by Keith Newman

My Beautiful Day: Jenny and I had arranged the afternoon off to get to the stadium at a reasonable time, arriving at gate 1 at just after 2. Oh no! There already was a few stewards doing a not very clever job of segregating the really early arrivers from the rest of us. We were told the people beyond the line of Stewards would be those in the pit, and we hadn't made it - they also told us this was the only gate that would allow entry to the pit - that didn't sound right, and wasn't. Still, we joined the rest of the friendly crowd and sat around waiting - the cheap to be disposed of on entry Adsda fold-up chair making things a little more comfortable. Bruce, a fellow queue-er, was very optimistic we'd still get in the pit - I wasn't! 15:30, and we all stood up in anticipation of a charge, and again the friendly banter started. Thanks for the beers, whoever handed them round! At 16:00, the crowd beyond the cordon moved in, a few minutes later we were allowed to get in - half walking, half running, we went into the stadium, to see an apparently full pit. We found some seats, resigned to not seeing much otherwise. Hang on - people are still getting in! We ran down, and joined the melee - more pushed into the inner circle than walked - but we were in and still had the Asda chair. Watched StarSailer (very good) & the Killers (good but I found them a bit predictable) whilst also getting the staples - beer & Pizza. Then the main event, and the inner circle is soooo good as you can have plenty of room and still be right by the satellite stages. Even better, Jenny (who's 4'11") could stand on the Asda chair and see everything! She danced, swayed and pogo'd on that chair for 2 hours, and still it held good - £3.47 from Asda - bargain!! U2 were at their best, the crowd at their best and that was one of the most memorable U2 concerts I've been too. Special moments? Being hugged by Jenny during All I Want Is You, the crowd singing during Pride, Bono pinching Adam's bum, and of course the music. Getting home a complete nightmare - park and ride hopeless, M4 choca-block, and a punture to boot (what was that on the motorway - it took out about a dozen cars with punctures?) - but do I care? Nope no regrets!

The Millenium Stadium? Great venue, but they could learn a few things from Twickenham on organisation though - the charge for the pit wasn't safe, nor was allowing so many people to stand on the stairs when even more are trying to get up and down. Access - plan for a long journey home.

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