Concert: U2, O2 London (#5)

Whee! Back with U2 again! It was a long weekend without them. What's more, when I printed off my ticket, I saw I had the best seat..! Row E sounded pretty good to me.

The boss & his wife were to come too, but he did warn me that there might be a last-minute hitch. All went well though, and while on the Tube at Victoria, I got a text from him saying they were on their way - I eventually met them at the O2. Speaking of Tube journeys - now, this was my fifth trip in recent times to the O2, travelling at roughly the same time every day, but last night's was by far the worst overcrowding I've seen. The District Line was crammed, although I had got a seat after just one stop, conveniently. But changing at Westminster was a nightmare, and it wasn't until the fourth train that I managed to squeeze on..

The fog had lingered, lending the O2 something of a surreal appearance..

I made my way in past the merchandising stalls - considered buying another t-shirt, but you know, I already have three from this tour, and am planning to buy a Dublin-specific one too! So I passed, and headed straight to Water Margin, wanting to have as much time as possible to eat. I asked for a table for three, ordered a drink, and started on the buffet - tried the beef in black pepper sauce, but found it a bit bland. The noodles and prawn crackers I had with it went down well, though. I fancied a bit more flavour for my second dish, and loaded up on the chicken satay (the noodles were gone by now) - I was on my way back to the table when my companions arrived. As it happened, they weren't terribly hungry, and skipped dinner, just having drinks. This turns out to be perfectly ok as long as you mention it to a server, who will make a note on the drinks bill that some people weren't eating. The bill is only for drinks, you see - the food is fixed-price, and unless you tell them otherwise, they'll assume you had dinner.

When I'd ploughed through that lot, I hit the dessert section - the chocolate and hazelnut puffs are good, the chocolate fudge notably delicious! I was stuffed by the time we left - just before 7:30, with probably an hour to go before showtime. We all used the same entrance, and after a cursory bag check we were in. I alighted from the escalator at Level 1 - they were up in the gods, at Level 4, and had another escalator to climb. I am assured that they had an excellent view though, just a bit far away. As for me..?

I was pretty goddamn close to the stage! It turns out that Row C is the front row, so I was only two rows away from the floor - Red Zone, in fact. And had a better view than they did. Not only that, but I had an aisle seat, so could move a bit to the side and had the space to jiggle around as much as I wanted! As more people moved onto the stairs, later in the show, no stewards came to move them in, either. Which was nice.

The crowd was extremely lively - the first Mexican wave I've seen in London went around 2.5 times, before stopping at our section (boo, hiss!). And you know, it's just nice to be close to the energy of the floor.. and again, they were in fine voice.

Setlist:

SET 1

The Miracle (of Joey Ramone)
Out Of Control
Vertigo
I Will Follow
Iris (Hold Me Close)
Cedarwood Road
Song for Someone
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Raised By Wolves
Until The End Of The World

SET 2

Invisible
Even Better Than The Real Thing
Mysterious Ways
Elevation
Volcano
Every Breaking Wave
October
Bullet The Blue Sky
Zooropa
Where The Streets Have No Name
Pride (In The Name Of Love)
With Or Without You

ENCORE

City Of Blinding Lights
Beautiful Day
One

After a blistering start, Bono had a little chat with us, telling us how they came there last night by boat, and how amazing the light looked, refracted in the fog: like a Turner painting. The couple beside me - Portugese, I think, having sneaked a look at her text messages - can't have been to any of these shows before - they were suitably surprised at some of the video tricks. For once, Bono's wife was NOT in the house! At the start of Song for Someone, he remarked that he missed her.

Bono flings sheets of poetry into the audience towards the end of the first set - gee, I was nearly close enough to get one! but not quite. However, I was close enough to the i stage that I'm sure he looked right at me at one point - he could hardly have missed me, frankly! Hard to tell with the sunglasses, though. Mind you, this was one of those nights when Bono wanted to connect with the audience - there was that kind of mood in the room, and when his voice broke I think it was with emotion. So there were two songs where he removed his glasses, and during Volcano he reached into the audience, just to hold hands..

Cassie was the girl pulled up for Mysterious Ways, and threw some nifty moves before doing some nifty filming. Nobody else came onstage last night, but the mood was fantastic, and we don't need gimmics. This is what really makes a U2 show great. As for famous people - well, Jimmy Page and Brian Eno were mentioned as being in the audience, as well as Peter Rowen, the boy on the cover of the Boy and War albums, who's now a photographer. And someone in the row just behind me - whom I only noticed on the way out - was the spit of Dave Fanning, who was the first Irish DJ to play U2 on the radio..

On the Tube home, there was a vague smell of shit. Someone remarked that it smelled of horse - I thought more cow, myself. But it was fine, as long as we weren't sitting in anything. And as the American sat opposite remarked, it was better than standing. He was one of a group in our carriage, who'd come over for the concerts, and would be again in the spring. I spent a pleasant journey listening to them muse over whether the band would play Moscow.. (no way, they never have). Arriving at 12:10am, it was too late to blog, of course.

And tonight I get to do it all again! (after barreling all the way out to Clapham Junction to look at a flat).  And tonight's ticket..? Directly opposite last night's, Row D! Wheee.. no photos tonight though, my battery's dead and I have no way to charge it.

Tomorrow night, as U2 leave London, I'll be at a London European Club gathering, to head to the Frontline Club to discuss the Dayton Agreement..