and music in general. You really know your stuff. We all love Radiohead, they are I believe the best band on the planet, but with U2 it’s the whole package of music and show that has us heading off on trips around Europe to see them.

Some photos of today are here.

Part 6 – Our 5 seconds of fame on the way back home is here.

Last 4 posts by Donal Murphy

Comments are closed.