Fan Review
Glasgow, Scotland August 28, 2001 SECC by William Mavers
Woo Hoo!!, Woo Hoo Hoo!. Well it was the 2nd night of U2's Elevation Glasgow jaunt and after last nights concert excellence I really wondered how the band would match what went on last night, but by the love of God they surpassed it!.
I still can't believe what I witnessed tonight, I laughed, I cried, I jumped for joy, I went through every emotion in the book and all the way the band held us in the palms of their hands.
The crowd was in a state of frenzy, I actually had tickets for the seated area but with a nudge, nudge here and a wink, wink there I got a swap for standing and found myself back in the Heart!. Whereas last night I was right at the front looking at Adam, tonight I took up residence at the point of the heart so I could see the screens and get the bigger picture. The outcome? AWESOME!.
I seriously need to dig out a dictionary to find out new words to describe how good U2 are live, Bono said at the start of the tour they were re-applying for the best rock band on the planet again but in the fans minds there never was any doubt who was wearing the crown, who had always been wearing the crown.......Bono,Larry,Adam and The Edge, four Irishmen who make a noise big enough to rock the planet.
We kicked off with 'Elevation' and the crowd seemed even more up for it than the night before, the measure of this was the heat in the heart, I was soaked to the skin four songs in, whereas the night before I was merely damp.
Quickly 'Beautiful Day' and 'Until the End of the World' were past us, Bono had the place jumping with his shaking dancing style, the place went wild and then when The Edge and he met at the tip of the heart, fireworks were going off as they duelled with Bono ending up lying down kicking The Edges guitar.
Then came the first suprise of the night as 'New Years Day' was introduced and all the die-hards were in heaven, but an even bigger treat was just around the corner. Bono spoke about the roots of the band and talked about how far they had come this song kicked off and for the first 10 seconds I thought it was 'The Electric co' but it wasn't it was 'Out of Control' and thats exactly how it sent the crowd.
'Sunday Bloody Sunday' saw Bono urge the crowd to 'Get up, stand up...Stand up for your rights' and if anyone wasn't singing along, I couldn't see them, it was deafening. We then had 'Stuck in a Moment'
followed by an emotional 'Kite' the most poignant moment of the whole set, where Bono spoke about how growing up he never really got on with his dad and how years later they were reconciled and he was glad of that and he could see where his dad was coming from, it was so emotional, especially when Bono was visibly crying - as was most of the crowd. You just wanted to reach out and hold him.
I couldn't beleive that after 'Mysterious Ways' the band were going off, it felt like they had just got started but a quick look at the watch showed that they had been on for nearly an Hour and a half. Where the hell did the time go?. Before I knew it the band were waving and walking off, and I wasscreaming ........NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
'One' saw Bono asking the people not to be scared of polititions because deep down those politicians are scared of the power of the people, How is it Bono can get across a message so much better than polititions ?
Finally we got to 'Walk on' and we had U2 karaoke kicking off big time. 'You got to leave it behind' repeated over and over again and thats all I could think of when the band had departed, I had to leave it behind, but I didn't want to , I wanted to be there forever, I didn't want it to end. It broke my heart to leave but it also exhilarated me just thinking of those two gigs that are probably the greatest I have ever witnessed.
Tonight Glasgow is a happy place, The fans are going home with memories that will live with them forever and in me there is one U2 fan who is not alone in thinking that the best rock band on the planet has just left the building.
