U2-tastic

I never was a big U2 fan and have never had the urge to see them live before but last night's concert in Croke Park (Dublin) was awesome. I'm not one for drama but it was infinitely better than I thought it might be, the stage alone was incredible... it managed to do what all the marketing bumf claimed it would do by "establishing a physical proximity" where "the band is just sitting in the palm of the audience's hand". The entire stadium felt connected to the stage as its' claws reached out into the crowd... nowhere to be seen was the traditional outdoor concert appearance where the stage is stuck in one end of the stadium flanked by stacks of speakers.

This stage was closer to the center of the stadium and having no defined front or back it was surrounded by the crowd. The biggest feature turned out to be the cylindrical video screen which was positioned high above the band for the first half of the set and in the second half it expanded down like a giant concertina to form a dramatic cone of light that flooded the stadium and projected the performers outward.

"We have some magic, and we've got some beautiful objects we're going to take around the world, and we're inside that object."