Yes, one U2 concert just wasn't enough, we had to go again - see here for the 'Concert the First' post.
The Husband very kindly bought us tickets for a gig in Gelsenkirchen, Germany - just an hour's drive (roughly) from us. I thought it would be rude not to go along with his plan, and so on 3rd August (no, I don't know why it's taken me so long to write this post) we set off towards Germany. The Husband had spent the time since the last concert wisely, so I was able to croon my way through the songs that would be played at the concert (we hoped), stopping only to try to get a shot of an amusing road sign:
Yes, I am a big child. Although to be fair, I also laughed at the name Wachtendonk too.
After the fun and games of getting into neighbourhood of the stadium in Amsterdam, we were pleasantly surprised to find that the Veltin Arena was well-signposted and that there were marshalls at the car parks to direct us to a parking spot. The whole stadium was well-organised and set up, and the only real disappointment was the long-awaited for bratwurst. Ah well, you can't have everything.
After being frisked by a female security guard (at least I hope she was to do with security - she was stood by the turnstile anyway), we got into the arena. And yes, this time, I was allowed to keep my Tictacs - woohoo! We stopped off to ooh and aah at the Claw, and wandered off to find our seats. We had two end seats, one behind the other, but it worked out fine. And we had a very good view of the stage indeed - this time on the 'Edge' side of the stage.
Please ignore the big giant thumb - not part of the stage set-up. I started to get quite giddy when I realised how close we were, and that I would see actual people on the stage. We spent some time looking at the program ( we always buy one, it's a tradition) and queueing for the bathroom. Eventually, after MONTHS of waiting, Snow Patrol came on stage at about 8pm. They were as good as the last time we saw them, but as you can see from this pic, the arena was virtually empty:
They played for about 40 minutes and then went off. The seats near us started to fill up, and the Husband took his seat behind me. A guy with a huge SLR camera sat next to me, and I gave the Husband indignant looks - we had our compact camera, how come *he* got to bring his SLR? No matter, the pics from the compact were great, and once again, the Husband did all the photography.
9pm rolled around, the hugely-annoying Blackberry ads disappeared off the tv screens and David Bowie's 'Space Oddity' started to play - a cue that the band were on their way to the stage. And....the song played on. Eventually, the band appeared from what appeared to be a hole in the ground (no giant lemon this time - boo!) and the arena erupted into deafening cheers.
The playlist was pretty much the same as the last concert, which was good.
The Husband and I have since had a discussion about whether the band has multiple versions of each item of clothing, as they all appeared to be wearing exactly the same outfits as last time. The sound quality wasn't that great, although I managed to squawk along quite happily.
I was quite disappointed that the Edge didn't wander about that much towards our side of the stage, but again, the band did get about a fair bit - Bono even came over to say hi:
I noticed that the Edge seemed more stampy than usual, and he was kicking seven bells out of the pedal-panel thing in front of him, and then peering anxiously at it. And then I realised why he looked so concerned. Just as the band reached the chorus of Vertigo, we discovered that the Edge had blown up his amp!
At the time, I thought the Edge looked more annoyed than anything, and I didn't see Adam's raucous laughter, but in that video, it looks like they're all having a ball. Anyway, they did a second take, and it all went well. The Edge continued to stamp, albeit a little more gingerly than before. And as luck would have it, the one time he strolled past right in front of us was during the dance version of 'I'll go crazy', which the Husband was recording (at my request). He made his escape quite quickly over the bridge and back to safety.
Well, relative safety, considering the giant extending wall of screens, the smoke machines, and Bono swinging about on a microphone.
Yes, his jacket lit up again, and yes, this time, he very nearly fell over and went into Larry's drumkit. And that, children, is the reason why we don't arse about with microphones. Or pedal-panel things. Seriously, what are those things called? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?
This time we got a really nice picture of the 'Milky Way' (mobile phone lights) in the arena, which appeared during 'One':
Lovely. But, all good things come to an end, and before much longer, the band were leaving again.
It was an amazing show, and I would happily go to a third gig. In fact, the only things stopping me from turning the car round this morning when the Husband told me that there were still tickets available for the Wembley show was that a) it would mean us giving money to Ryanair *spits*, and b) there's a football match on tomorrow which the Hubster doesn't want to miss. Humph. Maybe two concerts is enough for now. Maybe....
The Husband very kindly bought us tickets for a gig in Gelsenkirchen, Germany - just an hour's drive (roughly) from us. I thought it would be rude not to go along with his plan, and so on 3rd August (no, I don't know why it's taken me so long to write this post) we set off towards Germany. The Husband had spent the time since the last concert wisely, so I was able to croon my way through the songs that would be played at the concert (we hoped), stopping only to try to get a shot of an amusing road sign:
Yes, I am a big child. Although to be fair, I also laughed at the name Wachtendonk too.
After the fun and games of getting into neighbourhood of the stadium in Amsterdam, we were pleasantly surprised to find that the Veltin Arena was well-signposted and that there were marshalls at the car parks to direct us to a parking spot. The whole stadium was well-organised and set up, and the only real disappointment was the long-awaited for bratwurst. Ah well, you can't have everything.
After being frisked by a female security guard (at least I hope she was to do with security - she was stood by the turnstile anyway), we got into the arena. And yes, this time, I was allowed to keep my Tictacs - woohoo! We stopped off to ooh and aah at the Claw, and wandered off to find our seats. We had two end seats, one behind the other, but it worked out fine. And we had a very good view of the stage indeed - this time on the 'Edge' side of the stage.
Please ignore the big giant thumb - not part of the stage set-up. I started to get quite giddy when I realised how close we were, and that I would see actual people on the stage. We spent some time looking at the program ( we always buy one, it's a tradition) and queueing for the bathroom. Eventually, after MONTHS of waiting, Snow Patrol came on stage at about 8pm. They were as good as the last time we saw them, but as you can see from this pic, the arena was virtually empty:
They played for about 40 minutes and then went off. The seats near us started to fill up, and the Husband took his seat behind me. A guy with a huge SLR camera sat next to me, and I gave the Husband indignant looks - we had our compact camera, how come *he* got to bring his SLR? No matter, the pics from the compact were great, and once again, the Husband did all the photography.
9pm rolled around, the hugely-annoying Blackberry ads disappeared off the tv screens and David Bowie's 'Space Oddity' started to play - a cue that the band were on their way to the stage. And....the song played on. Eventually, the band appeared from what appeared to be a hole in the ground (no giant lemon this time - boo!) and the arena erupted into deafening cheers.
The playlist was pretty much the same as the last concert, which was good.
The Husband and I have since had a discussion about whether the band has multiple versions of each item of clothing, as they all appeared to be wearing exactly the same outfits as last time. The sound quality wasn't that great, although I managed to squawk along quite happily.
I was quite disappointed that the Edge didn't wander about that much towards our side of the stage, but again, the band did get about a fair bit - Bono even came over to say hi:
I noticed that the Edge seemed more stampy than usual, and he was kicking seven bells out of the pedal-panel thing in front of him, and then peering anxiously at it. And then I realised why he looked so concerned. Just as the band reached the chorus of Vertigo, we discovered that the Edge had blown up his amp!
At the time, I thought the Edge looked more annoyed than anything, and I didn't see Adam's raucous laughter, but in that video, it looks like they're all having a ball. Anyway, they did a second take, and it all went well. The Edge continued to stamp, albeit a little more gingerly than before. And as luck would have it, the one time he strolled past right in front of us was during the dance version of 'I'll go crazy', which the Husband was recording (at my request). He made his escape quite quickly over the bridge and back to safety.
Well, relative safety, considering the giant extending wall of screens, the smoke machines, and Bono swinging about on a microphone.
Yes, his jacket lit up again, and yes, this time, he very nearly fell over and went into Larry's drumkit. And that, children, is the reason why we don't arse about with microphones. Or pedal-panel things. Seriously, what are those things called? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?
This time we got a really nice picture of the 'Milky Way' (mobile phone lights) in the arena, which appeared during 'One':
Lovely. But, all good things come to an end, and before much longer, the band were leaving again.
It was an amazing show, and I would happily go to a third gig. In fact, the only things stopping me from turning the car round this morning when the Husband told me that there were still tickets available for the Wembley show was that a) it would mean us giving money to Ryanair *spits*, and b) there's a football match on tomorrow which the Hubster doesn't want to miss. Humph. Maybe two concerts is enough for now. Maybe....
Glad you had such a ball!!
ReplyDeleteBut would you be so friendly to tell an ignorant German what is so funny about the sign (except for the name Wachtendonk which is funny to us Southern Germans while we have names the people from the North get tummy aches from ;-))? :-P
Um....well....erm....*nervous cough* In England, "wank" is a slang word which means to, um, pleasure oneself.
ReplyDeleteWachtendonk is only really funny when you say it out loud, and then only because of the way 'donk' sounds. :D