Another fantastic gig tonight. If the AWD Arena was a barn it would consider itself stormed. And another uber loud German audience tonight. If I had to think of a dodgy tabloid headline pun then it would have to involve "herr-raising", and the frauleins were pretty (and) frenetic too. These Germans are crazy loud. The whole place was bouncing from the start. The opening salvo on this year's tour gets a far bigger, collective, on-your-feet-and-roar response in every corner of the stadium, far removed from last year's Breathe & NLOTH opening.
Gigs are good when songs seems to whizz past in an instant, when they seem to end just after they've started, even though you know U2 did indeed play the full song cos you were singing along to every verse and chorus. Gigs are great when everyone else is doing the same. What time is it in the world? It's impossible to judge at U2 shows like this. The energy from the pit and the whole GA field was incredible, and carried through into and through all the stands. I was behind the stage on Edge's side and the noise coming from the people around me was deafening.
There were quite a few very prominent empty seats on the lower tier directly beside Adam's side of the stage. When Bono ventured out that way during New Year's Day, with a Polish frenzy in the pit, he must have noticed them and thought "We shoulda gone to Poland". Others more than compensated for any missing volume.
The set is quite golden-oldie oriented. So the new songs are ones to look forward to, although I missed Glastonbury cos I had to take a phone call in the bogs in the concourse outside the stadium. I got back in for Miss Sarajevo, and it, followed by UTEOTW, Unforgettable Fire, COBL and Vertigo was a dazzling sequence.
I think tonight Bono slammed shut the door on those ridiculous arguments about his voice waning. Download and checkout his singing on Amazing Grace from tonight's show. It was stunning: emotion, power, range, soul, tenderness. If his arse has been re-engineered by German technology, I'd love to see the sticker showing where his larynx has been refitted, voice-sprung durch technik.
Streets seemed to follow with an amazing race between the band members at different speeds, at least something seemed a bit tortoise and hare, but they brought it together for another collective lift-off.
There were a few surprising local connections in the gig. I think Moment of Surrender was dedicated to Robert Enke, the football player who committed suicide last year (I didn't catch the name when Bono said it). Larry put on the Hannover team jersey for the last song. Bono also mentioned that Paul McGuinness was born in Hannover - 125 years ago. And he praised Hannover for its current two-week festival dedicated to food and drinking beer, which I must confess I have been indulging these last two nights. Well, when in Hanngover ...
