2005 October - Vertigo Tour Boston 1

At the end of September Julie and I flew over to Boston for a week's holiday combined with two U2 shows. This was to be my first visit to Boston and I didn't really know what to expect, most of my visits to the US so far had been to the West. We had a relatively short flight (compared to the longer haul ones to the west of the country). The approach to Boston was lovely very green and lots of little islands in a blue sea.

New and old in Boston

We stepped out of the plane into warm sunshine and luckily that's how it stayed for us for the entire week! Our hotel was lovely though the room was very small. I quickly decided I really liked Boston. It had a leisurely pace and for the first time on a visit to America I felt it had a history in the city. Most American cities are so new (to a European anyway!) that for me they don't have a sense of a past, but Boston did have that and I liked that.

We spent the first few days sightseeing and went on the famous "Duck" tour, our duck was called Molly Molasses and our guides proper job was a doctor and she called herself Dr Quack! LOL! The city was lovely, old and new mixed together, lots of green areas and parks and of course the ocean. The ducks are amphibious vehicles and Molly slipped into the Charles River and from there we got fabulous views of the city. The duck trip was very informative (did you know there are 81 Dunkin Donut outlets in Boston?!) and also fun.

We visited Quincy Market, Fanieul Hall, lots of shops, Boston Common and lots more, there is so much to see in the city that we did not get anywhere near to seeing it all.

On 2nd October Dianne joined us, it was good to see her again. Next day was our first U2 gig. It was at Banknorth Garden just a short walk from our hotel. I had to pick up the tickets, no problem there and we were also given wristbands and told to come back at 5pm and get into line according to our numbers. Very organised, and it meant we were free to go off and do our own thing. We decided to have a meal at a nearby restaurant before going back to the arena to wait for the band arriving. They arrived very late and did not stop - later we found out that they were late because their plane had been delayed.

Once in the arena we couldn't find any space on the barrier, and as we are both quite short we decided to stand at the sound desk where there was a little platform. It turned out to be a great place. Keane were the support band and I really enjoyed their set and they went down very well with the crowd.

U2 came on just before 9pm, the stage looked small compared with the European stadium gigs but I much prefer arenas. They started with City of Blinding Lights with the "curtain" of glistening lights around them, it looked very beautiful. The set was much like the shows we'd seen already. Miss Sarajevo was stunning when Bono sang the operatic Pavarotti part, his voice just filled the place, I could hardly believe it was him! The audience clapped and cheered. It's kind of like Bono is still trying to prove himself to his now deceased father by singing the opera he loved so much. There was a really lovely acoustic encore of The First Time and Wild Horses. They finished with 40 which was a much better ending than the high energy repeated Vertigo they did in the European shows we saw, U2 should always finish gigs low-key, that's their way and it works.

We hung around at the back for a while afterwards, the only band member we met was Larry who was very pleasant, he shook hands with people, signed autographs and even posed for photos!

I really enjoyed the show, though I always find American shows are not as exciting as European ones, or maybe it's just me. We walked the short way to our hotel and drank wine, ate nibbles and discussed the show before going to bed.

1997 May - PopMart Salt Lake City Part 2, Mudslides and Bomb Threats

May 3rd. We had breakfast in the hotel, I had my favourite American breakfast, hash browns and fried eggs. Later we headed for the stadium which wasn't far away, we parked the car and, as the weather was pleasantly warm, sat on some grass near the stadium.

We listened to the soundcheck, Bono did a wonderful ballad, accompanied by acoustic guitar, which had a very Irish feel to it. They also did another new song, more uptempo, no vocals and they tried various versions of it.

We got talking to Mike who was from Las Vegas who said he was a millionaire. He had a large cigar in his hand that he never lit. He was quite a character and his favourite phrase was, "Eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow you might be in Utah". He said that Salt Lake City "Would be ok if it wasn't for the Mormons". I was hoping none of the local was eavesdropping on the conversation! He was supping Jack Daniels liberally, he was taking a risk because drinking in public is against the law in Salt Lake City and the place was swarming with police!

Mike then got out a bottle of thick brown liquid that he called a Mudslide and insisted that we try it. We tried it while glancing around for the police, it was quite nice really, God knows what it was!

The gates opened and we nervously went in hoping our tickets were genuine - they were, huge sighs of relief! Sharon was stopped by security who asked, "Have you got anything in your fanny bag?" Sharon, Jane and I fell about laughing, it was one of those situations where the Brits and Americans are divided by a common language, "fanny" having very different meanings in those countries!

The stadium was small by US standards, 39000, well organised, lots of women's toilets and polite well-behaved fans - there's something to be said for Mormons, Mudslide Mike!

Eventually the moment came and Pop Muzik blasted out - and went on and on and no U2. Pop Muzik stopped and the screen showed the male belly dancer whilst playing Lemon. The audience got a bit restless and wondered what was going on and so did we. After around ten minutes Pop Muzik came on again and this time the band appeared on cue. Later we found out that a woman had run the stadium to say there was a bomb under the stage. As that area had been secure for a few days it was unlikely to be true but police had insisted on checking the area before the show could go on. Of course it spoiled the effect of the start of the show but they had to be sure everything was safe.

Bono thanks the crowd for their patience and then added, "For fourteen years" which was how long since U2 had played Salt Lake City. The set list again was almost the same as at Las Vegas. The sound was not 100%, it was a little muffled. Edge, Adam and Larry seemed to be really enjoying themselves, smiling a lot and Adam applauded Edge after his rendition of Daydream Believer. Bono however seemed a bit under the weather, lacking energy and often got the lyrics wrong. We found out later that he had been suffering from throat problems.

I still enjoyed the concert, Please was wonderful and this time at the end of the song flags of different countries came up on the screen. Miami to was excellent, for me it works a lot better live than on the album. One was stunning. People closer to the band said Bono was crying as he sang it, I couldn't tell, but from the emotion he put into it I'm not surprised.

I was surprised there were no songs from Zooropa so far in the tour, maybe some of them will come later. In my view some of the songs from Pop such as If God Will Send His Angels and If You Wear That Velvet Dress do not transfer well to the live situation and usually the opposite is true of U2 songs. But that could change as the tour progresses and the songs develop.

We had a bout of tour madness and travelled 750 miles to see this show and it was worth it. On our way we also saw amazing scenery we would never had seen had we kept to our original schedule. Our next show was in Phoenix and our travels there from Utah (which I'll write about in the next blog) saw us passing through some of the most stunning countryside I'd seen in the US - so our madness paid off in more ways than one!

1997 May - PopMart Salt Lake City Part 1, Road Trip and Tickets

1st May saw us heading north on Interstate 15. Soon we had left San Diego and were in a hilly desert full of Joshua trees. We stopped for lunch at Barstow, approximately 100 miles north east of Los Angeles. It seemed a God-forsaken place in the amidst a stark desert in the middle of nowhere, the kind of place I wouldn't want to live in.

We drove on through the wide open spaces of California's desertland, roads as straight as the Romans would have built, seemingly going on forever. For someone like me from a small, green island this was a totally new experience, with its seemingly endless horizons and unyielding landscape . The sky was pure blue and you could see the shimmer of the heat haze as the sun shone relentlessly, it was not a place you would want to break down in.

You could drive for miles and see no hint of humanity, which I thought was great! Nature still rules in the desert. Well, that is until you drive over into Nevada and see Las Vegas shimmering like a strange, colourful anomaly in the brown desert, but that is only a small blip of human encroachment in this big country, we by-passed the city and continued heading north.

As we drove into the north western corner of Arizona the landscape changed, now there were lots of red hills and mesas. We passed through the impressive Virgin River Gorge (photo to the right) which took us into Utah. The peaks of the Wasatch Mountains rose to our right, they would continue until we reached Salt Lake City. The landscape now was less desert like and south western Utah proved to have a varied countryside.

We pulled off the I15 at Cedar City, we'd driver over 400 miles and decided to have a stopover here. We looked for accommodation but nowhere had enough vacancies to take us in. One hotel though was very helpful and found out there were vacancies at the Swiss cottage best Western in the town of Parowan twenty miles north. So we got back onto the I15 and drove the short distance north - Parowan turned out to be a small, sleepy town. The hotel was expecting us and we soon settled into our rooms.

We were really hungry so Sharon and I set off in the car looking for some food. Parowan was a nice little place but it seemed to be "shut" we could find nowhere to buy something to eat. So we drove to the nearby town of Paragonah, but no luck there either! Back in Parowan we eventually found a garage that sold pizza and snacks that you could heat up in a microwave. So we bought our stuff, heated it and rushed back to the hotel before it got cold. It turned out to be quite nice, especially as we washing it down with southern Comfort!

Next day it was another early start, before we set off I stood for a while on the open corridor looking out over Parowan, horses were grazing in a field close by, it was so quiet, peaceful, I really liked this little town. Also for the first time since being in the US it felt cool, that was nice to feel.

The landscape was more alpine now. It was a pleasant journey, Utah I realised was a very beautiful state. As we passed Provo it looked really lovely surrounded by jagged snow-capped mountains. We closed in on Salt Lake City, which was flanked by huge mountains.

We found our hotel, the Olympus, easily and were soon phoning ticket brokers searching for U2 tickets! One had four good tickets which cost $150 (expensive in those days - how times have changed!). We went for it and walked the short distance to the broker's office. When we got there Sharon started panicking about getting the tickets and if they would be genuine. I couldn't believe it! We'd driven over 750 miles, agreed to buy them after the phone call and now she wasn't wanting to buy the tickets! The rest of us wanted to go ahead and in the end Sharon was happy to as well, sometimes you have to take risks in life. We felt elated to have tickets for the show in our hands.

Salt Lake City was a very clean, neat and organised city. Less frenetic than many other US cities and it felt very safe. Even our hotel was really quiet. We had an early night as after all our driving we were tired and we went to bed excited at the thought of seeing another U2 show the next day.

1997 April - PopMart San Diego, Flowers and Hotel California

April 26th saw us at Dianne's home for a short stopover before heading out to San Diego for the next gig. It was the first time I had been to her house, it was lovely, set in a quiet neighbourhood, single story, and very big.

The back garden was beautiful, it had a pool and jacuzzi. There was a towering saguaro cactus that woodpeckers had bored into and made their nests. There were lots of cacti (I'm a big cacti fan and Arizona's the place to see them!) palms, mesquite trees and colourful flowers in the garden. Bird treats hung in the trees attracting a plethora of feathered friends. Hummingbirds came to nectar feeders, tiny, luminescent, swift birds that could disappear in the blink of an eye. I'd never seen hummingbirds before.

There were little hidden areas to sit all over the garden and it was really relaxing to sit there once the heat of the day was over. We met Dianne's husband and her grown son, both very welcoming and friendly. I felt very at home there.

Next morning we were up early ready for our drive to San Diego. We put The Joshua Tree on the car stereo as this was true Joshua Tree country and much of Outside It's America was filmed in this area. As we passed Picacho Peak (an unusual rock formation by the highway between Tucson and Phoenix) In God's Country was playing just as it had in the TV programme, magic U2 moment!

Like U2, we stopped at Gila Bend (founded 1872) - there was nowhere else to stop! It was a very small town in the middle of this amazing barren landscape. I found I loved the desert, stark and unrelenting, jagged mountains, it was nature in charge, and had a awe-inspiring beauty about it.

Gila Bend was a one street town, you could almost think you were back in the old Wild West! It was hot, dusty and run down. We wanted to go into the bar U2 had ten years earlier, of the two bars that we saw, one The Owl, was boarded up, the other, Shelby's was open so there was no choice, Shelby's it was! We walked in and it was full of men who all seemed to turn to look who had arrived, I suppose you don't get a Canadian and three Brits walking into a bar in Gila Bend very often! It wasn't the bar U2 had been in and we drank our Cokes, and left and headed on towards San Diego. (Picacho Peak - Photo © by Jeff Dean)

The landscape became more boring as we approached Yuma which seemed a God forsaken place and we were glad to leave it behind. Eventually, we arrived at San Diego, it was cooler there and I immediately liked the city, not too big, flowers everywhere. We checked in our hotel and then decided to find the Jack Murphy Stadium as we had no idea where it was! We found it quite easily and got talking to two fans Milton and Chelsea. They were really nice and suggested we go to the world famous Hotel Del Coronado (known locally as the Hotel Del) for a drink. As we had nothing planned for the evening we said yes. Chelsea said she would guide us and just to follow her. It was my turn to drive that night and it seemed miles and miles to the hotel, Chelsea drove fast and I spent most of the trip verging on a panic attack as I tried to keep up with her and not cause an accident! I was so relieved to arrive at the hotel!

The Coronado opened in the early 1890's and has been popular ever since with the rich and famous. It has featured in quite a few films over the years. It is a rambling, many turreted hotel with white walls and red rooves situated right beside the Pacific Ocean. As we arrived at night we couldn't see it in all it's grandeur, but our approach was lovely enough, with the old building floodlit giving it a fairytale appearance and the sound of the Pacific's waves crashing on the shore nearby.

It was very grand inside and we found some seats in the lobby and ordered extremely expensive coffee, we couldn't afford anything else though we were hungry! The building's history was well preserved which was good to see.

After a while, Dianne and I went downstairs to where we could hear music playing. An Eagles tribute band was on stage and we really enjoyed listening to them. I never forget when they played Hotel California thinking that yes, I was in the grand old lady of hotels in California, it was so appropriate, it was one of those magic "moments" you get in life that you never forget.

We also went outside on a walkway facing the Pacific from which there would have been a glorious view if it had been daylight. Smelling the salt in the air and hearing the waves break on the shore was still very pleasant though. I vowed then that one day I'd come back to the Hotel Del as a guest. I haven't managed that yet, but maybe during U2 Tour 2009?

After an enjoyable time at the Coronado we headed off for our hotel. Chelsea was going to guide us back there as we had no idea where to go! Luckily Jane was driving on the way back so my nerves were not frazzled and I got the chance to appreciate San Diego at night and it looked wonderful, I really liked this city.

Next day April 28th was show day! We weren't sure what to expect of the second show of the PopMart Tour after the near disaster at Las Vegas. But we needn't have been, right from the start it had the magic! Bono seemed driven, probably smarting from negative reviews from Las Vegas.

Last Night on Earth rocked. Bono dedicated Pride to his daughters "Jojo and Evie" which I thought was sweet. It was a night of dedications as "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" was for all the fans who had stood by them all through the years and through all their "mutations". We all smiled at that, nice to have our dedication recognised by the band.

The set list was much the same as Las Vegas except that "If You Wear That Velvet Dress" wasn't played - phew no hugging a dress on a stand! The new songs were performed much better too, they must have been rehearsing like mad over the last few days.

At the end we all looked at each other and smiled, the U2 we knew was back and I felt that familiar high after a good U2 show. We were relived they'd got it together after the shaky start to the tour. The U2 magic and passion was back in a big way!

1997 April - PopMart USA, Las Vegas, Fantasy and Disappointment

April 23rd and I sitting on a plane to Las Vegas with Jane and Sharon - this is the start of our PopMart Tour, and the start of U2's too, the first gig of the tour was April 25th. After twelve hours in the air I looked out the window as we descended towards Las Vegas. The views were stunning, below was desert, canyons and jagged mountains, a brown, parched land with a stark beauty. Then suddenly there was an expanse of azure blue, Lake Mead, sparkling like a sapphire with tentacles of blue reaching into the barren land around it.

As we stepped off the plane we were hit by the desert heat, a bit of a shock to the system. We got a taxi to our hotel, the Flamingo Hilton on the Strip, all typical Las Vegas, flashing lights and gambling in the lobby. It had lovely gardens with palms, exotic flowers and flamingos.

We met up with Dianne there and then had an easy going evening and an early night to give us a chance to get over our jeg-lag.

Next day was another restful day, we spent most of it relaxing in the hotel's beautiful gardens or swimming in the pool. That night we decided to explore the Strip. I'd been to Las Vegas before, but it had changed a lot since I was there only three years earlier. We walked into the lion's mouth entrance of the MGM Grand, gawped in amazement at the New York skyline (complete with the statue of Liberty) of New York, New York. We passed the fairytale castle of Excalibur and on to the huge, glistening pyramid of Luxor laser beams shining into the night sky from it's peak.

Las Vegas is like falling into another dimension, a fantasy world. Much of it is tacky, it's noisy and flashy and there's nowhere else like it. I'm not at all interested in gambling and after a few days there was glad to get away from the noise of the machines. But, for me, for a short while it's a fascinating place to visit, you feel like a child again, full of wonder at the over-the-top place Vegas is.

Next day was show day and we were really excited at the thought of seeing U2 play live for the first time in four years. We got a taxi to the Sam Boyd Stadium, it was a long way, stuck in the middle of nowhere surrounded by harsh desert which in turn was fringed by brown jagged, cracked mountains.

We sat out at the back of the stadium as there was really nowhere else to go. It was very hot but luckily there was a gentle wind blowing which cooled things down a little. We sat in the shade of some spindly trees and waited. U2 were doing the soundcheck so we listened to that as we waited.

While we were waiting a guy that Sharon nicknamed The Queen of Las Vegas came up to us and started unzipping his jeans and began putting tubes down them! Noticing our astonished looks he told us they were glow sticks and he'd been told that for some reason the authorities would not let him take them into the stadium and he was determined to take them in. He stuffed quite a few down his jeans then did them up again and asked, "Can you tell?" Surprisingly considering how many he's put down them we couldn't tell there was more than, erm, himself down there. He then tried to pick up something he'd put on the ground, "Oooh, oooh OOOH!" he shouted with dramatic gesticulations. We just fell about laughing hysterically, he was hilarious. To ease his suffering we picked up the things for him and he said goodbye and wandered off glow sticks and all. Later during the concert we saw lots of glow sticks and wondered which were those of The Queen of Las Vegas.

We made the mistake of going in to hear the support act Rage Against the Machine (sorry Rage fans!) Every song sounded the same and were all peppered with frequent four letter swear words, horrendous. We avoided them on the other gigs we saw in the US.

The PopMart Stage was much as I'd expected from the rumours we had heard. A huge yellow arch reminiscent of the MacDonald's symbol. What was a bit like an orange supermarket trolley within the top of the arch. There was a red "stick" with an "olive" on the end (I never did work out the relevance of that!). Behind the arch was a massive screen. To the far right was the large lemon.

The 70's hit Pop Muzik by M blasted out really loud and we knew this was the start, but it went on and on and nothing happened on stage. then we realised by the commotion in the crowd that the band were entering the stadium from the back through the crowd. But it wasn't U2 as we knew them - Edge was all in black with rhinestones and cowboy hat, Adam in an orange boiler suit and gas mask and hard hat, Larry was Larry and Bono the fighter throwing punches in the air, in a white silk boxer's robe with it's hood up. All a bit bizarre and I never saw the point in it all.

They went straight into Mofo which worked well as a starter. Next was I Will Follow which surprised me initially, then I realised they were linked, they were both primarily about the loss of a mother - as seen from different eras of a man's life.

Next was Even Better Than the Real Thing and I did a double take on Bono, at first I thought he was naked on top and had suddenly got a really well toned body! Then I realised it was a flesh coloured tee shirt. Do You Feel Loved was very ropey to say the least, they really struggled with it. Last Night on Earth and Gone were performed fairly well, but the audience didn't seem that interested in them.

On the b stage they did a stilted version of If God Would Send His Angels. Then Staring at the Sun went disastrously wrong, Bono stopped the song and they all had "words" with the others, especially Larry who Bono lunged towards pointing a finger almost in his face. Bono said to the audience that they were having a "Family row". They started the song again and just managed to get through it.

Please was performed really well (one of the few new songs that was) and it gained a new life in the live situation, fabulous. Bono put all he could into it and the symbolic colours of green and orange flashed on the screen. After that the screens turned red and of course it was Streets, which was wonderful and the crowd erupted!

After the short interval smoke started seeping out around the giant mirrorball lemon (it's yellow cover now having been taken off). It moved slowly forwards then stopped with a loud clunk and the top half opened. Inside were the four band members standing in a line arms folded. They did a military-type salute which just looked stupid to be honest - I never saw them do it again thank heavens! They came down from the lemon via steps and then launched into Discotheque. They struggled a bit with this song too but managed to get through it. All the while the lemon was rotating and the lights being shone onto it reflected back into the stadium like hundreds of sparkling diamonds, good effect.

The next song was If You Wear That Velvet Dress. It didn't work live at all, too low-key. At one point a sparkling white dress (couldn't tell if it was velvet!) on a stand was plonked on the stage and as Bono approached it I though, "Oh my God he's going to hug the dress!" And he did, it was truly cringingly embarrassing to say the least. We all just looked at each other with our mouths open, what were U2 doing? This was another thing we never saw again in a live show on this tour, so they must have realised the error of their ways.

A beautiful With or Without You followed and we were whisked into U2 heaven for a while as they performed a few U2 oldies. They finished with One, but, for me, that didn't seem the right song to finish with.

And that was it, the end of the opening show of the PopMart Tour. For a while we were unable to say anything to each other - we'd never been to a U2 concert that was well below par and this certainly was that. We were disappointed. As it was an opening show of the tour we expected them to have some problems, but this was more than that. It was clear that they were under-rehearsed, it was mainly the new songs they struggled with. I actually was quite annoyed with them! What I expect them to give me are good albums and good live shows, that's the deal, anything else is a bonus, but I don't expect more. At this gig in the warm desert night they didn't fulfill the good live show part and that annoyed me - and my friends. Years later they did admit to being not ready for this tour and I think this extremely shaky start was the cause of the poor ticket sales for some US stadiums later in the tour. But I'm pleased to say this is the one and only time I've been disappointed in a U2 concert - they usually exceed my expectations.