Greatest Day of My Life (after my wedding day obviously)

I knew the U2 concert was going to be special but never dreamt it was going to be sooooooo good! Best not read this if you don't want to be subjected to my obsession with all things U2 :) You have been warned!!!

The concert was in Mt Smart Stadium, Auckland, about 2 and half hrs drive from Tauranga. Website said doors opened at 5:30pm so just to make sure I got there in time I took the day off work and left at 9:45am. That'll beat the traffic problem!

Followed Mark's (mate at work who used to live in Auckland) directions and got to the stadium at 12:30pm. Managed to park within a 5min walk of the stadium, got myself a burger and chips and sat on the grass outside the stadium ..... and then there was a helicopter overhead which landed in the stadium followed by a soundcheck. I thought it was just the roadies setting it up but now I've seen it on the news I know it was 'them' flying in and doing a quick soundcheck. Highlight was the opening notes of New Year's Day on the keyboard. Presume now it was Edge playing it. It was a good moment even before the concert started. Yeah I know ...... sad!

Then the fun started. They led us into a tent that was a huge holding pen set up like the queues at theme parks. I thought I'd got there early but apparently the ones at the front had been there for 2 nights! I was probably a couple of hundred from the front but rumour was that the first 2000 got into the elipse at the front of the stage. So no problem .... Cool!

In queue for 4 hours. I took Sudoku so that passed the time. I had Poms in front and behind me and so listening to their whinging also helped to pass the time. If you know doors open at 5:30pm and you get to venue at 1pm surely you realise you might just have to wait a bit! Highlight of the wait though was going live to local radio station with a burst of 'With or Without You'. That passed all of 5 minutes. There was a massive cheer at 5pm when they opened the door of the tent and led the queue into the stadium. We were then free to find a spot in the elipse. I opted to get as close to the small stage that Bono comes out to for quite a bit. That's where I wanted to be when we saw them in Twickenham before we came out here. The couple of hundred in front of me had got all the best spots right in front of the stages and so I looked for the shortest person in front of the elipse stage and stood behind her. Perfect view! And then in one of those 'someone up there is moving the chess pieces and controlling everything' moments the lady in front of me said to her daughter that she didn't think she could stay at the front because of all the pushing and shoving (it hadn't even started to get crowded yet) . She told her she would see her after the concert and went to the back of the elipse. Cool. One step forward and I was at the front of the stage in touching distance! :)

And then it rained. Really heavily. With a cold southerly wind! ..... I was fully prepared for it (not!) in my shorts and t-shirt. I was shiveringly cold! A few people had plastic macs but most of us just got soaked and very cold. I couldn't wait for the concert to start even more now just to generate some heat.

Couple of hours later (about quarter to eight) Kanye West came on. It was still raining. The place went crazy and I must admit I really enjoyed it .... and it had the effect of generating a bit of heat in the crowd. He had a string orchestra and at one point they played Bitter Sweet Sympthony and he rapped something over the top. Really enjoyed that 'song'. Didn't understand one word he rapped throughout the whole set but I did the whole hands in the air like you just don't care and got into it. He was a good 'warm up' for U2. He said it was the best reception he had got on tour with U2. Bloke next to me saw him in Brisbane and said the U2 crowd just ignored him there.

It stopped raining just before U2 came on. Roadies were busy mopping up the stage. Luckily it held off for the rest of the night.

9:15pm and the lights went down and I could see Bono walking towards us along the side of the stage up the stairs in front of me and onto the stage to the opening bars of 'City of Blinding Lights'. I had opted not to take my proper camera altho some internet sites suggested that as long as it didn't look like a professional camera you could take it in. I decided against it and took Jo's phone camera. Probably the wrong decision as most people around me had digital cameras and the quality of the pics I got are cr@p .... maybe next time!

This is Bono when he first gets on the stage.















It was dark and so it felt like it was indoor. We got the full effect of the 'light show'. When they came on at Twickenham it was still light and so lost all the effects. The show tonight was just fantastic ... but I would say that wouldn't I. The first show at Hammersmith Palais will always be my favourite but this was better than anything since. Spose it was because I was so close but the atmosphere of the crowd and the reactions and Bono's 'banter' was just brilliant. I know it's all rehearsed to the nth degree but it was still a 'hairs standing up on the back of the neck' moment when he changed the lyrics in the middle of Beautiful Day to relate to New Zealand. "See the land of the long white cloud" is the only line I can remember but he changed the whole "see the canyons broken by cloud" bit to relate to NZ. I read on a triathlon website about having a song in your head to inspire you when the going gets tough and you hit the 'wall'. Beautiful Day was always going to be mine but I want to have the changed lyrics in my head ready for that 'hit the wall' moment.

It was obvious they were going to have to play 'One tree Hill'. I reckon it must be the most played U2 song on the radio (NZ radio is obsessed with U2 full stop). It was brilliant. First time I had heard it live and they didn't disappoint. Edge did guitar solo at end of the song that was different to the album track and then Bono went into the 'oh great ocean' bit .... another hairs on the ..... well you know!

And then it got even better. Adam, the bass player came onto the stage in front of me.















He was posing with his guitar and letting the girlies around me touch the end of the guitar. It was all a bit weird in a sort of 'penis extension' kind of way. I opted not to touch 'it'. But I put out my hand to try to shake his hand. He had stopped playing at this point and held out his hand to shake mine and the bloke next to me. He shook his hand and then mine. It was cool to shake his hand. Would rather have shook Bono's hand but I was working on that. Plenty of time left. A few seconds later I felt something in my hand. He had given me his plectrum.



















Now I know that there are probably a million similar plectrums out there but I couldn't believe it. He had played half the show with this one. Going to put it in a frame with the ticket and a picture of him from the internet where you can see the back of my head.















Another of the highlights was during 'Streets'. One of the internet forums had arranged for balloons to be given out before 'Streets' and it worked perfectly. We all blew up the balloons, waived them furiously throughout the song and then let them all go at the end. It was a mass of green, red and white.














That's me circled on the left. The one about 2 foot taller than the midgets around me. Got picture from internet this morning.

Bono came onto our stage a few times more before the end but he didn't shake anyone's hand. I was close a few times but the b@st@rd just wouldn't do it. Was the only disappointment of the night. You can see how close He was in this pic.














This was during Love and Peace when the lyric says about calling on the phone and this is Him pointing to my phone that's taking the pic. Jo reckons its all in my head but this wasn't! Just hope he didn't take too much notice of the pink colour of the phone. No wonder He wouldn't shake my hand!
















This is the bit when Larry comes down and plays drums on the elipse stage.














He seemed really uncomfortable being at the front in the limelight. Seemed glad to get to the back of the stage again. it was the first time I had heard him mess up the drums 'big time' during one of the earlier songs. Said on a forum this morning that one of his drumsticks broke. Would have expalined it.

They did a fairly standard set for the Vertigo tour (apert from One Tree Hill) and did the normal 3 encores. I knew that when Kite started that would be the last song. One last chance to shake Bono's hand because the roadies were setting up the kite in front of me with helium balloons so that when Bono came over at the end of the song the helium balloons would take the kite up and it would look like Bono was flying the kite. I was in touching distance of the kite, Bono was going to grab the kite, perfect chance. Bono goes to grab kite, I go to touch kite, bouncer 'smacks' my hand away!. B@st@rd. Last chance gone! Bono tries to fly the kite and then cuts the string to see it go crashing into the 'light wall'. A roadie climbed up and released it and then the stadium lights went on. THE END. Someone obviously found the kite later and now its on Trademe (NZ Ebay - $300 so far). Jo said I'm not allowed to bid :(

Walked back to the car, negotiated the 'heavy' traffic and fans still leaving the stadium and made my way to the 'motorway'. Took all of 10 minutes. It was easier than getting away from West Ham after a match. The rest of the drive was hard work. Two and a half hours of trying to stay awake. Got home 3am. For some reason Jo wasn't totally interested in my stories of the day. She'll have to read the blog now :)