Thursday 10 December 2015

U2ie Tour, Glasgow - The Perfect Gig

6th November 2015

We had a break home for a week and then it was on the road again to Glasgow. I love seeing U2 in Glasgow because the crowds are always brilliant and it's a relatively short journey for me! Dianne, Debbi and I got a taxi from the station to the apartment where the owner was waiting for us. It was a lovely apartment that overlooked the River Clyde and was just a ten minute stroll from the Venue, The SSE Hydro. The owner of the apartment had left a welcome pack which included a bottle of Rose wine and a box of After Eights, never had that before and it was a really nice touch and much appreciated!

We got some shopping in and had pizza before setting out for the arena which was only a ten minute walk away. It was all lit up blue and green as we approached and looked quite impressive, though much smaller than the O2 in London. Our seats were very good and we had a great view of both stages and the walkway. The show was great, each time I see it I see new things, nothing in this show is done without a reason and it all gels together very well. Bono was quite chatty tonight, after he got a young girl on stage during Mysterious Ways he kissed her and said he was, "An old man sweating over a beautiful girl." He can be so funny.

My favourite parts are during Iris, it is so moving and personal and  when Bono tries to touch his mother in the old cine footage showing on the video screen only to have his hand go right through her, There is a lot of clever video footage such as when Bono holds a mini Edge in his hand. Raised By Wolves is stunning live, very powerful. Another favourite part is after the short interval when the band are all inside the screen and start playing Invisible becoming visible through the screen and then disappearing before the whole screen goes off and there they all are, I think some people think that the band are on video earlier in the song as there is always a big cheer when the screen goes dark and you see all the band. Over the years Bullet the Blue Sky is a song I'd heard enough of, but the version in this tour is amazing. Bono's rap is wonderful, and I love his passionate argument with his younger self during this. It has revitalised the song for me, I love how U2 often develop and rework their songs which brings out a whole new aspect of them. It is hard to describe this show really, you have to see it to truly appreciate it.

After the show we met up with our friend Dawn and her daughter Melanie and we all went back to our apartment for an after show party. We had a lovely time, discussing the show and having a laugh, it's so nice to do this after a gig.

7th November 2015

Adam
We had a long lie in after our late night and had a lazy time before heading to the stadium, it was a damp, cold day, or as the Scots would say, a dreich day. We had a meeting with Adam who was as charming as ever. A fan asked him if there would be any surprises at the show tonight and he said there might be, the fans said will you play 11 O'Clock Tick Tock, Adam laughed and said , "Now that would be a surprise!"

We had a meal at a place nearby called The Rotunda which housed a few restaurants, we chose to go to Yen which was an Oriental restaurant on the upper floor of the building. I had the sweet and sour chicken which was lovely, my friends enjoyed their meals too.

Our seats for this show were not as good as the previous night but they were still very good as The SSE Hydro is a small venue. This gig was electrifying, the crowd were very loud and enthusiastic and that energy seemed to inspire the band even more and that makes for a great show.  And I have to say this, for me, was the perfect U2ie Tour show. Bono added Love Will Tear Us Apart and Stars to the end of With Or Without You, for so many of us fans that is the best ending for that song. The end of the gig was just stunning, first came Bad, so cathartic, we all should let go of something from our lives and this song resonates so strongly with most people, it did me, tears were running down my face. At one point Bono collected about five different flags from the crowd and swung them in the air and singing, "Let it go...." he let the flags fly out of his hand, very powerful and symbolic. Then Edge and Adam changed places on the stage and I knew they were going to finish with 40. Oh my I was in gig heaven, one of my favourite songs that I hadn't heard live! It was an extended version and Bono methodically shone a spotlight on every section of the audience as they sang along, it was a true magical U2 moment, we were all one. Then Edge walked down the walkway in the spotlight and left the arena via the e-stage, then Adam, Larry did a drum solo then he too walked out the same way. Finally Bono put the spotlight down, shining straight up and left the arena too. The crowd went nuts, it was just spellbinding. Earlier Bono had said, "We'll never forget this." Well nor will we.

It's Wee Bit breezy!
We left the arena and went out into a damp and windy night, once more lost for words, I still felt
really emotional, all three of us just stood for a while saying nothing. Once more U2 has shown me they are the best live, no doubt at all.

When we got ourselves together a bit we walked home. Dianne went straight to bed as she had to be up at 6am as her plane home was leaving at 9am. Debbi and I stayed up and drank wine, ate nibbles and chatted, we were high on adrenalin. When Dianne came through to the living room at 6am Debbi and I were still up, how rock 'n' roll are we?! She wasn't that surprised, she knows us well. We saw her into the taxi outside, we had our PJs on and had put coats over, the taxi driver was a hoot, he said he liked our PJs especially my peach ones with white daisies. We hugged Dianne goodbye and the driver said, he wanted a hug too, so he got hugs from us, we must have looked funny there on a wet and windy Glasgow street in our vivid PJs! After that Debbi and I decided to get some sleep, luckily we had a late check out.

So that was leg two of our U2ie Tour over, and what a way to end it. Next leg, Dublin!