by Dave

Dream come true is all I can say. I’ve dream about seeing U2 live and last night my dream came true. It’s a funny story how it all came about. The tickets for Slane 1, sold out within three quarters of an hour, leaving me and thousands other deeply disappointed. My dream was saved though; fearing the loss of not seeing U2 on the elevation tour and thoughts of traveling to London or America to see them was heavily researched. Then thanks to U2, Meath county council and most importantly my mother and sister, I was saved. For the first time ever there would be two dates at Slane Castle and U2 once again showed there political power by changing Irish law and getting a second date. Anyway that’s a week away. Friday night, thinking of the weekend and I get a phone call at 8pm, Michael Lavan telling me there was a spare ticket and my name was on it. The ticket came from a very close person to the band, still with the shock of the ticket and the amount of forgeries going, I was still worried sick about it. I got a very poor nights sleep, both from excitement and worry, Saturday morning came with a couple of stop starts in the night. With the fear of not getting in only a hand full of people knew of my ticket. The pals close to me and my neighbours. Three of which went on Holiday at 6am on Saturday morning. Since my family where on vacation, the message was simple, keep an eye on the house and I’ll be back on Saturday night.
9am Saturday morning, lashing rain, throw on my heavy Ireland Gaelic football shirt, grab my dads rain jacket and head up to Dugo`s house where the story begins. Meeney and Ann are up there to, head for the train station to bring us to Dublin City, meet the early movers, wait for the others and make it to Dublin City at 11am. Pick up bits and pieces in Town, get the bus tickets and were outside Slane village at 2pm. By now the weather has changed dramatically, my dads jacket is wrapped around my waist, where it stays for the rest of the day. We sit in a field with a couple of cans and about two thousand other people, and soak up the sun. The support acts where pretty poor, so theres no great rush to get into Slane. I must admit I had never been to Slane before, and I was dying to see what it looked like. We had our tickets inspected on the bus before we departed. We where searched by the police about 100 meters down the road. A few hundred meters more, our tickets and inspected and some scanned. According to the Police there are about 10,000 fake tickets on the black market. About a 20 minute walk into Slane castle grounds, another search by security, all bottles are thrown away. Another really long walk through the forests of Slane Castle, which reminded me of Batman’s entrance to the bat cave, all secluded. Finally after between a half an hour to three quarters of an hour walk plus hold up, our ticket stubs are torn and were in the field. What a sight, from left to right you see a field full of people, the River Boyne the stage with a bigger heart and Slane Castle. Easily about 80,000 people (160K according to a police man), crammed into the field. It was after 4pm and Coldplay where on stage. I have to say I was very disappointed with them. The Brit award winners for best album, had very little to offer after there singles. At about 6 o’clock, the Red Hot Chili Peppers came on stage. Excellent, but we all knew they’d be good? The Chili’s finished at 7.15 and the next time there in Dublin, I’ll have to check them out. I lost Dugo, lavan and the others, after trying to hold a place for them near the stage, another pal, Beaker found me and 4 of us where only a few rows away from the heart. 8.15 and Thin Lizzy´s Boys are back in town blasts out from the P.A. The homecoming gig, there back In Slane for the 1st time in 20 years when they supported Irelands biggest band. Two other songs, then Sgt.Peppers lonely hearts club band by the Beatles (20 years ago today, sgt.Pepper thought the band to play). Then the elevation remix, everyone starts losing it, Everyone’s jumping, me included shouting “wooohoo.” Then Larry and Adam enter the stage, quickly followed by Bono and The Edge. They crack into elevation, the screen flash on amazing, best intro I’ve seen. Next Beautiful Day, that’s exactly what the weather was. Bono was on Fire is voice was amazing. Until the end of the world next, I love that song, and I was delighted to see Bono and the edge still do that mock fight. This time Bono lay on the ground and put his foot up against edges guitar. Then Adam’s solo as New Years Day rang around Slane, Brilliant. Then Bono dedicates Kite to his father and "thanks God for taking him away from his awful illness. Kite is my favorite song on the new album and it was brilliant in Slane. Then Bono said, “we wrote and recorded this song in that castle, this is a sort of homecoming.” A few people myself included thought this would be the first song they’d play, still amazing miles better live then on the Unforgettable Fire. Next Bono played guitar on I will follow, the second the song ends Larry’s drum role for Sunday Bloody Sunday starts. The song that got me hooked on U2 complete with Bono singing Bob Marley`s Get Up Stand Up. I had followed the tour on the web and was expecting it, what I didn’t except was over half of Slane shouting “Get up for Your Rights and Stand Up for Whats Right.” Bono said it’s been three years since that awful day, One thought ran threw my mind “Omagh” and I expected Peace on Earth. What we got was Wake Up Dead Man. Not one of my favorite U2 songs but it did fit into the set list well. Stuck in a moment was class. In a little another ace song on the new album. This was the last song Joey Ramone heard before he died, according to Bono. It is excellent the live version is brillant as well. Then Bono went to the tip of the heart and Bono introduced each member of the band, as they came towards the top of the heart. Then Bono said 20 years ago we played support to Thinn Lizzy here, and we were crap, we really where crap. He also added his support to a statue for Thin Lizzy lead singer\song writer, Phil Lynott in Dublin City. As a tribute to Philo they played the great Lizzy song Dancing in the Moonlight. Then the band played Desire, and Bono and the Edge played Staring at the Sun. Then came one awesome version of Bad, with a snippet of Yellow by Coldplay and 40 at the end. The fanastic Where The Streets Have No Name, was amazing and lit up Slane. Slane was unbelievable to see what I believe was over 80,000 people in a field was unbelievable. Then Mysterious ways was blasted throughout Slane. Bono took a girl up from the crowd and started dancing with her. As Bono said this is the only U2 song you can dance too, and s was brillant. Pride (in the name of love) was next, another song recorded in Slane Castle. Then there was a break in proceedings. Before the encore and Bullet the Blue Sky, We got the no guns video shown in America. I though They might change that video for the European dates, but that video was something else and really took effect with the crowd, particularly the video wall, and the best ever version of Bullet I’ve heard. I wasn’t a fan of bullet on Joshua tree but it is amazing live. My favourite U2 song came next; With Or Without You and Bono sang the extra bit, as he did on Rattle and Hum, fantastic. The most emotional version of one ever was next. The video with Bono`s dad was shown, a lot of people near me started weeping, and you could see Bono cry, who could blame him, it must have been a very hard time for him. Bono did a solo version of when will I see you again, which was very sad. Then came than time, damm you know it’s nearly over, as Walk on was played, with bono screaming Halleluiah at the end. U2 capped off an excellent show but Bono was very shaken. They left the stage and Unforgettable Fire was played with a fireworks display. The walk out was long but everyone was happy. Really tired the traffic was heavy, it took two hours to get out of Slane and it was 3am when we got to Dublin City and I got home at 4am. I was still on a high and didn’t go to bed till 5. I want to thank Becky and Lavan for getting me a ticket, and the rest for letting me go down with them. I wanna thank U2 for the music for giving it to me.

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