29 U2, "The Longest Day", Milton Keynes Bowl, Saturday 22 June 1985

Ticket is mine, set list isn't. I wish!

My first big outdoor concert; and it rained! A dank horrible mid-Summer day greeted myself and 60-odd thousand folks as we arrived at this huge amphitheatre, parking up in the mud and failing to sell our spare ticket. Bah! Met up with my brother there - he, sensibly, went by train.

Openers THE FAITH BROTHERS were again rubbish. BILLY BRAGG however controlled the huge audience well, and performed a largely political song-based set. SPEAR OF DESTINY, next, impressed with a set of powerful rock with big choruses and big vocals from Kirk Brandon, but the real support card treat was the late afternoon appearance of THE RAMONES. The first time I'd seen da Brudders, they were just as I'd imagined, blasting through 30 songs of dumb sing-along surf punk in about an hour, all at breakneck speed! Moshed frantically down the front and got soaked in both rain and sweat.

Needed a breather after that, so went for a walk during REM's set. A band I'd later come to love fervently, they played a dull and dour set as bleak as the slate grey leaden skies overhead. The only notable number was the MTV-friendly "So. Central Rain (I'm Sorry)", from a poor set, which my brother spent hurling bottles of piss at Michael Stipe!.

U2 the headliners seized the day with gusto, starting with "11 O'Clock Tick Tock" and ripping through a brilliant and brilliantly chosen set of their euphoric, passionate rock. Right at this point, they were in a different league from the rest, for power, passion or indeed anything really! This was their moment and Bono, the supreme and sincere frontman, and the band took it perfectly, not even allowing technical problems during "Bad" to affect their performance. Brilliant stuff from a young band on the up and up.

The set was as follows; "11 O'Clock Tick Tock", "I Will Follow", "Seconds" ("a message to Margaret Thatcher, a message to Ronald Ray-Gun..."), "MLK" (dedicated to Coretta King), "The Unforgettable Fire", "Wire", "Sunday Bloody Sunday", The Electric Co.", "A Sort Of Homecoming", an appropriate "Rain" (the Beatles number, interspersed with snatches of Bob Dylan's "Hard Rain"), "Bad" (after a false start due to the synth breaking down), "October", "New Year's Day" and "Pride"

Encores were "Party Girl", a brilliant "Gloria" and finally a sing-along "40" to end the sodden yet superb day perfectly.

79, 80 U2, Hurrah, London Wembley Arena and Birmingham NEC, Tuesday 2nd and Wednesday 3rd June 1987

A couple of arena gigs from U2, on the back of their most successful LP yet in "The Joshua Tree", which combines their anthemic rock with almost folky, country-esque softer moments, and has finally seen them crack it big time. This double-header was the first and second of 4 U2 gigs over 12 days. Stadiums later, arenas first...

Headed off to Wembley - a former aircraft hanger, surely! - in time to catch competent support Hurrah play pleasant pop to a complacent crowd.

U2, however, were a cut above; in fact a cut above pretty much every other band around when viewed in the "live" environment. The set consisted of old faves "I Will Follow", "MLK", "The Unforgettable Fire" (introduced by Bono with, "some fires you can't put out..."), an acoustic "Sunday Bloody Sunday", "Pride", a wonderful soaring "Gloria" and singalong closer "40", punctuated with new numbers from "The Joshua Tree".

U2 also covered Ewan McColls "Springhill Mining Disaster", Bob Dylan's "Maggie's Farm" (transformed into a party political broadcast for the anti-Thatcher party), and Eddie Cochran's "C'Mon Everybody". A brilliant set.

We also bumped into a couple of luminaries around the venue; met Lloyd Cole and apologised for being so rude to him when we met at the Marquee at Del Amitri's recent gig! Also met Pete Wylie, who perched on a bar and held court for 10 minutes; just as I'd imagined him!

The following night was not so notable; drove up and grabbed something to eat before their show (marvellously sickly mushy peas!) at this similarly large indoor auditorium.

Missed Hurrah this time, but U2 were again exemplary, including in tonight's set Curtis Mayfield's "People Get Ready" and Dylan's "Knocking On Heaven's Door", jamming with various members of the audience! Bono lost his voice slightly during "Pride" so cut the encores to 2, but still another great show.

More was to follow, at Wembley Stadium the following weekend...

81, 82 U2, Various Supports, London Wembley Stadium, Friday 12 and Saturday 13 June 1987

A double double-header of U2 gigs (4 in all in 11 days) culminated in this 2 night stand at Wembley Stadium, the first time U2 had been elevated to Stadium Band status (1985's Milton Keynes "Longest Day" show notwithstanding), and my first Stadium gigs as well!

Day one, I drove up and parked in Uxbridge, tubing in from there. Wembley Stadium is huge; luckily the pitch was tarpaulined over so the hallowed turf wasn't desecrated. Found a good viewing spot near the front of the stage as the place filled... and filled... Openers WORLD PARTY started with their best song "Ship Of Fools" then faded badly. SPEAR OF DESTINY were next up; disappointed not to see Alan St. Clair or Stan Stammers in the line-up, but SOD played a strident rock set featuring old faves "Mickey", "Once In Her Lifetime" and "Young Men", which won me over.

Pleasantly surprised by the PRETENDERS set, which was more rocking than their intelligent but often wallpaper pop output might have suggested; vocalist Chrissie Hynde dedicated best number "Kid" to the late Pete Farndon and James Honeyman Scott; the rendition was beautiful.

As for U2; they played basically the same set as the NEC 10 days ago, omitting their version of "Maggies Farm" now that the election is over. With Bono a splendid showman well at home on this big stage, their set was typically wonderful, but no surprises after a couple of viewings already. However, tomorrow was the biggie...

Stayed overnight with a friend in Uxbridge, then tubed it in again, meeting lots of Swindonians in the massive queue, including PG and the Budlet (already - and still - U2's biggest fan).

LONE JUSTICE opened with an energetic set of countrified pop, certainly more kinetic than the totally static POGUES. Shane MacGowan was totally pissed as the Pogues got lost on this huge stage. However LOU REED was surprisingly good, playing memorable covers of Velvets classics "Walk On The Wild Side" and "White Light/ White Heat" and proving there's life in the old dog yet.

As the light dimmed on a slate grey sky - some contrast from the previous day's sun - the PA played "Stand By Me" as per usual, but this time U2 wandered, almost nonchalantly, onstage, picked up their instruments and started playing along! Thence followed a totally awesome 2 hours, easily the best set of the 4; a rejigged set including covers of "C'Mon Everybody" and the Beatles "Help", a brilliant, brilliant "Gloria", 6 songs for encores and much sincerity from Bono, everyone's focus. "This Wembley Stadium is a big place but this music and you people are bigger; don't forget tonight, we won't." Tonight, I believe it, and at this point, U2 are setting the standard in live performances. Awesome.

247 U2, Stereo MCs, Utah Saints, Cardiff Arms Park, Wednesday 18 August 1993

Not my list, a replica, sadly...

A 2 month hiatus from gigs, ended by U2's massive "Zoo TV" tour; talk about getting into it again in a big way! Got there at 4, and joined the milling throng to get into the Welsh National Stadium, a 55,000 capacity 3/4 bowl 2-tier amphitheatre, smack in the middle of Cardiff, and an ideal venue for this show. Took a viewing position in the seats by the halfway line, upper tier, getting a bloody good view of proceedings!

After a no doubt incredibly symbolic but totally baffling papier mache costume mime show on the stage, we finally had some music! Utah Saints took the stage at 6 and united the crowd with a superb set of their techno-punk meets rave dance music, showing excellent taste in samples (early Human League, Simple Minds et al) in the process. A corker of an opening set. The Stereo MC's, next up, kept the crowd's momentum going with their yo-dance funk chants, but I'm afraid they left me cold. The scrawny, ugly little vocalist irritated me no end with his antics, and the notion of a Mancunian scally not only pretending to talk like a Rastafarian, but also patronisingly chanting "Cymru Am Blith" left a bad taste and was treated with the contempt it deserved. Better was to come, though...

8.45; I'd just missed the spectacle of 4 figures with papier mache cartoon U2 heads jumping out of laundry baskets wheeled onstage, but then the lights were off and massive banks of TVs and white light heralded the triumphant entrance of U2. Nice to see that despite all the overblown stage show hype, they're still the same old band ("this is an away game for us, but it always seems like home here," said Bono to a predictable ovation), and the opening foray, drawn from the disappointing recent "Achtung Baby" LP, made best use of the massive stage set-up. Particularly entertaining, although somewhat at the expense of the songs, were various slogans flashed up on the huge TV screens during "The Fly", such as "Evolution Is Over!", "What Did The First Punk Rock Girl Wear To Your School?", "Call Your Mother", and the much heralded "Everything You Know is Wrong".

For me, however, the gig only really took flight during the opening bars of "New Year's Day". This was the point when it stopped being a media event and became a rock concert. At last. From then on, the technology thankfully took second place to the music, which included excellent renditions of "Bad", a sinewy "Bullet The Blue Sky", and my favourite of the set, "Where The Streets Have No Name", the intro as haunting and majestic as ever.

The encore, led by Bono's new "persona", Mr. MacPhisto, was again a little contrived and silly, especially the phone call to Margaret Thatcher, but overall, the gimmicks and huge stage sets were ultimately dwarfed by the music. Which is how it should be; take note, please, boys. So overall, despite some pre-gig trepidation, I'm glad I went; but not so happy with the 2 hours it took to get from the centre of Cardiff to the Severn Bridge. Still, it could have been worse; my brother took 4 1/2 hours to get home. Ouch!

524 U2, Kelis, London Earl's Court, Saturday 18 August 2001

So, U2, my brother's "raison d'être", finally shed the pompous post-ironic fluff and got round to writing some blazing soaring rock tunes again, with "Beautiful Day" easily their best single for 14 years. So this prompted me to go along with "The Budlet" to one of the many shows he's going to, on their current UK tour! Being the ultimate U2 fan, he of course left at 7 am to queue up all day, so I took the train about midday and after some comic shopping met up with him about 4 at Earls Court. He'd been there since 10 am and got his wristband for the inside of "the heart", whatever that was. Latecomers like myself had to be content with general floor admission for this 20,000+ capacity aircraft hanger of a venue.

In at 6.30 after a queue-up in increasing drizzle, and found a space stage right, against the side barriers, on which to rest my injured shoulder. Found out what "the heart" was - effectively 2 ramps from each side of the stage, jutting out 100 feet into the crowd and meeting in the middle!

Unfortunately Earl's Court, as for REM, meant shite support acts again... This time we endured R'n'B so called "diva" Kelis, a shock-haired Tina Turner in waiting who peddled some crappy stilted insipid funk, with power riffs inappropriately thrown in on occasion, and a terrible cover of Eurythmics' "Sweet Dreams". I wanted to move to get away, but the place was already heaving...

Budlet had primed me for the PA intro sequence (Jackie Wilson, Radiohead then U2's own "Elevation"), but nevertheless it was still a slight surprise when the boys sauntered onstage midway through the taped "Elevation" and burst into life. Why? Well, the house lights were still on, for starters... Not for long, though, as Bono, effusive and expressive as ever, gestured dramatically and plunged the place into momentary darkness, immediately followed by stark backlit white light. Pure theatre but welcomed with a huge roar from the sell-out crowd. But showmanship, schmowmanship - I'm here for the music, and I'm pleased to report that this was pretty special as well tonight. "Beautiful Day" was second number in, a crashing soaring chorus-led number, giving the ideal platform for Bono's energetic performance. A haunting "New Year's Day" followed soon after, The Edge weaving piano and zigzaggy guitar melodies perfectly. Happily, this set also eschewed the post-ironic experimentation and stage props of recent times, concentrating on what U2, in my view, do best; soaring, anthemic guitar rock with staccato riffery from The Edge at its' core, and vocal heroics from the extrovert but permanently knackered looking Bono as embellishment. The stage show reflected this; a simple but effective light and shade, silhouette and occasionally swirly psychedelic effects approach, which underpinned and complimented, rather than detracted from (often their problem "live" for me) the music.

The set centred around recent serious-return-to-form CD, "All That You Can't Leave Behind", but also featured oldies such as the still innocent and fresh "I Will Follow", the gloriously sinewy and building "Bad", and "Where The Streets Have No Name", for me the highlight of this set and still one of the most epic introductions to a song, Edge's intricate fretwork weaving with the backing synth and solidity of Adam's bass, to the crescendo and release of Bono's vocal. Great stuff, emotive and evocative.

And we had to have encores as well, following set closer "The Fly", which featured Bono scampering around the heart before running headlong into one of the lighting screens in suitable fly-hits-window fashion. "Bullet The Blue Sky", mighty and dramatic, and accompanied by some uneasy arts-race statistics projected on the backdrop, was followed by a splendid, stripped back "With Or Without You" and some contentious but well-received words from Bono about civil disobedience on behalf of Jubilee 2000. Overall, though, the message tonight was in the music, and the crux of it was that U2 are back to basics, playing rock music "live" and doing so in a fearless and peerless manner. Finally!

665 U2, Athlete, Doves, London Twickenham Rugby Stadium, Saturday 18 June 2005

An honest-to-goodness Stadium gig - one of 3 this year (and of 2 in 2 days!), and no better way to start than with the ultimate stadium band - U2, whom I'd seen on my first stadium show almost exactly 20 years ago! A roaringly sunny day saw us heading off to London at 11, parking up at our friends' place and enjoying a splendid BBQ lunch in good company and fine weather! Headed from thence over to Twickenham via overground and underground train - my first time at this cavernous and impressive stadium bowl, a shame the access was so slow as it took over 1/2 hour to queue up for armbands even before getting in!

So we finally arrived pitchside at 6, as the Doves were onstage peddling a pleasant but innocuous Britpop chunter. I quite liked their set closer "There Goes the Fear", which recalled "A Whiter Shade Of Pale"(!) but that was about it! We kept our place about 1/3 back from the stage-left speaker stack (no chance of getting into the 5,000 capacity "Inner Circle" encompassing the stage front and the elliptical runway - those armbands had gone by 11 a.m.!) for main support Athlete who were shockingly poor. No doubt aiming for the Coldplay slow-burn mood market, they were even way wide of that mark. Dull, desperate and dire!

U2 have however performed a remarkable reinvention recently, returning to their root values of passionate, emotive soaring pop, after their ill-fated (in my view, anyway) 90's triad of "irony" albums. With a strong single "Vertigo", and a refreshingly consistent new CD, "How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb", their return to form only needed rubber-stamping with an exemplary live performance, one whicch they should be well capable of. So expectations were sky-high as the refrain of the Arcade Fire's wonderful "Wake Up" heralded their entrance at 8.20. Straight into "Vertigo", then first album oldies "I Will Follow" and "Electric Co." in quick succession. I should have been going utterly potty at this point, but something seemed missing...

The first half was definitely U2 on cruise control, the band not as passionate and committed as they should have been, running through oldies like "New Year's Day" by rote, and only politely accepted by this crowd of gig tourists, definitely not the rabid U2 crowd of yesteryear. "Beautiful Day" however picked up the mood, and as dusk started to fall, the light show kicked in, and "City Of Blinding Lights", the moving intricate guitarplay of the Edge to the fore, finally sent the set soaring.

A surprisingly stunning "Miracle Drug" followed, before "Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own", a stately ballad about Bono's father, brought Rachel to tears as the lightshow backdrop played an image of a father walking along. This then was the making of this set - thereafter U2 poured their emotion more fully into their performance, seeming more committed on the new numbers, with Edge riffing away for all he was worth on "Love And Peace" and the dark, imposing "Bullet The Blue Sky". Then Bono provided a touching calm-after-the-storm vocal on the haunting "Running To Stand Still", my highlight of the night, augmented by the Bill Of Human Rights being projected onto the backdrop.

Then a stunning "Where The Streets Have No Name", Edge's virtuoso intro complementing an energetic vocal from the headbanded Bono, finally feeling it. "One", featuring Bono's political plea to support Live 8 and "Make Poverty History" (preaching to the converted, as ever, a little unnecessarily) capped an inconsistent, infuriating but finally worthwhile set.

Then of course the boys had to have their fun - encores of "Zoo Station", "The Fly" and "Mysterious Ways" saw us return to the overblown stage theatrics of the Zoo TV tour, which I confess didn't do it for me either then or now. It should be about the music, boys! A strict 10.30 curfew precluded another break, so a fine "Yahweh" and another run-through of "Vertigo" (Why? Why not "40"?) ended 2 hours and 10 minutes that entertained despite the disappointing opening. Ran into my brother on the walk back to the tube - he's sleeping in his car and doing it all again tomorrow! We, on the other hand, are off to see Green Day!

767 U2, Elbow, The Hours, Wembley Stadium, Friday 14 August 2009

A notable gig this, for a number of reasons: my first gig since my daughter Kasey was born, breaking my longest gig hiatus since 1983 (at 3 months 27 days, it was even 5 days longer than my 2002/03 illness layoff); my first gig at the reconstructed Wembley Stadium; and, thanks to my U2 fanatic brother sorting himself out a hotel for tomorrow's gig as well, my first gig on a coach since... ooh, who knows when!

Times have changed since I, an innocent and starry-eyed 22 year old then, proclaimed 1987's U2 the best live band on the planet. A disappointing, "gig tourist" filled experience at Twickenham on the last tour had been followed by an uneven new album, bringing back uncomfortable memories of their self-indulgent "irony" period of the 1990s. However, the U2 "live" legend, combined with the promise (?) of a "different" live experience thanks to "The Claw", a huge 4-legged stage set-up with circular videoscreens suspended from the apex, putting the band almost "in the round", persuaded me to part with the steep £60ish ticket price, along with coach fare.

Left at 1.30 and got a reasonably good run, hitting the stadium at 4. Pretty impressed with the new Wembley and the huge arch, and everything seemed pretty well organised. Joined the queue a little behind my brother, then got in about 1/4 to 5, taking a wander toward the c.100 foot tall "Claw", immediately (and accidentally) getting entry to the "inner circle" between the circular stage and the band's outer runway. However, this was so overcrowded - already! - that even my superfan brother didn't fancy it, so I caught up with him at the left leg of "The Claw".

Openers The Hours joined us at 6. A young spunky band, obviously in thrall to (early) U2 - so much so that their opener had us Rose boys singing "Electric Co." along to it! However they had some passion and fire, despite their youth, and the Jim Adkins lookalike vocalist obviously relished the occasion. You're playing at Wembley, guys - enjoy it!

A damn sight better than main support Elbow. Their popularity (particularly their recent upsurge) has eluded me and they were as grey, dour and depressing as the suddenly leaden slate skies. Their final number was kind of alright, thus making it head, shoulders, torso, groin and thighs above the rest of their set.

Lights out at 8.15 and the intro music of the haunting David Bowie classic "Space Oddity" (sounding fresh as ever, now 40 years old, and, though I knew it not then, as good as it was going to get tonight) heralded the entrance of U2. The opening salvo was actually terrific - the sinewy "Breathe", the jagged "No Line", the brash glam stomp of "Get On Your Boots" and the more trad-U2 soaring rock of "Magnificent", new numbers all, before a fine, anthemic "Beautiful Day". Bono complimented how London had been good for U2, before the best moment of their night - a full-stadium singalong of the mesmeric "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For", lovely and spine-tingling.

Thereafter it all went South in a hurry. The best 4 numbers from the new album were already done, throwing the remainder of the newies in a very poor light. The set selection was ropey at best, with an "Unforgettable Fire" wasted, sluggish and emotionless, and as a substitute for the missing passion and intensity of old, we had the kind of overblown stadium theatrics I thought we fought the punk wars to eradicate. And the thing that made me so angry and disappointed (so much so that I left my brother to it at this point) is that these boys were there then, so they know.

Sure, "The Claw" was impressive, and when the screen descended it was breathtaking - my brother said of "The Claw" that it was so captivating you almost forget there are 4 guys playing music onstage, which for me is missing the point - if I want to see a "show" I'll get tix for "Starlight Express". I'm always here for the music, first and foremost, and it was on this point, crucially, that U2 failed to deliver tonight. Even the likes of "Pride" and "Sunday Bloody Sunday" sounded workmanlike, flat and obligatory.

Sorry boys, a big disappointment tonight.