These Spaniards don't live la vida loca, they have it completely perfecto I reckon.
In Seville the fiesta was bouncing, the atmosphere grande, and the temperature scorchio; it was the sort of night that you see in adverts for Caribbean drinks. And the second sort of night in a row that made me consider coming back to Seville for longer (I'd been to a very fabulous and very late U2 party the night before).
I was tweeting the setlist for the first hour of the gig as I thought Interference may not have had a source for the setlist party. I appreciate the guys who do this usually, but for me it's a great way to completely ruin the enjoyment of a concert. But it was a great show in front of a very, very noisy crowd, louder than the crowd at San Sebastian, although there were twice as many in the stadium in Seville.
I was behind the stage again. Therefore I could see the band's entrance to the stadium during Space Oddity. And I could also see another space oddity when Stingray Guitar started before the band even reached the bottom of the stairs behind the stage - and before Edge and Adam appeared to be playing their guitars.
I actually suspected they were miming the song for a moment, but I don't for a second believe U2 would do that. I guess they just play over a backing track, like in Crazy Tonight (see Helsinki 1!). There was some definite miming in the show: Bono acted out being a bull for the Spanish toreros a few times, especially during UTEOTW.
It had been a very hot, sunny day in Seville, and then a beautifully warm balmy evening. Bono brilliantly whipped the crowd temperature up a few more degrees with a cascading series of Olés! before Beautiful Day.
The crowd were incredibly noisy the whole way through the show, helped by the swift, intelligible translations into Spanish of what Bono said. They cheered their lungs out when Bono introduced the band with comparisons to players from the Spanish World Cup winning team (no regional separatism here). Larry was the baby-faced blond striker Fernando Torres, Adam the playboy goalkeeper Iker Casillas, Edge a choice of midfield dynamos Xavi or Iniesta, whilst Bono was Sevilla hero Sergei Ramos. And they sang their hearts out for the first verse of ISHFWILF. They also added their own Andalucian harmonies by roaring out the "Oh oh oh oh oh!" part of Vertigo as Bono sang the verses.
However I heard the entry to the GA field was a nightmare. Some friends of mine told me it was like the Running of the Bulls in Pamplona with fans charging through the tunnel, pushing other fans aside, with some getting trampled on. Apparently some fans pushed over stewards and police, and there were a couple of fights.
It was the swiftest getaway by car I've ever experienced at the end of a concert though. I was offered a lift by a couple of lovely guys from San Sebastian and we were out of the car park and on the road within 20 minutes (compared to Istanbul and Brussels where it took hours).
A brilliant night in a gorgeous city. Living la vida perfecta!