After my last blog, I was just preparing to go out when housekeeping finally got around to my room. So that was good timing! I wanted to head into town for a bit, and looking up the easiest thing to do - which would also have to be quite quick, as I wanted to get back to the hotel and leave in good time for the venue - I came up with a one-hour sightseeing cruise, run by Holland Cruises and departing regularly all day from Centraal Station. Perfect!
I thought about getting a train to town - it's only a 10-minute journey - but first I had trouble finding a platform where such a train was going from - Sloterdijk Station has no general departures board - and then I'd have had to queue for the ticket machine - my pass doesn't cover that. So I said sod it, and took the Metro instead.
This would be a good time for a brief review of Amsterdam's Metro. Carriages are higher than the Tube, seats - which are quite hard - either face the direction of travel or backwards - not to the side. They come in singles and pairs. It's never as crowded as the Tube, but neither does it come as frequently. 10 minutes between trains is the norm. And there are only five lines. But you know, as usual in any city, it's the easiest to figure out!
Exiting Centraal Station, I saw a tourist office across the way. Goodee! I nipped in there, found a brochure with what I wanted, and asked the nice lady at the desk whether she'd sell me a ticket. She would, she did (€16), and she directed me "across the green bridge and to the right". And that I was looking for "Holland Cruises". I easily found them, and as it happened, a boat was just about to leave, and the captain let me on.
Today was gloriously sunny - perfect for this kind of trip. Mind you, being in a glass-covered boat was like being in a greenhouse, and we boiled for the next hour or so. But it was very pleasant, and a good way to get an idea of the city. Photos here - such as I could take, given the difficulty of shooting through glass and into the sun. And avoiding constant bridges we were going under. And it didn't help that I didn't notice the flash had turned itself on, which of course reflected in the glass.. but I got some presentable ones.
Well, by the time it was finished, it was about time to head back to the hotel, so I did - stopping off for another burger at the station on the way. And headed off nice and early for the concert - good thing, considering we stopped at a station in the middle of nowhere for 10 minutes without explanation..
Food not being an issue this time, when I arrived I turned my thoughts to merchandising. But first I went up to Level 2, where my seat was tonight. Where I found that yes, the queues were substantially shorter - but there was no merchandising! I had visions of being very bored for the next hour - potentially - until, phew, I found the stairs down. (I'd taken an escalator up.) So I shoved my way to the front of the merchandising scrum, identified a cap I wanted (yay! I hadn't had a U2 cap before..) and waited patiently for the guy who'd pushed in front of me to be served. Which took a while, as he bought over €300 worth of stuff - clothing for all the family, by the sound of it! 3 medium t-shirts, 1 small, 4 hats, a hoodie.. and this stuff ain't cheap! Me, I was just interested in my hat - and had a look at a necklace they're selling, but it didn't appeal. At €40 for the hat, that was enough for me, thanks! My, but he was relieved I paid in cash..
Well, tonight gave me an interesting perspective - I was on the other side, upper tier, but far more central: closer to the "e" than the "i". Excellent view - and I can now testify, at least for this venue, that being in the upper tier makes little difference to being in the upper part of the lower tier - in fact, I felt closer to the stage tonight.
Setlist;
1. The Miracle (Of Joey Ramone)
2. Gloria / Gloria - Van Morrison (snippet)
3. Vertigo
4. I Will Follow
5. Iris (Hold Me Close)
6. Cedarwood Road
7. Song for Someone
8. Sunday Bloody Sunday / /Johnny Comes Marching Home (snippet)
9. Raised By Wolves / Psalm 23 (snippet)
10. Until The End Of The World / Love and Peace or Else (snippet) / Words(snippet)
iNTERMISSION
11. Invisible
12. Even Better Than The Real Thing
13. Mysterious Ways / Burning Down the House (snippet)
14. Desire
15. Angel of Harlem
16. Every Breaking Wave
17. October
18. Bullet the Blue Sky / 19 (snippet)
19. Zooropa
20. Where The Streets Have No Name / California (There Is No End To Love) (snippet)
21. Pride (In the Name of Love)
22. With or Without You
23. City of Blinding Lights
24. Beautiful Day
25. Mother And Child Reunion (snippet) / I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For / People Have the Power (snippet)
So! You'll notice some changes, if you're paying attention. The sections that can change are those that have least to do with the video screen - the bits heavily tied into that obviously won't change much. Now, I found tonight's show even better than last night's - although there's been talk that Bono didn't sound great, and they thought he was holding his arm as though it hurt. Well, I sincerely hope that's not true.
For me, it could have been the fact that I was more relaxed, knowing more or less what to expect - or my better seat.. it probably had a lot to do with the fact that they substituted Gloria for the second number! O my, I don't often hear that..
I didn't cry as much as last night, but there's something about Song For Someone that really gets me, heard live. The intermission had the remix of The Fly, again.. in the second part, again, Bono first pulled out a girl, then a guy. The girl got to film everyone, and got to film the whole of Desire, on someone's mobile phone - apparently it was streamed live to Meerkat, and the feed was shown live on the vidi-wall. Got lots of good responses from South America. And when the guy was pulled up, he was asked whether he could play guitar to Angel of Harlem.. he said he could, and after some brief instruction on chords, by The Edge, that he did. And got to keep the guitar for his troubles!
Ah, like I say, U2 concerts always merit another look. They have so much depth.. and they're so damn good! I'm looking forward to getting back to London, just to spread the word..
So, I probably won't do anything but go to the airport tomorrow. On Friday evening, I'm off to see Much Ado About Nothing, at the Globe. (Now, that is worth dragging myself along to!) Lucky the proposed Tube strike was cancelled though, or it'd have been impossible. Anyway, I was too late to book with the Let's Do London - for less! Meetup group, who are going the same night: but I've arranged to meet them, to go to the pub after. For the show, I got a ticket in the "Gentlemen's Box"..
..and then on Saturday, I'm back to Amsterdam again, for two more U2 concerts (Saturday and Sunday). As I say, I've been to Amsterdam before, to see them, and seen pretty much enough of the place, so didn't want to stay the whole week. I fly back on Monday, my U2-ing done.. for this month. ;-)
On the 15th, 16th, and 17th, I have Meetups.. For Tuesday 15th, I discovered there's a Hammersmith and Fulham Amnesty group, who that night have a talk entitled Undercover - the True Story of Britain's Secret Police. And I'm going. On Wednesday 16th, I'm (nominally) joining the London European Club, who are off to see John Doyle, at the Irish Centre. And on Thursday 17th, I'm (nominally) back with the Free London Events and Talks group, who are off to the Scoop, where they show free films in September. Weather-dependant. That day, it's Selma, which I haven't seen. And then it's back to Ireland yet again - I go every two weeks..
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