I’m not an arena-band fan. I prefer my concerts dark, small and seedy, but last Sunday I shared a stadium with 80,00 of my close friends to watch U2. I still feel it was totally worth it, though: I’ve never bought into the “biggest rock show on Earth” hype, but I can’t imagine a bigger show than theirs. Let me tell you: it was huge.

The organisation was true genius: they decided it would be a good idea to fit 80,000 persons through 2 doors. Result: a 5 hour wait, and us missing the entire Kaiser Chiefs performance and half of Keane’s. Keane was surprisingly solid, considering that what I’ve heard from them on the radio sounded gayer than a picnic basket. Note to their headbangin’ piano player: Dude, you play the piano. If you want to head-bang, learn to play the guitar. We had Liberace before you, and he didn’t change a thing. You ain’t no piano Jimi Hendrix, so cut it out, will ya? It’s annoying.

We stood in line with two irish guys from, well, Ireland, who had seen U2 a whopping 11 times, twice already on their current tour. They traveled to Barcelona because The Edge likes playing there on his birthday. What do you know, it’s The Edge’s fifth birthday in Barcelona. I thought it was odd that the concert was on a Sunday, but there you go., the guy actually goes out of his way to make sure they play there on his birthday. They didn’t speak spanish, except when we were finally making our way to the entrance, and two girls tried to cut in line. One of them found the perfect opportunity to use his recent spanish skills:

-”What the fuck mate? Those girls are jumping the queue! Oi! OI!! POOHTAH!!!”

Once the matter was settled and the invaders expelled, he turns to me with a big grin on his face and says:

-”That’s the only spanish I’ve learned.”

Yeah, no shit.

Anyway, U2 was solid the whole 2 hours they played (with no breaks), and randomly awesome. I was impressed they played so much of their older stuff. They actually started with Vertigo, then segued into I Will Follow, and then New Year’s Day. And they hit all their greatest hits: Still Haven’t Found (What I’m Looking For), Where The Streets Have No Name, With Or Without You, One, Beautiful Day, Elevation, and some oldies like Party Girl and Sunday, Bloody Sunday. The good spots were really good, like when Bono asked everybody to hold up their cell-phones and the stadium lit up. That’s when I realised I had been a law-abiding citizen and left my camera at home.

Yeah, I hate me too.

So, two over-priced t-shirts were bought, and much fun was had by everybody. It was so good, I’m trying to get a ticket for Madrid as well, but I’m not willing to pay 200€ just yet. It was good, just not 200€ good. Next time they’re around, I might even queue up for the tickets…