Concert: U2, O2 London (#1)

Roll up, roll up, the circus is in town! U2 finally rolled into their home time zone, if not yet quite home. Well, Adam does live in Westminster these days. Wonder whether they're all crashing at his gaff..

I was in Ireland for my mother's birthday, and flew back early yesterday - the evening flight wouldn't have got me here in time to get all the way across town to the O2 before concert time. I might've had a flat viewing, but only had a small window of time in which to do that, and the landlady said she'd ask the other tenant whether she was available to show me around.. and then never got back to me.. which worked out well for my afternoon. I was peckish, didn't want to wait, and ate at home instead.

On the Tube to Westminster, I encountered my first fellow concertgoers - a group of Italians, talking about how they had to get off at Westminster, and passing around an envelope that probably contained their tickets. Westminster was the first place where the crowds became heavy, with a marshal to the side, making sure we were all ok on the escalator. It was 6pm by this stage. The Jubilee Line was crammed enough that, at the next station - Waterloo - not everyone could squeeze on. Right beside me, at the last minute, hopped a group who were obviously in town for the day. They just managed it before the doors closed. The 16-year-old Darren didn't though, and was left standing sheepishly on the platform while they debated whether to get off at the next stop and go back for him. "Nah," they decided, "he can find his own way home!"

Most of the crowd disembarked at London Bridge, and I got a seat. And duly got off at North Greenwich, the stop for the O2. The busker at the door was playing non-U2 music. Tsk.. You can't miss the arena - it's that large white dome to the left. Currently located behind the Moscow State Circus tent. So, don't bother with that box office to the left as you exit the Tube - I do believe that's for the circus. Keep going straight ahead, past the billboards, which curve around to the entrance to the O2.

There's a merchandising stand as you approach the O2. There's also one just inside the door. If the crowds are too much for you, you could wait until you're past security - at least when I arrived last night, the crowds were lesser there. As you enter the covered area, if you have Entrance B on your ticket, you're in luck - it's right there. Otherwise, carry on along the long, long corridor, past the eateries - most had queues. Last time I was there, I ate in the Chinese, primarily because there was no queue! Last night, of course, I wasn't hungry, and carried on.

The queue for Entrance H started far, far back along the corridor. Luckily, I didn't realise at first that this was my queue, and followed the stream of people moving past them on the inside. I thought the queue couldn't conceivably start so soon! By the time the entrance loomed, the queue had merged with the stream of people on the inside, so I managed a sizeable bit of queue-jumping, quite by accident!

It took about 15 minutes to walk to the queue - only about 5 minutes to get to the end of it, though. At the end, on the table of confiscated items, along with all the bottles of water was a lonely-looking packet of crisps. Be warned - visible food not allowed. I did manage to smuggle in a packet of mints, though.. A sign on the table states the rules, quite clearly, about what can and can't be brought in. Of course, by that stage it's a bit late..

As I say, the merchandising stalls past this were less busy. But I wasn't concerned with them, and just went straight in and took my seat - way too early. I arrived at 6:40. The concert was scheduled to start at 7-  well, I never did believe that. Still, I did wonder at how empty the place was. In the event, the entire floor space, as well as the entire seating, did fill up, and the concert finally started at 7:50.

Cosier feel here than in the Palau Sant Jordi, despite being slightly bigger. Anyway, from the beginning, it was apparent that this crowd were in fine voice - of the concerts I've been to so far this year, they had the best singers. Setlist:

SET 1

The Miracle (of Joey Ramone)
The Electric Co.
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
Sweetest Thing
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

 

I had one of those enormous guys beside me - I came up nearly to his shoulder. Bless, he was all thrilled to be there and ready to rock, and his wife (I'm supposing) was a bit glum, sat in her seat for most of it. Might have had something to do with the fact that she was pregnant. She brightened up mightily towards the end! For his part, I was just glad he restrained himself - I'm sick of getting elbows in the face at these events. There was also an enthusiastic Italian in front of him, who found a soulmate in the enthusiastic lady in front of her. Not that we all weren't - but these were exceptionally so. Not so much the babe in arms that was over the other side - honestly, this is the second U2 concert this year that I've seen a baby at. I know childcare can be difficult to organise, but really..! It's a bit loud..

 

The girl pulled up to dance during Mysterious Ways was dubbed "Trish the Dish" on Meerkat, and her camerawork was praised. On Sweetest Thing, we had the rare sight of Bono on piano - playing with three fingers, as he said, the nerves still damaged after his accident. Sounded fine, though. The concert did finish on the dot, as scheduled, at 10:15.

 

Welcome back boys, keep up the good work! I'd been thinking of taking a boat back, to avoid the queues on the Tube, but there was some confusion over the timetable, and no indication of people going that way. So, after spending 15 minutes walking back to the entrance, I was in the queue for the Tube for another 15 minutes. The busker, bless him, was trying out his U2 repertoire by now, despite admitting to not knowing the words. Now, you'd think he'd have swotted up on it.. never mind, there were several snatches of song among this most vocal of crowds as we inched along, culminating in a tuneless chorus by two girls on the escalator down to the station, belting out With or Without You at the top of their voices. They got a round of applause.

 

On the platform, you could tell there were a lot of out-of-towners. Everybody clustered at the bottom of the stairs, around where the middle of the train would be. A vast expanse of empty platform stretched away to the side. I couldn't understand it - kept looking for "Do Not Enter" signs. Anyway, I headed up that way, got a seat while I was waiting for the train (in pretty complete isolation), easily got a seat on the train when it arrived. As we waited to depart, the exasperated driver appealed for people to move to the (empty) front of the train if they wanted to get on.. Frankly, I've never had it so easy, leaving a concert! Not so the guy who tried to get on, further down the line, with a bike. The driver made an announcement asking him to get off again - bicycles are apparently not allowed on that line. As the guy across from me remarked - so, what's he supposed to do now? Cycle home, I suppose.

 

Back a bit late to blog, of course. Completely zonked today, and doing it all again tonight. With Helen, although she'll be sat a few sections away. And we'll probably head to the Chinese beforehand.. Gee, but I'm glad these shows only run in pairs - it's all a bit much! Tomorrow (on a day off from U2-ing), I got a cheap ticket to a Tennessee Williams play. Well, they're always good! Something Unspoken is showing in Pentameters Theatre in Hampstead.