Yesterday we went to see U2 at the Greenpoint Stadium in Cape Town. You may have heard of U2, they have a number of songs that have been out in the hit parade. You may have heard of the Greenpoint Stadium - it hosted six games during last summer's World Cup, including the quarter-final between Germany and Argentina, and the semi between Holland and Uruguay. So off we went, with 75,000 others to take our seats for a fantastic evening.
It's fair to say that this evening has recieved quite a bit of attention in Cape Town. Everyone who is everyone was going, radio stations were talking about it non-stop, roads were closed, knock-off Bono sunglasses were being sold. Everyone was looking up U2 to find out some fun trivia facts (but as everyone went onto Wikipedia, everyone had exactly the same facts). Everybody who is anybody in Cape Town was going - it put the whole city to a standstill.
We got the park-and-ride bus along with every other Hout Bay-er who was going (pretty much everyone from the Republic), and got the 5pm bus into town, ready to have a few drinks and soak up the atmosphere nearby for a few hours before. After Tom pulled a few strings, we managed to blag our way (having been joined by the rest of the Hout Bay massive) into a five star hotel, and get into the very exclusive rooftop pool bar. Very swanky. It had a fantastic view of the stadium and the sea to one side, and Table Mountain and the city to the other. Fantastic. Although, up so high, it was a little windy (and cold).
After a couple of warm drinks (the barmen were pretty unorganised and unprepared for the clearly busy night) we decided that we were hungry. Realising that every restaurant in the city will have been booked for weeks, we went for a much higher cuisine - McDonalds. Say what you like, but a Big Mac really does hit the spot.
After the 20 or so of us all split our separate ways to go and take our seats all around the stadium, we set off to find ours. The stadium, purpose built for the 2010 World Cup, is amazing. Unlike most stadiums (and buildings) worldwide, the outside of the stadium is made out of a woven fabric instead of concrete or metal - allowing a cooling breeze to come through the stadium and keep everyone nice and temperate. The stadium itself is massive, but just like Wembley, it's been angled so that there simply isn't a bad seat in the house. We were on the third tier, but in the second row, so we had a great unobstructed view of everything.
The tour is called "U2 360", so the stage is down on the 'pitch', but was a big circle (where the band played), as well as having a bridge out to another concentric circle, so they could wander around while they played. It meant that everyone, wherever they were in the stadium were involved in the show. We were seated almost directly behind the direction they were facing, but as they all went for a stroll during songs, we were still part of it.
The stage itself was incredible. It was basically a giant space ship (something they kept referring to during the show), with a big 360 screen that moved about and did cool things. It's difficult to explain, so look at some pictures if that confused you.
The show itself was brilliant. It certainly surpassed my only other gig I've been to (S Club 7 at Wembley Arena) and was everything we all had hoped it would be. A special, memorable night.
What time is it in the world? It's showtime! Will
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