Sing your heart out, sing my heart out – Breathe
So long ago now I can’t remember I bought two tickets to see U2 play at Wembley Stadium on 14th August. This concert, four years, two months and two days after their Twickenham concert for the Vertigo tour couldn’t come soon enough.
The first thing that struck me as I walked through the doors to find my seat was the stage. I’m not entirely sure how you could miss it to be honest, it’s huge, almost monstrous but utterly beautiful, and the kind of thing only U2 could get away with. The fact that you could sit in your seat at one end of the stadium and see the fans sitting in their seats on the other side, through the stage was quite wonderful. What better backdrop to a concert could there be? People just as excited as you are, there for the same reason, all facing the object of everyone’s attention. Four men just doing the thing they’re best at.
Not that I’m waxing poetic or anything.
There’s a wonderful thing that happens when the support acts have had their moment, and the stadium is finally filled up with all 88,000 people (holy mutha!). Suddenly the background music kicks up a notch and Bowie’s voice lets us know that something special is about to begin, even if he doesn’t actually say so. Then there they are. The gigantic claw comes to beautiful life as, led by Larry, the band stride into the welcoming arms of each and every one of us. The drummer, looking as ageless as ever. Adam, striding around with his bass with the authority of a man who knows his place in the world. Edge, weaving magic in his special Edge way. And finally, a playful Bono, keen to merge with the crowd and bring that invisible fourth wall down once and for all.
Breathe is first up, followed swiftly by No Line on the Horizon, Get on Your Boots, and Magnificent. What do I spend the first few songs thinking? The bridges between the main stage and B stage move. They freaking move. Edge and Adam doing their thing in the middle of the two bridges as they rotate around the circle. I watch the lucky ones in the inner circle go mad as they feed directly from the energy of the band and the band feed right back. That was me four years, two months and two days ago. I love being in the seats seeing everything that happens but a large part of me wishes fervently to be down there, hurling every ounce of emotion I have within me towards those four men who make such good rock music.
Beautiful Day, I get up despite the people resolutely sitting around me, and I begin hurling that emotion. I am here and am damn well going to enjoy myself. Elevation is next and I do enjoy being Bono’s echo once again. I had not forgotten how good this felt, but it is great to refresh the feeling.
When the band starts playing I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For, I was waiting for this since the walk to the stadium listening to the soundcheck. Bono got us started off on the first verse and then we got a little carried away and he just let us have at it. Good man, that was a nice moment. I wonder sometimes what he must feel having so many thousands of people singing his words to him. The expression on his face suggests he gets a big kick out of it!!
To my, and everyone eles's amazement the screens start to pull apart. The whole thing is expanding, bloody hell. Things really are happening here! The spike lights up, the stage changes colour, the whole thing looks like it could take off at any moment. I idly wonder if the designer had watched Stargate Atlantis. When the city takes flight…
Unknown Caller bleeds into The Unforgettable Fire, heavily remixed to the point that it takes me longer than usual to work out what I’m listening to. I feel in the middle of a huge party and my mind thinks PopMart. My musings on Atlantis and the stage come back to me during City of Blinding Lights and searchlight bright lights shoot straight up into the sky. I’m convinced at this point the whole thing will just uproot itself and head into the stratosphere.
I do enjoy Vertigo live, it’s a lot of fun. I spend some time watching Adam and Edge prowl around the stage. I’ll Go Crazy if I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight surprises me with how well it plays live.
The stage suddenly turns green for Sunday Bloody Sunday, somehow things heat up even more. Pride, so good live, so very good live. I always think Rattle and Hum when Pride comes along. I get terribly excited when MLK follows and I get to have a moment to let my body recover even though I don’t let up with the vocal chords. I can be quite tomorrow, right?!
Sticking with the political theme Bono reminds us all of Aung San Suu Kyi and volunteers wearing masks of her face come onto the B stage while the band plays Walk On. Where the Streets Have No Name gets a huge cheer from all around the stadium.
Bono praises the successes of the One campaign, as he rightly should before One gets yet another huge cheer.
I get my excitement on again for Mysterious Ways, just a couple of weeks earlier I’d been hoping this would make it onto the setlist along with…
…The first of the Encore Ultraviolet (Light My Way), how I have wanted to hear this live. And, no U2 concert would be complete without With or Without You and we’re not disappointed. This song never gets old. At least not for me. That is a mirror ball up there. Brilliant!
The lights go down and come back up for Moment of Surrender, my favourite song from the new album. A nice way to end the show.
Suddenly it’s over. Twenty-three songs? Felt more like thirteen. And that’s all I can remember at three in the morning when I sit down to see how many I can list. I’m sure I would have done better if my mind wasn’t quickly shutting down requesting sleep.
Sleep, sleep tonight and may your dreams be realised - MLK
Yes, I forgot a lot of stuff. I left out a lot of stuff. You had to be there, really. If you want all the details then buy the DVD when it comes out.
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