by Phil Wright

There are good live bands. There are great live bands. And there's U2. They are simply in a different league to any other live act. When you've got other bands saying how brilliant they are (Snow Patrol earlier in the tour and Elbow tonight) then you know that they are something pretty special.

I'd been waiting for this with so much excitement. U2 playing in my city of birth. Fantastic.

A fantastic venue as quite a bit smaller than the stadiums they are used to playing. Got right up to the barriers where the band arrived prior to going on stage. There was lots of security and the moving of people to stand in the right place. Then at around 8.35 they appeared with Larry leading the way. He was closely followed by Edge and Adam, and then Bono flanked by loads of minders. This was U2 literally feet away from me!!

When you've got some 30 years' worth of material to put into a 2-hour show it must be difficult deciding what to play, but the set featured material from the latest album and old classics. Shame that there was no 'I Will Follow'.

From the mexican wave before they came on stage, to the end when again I was by the barrier watching them leave in the awaiting people carriers it was a fantastic night. The stage, the lighting, video screens - fantastic. A night I'll never forget and even better - I have an audio recording as it was broadcast on some digital radio stations!

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