by The G-man

Another night, another great show! The band came out ready for a good time. Bono, in particular was pumped, really geeing up the crowd, announcing this was their last show for the year, so let’s party! At least five changes were made to the set-list and Desire seemed almost spontaneous as Bono gestured to the band in some sort of code. Before each of All I Want Is You, Love Rescue Me and Desire, Bono told us that they played these songs live for the first time here in Perth (Lovetown Tour 1989), so it was a joy to hear them on this occasion.

My position in the Red Zone on Edge’s side was truly fantastic. As a guitarist myself I took great delight in watching Edge at his craft and the guitar changes throughout the show (I counted 9 different guitars!). As with last night, the songs were tight and full of punch. The band was really having a good time. What a joy it was to be standing so close to the walkway – all four band members came past at various points in the show. Bono pulled two young children – a boy and a girl - up on stage during In a Little While. It was a nice moment in the show and the two kids were beaming and bopping along with Bono, it was great!

On a personal note, back in 1998 when U2 played Perth on the Pop Mart Tour, I was disappointed and almost embarrassed by the general malaise of the crowd. A lot of people sat through the show, even those directly in front of the stage This was something that clearly annoyed Bono because as he exited the stage he muttered “they should tear the *expletive* seats out of this place”. In the press conference after, he asked the rhetorical question, “was the crowd on drugs or something?” and then subsequently learned that the venue had done a deal with rich people so they could sit up front. He was not happy. Since then I have wondered if this memory was a deciding factor in them skipping Perth on the Vertigo tour.

But this weekend I feel we atoned for our past. The crowd was pumped and loud, and the band seemed genuinely delighted to be here. We gave them two near-full nights and the crowd was definitely up for it. We clapped, we swayed, we sang and hung on every note and word. They were happy, we were happy. As he said goodnight, Bono said, “let’s not make it 12 years until next time”. I agree.

I will treasure these two nights forever. Thank you U2.

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