by Tibby

U2 rocks Belgium

I've been to Gent (Zoo-TV - Flanders Expo Indoor) and to Werchter (Popmart - Werchter Outdoor). Especially after Gent, where I was in the first row of the little stage I thought, this can't get any better any more. Boy was I wrong!

I was one of the lucky ones who had two tickets to the event. (The concert was in a few hours sold out in April). Many of my friends didn't get any ticket at all. I invited a female friend on a mystery date to see U2l. From April untill last saturday, she didn't knew we were to see U2. When I told her saturday, she got so excited, that I had to hold the receiver of the phone away from my ear to prevent getting deaf.

Yesterday, I was nervous all day, U2 was finally back in Belgium and I was gonna see them! It started out, really well. Everything was very organised, no pressing and gentle securitypeople at the entrance. (In Gent, this was very different!). When we got to our place and entered the hall, we both got a very weird feeling, you know like "wow". We had great tickets for seats right across the heartshaped-stage where U2 performed. They were the best seats if you don't count in the Golden Circle Tickets. Stereophonics started to play, but the people weren't very excited. And badly enough, they knew it. The leadsinger said 'thanks for listening, U2 will be here in a minute'

Finally, 15 minutes later, the moment of truth! U2 surprised us, the big lights in the Hall were still on, and The Edge came up in "Bad Boy Style", you know like 'I'm the man'. The crowd went nuts. The other three followed and then they opened with Elevation followed with Beautiful Day. Everyone on every seat was jumping in the air. Dancing and singing. The perfect start! U2 played on with 'Until the end of the world' and one of the many highlights of the concert 'New Year's Day'. Bono as daring as he is, played cat and mouse with audience through out the whole concert. In this stage of the concert he picked out a girl with a camera and took her camera and made a photo of her. On the big videoscreens, you could see the face of the girl who was so excited. He certainly made her day. A bit further he picked out two little girls maybe around 10-12 years. He took them to the mainstage and let them closely see The Edge playing one great piece of piano. U2 continued with Kite, Gone and New York. Bono told the girlies that they were two Dorothy's and he was the Wizard of Oz. I Will Follow, Sunday Bloody Sunday were next on the playlist. I never ever heard the song sing this loud by the crowd. Man, the floor beneath was shaking and I really thought that the tribune was not holding all the excitement, but it did. In My Life /Stuck In a Moment In A Little While followed. Bono saw suddenly an Irish flag in the crowd, he took it and played with it on the catwalk while singing. The Edge, Larry and Adam started the first sounds of Desire and I told my friend: " Watch this, within 10 seconds this hall will explode ". The audience indead exploded, everyone was singing, dancing, jumping, yelling and having fun. It occured to me, that the classic songs were still the publics favorites, despite that the ones on the "Achtung Baby" and "All that you can't Leave behind" really good stuff are. Two Shots Of Happy, Stay, Two Shots Of Happy
Bad, 40, Where The Streets Have No Name. The moment where my friend and I looked for was there: Mysterious Ways. We both went nuts, this was our song. The lighteffect on the back which showed a dancing girl in bright colors was just awesome. The Fly. Bono as always, started running on the Fly and made a few circles on the catwalk and then glued himself against the colored lightpanels of the mainstage. The audience loved it.

After that they disappeared and the crowd sang: " How long must we sing this song ". U2 came back and moved us with anti-weapons plea. Yep, Bullet the blue Sky was next. A very touchy With or Without you and one were next. I had tears in my eyes when I heard this one. It always has been one of my favorites. The concert ended with Wake Up Dead Man and Walk on. U2 had done it again. We had a wonderfull time. Throughout the concert I watched my friend a few times and she was like a kid in a candystore. Before the concert I told her, that any concert that she ever has seen will not compare with this one and afterwards she told me that I was right from the start. The Mystery date became a glorious succes, thanks to the boys of Ireland. Bone, The Edge, Larry and Adam thank you so much!

++++ Bono, The Edge, Larry, Adam, Light&Effects, Security, Red Cross, Transportation

+/- Sound

- Ticketsales (Although I had tickets, this was certainly not U2-worthy!)

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