U2 concert

We were at the U2 concert in Croke Park on Monday. Wow. It was a fantastic show. We had quite good seats, in the Cusack stand, not too high, and we had a great view of the stage. But I don't think it matters where you were, as the way they had live close-ups on the 360-degree screen above the stage made you feel like you were in the "inner circle". Actually, I think that those in the inner circle didn't have as good a view of the "claw", or of the stage even, if one of the bridges happened to be right over their heads. And the smoke coming out of the stage can't have been too pleasant if you were so close.

I say we had good seats - but the moment the band came on stage, everyone, and I mean everyone, got to their feet. And we didn't sit down until we got back to our car after the concert. I think the last time I've boogied this much was the Neil Diamond concert last year (I do have wide musical tastes!).

U2 played a good mix - plenty of the old songs (e.g. Bloody Sunday, Pride, Beautiful Day, New Year's Day), some more recent stuff like Vertigo, and the best of the new album, some of which is quite catchy - I did enjoy singing karaoke style to Unknow Caller! The sound was great, by the way (there were some reports that it wasn't brilliant on the first 2 nights) - crystal clear, but not too loud (though Brendan did get a ringing in his ears until the next morning). What amazed me is that we could hear Bono's voice perfectly over the singing of the crowd (and we did sing along a lot). His voice is in pretty good shape, by the way. When they started out many years ago, I really don't think he had a great voice. He could hit some beautiful high notes, but he could equally miss them altogether. Now, his voice is steady and he can control the high notes perfectly.

It wasn't all about the music though - the light show was out of this world. The Claw, as it is called, is like a 4-legged spaceship sitting over the stage, with a 360-degree screen over it - smoke coming out of the spire on top, a disco ball at the top shining light into the night, special effects with the video screen expanding and contracting as needed, mixing Paul Klee-like coloured squares with images of the band, ... Amazing stuff. Go onto the U2.com website and check out the videos. It's well worth it.

One final thing to say - what a dreadful leather jacket Bono was wearing - one of these patchwork leather ones with different colours, and the sleeves were too long. Looks like a cheapy from a Tenerife market (and I'm sure it's not!). Awful!