SpiralStaircase
War Child
I've put these two dates together cos I felt it important to contrast the nights, being the first times I've ever seen them - after 30 years of wanting to.
When I booked tickets back in whenever-it-was I wanted two very different nights so Thursday was to be just me on my own in a seat, the Friday in GA with my oldest mate who'd also never seen them.
So. Thursday night, London 3, October 29th, I got to the venue WAY before showtime, about 6.15. Was let into the arena 6.45, found my seat in 5 seconds flat and sat down, taking in the place, seeing how long GA took to fill up. Had a nice chat with a girl over from Greece, she was as excited as me, she was virtually bellowing "Oh! You! Look! So! Beautiful tonight!" over and over despite the vast emptiness of certainly our section.
I got a couple of (very long-distance) photos of Dallas - my seat was almost straight down the shaft, pretty close to the e stage:
It was a little odd in terms of demographics - plenty of "vintage" in the audience. I'm no spring chicken at 44 but the couple next to me were easily old enough to be my parents, wore matching anoraks (which neither removed) and she sat down throughout, unmoving and apparently unmoved. People were in suits, munching popcorn (through the gig), and an O2 employee kept asking me to get my feet out of the aisle whenever they strayed a few inches that way while I generally danced my nuts off albeit on the spot.
HOWEVER - none of this stopped me having an astonishing time. I must admit to feeling a little nervous that perhaps given the length of time (three decades) I'd had to build up to this moment it might be a bit of a let-down...NO! The second Bono appeared from the underbelly of the arena and started the rallying cry of The Miracle EVERY SINGLE HAIR ON MY BODY stood on end. It was unbelievable.
Loads of my "bucket list" songs happened - Gloria was amazing, I will follow likewise. The pace flagged a little during the "strolling down memory lane" bit mainly because people stopped going ape and were basically watching tv - it was great but because of the angle I couldn't really get the full effect. Then they did SBS which was ramshackle, awful and yet utterly brilliant because SUNDAY BLOODY SUNDAY. I also got NYD which I couldn't have expected, nor indeed anyone really, I think that was only its 2nd appearance of the whole tour...
Obviously I've been watching their gigs on periscope and so knew what was coming but nothing could have prepared me for the utter lift-off of Streets' opening chimes, in fact the whole place (bar the old dear still sat next to me) went fucking bananas to it. And then in the encore I was lucky enough to get Bad which I thought there was no chance of on a 3rd night.
I only cried once. I KNEW I would. WOWY started, and I just stood there and sobbed for a good minute, I was just overwhelmed with hearing my favourite song played for me by my favourite band. Shine like stars? No, too much to hope for, but seeing WOWY was phenomenal.
I left the place feeling like the Friday was going to be a bonus as I'd now seen them...
When I booked tickets back in whenever-it-was I wanted two very different nights so Thursday was to be just me on my own in a seat, the Friday in GA with my oldest mate who'd also never seen them.
So. Thursday night, London 3, October 29th, I got to the venue WAY before showtime, about 6.15. Was let into the arena 6.45, found my seat in 5 seconds flat and sat down, taking in the place, seeing how long GA took to fill up. Had a nice chat with a girl over from Greece, she was as excited as me, she was virtually bellowing "Oh! You! Look! So! Beautiful tonight!" over and over despite the vast emptiness of certainly our section.
I got a couple of (very long-distance) photos of Dallas - my seat was almost straight down the shaft, pretty close to the e stage:
It was a little odd in terms of demographics - plenty of "vintage" in the audience. I'm no spring chicken at 44 but the couple next to me were easily old enough to be my parents, wore matching anoraks (which neither removed) and she sat down throughout, unmoving and apparently unmoved. People were in suits, munching popcorn (through the gig), and an O2 employee kept asking me to get my feet out of the aisle whenever they strayed a few inches that way while I generally danced my nuts off albeit on the spot.
HOWEVER - none of this stopped me having an astonishing time. I must admit to feeling a little nervous that perhaps given the length of time (three decades) I'd had to build up to this moment it might be a bit of a let-down...NO! The second Bono appeared from the underbelly of the arena and started the rallying cry of The Miracle EVERY SINGLE HAIR ON MY BODY stood on end. It was unbelievable.
Loads of my "bucket list" songs happened - Gloria was amazing, I will follow likewise. The pace flagged a little during the "strolling down memory lane" bit mainly because people stopped going ape and were basically watching tv - it was great but because of the angle I couldn't really get the full effect. Then they did SBS which was ramshackle, awful and yet utterly brilliant because SUNDAY BLOODY SUNDAY. I also got NYD which I couldn't have expected, nor indeed anyone really, I think that was only its 2nd appearance of the whole tour...
Obviously I've been watching their gigs on periscope and so knew what was coming but nothing could have prepared me for the utter lift-off of Streets' opening chimes, in fact the whole place (bar the old dear still sat next to me) went fucking bananas to it. And then in the encore I was lucky enough to get Bad which I thought there was no chance of on a 3rd night.
I only cried once. I KNEW I would. WOWY started, and I just stood there and sobbed for a good minute, I was just overwhelmed with hearing my favourite song played for me by my favourite band. Shine like stars? No, too much to hope for, but seeing WOWY was phenomenal.
I left the place feeling like the Friday was going to be a bonus as I'd now seen them...