A Life Worth Living

This is a little late coming, but boy what a great weekend I've had!

Went to the literally long-awaited U2 concert on Saturday night and was absolutely and completely blown away by them. So much so that we had to go back to the stadium yesterday night, having a picnic dinner outside while listening to Bono singing his little lungs out all over again.

But back to Saturday night when I actually saw something.

We had seats directly in front of the stage, but well, several tens of metres back. It was still really good view that didn't require any neck craning, especially since we were in the front row of our section, which was on the second level.

Things got off to a slow start with Kanye West opening for U2. He sang probably about eight songs, of which I only recognised and enjoyed three. The others...let's just say R&B/Hip-hop was never really my cup of tea. Added to that the fact that the stadium was only about half-full.

There was a real carnival feel to the area though, with food stalls set up both outside and inside the stadium. And after hours of waiting, people started getting bored and started doing the Mexican wave around and around the stadium.

At about 9pm (Kanye started at 7pm), the lights finally dimmed and a haunting chanting came across the loudspeakers and there he was. Bono walked out with an Australian flag draped across his shoulders singing City of Blinding Lights.

Daniel, Sharona and I sprang to our feet, bursting with excitement for finally catching one of the greatest singers in the world (not just because of his talent, but because of his activism) live and rocking. Well, I was probably the most excitable of the three...actually, I was probably the most excitable of the entire section. After a few minutes of excited jumping, we looked around only to see the rest of the folks in our section sitting down, looking bored.

They actually looked bored and that look practically stayed permanently on their faces for the next two hours.

I have no idea what in the world inspired that kind of boredom because I was so caught up in the electrifying atmosphere I ended up dancing in the aisles, but I don't think a single person got up to their feet besides Sharona and I. We looked around and everybody else in all the other seating sections were standing and jumping and dancing, except ours. The world's most boring section.

It made me wish I was in the mosh pit.

But despite that lack of enthusiasm in my general vicinity, I still thoroughly enjoyed myself. I'll have to admit that Bono wasn't very large and I could not read the writing on his T-shirt, but I could see clearly enough and was aided beautifully by two large screens on the side and a gigantic one on the stage. It was fantastic.

It's been ages since I've been at a rock concert and to return to the concert scene with U2 has got to be one of the most amazing experiences ever. The music was tight, the singing was awesome, the showmanship was spectacular.

They came back for an encore twice and they opened the second encore with the latest single The Saints are Coming, which despite being performed without Green Day was still really good. And how much more privileged can a girl be to be one of the first few in the world to see that performed live at a U2 concert?

(For those reading this on your feedreader, there's a youtube video embedded.)




Technorati tags: U2, concert, Australia