by The Leprechaun

Well, this was my first U2 concert, after many many years of waiting, so you'll have to excuse me if I indulge myself a bit here.

It was a long, hot day waiting in the GA queue, and the sunburnt faces that lined the barricades along the b-stages next to me were testament to the tenacity of so many aussie fans who have waited such a long time for this night to roll around.

Kanye West did the job well in warming up the crowd, and was well received (probably more so than a lot of people had thought).

U2 took to the stage almost half an hour late (thanks to some late arrivals in the crowd), and to pass the time the crowd provided their own entertainment and started several mexican waves. One of many 'only in australia' moments during the course of the night.

Finally The Arcade Fire hit, and a few people who realised the significance of this began to cheer. The band came out to a thunderous reception and played an energetic 'City of Blinding Lights'

There was a small section of the giant screen that was not working during the first few songs, was quite interesting to see the worker behind the screen trying his heart out to get it fixed. He eventually got it going, but 1 square panel remained flickering for the rest of the night.

I don't know if Edge has a 'first night jinx' with 'Vertigo' or not, but I seem to remember that on the opening night in San Diego, he had a bit of a volume malfunction. For a few seconds during the song, the same thing happened here in Brisbane.

'Elevation', 'Until the end of the world', 'New Years Day' and 'Beautiful Day' all followed, and the crowd sang their approval.

When Dallas brought out the acoustic, I thought we were in for an acoustic verstion of 'Stuck In a Moment' or 'The First Time', but the familiar chords of 'Yahweh' started. The earliest - I believe - the song has appeared in the set so far on tour. Played superbly, but would have benefited a lot from those beautiful images up on the big screen that we saw during the European and North American legs.

From reading about what the band rehearsed, I was expecting 'Kite' next, but they burst into 'Walk On'. Accompanied by some Australian themed images up on the screen (see photo) it was a nice reminder of what we missed out on during the Elevation Tour.

It didn't seem to be Edge's best night. He had guitar problems through 'Sometimes', which didn't help the mood of the song.

A powerful version of 'Love and Peace' followed, and then into the ever popular 'Sunday Bloody Sunday', where Bono touched on some local political issues, calling for the release of terror suspect David Hicks from the guantanamo bay prison in cuba. "We don't need to become a monster, in order to defeat a monster" Bono added.

'Bullet the Blue Sky' was strong, but the performance of 'Miss Sarajevo' was very lacklustre. If the show had any dull point, unfortunately this was it.

'Pride' got the crowd back on song. What else needs to be said about 'Streets'? They returned to the 'Africa' themed lighting for this one. 'One' had everyone in the stadium holding up their 'Cellphone' (no one has told Bono that we call them 'Mobile Phones' here in Oz.

'Zoo Station' and 'The Fly' were a treat for the senses. Mysterious Ways made room for 'With or Without You' in which Bono inserted a snippet of 'Streets of Your Town' by Brisbane band 'The Go-Betweens' in memory of the late Grant McLennan.

The second encore is the place to find a big surprise, and U2 didn't disappoint as they belted out a world premiere of 'The Saints are Coming'. Whoever didn't like the song beforehand was definately won over by a strong performance.

Bono seemed genuinely excited during the second encore and danced around the stage with delight as they performed 'Angel of Harlem' for the first time since the Elevation Tour.

But the biggest surprise, and most beautiful song of the night was 'Kite'. One of the crew let some helium filled balloons on a string sit about 100ft into the air just before the song started.

A didgeridoo was accompanied into the start of the songs, with just the strings and larry hitting a tamborine, the start of this song alone was incredibly moving.

As they progressed through it, Bono made his way down the b-stage and took control of an actual Kite (dangling beneath the helium filled baloons). The imagery was just superb. Edge's solo rang out for a second time as Bono flew his Kite. Then pulled out a lighter and broke the string.

As the Kite sailed off into the distance, Bono sang "I know that this is not goodbye"

Perfect.

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