by Caroline Von B

U2 never planned to play the last four Lovetown shows in Holland. Dublin's New Year's Eve gig was to have been the final.

But earlier in the tour, they had had to cut their first Amsterdam show short and cancel the second one planned for that city due to Bono's vocal problems.

Four Rotterdam shows were set up to replace the two in Amsterdam.

Without the shackles of a radio broadcast, the band ripped loose in what must have been one of their spontaneous and fun packed shows ever.

Not very many people in the audience seemed to notice what was going on, but U2 were under attack from their unchained crew. There were buckets of confetti - or was it water for real - with crew members chasing each other around the stage. A handful of technicians came abseiling from the top of the venue. When Bono got out the spotlight to shine on The Edge during Bullet the Blue Sky, two or three more guys came out with spotlights, aiming them at the rest of the band.

But to top it all off, unbeknownst to the band, the crew had altered the backdrop of the set. The Lovetown backdrop had a giant snake on it. For this last night, a large smokin' spliff had been stuck in the snake's mouth.

(Nobody believed me at the time, but I was able to verify it with The Edge a few months later. The spliff was definitely there, and the band had no idea. Edge only found out when Larry drew his attention to it, pointing over his shoulder: 'Look!')

If a set list proves anything, the encores speak for themselves. 11 o'clock tick tock and Out of Control saw us off. A gift from the past to welcome the early Nineties.

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