by JB Belfast

After going to the last slane gig, I knew what to expect. We arrived about 2 O'Clock in time to catch the end of the walls, a hugely underestimated band from Galway, great set. Nelly din't really impress till the last 3 songs, she was great.
Then the Ireland vs Holland match came on. I must say the crowd were very nervous. Then came the goal from a strange player, who can't get his place on a 1st division Jason McAteer. And whata goal. Slane erupted, and we knew if Ireland could hold the Dutch, U2 were in for a very happy audience, what I was also aware of was that when Ireland win, it becomes an excuse for people to drink more than normal, and the bars filled up when they did.
I don't like Ash, having een talked into playing with 2 of them in a local bar in Belfast a few years ago I was aware how poor they were, but they have improved and they did put in a good set!
Moby was fantastic, he is such a people person, he is funny excentric and very energetic as is his bass player. He didn't stop and humbly thanked U2 for the support slot. His 3 rave songs in the middle put the crowd into a frenzy. A stunning set.
Now a 55 minute wait for U2. Again a hell of an operation for the crew to accomplish. Alot of TV cameras set up this time and obvious extra lighting then last week for the opening 3 or 4 songs. We got Thin Lizzy again, then Stevie Wonder then the Beatles and then!!!! Elevation. Previous to these songs the Pa played the new Stero Mc's alnum ( as last week!)

Elevationwas great, Beautiful end with 'the goal is soul, a beautiful goal!' referring to Irelands win. And instead of the emotional references to Bono's Father of last week we got a load of refs to Ireland beating Holland. Bono actually rapped himself in the Tricolour during Newyears day, saying just for tonight just this once. Out of control was fabulous, the whole story of getting 500 quid from each parent to go to london and get a record deal, and then sayign that the Band and crew aren't based in London, Aren't based in NY but are based in Dublin. 'This is our tribe Bono shouted, this is were we live!' And then 'we are a band from North Dublin anf this is our first single Out of Control' amazing and very funny! Oh then at the end of Out... he sayed, @ and by now most of you have spent 500 quid, thanks for that we'll take it!
After complaints from last weeks crowd of a too slow set they did up it a bit with a full band version of Angel, which was areal crowd pleaser. Agian the Fly was not played nor New York, I think the crowd didn't mind. Thsy played 'All I want is you' insted of bad which I loved, as I had seen Bad the week before.
Streets was as good as last week as was bullet. I feel with or without you has never been as good as it was on the JTree tour, One is the same not as good as POP or Zoo, WalkOn is a lame ending, a lovley song in the Studio but dosn't really shine as a good ending, though Larrys drumming on it is amazing. So for me it was as good as last week if not better, but over all the last few songs of the show is the lowest point musically, maybe because it is the end of the tour and they can just go into auto pilot toward the end.
The visuals at Slane were amazing, they used the whole stage including the cream speaker system to each side very well.
Photos to follow!

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