The Saints are coming

U2 Vertigo - Mt Smart Stadium, Auckland, NZ
November 24th 2006. About 6.30pm.


(The Saints are Coming and they're wearing Vertigo shirts
H and Ads outside Mt Smart Stadium)

Eleven and a half months of planning, a shitload of money, a fair bit of patience, a truckload of luck and some timely assistance (especially from the FlatCats) saw us finally get to U2.

Superb.

Kanye West, who was the curtain raiser was not superb. He was utter crap but if a shit opening act makes a mediocre band look good, the same makes a fabulous band look wonderful, marvelous, superlative.

And other polysyllabic terms of supremacy. It was WOW.

Yes, apart from a few instances of typical Ewe 2 proselytisation (this time invoking rapidly changing and compelling images and computer graphics verging on brainwashing), it was one hell of a concert and worth every cent. I may invoke my inate cynicism on this subject another night, but suffice to say that my charitable leanings and personal opinions, like my musical ones, are not based on being emotively and emotionally fleeced like sheep in a flock or lambs to the slaughter - I like to make up my own mind.

The crowd was well behaved, the dack was regularly supplied from many joints in close proximity and the atmosphere was largely euphoric. The Mexican Wave finally ended and the rain suddenly stopped and even if we didn't see the moon turn red over One Tree Hill, we saw the stars in the sky as well as the stadium.

There're reviews for Africa of the concert itself here, here and here, and YouTube has video of last night's concert already available



with some rather official-looking photos of the first of the unique Auckland shows here (including shots of the NZ Flag and the Koru design displayed during One Tree Hill, which was only included in the NZ Tour Dates). 45,000 people rocked the night away in the very best style and they are doing it one final time tonight.

Not bad for four Irish boys.

Shit I'm tired.

U2 on Techorati

UPDATE:

txt from Murray who is at tonight's show with his kids "am on the ground 20m from stage". Nice view, Tin Arse!