by Kjetil the Viking

My body is back in Norway, but I left a bit of my heart in Dublin. This wonderful, friendly city, home of the fab four of our time. I’m not the guy with the Norwegian flag just in front of the scene. Me and my friend Øystein had “pole position” just between the two cat-walk ends in the middle of the bombshelter. I’ve seen the band in 5 different world-tours before Vertigo 2005, but never in Dublin. This was the pilgrim journey of my U2-life.

During the last few minutes of waiting between Paddy Casey and U2, the Mexico-wave had it’s ride round and round Croke Park. May this wave thing can be the metaphor for my experience further on in this review. When Arcade Fire’s Wake Up soundet over the PA, for a second I reflected around U2’s entrances during the decades. When I got Elevated in the Stockholm Globe four years ago, I was impressed and amazed of the “clean” entrance. The absence of almost everything except pure rock’n roll power, and people went crazy! Well, here we go again, multiplied with 10!! Four guys, some seconds of line posing, the one-two-three-fourteen thing, and the crowd goes totally bananas. When Vertigo went from second verse to chorus (swinging to the music, ohhh… etc.) it felt like a warm, friendly rock’n roll tsunami straight in my face. Wonderful…

I could have said a lot about the concert through the set-list, but this enormous, strong connection between the band and the audience in the city of their own, is the most important experience I bring with me back home. From my position in the bombshelter, the sound struggled the first third part of the main set. Bono sounded a little crispy, and some of Edges guitar miracles lost the position in the total sound. But to be honest, I didn’t care much. When 80 000 people sing the first verse of Still haven’t found together (no kidding), isn’t the sound so very important anymore. And when the band started Streets (what a miracle of a song, always a party-topper!!) I felt the Tsunami from the start returning, but this time it hit me from behind. I turned around, and there I saw people, high and low, from the back corners and all over the pitch, being a part of the “wave”. I have gone crazy during Streets live many times before in my life, but this was quite different. This was totally mad…

By the way, I have to add some words about the first part of the encore to the story. Who will ever mind the bollocks, her comes the Achtung Party!! The triple Zoo-TV reminder Zoo/Fly/Mysterious must have shaken the whole Drumcondra area! The same guys who just minutes earlier focused on the poverty and debtproblems in Africa, now acted like the coolest and sexiest band on earth. Mysterious was the best version still to reach my ears, and have heard quite a few. For a true Achtung worshipper like me, this part was more than I had dared to hope for, and a great kicker.

So, what to say? During Still haven’t found Bono thanked God for the gospel. Well, I want to mix your words a bit, Bono, (maybe you read this, who knows…) and borrow a title from the composer G. F. Handel. In his marvellous oratorio Messiah (in fact performed for the first time in Dublin), he titles an aria “How beautiful are the feet of them that brings the gospel of peace (Romans 10:15). I will thank God for U2, and thank you guys for being the feet of the most important rock’n roll gospel of our time!

And thanks everyone for a fantastic Croke Park 2005 weekend!!!

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