Last night I was treated to an amazing 3.5hrs of out of this world entertainment (literally, the stage looks like a spaceship and they referenced space/aliens alot...) from music mogul/producer/rapper/Mr Beyonce JayZ as well as rock gods U2! There were 2 camps here...the die hard U2 fans who didn't know and didn't want to know who or what JayZ was all about and the others who were super stoked to get to see 2 MAJOR acts on the 1 stage for the price of 1 ticket...and pretty much 0 in-betweeners which made for a few interesting conversations.
We arrived part way through JayZ's set and rushed in to a massive sound wall of pumping bass and a few x-rated lyrics, but we were all screaming along and loving it. He performed well and got the crowd pumped and (best of all) acknowledged where he was and thanked us for being there...many times...quite a few artists do not do this!! :( FYI - Brisbane, Australia
We waited patiently and the clock on the screen ticked down...before disintegrating and the first sounds of David Bowie's 'Space Oddity' came on and the screen showed U2 walking from the dressing rooms and up the ramp onto the stage and the crowd went wild.
The performed a full set with a semi moving stage and the most amazing light show...seriously the best set up I've ever seen at a concert, and then came back on for 2 encores.
Part way through the very energetic and fast paced show, Bono pulled a girl on stage and serenaded her, walked around the stage with her and kissed her on the hand, at which point she looked like she nearly fell over. He was hugging her and it was so sweet. She looked so overwhelmed but held up very well considering.
True to style, they pushed the human rights message pretty strongly and showed videos by Desmond Tutu and a particularly poignant one about the plight of the Burmese political prisoners. During 'Sunday, Bloody Sunday' approx 25 Amnesty International voluteers walked out onto the circular stage catwalk, all carrying oversized Amnesty Candles. It was breaktaking.
One moment that stands out for me was during 'I still haven't found what I'm looking for' when Bono took his 'ears' out and had the crowd sing to him and then he applauded us (I love it when bands/musicians do that).
The second encore was almost like a completely different mini show. The lighting was intense and there was a big animated lead up with cartoon aliens (that I'm not quite sure anyone understood) and then POW! Bono comes flying onto the stage in a jacket with red LED laser thingys down the arms and across the shoulders and a lit up circular microphone that hung on a long wire. What surprised me that was after the entire concert running around the 360' stage, Bono still had the energy to spare to swing on the microphone wire like Tarzan. What a champion.
The night before they had performed a tribute to John Lennon on the anniversary of his death and apparently that was very well received.
10 out of 10!
Source = me! Jade (twitter @JadeAODradio) and my camera
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