by Brian Hagan

A strange crowd descended upon Belfast's botanical gardens for this, the greatest spectacle ever to hit Northern Ireland. Strange because so many of them had no idea what to expect, stranger still in that the majority seemed not to be fans at all.

This, however, failed to put a damper on the band's enthusiasm as they launched into a truly blistering show in which absolutely everything seemed to go right. Before long this enthusiasm had rubbed off on most of the crowd and by the end of Mofo the huge venue, a barren field, was transformed into a seething mass of dancing bodies.

Highlights included the unplanned participation of a spotter plane during "Bullet the Blue Sky" when it flew through the top of the enormous cone of searchlights which pierced the night. Please was incredibly intense, and painfully beautiful and the finale of "One" had everyone singing along and emotionally drained. Those who had not been fans of U2 emarged from the botanical gardens as converts.

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