by David

I, together with my brother Gerard, have been U2 fans since 1980 when our cousin Paul brought Boy up from Dublin to tell us about this new band from Dublin. Over the past 21 years we have followed them, their music and of course their concerts: seeing them in Belfast, Dublin and Cork in various states of ecstasy as well as in London and, more recently, in Zurich (I am currently exiled in Geneva) for the incredible Elevation gig they played there (the sweatiest gig I've been to since I was a teenager!).

When we couldn't get tickets for Slane we were bitterly disappointed. However my brother got two tickets for him and his wife (Hello Eileen!) after putting an ad in a local paper and, for the first time ever, I got a ticket from an Internet auction site (thanks Richard, it was worth the £100).

With worries about the weather, getting a good spot amongst 80,000 other fans, the memory of the Zurich concert and the effect on the band following the death of Bono's father I was wondering if the concert could ever live up to the hype (no pun intended) of the event.

Well, everything got off to a great start with the sun splitting the stones, enjoying our lunch to the music of the young U2-pretenders, JJ72, having a few beers during Kelis and then pitching our camp on the embankment below the VIP stands giving us a great view down onto the stage. Coldplay were on good form, introducing Yellow with "There has been a lot of talk about this song, maybe too much talk. This song is not a rubbish song. This song is 'Yellow'" and thanking U2 about three times for being invited to the gig (saying they had previously turned down Aerosmith and Celine Dion to play stadium gigs). I don't know much about the Red Hot Chili Peppers but they played a great set and got the crowd going. For one song they asked everybody to take off their shirt and whirl it around their head. The sight of 40,000 "helicopters" frantically whirling from the front row to the back (and even a few in the VIP stand) was the most joyous, funny sight I have seen at a concert. They also introduced one song as "a straight up love song, so I guess this is for Bono's Pops" which got an appreciative cheer from the crowd.

Then, anticipation swelling in the crowd, Thin Lizzy's "the Boys are back in town" blaring over the speakers, it's 8.30 pm and the band are on. Bono blesses himself and they kick into the storming Elevation Tour opening of Elevation / Beautiful Day / Until the End of the World / New Year's Day. The crowd go bananas, obviously. During the Bono / Edge duel of UTEOTW Bono physically hurls himself into the crowd outside the heart and on the huge screens above the stage you see this black-clad leg frantically lashing out and kicking Edge's guitar over and over again.

Bono first talked before Kite, thanking the support acts, thanking the crowd and then thanking God for releasing his Dad from his pain. One of the many emotional highlights of the night. The crowd was lit up with lighters and if people didn't have lighters, they burned newspapers.

"A Sort of Homecoming" was the first surprise of the night, beautifully rendered and poignant for a band returning home to Ireland and to a place where they recorded the song, and for the fans who had travelled from all over the world to see them here. With "I Will Follow" and SBS U2 lifted the crowd a little higher into ecstasy and then brought them down gently with "Wake up Dead Man", "Stuck" and "In a Little While" (Eileen's song).

Bono then gathered his friends to the tip of the heart and showed that even at this time he had not lost his sense of humour: Edge ("wearing the No. 7 shirt"), Larry ("the man who started this band") and Adam ("the poshest member of U2….playing in a castle….so he feels at home"). Gerard and I were at the 1981 Slane concert when U2 supported Thin Lizzy so we felt very nostalgic when he talked about it, about Phil Lynott (whose mother was in the crowd) but he then admitted that "we were crap actually" (oh well, we thought they were brilliant that day!). With the four of them huddled at the tip of the walkway they played a gentle version of Lizzy's "Dancing in the Moonlight" as if they were rehearsing in someone's kitchen (I read that they played this cover song when they started out, along bizarrely with The Moody Blues' Nights in White Satin - anyway want to hear U2 playing that live? - so it obviously meant something to them.)

After the acoustics it was the set with which they fulfilled their application for Best Band in the World: Bad, Streets (how is it that at every concert in every country, every person goes mental at this song?), Mysterious Ways and Pride. If there is any other band in the world who can connect with their audience in such a way over these 4 songs, I have yet to hear about them.

Thanks to this website (thank you, U2Tours.com) probably everybody knew what the encores would be. To be honest I have never been a great fan of Bullet The Blue Sky, either on record or live. Too bombastic and ranting, I always found it a bit over the top. However tonight I got the song - the anger, fury and bitterness in his voice as he screamed the names of the paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland (UVF, UDA, IRA etc) was stunning and as someone who grew up in Northern Ireland it expressed how most of us feel about the troubles.

With or Without You was beautiful and as we were all under a starlit sky he was obliged to sing the "Stars in the sky" verse at the end.

Most people agree that One is the best song that Bono and U2 have ever written. Tonight with Bono's heartfelt words about his father (how he instilled the notion of human rights in him) and the images of his father displayed across the video screens, it was the most poignant rendition of a song that I have ever heard, Bono himself turning his back to the crowd at one point, God only knows what emotions running through his head.

U2 and the crowd wrapped up the show by singing Walk On together and with The Unforgettable Fire thundering through the PA, the fireworks lit up the sky.

Whether you are a fan of 21 years or 1 year, Slane Castle was the only place to be on August 25 2001 ……to see it……to hear it ……and to feel it.

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