oaks: My Diary of my first U2 concert.

The friendliest place on the web for anyone that follows U2.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

youvedonewhat

Rock n' Roll Doggie Band-aid
Joined
Nov 19, 2003
Messages
4,284
Location
Counting the hairs on Bono's chest.
Ok, finally, after coming back down to earth, I'd like to share my experience w/you of my first U2 concert. We get all this 'Willie's Diary' stuff etc and journalists reviews but we don't seem to get any 'ordinary folk' reviews, at least I haven't come across any.

So, if yer bored, got 5 to spare here's my diary:



Ok,

Date: Wednesday June 15 2005.

07:30: My mates Allan and Liz arrive in a hired 9 seater mini van thing - grey with black tinted windows. I was a bit disappointed at first because we were supposed to be getting a state of the art people carrier but they made a cock up at the hire place and we ended up with this large converted van thing....but....it turned out to be much better then a car in the end as we had a 7hour journey back home and there was so much more room in it..


Anywyay, 7:45 we've loaded Debbie, Phil and Tim plus a rediculous amount of food stuffed into Tesco carrier bags, into the van and we're off.

We reach Ringwood, about 15 mins drive from Debbies and I need the bog. I'm so excited about seeing the band that we hafta stop in the car park so I can go take a leak.

11:45 and we're just outside Oxford. We take in a motorway stop over. Tea and toast with blackcurrant jam.

2:00 second stop the other side of Birmingham - about 60 miles from Manchester. Tea only this time. Tim naffed off somewhere and I had visions of missing the concert because we had to look for him but Allan found him feeding the slot machines and we hauled him away.

3:15 we pull into one of the many car parks. I think the Manchester council must have turned every given space into car parking facillities because we ended up in an old shed. Within 5 minutes they were telling ppl that it was full so we only just made it. As Phil said: "One more pee stop and we wouldn't have got parked!"

20 minutes or so later we arrive outside the stadium. There's millions of ppl milling about. I can hear the band practicing and I'm sure that my heart is gonna burst...(I can see Bono in my minds eye singing his heart out until he stops abruptly because something has gotten into his mouth - that would be me..hee hee).

We find our entrance and join the queue. Entrance J. We queue until 5:30. I get a key ring for £8 and a program. It cost £20 but what the hell.. oh yeah, and I buy a cheese and tomato baguette for £3.50 and it wasn't even very nice. She had to make it up as they'd sold out but as I hadn't eaten since 6:30 I thought I ought to stuff something in my mouth. ( Bono wasn't available so a cheese and tomato baguette would do).

So we get through the gate things, them awful racks that you hafta push your way through. Soddin' things were awful. We walk to the East Bank, level 207. Parks ourselves in the first or last, depending on where you're standing, 4 seats next to the aisle. This is good as the bogs are just along the same aisle and amazingly they're clean and more importantly THEY'RE HARDLY EVER FULL. (Most important for that dash to the bog so you don't miss anything).

So then this band come on at about 5:55. Some band from Edinburgh. I didn't catch the name and I'm sorry but they didn't exactly rock my boat. Then Athlete appeared at around 7:10, played until about 8:15/8:30. They were pretty good but I was only really interested in U2.

Then during the wait for Bono and his friends, this steward came up and said that U2 would be holding back for an hour due to the lighting. Apparently it was too light for them to get the best effects - it was very sunny and a very bright evening.

And whilst we waited for the band, we all did the Mexican Wave thing. It started at our side and went all round the feckin' stadium. It was brilliant. Everyone was cheering and laughing.

And then:

Then:

Then:

At 8:50 there they were: 4 guys waving from the left side of the stage to disappear behind it and reappear moments later....well, the crowd went mad... We had a brilliant view cos we were upstairs one row back from the front. Could see perfectly until some tw*tty bloke stood up in front of us and we couldn't see anything... So I stood too. I thought: feck this! I haven't paid £120 for a ticket, £65 for transport and spent 6 hours on the road just to see your not-so-fine arse!

Anway, Bono broke into Vertigo. The whole place went beserk. The volume of sound was awesome and they played to perfection. Bono had the crowd eating out of his hand - the perfect showman. His voice was perfect, so much better then I've heard him sing on the Elevation Tour. He really gave it all he had. He sang beautifully - especially for his dad and said that he hoped it was the last time he'd have to do that. He sang for nurses and service men and women who weren't at home. And the lighting behind him drew pictures and shapes that looked like ECG machines you see at the hospitals. At one point he turned his back on the crowd, lifted up his jacket and gave that fine arse of his, a wiggle. lol.

He just drew us all in so no one felt left out.

They had monitors on either side of the stage so I spent half the time watching them and half the time watching him in the skin and you know, I'd never have believed it but he was more sexy, more sizzling and so much more delicious then on any dvd or in any photograph...If I've ever stupidly thought that perhaps Bono isn't as attractive now as he was 20 years ago then I'll admit to being totally mistaken. He was absolutely and totally edible. All in black, full of 'swagger'. (You gotta giggle at the swagger - the perfect showman strut).

Anyway, I forget exactly what they played, save to say that it was like a Greatest Hits session with them playing something from virtually every album. 7 tracks from HTDAAB, Beautiful Day, Elevation, New Years Day, I will follow, Streets, ISHFWILF, WOWU, The Fly, Zoostation. Was it Red Hill Mining Town the other one? I forget. No, I think it was Exit. Edge played a brilliant solo peice. Absolutely fantastic! Oh yeah, and One - Which the crowd sang back to the band.. It was awesome, like we were one huge collective - quite literally One Voice - amazing. oh, yeah, and Pride. They sang Pride.

And at some stage Bono asked the crew to turn off the lighting. I noticed he called out to 'Bruce' - some guy he called out to during the Zoo TV tour so obviously a 'regular' crew member. Anyway, 'Bruce' turned off the lights and Bono told everyone to light up their phones. The sight from where I'm standing - now leaning over the railing on the first level and looking down onto the crowd below and across at the ppl on our level at the other side - was truly beautiful. All these little lights, all those voices, all singing in perfect harmony. The atmosphere was like nothing I've ever witnessed. And then came the dedication to Africa. To txt the word Africa followed by your name so that your name would come up in lights behind the stage. And of course, the human rights speech. Oh yeah, did I mention him banging those drums? He looked so feckin' masculine...

During WOWU Bono seemed to wait until the song was almost over before he chose some lucky girl to join him. He picked her out and the security helped her onto the stage whilst B had his back to her. When he looked round he found that she'd dropped to her knees in a 'praising' position with her face touching the stage flooring. I thought it was really funny. Bono was obviously suprised to see her like that and went over to her, picking her up and then dropping to his knees to rise again and hug her. The grin on him was elastic. I think he quite liked this 'different' approach. Not sure what her name was - Josephine perhaps.

So, towards the end they decided to play Vertigo again and we all sang back to the band and I was very, very sorry to see the concert come to a close.

Once we realised that they weren't coming back on we left and made our way to the bogs again - we had a 7 hour journey back home to look forward to. Whilst I was waiting outside the bogs for Debbie, this woman, about 30 trod on me. Now, it didn't hurt and she appologised profusely and I said not to worry, that I'm used to being trodden on. She put her arm about my shoulder and said that her 9 year old daughter is taller then me. And then she just came out with: That Bono is so sexy - I could lick him all over. Course, how could I disagree with that. I said it was so nice to meet someone like me. I mean, ok, I know we all collect here on this site to sing the praises of the best band in the world but lets face it, in reality - out there in the real world we're on our own - or at least I am. Most of my friends, relatives and work collegues think I'm totally mad and that no, Bono isn't the best looking guy in the world. So, here I am standing next to a woman I don't know exchanging the many merits of the Great B. heh heh...

So then we bade our goodbyes, offered a safe journey home and were finally on our way. It took us over 7 hours to get home. All in all it'd been a 25 hour day for me without hardly any sleep, but you know, I'd do it all again. I'd pay another 200 quid just to see the most wonderful band in the world. In fact, I'd probably part with 400 quid just to get in there, right up close to them. BTW, did I say that hubby, who remained at home, told me that I wasn't to grab Bono's leg..humph....if I'd have gotten that close I'd have been like one of those dogs you see, wrapping themselves round ppls legs and refusing to let go...lol..

Anyway, I hope you didn't mind me waffling on like this. I hafta see, cos I don't expect I'll ever get to do this again..:lol::drool:
 
Great story, loved it and am reading it again...:up:
Hearing first hand experiences is great
 
It was also my first time seeing U2 and your diary summed it up perfectly. Bono was totally on top form, his voice was beautiful. I was 10 feet away from the arse wiggling! Honestly wasn't expecting Bono to look that delicious in real life, he looked so much younger (and shorter hehe) close up. I was even suprised to be saying Clayton looked gorgeous, strutting himself infront of all the flashing lights.

Listening to a bootleg now, can hear myself shout very faintly! Hehe. Spotted the moment Bono heard us scream "WE'VE GOT TICKETS TO LIVEEE EIGGHTTT" - sorry I think I've mentioned that on about 5 topics now.

It took me 4 and half hours to get home the next day, a massive beam on my face listening to some of the great songs they played.

Haha after the concert we totally got lost. Ended up 2 miles away from the city centre! Thank God we managed to catch the last bus of the night that stopped outside of a chippy. The best chips I have ever tasted...about 20 other U2 fans sitting on the kerb outside. Brilliant atmosphere even then.
 
Dudette said:
It was also my first time seeing U2 and your diary summed it up perfectly. Bono was totally on top form, his voice was beautiful. I was 10 feet away from the arse wiggling! Honestly wasn't expecting Bono to look that delicious in real life, he looked so much younger (and shorter hehe) close up. I was even suprised to be saying Clayton looked gorgeous, strutting himself infront of all the flashing lights.

Listening to a bootleg now, can hear myself shout very faintly! Hehe. Spotted the moment Bono heard us scream "WE'VE GOT TICKETS TO LIVEEE EIGGHTTT" - sorry I think I've mentioned that on about 5 topics now.

It took me 4 and half hours to get home the next day, a massive beam on my face listening to some of the great songs they played.

Haha after the concert we totally got lost. Ended up 2 miles away from the city centre! Thank God we managed to catch the last bus of the night that stopped outside of a chippy. The best chips I have ever tasted...about 20 other U2 fans sitting on the kerb outside. Brilliant atmosphere even then.


Yeah, we got lost too. Some feckin' turkey policeman directed us away from our car park even though we told him which one it was and that there was a feckin' great warehouse next to it..duh....luckily for us, our friends who drove us there didn't attend the concert so they could shift the van before it got locked up for the night.

And yeah...dreamily giving into smut filled fantasies all the way home and back into daylight...:drool: :drool: :drool:
 
That's great YDW!! I can't wait for October when we get to go! Of course I"ll be six and a half months preggers, so hopefully that won't make it uncomfortable and awkward, but we're going anyway! :D
 
Great description! It makes me :drool: thinking about when I'll hopefully *fingers crossed* be right up in front of GA in Minneapolis. I just can't wait another 3 months:mad:
 
Back
Top Bottom