by Paul (long review)

Here's a (belated) review of Slane 1 with some photos...

We arrived at Slane about 4pm on the day before the concert, having hired a car in Dublin and driven up. We quickly discovered that there was no roadside parking available in Slane, as the Gardai were going to tow away any cars that were left out after 8pm. Ended up paying 16 quid to leave the car in a campsite--I think the Slane residents were definitely trying to make as much money as possible out of the concert.

After parking the car, we walked back to the gate to Slane Castle. After some confusion we confirmed that the gate would be opened the next morning. We hung around the gate until the Gardai told us that we had to move, but we ended up coming back around 8pm and sleeping out overnight (very cold!)

The next morning security came out and moved us back so that they could set up barriers for the security and ticket checks. This had the effect of screwing up the order of the queue--shame they hadn't done it the night before. Anyway, the gate opened about 10:30am and once through the security patdown and ticket check, it became a mad dash into the Castle grounds. We had to sprint down a narrow path, turn 90 degrees left and then run down all the way down a grassy hill to the right-hand entrance to the heart. I ended up being one of the first 10-20 people into the heart, and decided to go to the back of the heart because the stage was really high, making the front row pretty unattractive. A few other friends made it into the heart soon after, and so we basically filled the back row of the heart, just inside the tip. Because of the size of the crowd, there was also another area fenced off outside the heart so that the people at the outside tip of the heart were not as crushed as usual.

After getting wristbands, I went out and bought the obligatory Slane 2001 t-shirt (a nice dark green colour). Queue at the merchandise stand was insane, and I ended up spending about 30 minutes waiting before being served. Queues for food weren't much better.

The field itself was pretty big. If you didn't make it into the heart, the best place to go would probably have been the hill that we ran down from the gate. By the end of the day the field was entirely covered with people. Official attendance was 80,000, but I wouldn't be surprised if there had been more. There was also a VIP stand set up to the right of the stage next to the castle itself.

Support acts were pretty good. Relish and JJ72 were the first couple of bands, both from Ireland and fairly young and energetic. JJ72 I had already seen at Earls Court and had been impressed enough to buy their CD. Their frontman didn't lack for confidence--at the end of their set he smashed his guitar to pieces and then stalked off. Kelis was pretty boring, as I had already seen them 11 (!) times already on the tour. Most of the people in the heart sat down during their set, so I think it wasn't just me. Coldplay were excellent, and introduced Yellow with the following speech: "There's been a lot of talk about this song, maybe too much talk. This is not a rubbish song, this is Yellow." Got a big laugh from the crowd. The Red Hot Chilli Peppers were very good as well, mostly playing songs from the Californication album.

After the usual wait while the roadies did the final soundcheck, the intro got under way. The first song up on the PA was Thin Lizzy's "The Boys Are Back in Town", which was very appropriate. Then it was the familiar sequence of "Higher and Higher", "Higher Ground" and "Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band". When the trippy Elevation mix started, people went nuts and started jumping up and down even before the band walked on stage. When the band ripped into Elevation, it was amazing--the entire crowd in the heart was jumping up and down for the entire song. I knew then that we were in for a special night.

The entire show was incredible, but the highlights for me were Kite (which had been an amazing experience throughout the tour), A Sort of Homecoming (as soon as Bono started talking about playing Slane 20 years ago, and this being a homecoming for them, everyone went nuts as they knew what was coming), Streets (always one of the best live songs), Mysterious Ways (ditto), One (which was dedicated to Bono's father, and clips of his appearance in the One video were displayed on the video monitors throughout the song), and finally The Unforgettable Fire being played over the PA after the band left the stage, with fireworks exploding overhead. Simply magic.

The only downside was the annoying behaviour of the newspaper photographers at the start of the show, with some of them not worrying about knocking fans around in their quest for the ultimate picture. Fortunately they were only there for the first 3 songs, although some tried to outstay their welcome until security politely asked them to leave.

Here are some photos (more to come in a separate posting):

1. T-shirts spin in the air as the Red Hot Chilli Peppers play "Higher Ground"

2. Bono checks out the view at the tip of the heart (New Years Day)

3. Bono on the way back to the main stage (New Years Day)

4. Lighters flare in a tribute to Bob Hewson (Kite)

5. Bono admires Edge's guitar work (In A Little While)

6. Bono / Edge duet (In A Little While)

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