by mick and ellie james

It's been 5 years, 2 months and 14 days since our last U2 show (feckin Slane!), and it was more than worth the wait.

Someone had the good idea to put the first show of the rescheduled Vertigo tour on on Melbourne Cup Day - the horse race that stops the nation. (Bono's a big fan of the GGs, so apparently he was pissed that he missed the race). So it was a pretty good day to join the GA queue in the hot sun while most other peeps were off punting. Gates opened at 5pm and by 5.30pm we were standing dead centre between the B-stages in the Golden Circle.

There was so much room up the back of the 'ellipse' that a group of us were poppin and lockin to Kanye West, who, despite crap sound, did a decent enough job.

Finally the Arcade Fire blasted through the massive PA, and it was on like Donkey Kong. The crowd errupted as Bono magically appeared on the B-stage.

After nine months of heartache, we realised it was worth the wait, as Bono's voice was pristine, Adam was regal, Larry was hotttttt(tttttt), and we hate to use Bono's current fave cliche, but Edge was on fire!

Yaweh appeared early in the set and was a touching tribute to the trouble The Burning One and his family had to endure to get here.

Highlights included Angel of Harlem with a Bonomonica solo (during the rehearsal the night before, which we and a hundred other foolhardy nerds witnessed from a hill behind the stadium in the rain, Bono did the entire song a-lah Bob Dylan - eet's uh cooold n wit Decimbah deey...).

Bono announced The Saints Are Coming as the world premiere, and the boys rocked it, managing somehow to replicate the huge sound of their set with Green Day in New Orleans.

A beautiful encore specifically tailored to the Australian crowd was Kite. The fifth member for this song was an Australian Aboriginal with Irish blood accompanying on didgeridoo. The show ended with an unexpected theatric of a brightly coloured kite flying over the stage, which Bono released into the warm, full-mooned Brisbane night sky.

Ten out of goddamn ten, boys! A perfect start to our own special Down Under tour.

Next stop, Sydney!

Return to previous page | Post a Review of this show!