1997 August - Popmart Wembley One

Our First Popmart show in the UK was on 22nd August at Wembley Stadium. I met up with Jane and Dianne at our hotel close to the venue. We headed off and walked to the stadium as we went up Wembley Way we could see the top of the Popmart arch peeping above the stadium. We went inside at 5pm and at first got near to the B stage but not at the front, I couldn't see a thing so we moved back at bit and finally ended up in the first row of unreserved seats at the back - it proved to be a good position.

The support was Audioweb and The Longpigs, I quite enjoyed the latter band. U2 came on quite early, 8.30pm, Pop Muzik blasted out of the huge bank of speakers and POP came up in red on the screens. the band came on from the left hand side and walked through the aisle between the enclosure and the main area of the pitch. they were dressed the same except for Bono wearing a blue robe rather than a white one. The first few songs were Mofo, I Will Follow, Gone the difference from the early US shows was astounding, the band was very together. The new songs were well received by the audience.

A lovely extra in this show was All I Want Is You, Staring at the Sun was acoustic done by Bono and Edge on the B-stage, very nice. Please was just fantastic, it's a highlight of this tour for me. Hold Me.... is done very differently form in the US, very theatrical and dramatic. Towards the end Bono took off his glasses, and without make-up, turned into MacPhisto again - his face just totally changed. He looked into the camera, his gorgeous blue eyes looking straight at us on the screens, and then he kissed the camera and put the shades onto it, then a picture of MacPhisto appeared on the screens. Wonderful stuff, and brilliant performing.

The images on the screens are great and really complement the music and never over-powering it or the band. From the back of the stadium where we were we saw the full effect of these images and colours.

After the end of the show we went around to the back of the stadium to see if we could catch the band leaving. We met up with Julie, Linda, Karen, Serena, Jackie and Sharon there. I also met up with online friends Michelle, Rory and Clare there too, that's one of the lovely things about U2 tours you get to bump into old friends!

Adam was the first to leave but he didn't stop, just waved from the car. Next was Edge who did the meet and greet, very politely shaking hands and signing autographs for fans as he worked his way along the row of people. He's such a sweetheart!

Third one to leave was Bono, as he came across an Australian girl shot over the barrier like lightening and grabbed him. He didn't look too pleased and she was gently removed by security.


It just shows how fast things like that can happen, luckily this girl was harmless.

Bono shook people's hands, chatted and signed autographs. He wasn't as organised as Edge, and was going back and forth along the line in a rather chaotic manner. I didn't get too close to him because there were people in front of me but I got some photos. It was still just nice to see him.

Last but certainly not least, was Larry who was an absolute star. He signed autographs for anyone who wanted them. He was happy for people to take photos and was so pleasant! I got my Staring at the Sun CD cover signed by him. I thanked him and he looked me right in the eye and said, "You're welcome" with a dazzling smile, what a charmer! When Larry does decide to meet the fans he really can be so nice, I wish he would do that more often.

So that was the end of a long but very enjoyable day in London. We'd seen a great show and met three of the band, not bad going for the first show of the UK leg of the Popmart Tour!

1997 May - PopMart Phoenix, The Sun Devil

8th May saw us heading south to Phoenix where we would be seeing our next PopMart show the following day. We heard it was 100 degrees there, things like that remind you that this is the desert with pockets of humanity scattered in it - humanity that wouldn't be there if it was not for air-conditioning!

We passed through gorgeous Sedona and Oak Creek Canyon on the way south. We stopped off at Montezuma's Castle, which is a twenty room, five storey structure built into a natural recess in a white limestone cliff about 70 feet above the ground. There are steps and ladders connecting the various rooms. This was the home of Sinagua Native American tribe who farmed the this land between the twelfth and fourteenth centuries. Some time after this time they moved on from the area. It was boiling hot there, the sun seemed to reflect off the white cliffs and I found it unbearable. I'd been there a few years earlier and I remembered it was mind-numbingly hot then as well.

I was glad when we got back into the comfort of our air-conditioned car and drove the last leg to Phoenix. As we entered the city I loved seeing the banks of the highway full of cacti, very Arizonan! We found our hotel, the Fiesta in Tempe, easily. As we walked in we saw Sam O'Sullivan from U2's crew come out - it turned out that U2's crew were staying in the hotel, small world! Of course U2 themselves weren't there, probably a bit too down-market for them, though I thought it was a lovely hotel.

We ate at the hotel and had a few drinks in the bar. Then we decided to go into the pool and jacuzzi. I remember lying on my sun lounger at 11pm amazed at how warm it still was at that time of night. The stars shone above and the lights around the pool reflected and rippled in the water and onto the trees, it was beautiful.

Next day we set off for the Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe - it was again 100 degrees. We sat in the meagre shade of a straggly tree outside the stadium. The water we had with us was soon warm, then out of nowhere a man appeared selling ice cold water - we could have kissed him! It got too hot to keep sitting there, so we decided to look for somewhere to eat nearby. We bumped into waterman again and he told us where to go. We had pizza and cooled off a little which was a relief for me, I really find it very hard to cope with such heat.

We headed back to the stadium and went in to our seats which were really good, ninth row in the field not far from the B stage. The show was one of peaks and troughs. Edge did a brilliant guitar solo during Until the End of the World. Do You Feel Loved was the best it had been so far on the tour, Adam was watching Bono perform it on the B stage with a big grin on his face.

Bono referred to the Mecham speech he did in this stadium ten years previously and said, "I like it here. Let's go to church but leave out the religion."

With or Without You was performed beautifully and Bono added a little of Love Will Tear Us Apart on the end. By the encore Bono seemed to be getting tired and was feeling the heat, he was literally pouring water over himself. For us in the audience it wasn't too hot now as darkness had fallen and it was just pleasantly warm. Bono was also often holding his ears as if in pain. Something we had also noticed on this tour was that he was quite thin, which is not normal for Bono, he certainly wasn't 100% at this show. So as I wrote earlier, it was a gig that had it's high and low points, but we still enjoyed it very much.

The end of this show saw the end of our US leg of PopMart. It had been a ball! We'd seen four U2 shows and travelled over 2000 miles through amazing landscapes. It had been a fantastic experience and I am so lucky to have been able to do something like this.

1997 May - Canyons and Craters

This post doesn't really have anything to do with U2, except for the fact that if it hadn't been for U2 I wouldn't have even been in the US then and also would not have known the great people I was with. So yes, this post would never have been possible had it not been for U2!

We had a few days for travelling after the Salt Lake City gig, so we decided to explore more of Utah before heading into Arizona. We decided to base ourselves in Parowan again as it was fairly close to the areas we wanted to visit - plus we had all got quite a soft spot for little Parowan!

Four hours later we rolled into Parowan and checked in at the same motel. After settling in for a short while we headed for nearby Cedar City to look for somewhere to eat. We found a place called Sullivan's, which appropriately had an Irish theme to it. The food was good and boy was there lots of it! As we drove back to Parowan the sun was setting making the mountains around the town look a deep red, a beautiful sight.

Next morning we breakfasted on coffee and biscuits in our rooms. We checked out a route to Bryce Canyon and then set off. The weather was pleasantly warm and we headed up into the Wasatch Mountains towards a place called Brian Head and snow was beginning to appear. As we drove there was more and more snow, the road had been cleared and huge piles of snow flanked each side of the road. Then, suddenly we were met by a wall of snow at least ten feet high! We couldn't believe it! It was also very cold and all we had on was summer clothing. Later we found out that Brian Head was Utah's highest ski resort.

We turned back and noticed another road going off to the left that was not marked on our map. My internal direction radar "felt" it was the right way to go and as my radar is usually accurate everyone was happy to go with it. This road soon started going downhill so we knew we would not meet another snow block for a start! The road steadily continued downhill in the direction wanted, and before long we were in heat of the canyonlands. Boy does Utah have varied landscapes, in a few hours we'd gone from temperate Parowan, to alpine, snowbound Brian Head to the heat of Bryce Canyon National Park.

Bryce was absolutely gorgeous! The canyons were striated in many shades of red (caused by the oxidation of the iron in the rock) with lots of solo pinnacles that were known as hoodoos. The formations almost had the appearance of lace at times, they could be incredibly delicate. There were trees growing within some of the canyons that were a contrast to the rocks. To me Bryce Canyon is much more beautiful than the Grand Canyon (as amazing as that is!). Bryce is smaller scale, more delicate, and the colours are astounding, plus it is not as touristy - where we stopped there were no other people. I loved it.

We headed back "home" via Cedar Canyon which itself was very pretty. We passed Navajo Lake which was still partially iced over. I marvelled at the beauty of this southern part of Utah.

Once more we stopped off in Cedar City to eat. This time we found a really nice Italian restaurant with delicious food and amazing curly breadsticks! We drove back to Parowan and sat and relaxed on the balcony looking out over the peaceful, rural scene in front of us. We chatted and drank some more of the Southern Comfort we had with us, the end of a great day.

Parowan

Next morning we had tea and the remnants of the curly breadsticks for breakfast and took our leave of Parowan. We were quite sad to leave the little town behind! We headed south on Interstate 15 for what was going to be a long day's driving. We left the main road and went east towards Zion Canyon. It was very hot at Zion and dozens of lizards darted through the scrub and around the numerous cacti. This canyon was lovely too, again a lot of the rocks were striated in shades of a rusty red. The part of Zion we saw did not have hoodoos and the delicate almost laciness of Bryce, but it was beautiful too.

We stopped briefly at the Best Friends Animal Sanctuary near Kanab which was a place that offers a home to any animal that needs it. We continued on the long lap of the journey that took us out of Utah and into Arizona, the first stop being the Grand Canyon. Dianne and I had been there before but the others had not. We went to the Bright Angel viewpoint and even at 5.30pm it was unfortunately still very busy. It is a stunning place, you can hardly believe what you are seeing, shame about the crowds. For me Bryce Canyon is the place. While we were there some deer were roaming amongst the people and the biggest rooks I've ever seen were watching from on high.

It was getting dark as we left the Grand Canyon and headed south for Flagstaff where we were staying for the next two nights. Once darkness fell I noticed the sky was incredibly clear because of the lack of light pollution and we could see the Hale-Bopp comet clearly visible just above the horizon.

Our hotel at Flagstaff was nice but right beside a railway line so there was a regular cacophony of train noise and hooting. But we'd had a long day and were exhausted and quickly fell into a deep sleep.

Next morning we set of early once more and headed towards the Little Painted Desert which is 20 miles north of Winslow, Arizona. As we entered Winslow we had Take It Easy by The Eagles blasting from the car stereo, "Well, I’m a standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona..... " this is what an American road trip is all about! We drove along a straight, deserted desert road and pulled into the empty car park for the Little Painted Desert.

It was absolutely beautiful there, very hot but a cooling wind blew regularly taking the heat off a little. The site consisted of small multi-coloured cliffs and canyons arranged in a horseshoe shape, in the middle were little colourful hills. It did look like someone had taken a paint brush to the landscape, I'd never seen anything like it. We all wandered off in different directions and enjoyed the beauty and complete silence. Little purple, white, orange, yellow and white flowers growing everywhere.I don't follow any religion, but in places of such natural beauty like The Little Painted Desert, I feel a spirituality, a connection.

It is in the middle of the Navajo Indian Reservation, and the mesas of the Hopi Reservation were visible to the north. In the distance to the east I could see the snow-capped San Francisco Mountains that surround Flagstaff. It was an ethereal place and I could have stayed for hours. We eventually tore ourselves away, and as we left the car park another car arrived - good timing!

We went into nearby Winslow for a meal. I noticed a large percentage of the people there were Native American, there were also a lot of stores selling their traditional art and jewellery.

There was so much to see in that area but we couldn't do it all and we had to give The Painted Desert a miss which was a shame. Our next stop was Meteor Crater, somewhere I have always wanted to see ever since my childhood when I wanted to be an astronomer! The crater was created around 50,000 years ago by a meteor 54 yards across made of nickel and iron. It's landing would have created a cataclysm that affected all of the Earth. The crater was bigger than I expected - it is 4000 feet wide and 570 feet deep. It was so weird to see this huge crater suddenly just being there in the middle of the flat desert plain. It was also an incredibly hot place, the sun was unrelenting and I was soon wilting, so we went into the museum to cool off and learn more about the crater.

Our next stop was to be Walnut Canyon, close to Flagstaff, but it was late afternoon now and it was closed. So we headed back into Flagstaff, washed the desert dust off, and went for a delicious meal and cocktails in a Thai restaurant right beside our hotel.

I'd absolutely loved these few days of travelling, discovering the stunning sights of Utah and Arizona. I loved the feeling of freedom, driving along those long, straight roads, stopping off where we wanted along the way, and seeing the most amazing things. So, our tour madness really paid off big time!

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 Tour Madness

We had a couple more days in San Diego after the gig giving us a chance to get to know this lovely city a bit more. We went to the famous Balboa Park and met up with Milton at the Museum of Art where he worked and chatted for a while. We wandered around the park which is full of museums in the decorative Spanish architectural style.

The park was full of lush tropical vegetation, and meandering pathways. There was an artist's community of adobe buildings and cobbled roadways which was lovely to wander around. Balboa is a beautiful park, a very relaxing place to visit.

Later that day we hit the shops, with prices generally cheaper than back home it was hard to resist!

That evening Dianne and Sharon went to bed early and Jane and I went to the hotel's bar and had a good evening drinking margaritas and eating popcorn. We discussed the mad idea of maybe adding a gig at Salt Lake City to our itinerary......

Next day we all headed off for Torrey Pines Beach just north of San Diego. It was a beautiful place, a sweeping bay backed by cliffs and hills topped by Torrey Pines - one of the rarest pine trees in the US.

The beach was very quiet and relaxing, the weather pleasantly warm, the climate in this area really suited me. We sunbathed and chilled out. Later, for the first time, all four of us talked about maybe going up to Salt Lake City for the PopMart gig there on 3rd May. It turned out we'd all been thinking the same thing! We decided to go - even though the gig was sold out and hope we'd get tickets somehow once we were there and we'd find accommodation en-route.

We had planned on going back to Dianne's for a while before heading to the Phoenix gig on 9th May, but now we were going to do something completely different and go on a road trip of 750 miles to Utah. But sometimes it's good to be spontaneous and throw caution to the wind and have a bit of an adventure!

Torrey Pines

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.

1997 March - Pop Pop Pop Muzik

March 3rd saw the release of U2's next album, Pop. I thought it was ok but it didn't make me go "Wow!" There were some songs I really liked, Please, If God Would Send His Angels, and Gone. But, for me, many of the other songs were below par for U2, it seemed to be an unfinished album. To tell the truth I was a bit disappointed.

That didn't stop us getting tickets for the accompanying tour though, and this time we decided to see the opening few shows in the US as well as UK and Irish shows - quite an adventure to look forward to and a logistics nightmare!

1996 April - On a Dusty Dublin Street.....

Jane and I had a holiday in Dublin in the Spring of 1996. As usual we had a brilliant time in our favourite city visiting our familiar places and finding new ones. We caught up with our friends Ken and Elizabeth and Declan. As usual we were staying the house Ken and Elizabeth rent out and it was really like a home from home.

There had been a long quiet spell with U2 through the mid-90's though we thought they were probably recording their next album now. So on the Friday we checked out their new studio which was situated in the mostly derelict docklands area of Dublin. We walked down Hanover Quay past a motor garage that had a huge German Shepherd in a kennel guarding it. We soon found the studio, a nondescript grey building with a courier business on one side and a stationery firm on the other. Behind the studio and stretching along along Hanover Quay was The Grand Canal Dock. There also were quite a few huge stone built warehouses left over from Dublin's past as a busy port, the area felt very old and had seen better days.

Opposite the studio was the noisy Kilsaran Concrete Company that constantly had lorries trundling to and fro to provide concrete to the bludgeoning building boom in the city. After sitting on the wooden seat (kindly provided by Kilsaran not U2) for a while you ended up covered in a thin film of concrete dust. If you sat long enough and it rained you'd probably end up entombed in concrete! So, it's not the most pleasant place to be but at least there was a seat.

After not too long Bono arrived in his car, he waved as he passed us and drove down the road to park in one of the warehouses further down the road. Then shortly afterwards he walked up the road towards us. We did the small talk, what a lovely day it was, how are you..... Then out of the blue Bono said, "I'd take you inside to hear some stuff if we were further on, but I'm sorry...." his voice trailed off.

Jane said that it was ok and not to worry, though both of us inside were thinking, "Take us in, take us in!" I think we came over as quite chilled about it to him.

Bono continued saying that they were a bit behind with their work and it was quite pressured and that the new songs are, "Just a load of names on a blackboard."

At this point we were joined by an Italian fan called Bruno who had been a stage technician at Modena where Bono and Edge had recently performed with Pavarotti. Bruno told Bono he's met him at Modena and then apologised for his English.

"It's better than my Italian," said Bono laughing. Then he talked a bit about Dublin and was intrigued to hear that Bruno had met a girl from Finglas.

The studio door opened and out came Guggi, "Have you been inside?" Bono said to him (well Bono, I think he had seeing he came out of the place!) Then to us he said, "It's my friend Guggi - my only visitor and I'm late. I'll have to go and talk to him." He went over the road and chatted to him for about five minutes. I think it is really good that Bono still has friends like Guggi, people who knew him way before he was famous, good for him and it also shows he can't have changed that much since becoming famous. They were quite close and we could have eavesdropped if we wanted, but we didn't we just chatted amongst ourselves.

Guggi left and Bono said goodbye to us, and added, "And good luck with the girl from Finglas!" to Bruno. As he walked away from us I tried to sneak a quick photo and at that moment, when he'd almost reached the studio door, he turned again and said, "I'm really sorry I can't let you in, you know.... if it had been later....." Once more we reassured him and he smiled and said, "See you again, take care and God bless." Below is the photo of that moment. In all the years since we never have got into the studio, though it is on my wish-list still!

1995 October - Bono at the UK Year of Literature and Writing in Swansea

The eighteen months between our Dublin trip and Swansea had been a quiet time U2-wise. some people had started getting computers and the Internet in their homes but, in the UK at least, not many people were yet surfing the Net. So we didn't really know what was happening in the U2 world.

I was still seeing my friends though, either they visited me or me them. Jane, Dianne and Debbi had become close friends who I had a lot in common with besides U2 so we still had lots to talk about in the U2 quiet times. Through someone I knew in Glasgow I got to know Dawn, who only lived 35 miles from me - it was wonderful to have a relatively local fan and we started to meet up regularly and still do to this day. These special friendships would never have happened if it had not been for U2, I often wonder if the band realise how much they have given us besides the music?

Now to Swansea. We were really surprised when we heard on the U2 grapevine that Bono was going to be interviewed as part of the 1995 Year of Literature and Writing in Swansea. There had been no publicity, which we thought was strange and only when we called The Grand Theatre in Swansea and secured our tickets did we really start to believe it was actually true!

Dianne, Jane and I arrived in Swansea around 4pm on the 30th September and went to our bed and breakfast and were shown our rooms which were nice. We noticed that there was a Mr and Mrs Hewson signed in on the register, weird coincidence!

We went to look for the Grand Theatre which wasn’t far away. Part of us was still not entirely convinced that Bono was going to be there, even since we'd booked there had been no publicity. But we found booklets in the foyer that confirmed he was appearing there the next day, only then we really believed we would be seeing Bono.

We then decided to look for somewhere to eat and found a nice Chinese restaurant, The Slow Boat, that you entered by walking over a little bridge under which was a pool with full of goldfish. We had a delicious meal and a few drinks there before returning to our bed and breakfast and retiring for the night.

The next day the weather was beautiful, sunny and warm so we did a bit of exploring around Swansea. It was a lot smaller than I thought, and, to be honest, there was not a lot happening there really. We went to the Marina area, which was very pretty, and we saw the Dylan Thomas statue and the theatre named after him with excerpts from his writings on its outer walls. We went into the plush harbourside Marriott Hotel for a snack and a drink.

Later, we met up with our friends Debbi, Jackie, Julia and Linda and waited at the theatre for Bono’s arrival. There were quite a lot of other fans waiting, many like us had travelled from other cities and even other countries to be there.

Bono arrived in a black Daimler at 7pm. He got out of the car and immediately started signing things. He looked well but had a scruffy beard that didn’t suit him at all. He wore a brown tweedy cap put on backwards, a v-necked cardigan, brown trousers – he looked like he’d borrowed the cardigan from his father! It wasn’t his coolest outfit to say the least! When he got up to us Jane, Debbi and I got a kiss from him, he smelled of a mixture of aftershave and alcohol, I’d noticed a bottled of wine on the floor of his car as he got out. He seemed a little tense but was very pleasant and patient, especially with a large, male fan that was being quite demanding and getting in everyone’s way. After about five minutes outside Bono went into the theatre.

We also went in and had a few drinks in the theatre bar before going into the auditorium. I was surprised to find that although it was a modern building on the outside, inside it was a typical Victorian theatre which held about 2000 people at the most. We were in the stalls, twelve rows from the front, and had a great view. On the stage were two green settees, a two seater and a three seater, in front of which was a coffee table with bottles and beer and glasses on it. The backdrop consisted of two open books with Irish-style writing on them.The interview was done by Robin Denselow, a music journalist and he gave a lengthy introduction that I thought was never going to end - we wanted Bono!

When Bono eventually came on there were lots of cheers and applause. Cameras started flashing and the theatre staff were not happy with that and were taking cameras off people, Jane got hers confiscated, I managed to keep mine by looking all innocent as staff came my way! Bono was clearly very nervous; he was smoking a cigar but coughed every time he drew on it. In the end he asked for a “proper” cigarette from the audience which he was duly given. All the time he was on stage he was asking for cigarettes, in the end a girl gave him a packet and he jumped off the stage and walked her back to her seat and gave her a big hug and kiss to lots of cheers!

The first half of Bono’s appearance consisted of a proper interview. He talked about lots of things, the Passengers album, his love and respect for Ali, Zoo TV, MacPhisto, how much he missed having the rest of U2 with him that evening (this was long before he started doing all the solo projects he’s involved with now) and much more. He was consistently entertaining, funny and witty. The nerves still showed a bit, he sat on the edge of the settee and was often wringing his hands.

The second half of the interview consisted of questions from fans that Robin had written down on a bit of paper. Very annoyingly, he often either didn’t give Bono a chance to answer fully or cut him short. It must have been annoying for Bono too as in the end he asked the audience just to directly ask questions and this turned out to be the best part of the evening. Bono visibly relaxed, he was in his element and a wonderful rapport soon built up between him and the audience, he thrives in situations like that. The questions were very varied, funny, and serious.

Are you part of the Dublin scene?

"In Dublin I think people hate our guts and that suits me just fine. When a band gets as big as U2 it can be a pain in the arse for people who have to put up with it all the time."

What do you think of Supergrass?

"Supergrass? Keep smoking."

After visiting Graceland, do you think, when you pass away, your house will be open to the public?

"It's funny because we're actually working on a Bono ice cream and I just brought some with me. Erm, absolutely."

The questions kept coming and it amazed me how quickly Bono responded, after all he didn't know what questions the fans were going to ask. He seemed to be really enjoying himself.

If, in the event one of the members of the band being tragically killed, could you see yourself recording in 25 years time with some long-lost tapes?

"Anything that's even kind of good has been released. I hate the idea of someone releasing stuff like that."

Would you play in Omen 5?

"Omen 5? Now you're talking! It's funny, my mother used to call me the Antichrist." Lots of laughter.

Do you like grunge music?

"I find grunge music desperately boring. Offspring, that's heavy duty. I can get into Offspring but I have to be really pissed off."

Is it true that during the Zoo TV tour you woke up in a room one morning surrounded by prostitutes and with a boa constrictor across your chest?

"It was a python, not a boa constrictor. It's funny the things that happen to you on tour. You see people when you travel the world and some of them keep pythons, but that was a sign and that sign said "Go home". So I did."

Who's closer to God, Blur or Oasis?

"Well first of all, I am God. And Liam is my only son. I think they are both good songwriters and everything but I do think that when that guy Liam sings that there is something, there's some sort of ache, as well as the anger, and it's the ache that separates some music from others. It has to be magic. His band is great."

Bono talks a little more about his lyrics which are, he says, the only place in his life where he is completely honest. He is asked about religion

"I don't really go in for it myself. I am a believer. But I am a really bad advert."

It was all very informal and it amazed me how Bono could be so sharp and witty for such a long time, he never seemed uncomfortable nor out of his depth, only in the last ten minutes did he seem to be getting a little weary. All in all he was on stage for one and three quarter hours.

Afterwards we left the theatre and went round to where we had been waiting earlier to see if we could catch Bono leaving, there were other fans there too. There was a journalist asking fans questions, I avoided him but Jackie spoke to him. I later found out he was from the New Musical Express.

We waited quite a while but it turned out that Bono had left from the deserted front entrance of the theatre. It was now after midnight and we wanted something to drink, I looked around and saw the red neon sign of the Marriott Hotel shining in the darkness and suggested to the others that we go there as most other places in Swansea would be closed by now, they agreed and we set off for the hotel.

It wasn’t a long walk and it was very mild night, the streets were deserted and a half moon hung low in the sky. As we got closer to the hotel we saw a car parked outside, as we got closer still we realised it was the Daimler Bono had arrived in earlier, its engine was running. We literally just got to the hotel when the doors opened and Bono came out! He looked at us and we looked at him and mutual expressions of surprise were exchanged, then he gave a big smile and came straight over to us. “We only came for coffee!” Jane said, which was perfectly true, we weren’t following him and we didn’t want him to think we were.

“How was it?” Bono asked looking intently at each of us in turn.We said that it was really good and that he’d done very well. Bono admitted that he had been “terrified” and when Dianne asked if he would do it again he exclaimed, “No, never!”He said that he had agreed to do this a year and a half previously and then, “Pow”, and punching his own hand, “It was here!” He said that there was a good atmosphere in the theatre and that usually in these situations only the media is involved and he thought it was a good idea to do something for the fans.

He was now very relaxed, informal and quite mischievous, and very chatty. Jane asked if she could take “Just one photo”

"Yes," he responded then proceeded to cover half his face with the fanzine that Debbi and Jackie had just given him. Jane said, “That’s not fair!” and Bono laughed and moved the fanzine and put on his most mischievous look, I got an excellent photo of that moment.



everyone else took a few photos before he said that he had to go because he had a plane to catch. He got in the car and as it pulled away the driver tooted the horn and Bono waved goodbye. We stood there in front of the hotel waving too with big grins on our faces and watched the car disappear into the night.

It had been quite a day – seeing Bono in a totally new environment being interviewed in the theatre, meeting him, the second time being totally unexpected, an amazing coincidence, that red sign in the night sky led us to him! Sometimes things are just meant to be. And we never did get that cup of coffee!

1994 May - Mr Pussy's, Bingo and Bono

Jane, Dianne and I went to Dublin for a week in May. One of the visits we made was to the new place in town that we heard just had to be seen, Mr Pussy's Cafe Deluxe. It was a cabaret cafe in which Bono and his brother Norman a stake amongst others. It was situated in Suffolk Street on the site where Norman's restaurant Nude is now. It was only open for a relatively short time, there was a lot of opposition to it and eventually it was forced to close.

So, one evening we went along to Mr Pussy's. It was a long narrow building with a small balcony at the far end. It is almost impossible to describe the place on paper, but I'll try my best! First of all, think of kitsch, ultra kitsch, pink, lots of willies, garish colours, feathers, numerous cat statues, there was a neon MacPhisto sign, and the Mario Lanza picture from MacPhisto's dressing room was behind the till. It was surreal, I'd never seen anything like it before and never have since!

While we were there Mr Pussy (aka Alan Amsby) opened a cabinet on the wall close to where we were sitting - which already contained Naomi Campbell's signed satin knickers - and put MacPhisto's gold boots into it. Jane asked, "Did Bono drop those off himself?"

To which Mr Pussy replied, "Yes, he's in the back peeling the potatoes for the chips."

We had some of those chips and they were definitely homemade and delicious. The menu was unusual too, you could have a "pint of pussy" which was a pint milk served in its bottle with a straw. If finances were tight you could have a plate of broken biscuits for 50p, wine was served from a teapot into a cup. Nothing was very expensive so you could have a cheap night out there.

I went to the toilet downstairs and again my senses were assaulted by major weirdness. Pink and gold, kitsch statues, rosary beads on top of the hand drier, a pair of gold stiletto shoes nailed to the floor underneath the sink. The photo here of me in there give you an idea of what it was like. It's the first and only time I've had my photo taken in a toilet but I just had to have a memento of it!

Not long after we had arrived we heard a waitress tell some American lads on the table next to us that "One of U2" was coming to the cafe after 1am. We took that "one of U2" to be Bono because we could just imagine him loving such a surreal place! What good timing on our part too.

We got quite excited and looked at our watches, it was only 9pm! We ate and drank, drank and ate as we had to buy to stay! Good job the place was cheap. We noticed Norman (on crutches from a recent hip replacement operation) popping in and out regularly.

By 1am we were very full and we watched every person that came into the cafe. 1.30, 2, 2.30 passed by. Then Simon Carmody a good friend of Bono's came in, followed by the man himself. He walked quickly, not making eye contact with anyone on the way, trying to avoid being stopped by anyone. As he passed us one of the American guys next to us jumped up and was in front of Bono like a flash. Bono stopped shocked for a second, then his expression changed to surprise as the young man held out his hand and said, "I'd like to shake your hand Mr Hewson." Rather an odd thing to do! Bono shook his hand and said, "Hi." He then walked on and up the steps to the balcony.

Bono looked well and wore a black suit with a fine pinstripe, the sleeves were turned up and the trousers bunched up around his ankles. He had on a scarlet red shirt with ruffles down the chest and at the wrists, the shirt tail was hanging out, typical Bono!

Behind Bono was his beautiful wife Ali, and behind her trailed Naomi Campbell and Christy Turlington. They looked like giants as they wore extremely high heels which added to their already well above average height, Ali looked tiny compared to them. The men in the place couldn't stop themselves from gawking at them! Another person I recognised in the following entourage was Jim Sheridan. All these people and others with them went up to the balcony area. Naomi and Christy sat at the front of the balcony and seemed to be enjoying the attention they drew. Bono and Ali sat further back and were not in the slightest attention seeking.

At 3am the cabaret started. Mr Pussy (who is a drag artist) came on dressed in a black sequinned dress and huge blond bouffant wig to introduce Chutney Heuston, another drag performer who covered Whitney Houston songs. Chutney had on a black lycra dress (that he had a lot of trouble with!) and thigh length black patent leather boots. He was a good laugh but not a good singer.

Naomi leaned over the balcony watching with not the hint of a smile on her face, Christy completely ignored what was happening on the stage. Bono stood further back grinning and clapping along enthusiastically, really getting into the spirit of the fun night. It was really nice just seeing him enjoy himself like that.

Next Mr Pussy himself did a song, then we played Bingo with him calling the numbers, the prizes being jellybeans! We had a good laugh, I noticed that Bono was often looking down from the balcony at the "ordinary" people in the cafe, I wondered what he was thinking, maybe he would have liked to have been down there, anonymous, having a laugh playing Bingo.

Mr Pussy finished off with another ditty called, I'll Sing A Song That Gets On Your Nerves, over and over, and it was irritating, but also very funny and everyone sang along. Once more Bono stood watching, smiling and clapping getting into the spirit of the night.

Shortly afterwards Bono went to the toilet and two of the American guys followed him! Poor Bono, he wasn't down there very long! No one else took any notice of him. Shortly afterwards Bono's party left. As Naomi strutted past us I heard Mr Pussy say to her, "Thanks for the knickers." Classic!

Bono and Ali stood talking to Jim Sheridan near us as they waited for the rest of their party. They had their arms round each other and she was gently rubbing his back (he had been having back problems recently). Jim left and Bono and Ali talked as they waited, you could see and feel the love between them, it was lovely to see, they are the perfect couple. They were soon joined by the rest of their party and left.

We paid our bill - the till receipt was about a foot long! - and left minutes later. We blinked in the cool, early morning light of the real world. I felt like I'd been in a bizarre alternate universe and now had stepped back into reality. Kitsch, drag acts, supermodels, Bingo and Bono at 4am ..... did all that really happen?

1993 August - Dublin 2, The Last Trip to the Zoo

Another hot and sunny day found us back in a queue outside the RDS, but this time we had no shade and the heat was unrelenting. We kept going to the nearby shops to get cold drinks and ice lollies in an attempt to cool, but it didn't work very well. After a while I started to feel nauseous and got a headache, heatstroke in Dublin!

It was a relief to get inside, and though we had standing tickets I felt so ill I couldn't be bothered to run to try to get a good place. But, even so we actually got quite a good position at the front barrier towards the right of the stage. Luckily the audience was not as rowdy as the previous night so there wasn't a lot of pushing and jostling.

My friend Debbi had a photopass for that show (she and Jackie were editors of a fanzine called The Real Thing that's how they got the pass) but she could not find out where to meet the other photographers. She decided to hang around and then just join them when they came in. She looked very nervous and I felt sorry for her as that is a nerve-wracking position to be in, I know I would have been nervous too. But it all worked out in the end and she got into the pit when the other photographers were brought round.

It was a warm, balmy summer evening and a full moon hung over the RDS. This Zooropa gig was being broadcast live around the world, so as expected the set was pretty standard. The mood of the show was much more "up" than the previous night. Streets was amazing, the place just erupted, Bono came to the part of the stage where we were and was just standing there grinning. It must have been very special for the band to have their home crowd so behind them.

At one point a man almost got up on the stage and about five security men tussled with him. Bono noticed and watched what was happening and tried to calm the man down to no avail, the man was really fighting with the security. He had to be dragged away, "Be careful with him" Bono said as he watched. I was actually a bit concerned as to what that man would have done had me got on stage.

I was a bit sad when MacPhisto came on as I knew it was the last time I'd see him and I'd grown rather fond of him! He was in good form, chatting and posing, showing his glittering shoes with the huge platforms.

During Love is Blindness Bono slow danced with a girl he got up on stage for a long time, I just love Edge's guitar solo in that song, so hauntingly beautiful. For me it felt like Bono was symbolically dancing with us all, saying goodbye, as this show was also the last of the European leg of the Zooropa Tour.

Finally Can't Help Falling in Love, and I can remember watching Bono in his gold lame suit walking away from us as he sang, the gold glistening less and less as he stepped out of the lights and was swallowed up by the shadows. A great way to end a show, low-key but emotional, so U2.

That was it, the last trip to the Zoo with U2. It had been a hectic three weeks, I felt as if I'd been on the road as much as U2! We saw a lot of shows, the most I've ever done during a U2 tour, and as I've written before, maybe too many, as much as I love U2 I don't know how people can go to dozens of shows during a tour. But still, thinking back now, it was a mad time but it was also great fun, there were a lot of laughs and I saw places I'd never visited before and met lots of new people and consolidated good friendships that have lasted to this day.

The Zooropa Tour itself was very manic, big, over-the-top, colourful, ironic, a media bombardment of the senses. We were treated to great concerts and grew to love The Sleazy Fly and the Old Devil MacPhisto. U2 as they had never been before, yet still with the same spirit underneath it all.

1993 August - Dublin Zoo Time 1

I'd had a welcome weeks break from travelling to u2 gigs before setting off for Dublin. I met Jane at the UK airport and we flew over together. We went to our accommodation in Dublin where Dianne and Caroline were waiting for us. In the intervening week they been to the two Wembley shows and Cork that we had decided to miss, so we caught up on all the news they had from their experiences there.

The next day Jane and I went down the quays to Principle Management to pick up two tickets. It was the first time that I had been there. We rang the intercom and were let in, we walked up the marble steps, there was a huge modern art painting on the staircase wall. The main office was open plan with various U2 pictures on the walls. I noticed the fax machine was in overdrive! The doors to the boardroom were open and I could see a huge oval table with chairs around it in there and discs on the walls. Cecilia came across to us and was very pleasant and gave us our tickets and then we were off out again.

We met up with our friends at the RDS in Ballsbridge and waited in the queue. It was once more a very warm day but luckily we were well sheltered by trees that lined the road.

Unfortunately once more we entered by the gate furthest from the stage and had to run down the field. Needless to say, being crap runners we didn't get to the barrier by the B-stage which was our target but we were fairly close. There was quite a crush and some very pushy fans, I also couldn't really see the main stage so it was far from ideal.

After what seemed like an endless wait the show started in the usual way and followed the usual set. I could almost predict what would be next and what Bono would say. I always remember him once saying that the hardest part of a show is making it look spontaneous. I knew what he meant now, each time he said the same things it sounded like the first time, so he was doing a good job! I kind of realised then that, even though I was enjoying the gig, I'd seen too many shows close together on this tour and vowed I would not do that again - and I haven't.

Stay was performed on the B-stage close to where I was. It was lovely and the voices of U2 and the crowd rang out over the stadium and floated off over Dublin city. Bono grinned from ear to ear impressed with the home crowd. Anytime a band member came to the B-stage the crush was awful, this was the first time I'd experienced this. Being quite small I was getting pushed into people's backs and it wasn't very pleasant. I decided to leave my friends (who were all quite a bit taller than me) and get out of there. I didn't have to move far back to be in a much better position and I could see most of the main stage too.

MacPhisto said that it was good to be home and, "To be where people call me dad. Shall I give them a telephone call?" He dialled the number and got an answer-machine message from his four year old daughter Jordan, "Hello, we're not home, we're away on holiday. And daddy if that's you we're not coming back until you take the horns off." She sounded really cute and chirpy. MacPhisto didn't say anything, he put the phone down and started singing Ultraviolet. The call seemed to affect Bono, he seemed very emotional and distressed afterwards and for the rest of the show.

During Edge's wonderful solo in Love is Blindness Bono got a girl up on the stage and held her close laying his head on her shoulder. Then he took her hands and tenderly ran them down each side of his face, all the while his face was creased with emotion. Bono can't hide his feelings and it was like intruding on something very private, and yet not being able to look away because it was also very powerful.

Can't Help Falling in Love finished the show with the part where Bono and the crowd sing "Falling in love" to each other lasting longer than usual before fading away into the night.

I felt so moved that I was close to tears by the end of the concert and when I met up with my friends again they felt the same and instead of feeling high on adrenalin we felt sad, so powerful was the emotion we had witnessed.

When we left the RDS there was absolute chaos outside. There were at least a couple of hundred Mediterranean fans screaming and running after any car that left the venue. They banged on the cars band members left in and even hung on to them. It was very dangerous for the fans themselves and those trying to stop them and must have been frightening for the band inside the cars. Other fans, including us, just watched this chaos in disbelief. I'd never seen anything like it before and luckily I have not seen anything like it since.

We left and went to Jury's Hotel across the road to get a taxi intending to go back to our accommodation. There were no taxis there and a huge queue so we decided, at 2am, to go into the hotel and see if we could get anything to eat. Surprisingly we could (probably just because of the gig, there would be lots of ravenous fans wanting something to eat post-show).

Our time in Jury's soon lifted our mood as we had the most entertaining waitress. Caroline, who was a vegetarian, asked for a vegetable stir-fry. "Oh don't have that, " said the sour-faced waitress, "It's not very nice, it's bland."

Caroline insisted that was what she wanted, "I wouldn't have it," insisted the waitress seemingly oblivious to the rest of us falling about with laughter, "we get a lot of complaints about it, it depends which chef is on." Obviously it was bad chef night tonight .

Eventually she accepted Caroline's order with a shake of the head and a tutting noise. We were by now hysterical with laughter - all except Caroline, who even now could not see the humour in the situation. I always think it's really sad when you don't have a sense of humour, you miss out on so much.

The waitress continued to amuse us by almost dealing the plates across the table like they were cards, we had to catch them to stop them flying off the table.

Our food was really good and much needed and when the waitress was clearing away the plates Caroline said that she had enjoyed the stir-fry. "You must be easily pleased" said the waitress absolutely deadpan without a glimmer of a smile. That was too much for us, we all just fell about laughing - except Caroline who looked at us all as if we were mad - we laughed so much we were becoming hysterical.

We left Jury's at 3.30am and found a row taxis waiting outside. Still laughing we fell into one and headed off "home". Never will we forget our 2am meal at Jury's Hotel Ballsbridge!

1993 August - Cardiff, Last UK Zooropa

August 18th and I was on the road again, this time it was to Cardiff in Wales for the last Zooropa gig I would be seeing in the UK. Our B & B was literally on the other side of the River Taff from Cardiff Arms Stadium where the gig was being held, perfect! Dianne, Jane, Caroline and I met up with friends Lori and Ellen from America, they seemed really nice people.

We had field tickets and unfortunately the entrance we went in was right at the back so we had to do that awful run down the field! Even when I was very young I wasn't a good runner so I stood no chance now! Amazingly we still managed to get a place right on the front barrier though it was well to the righthand side. We sizzled in the sunshine for over two hours before it got mercifully cooler.

It was the usual set, no great changes except for a nice little tidbit of Abba's Dancing Queen and a scintillating version of Bad. Musically this show was wonderful. MacPhisto's phone call was to Margaret Thatcher and of course went unanswered - I would have loved to have heard MacPhisto speak to her!

Because we were right at the front we got some great close up views of MacPhisto strutting his stuff, we had become quite fond of him, he was such a character and Bono played the role so well. He's a character that fans remember fondly to this day.

After being dropped for a few shows With Or Without You re-appeared at Cardiff and it was a blistering version. Bono sang it to the audience tonight, either via the boom camera or by direct eye contact with the crowd. He smeared the lipsick across his face, tried to rub off the white face make up whilst his gaze never wavered from the camera as he sung, his face filling the huge screens. MacPhisto's mask had slipped away, and it was Bono once more singing to us, vulnerable and baring his soul. I so admire Bono's ability to give himself in that way, it's brave and open, few can do that, but that's exactly one of the things that makes him such a special performer.

At the end of the show Bono said, in an excellent Elvis impersonation, "Thank you, you are a beautiful audience," before the band finished the show with Can't Help Falling in Love.

So that was it, the end of the UK Zoo, for me. It had been a ball, traipsing across the country, staying up to the early hours, fun with friends, great music, even meeting U2 occasionally. But the Zooropa experience wasn't quite over yet for me I still had two shows to see in Dublin later in August.

1993 August - Leeds - What a Show, What a Night, What a Zooropa!

The evening of August 13th saw Jane, Dianne, Bee and Caroline and myself enjoying a lovely meal at an Italian restaurant in Leeds and looking forward to the gig the following night. We were having a good laugh, well, all except poor Caroline who unfortunately didn't seem to have a sense of humour so everything went over her head.....

We all stayed overnight at Jane's place and next day headed for Roundhay Park where the U2 gig was being held. The car was parked at Jane's boss's house that was supposed to be near the park. I wrote supposed because it was certainly a lot longer walk than I thought it would be! We walked along a busy road, through woods, down a country lane, along muddy paths, through a golf course, more woods, past a small lake, up a big hill and then from the crest of the hill the natural amphitheatre of Roundhay Park was spread out before us.

The weather was sunny once more (we were so lucky on this tour with the weather) and we had something to eat and then just enjoyed relaxing in the sunshine. At 5pm Jane and I left the others as we had photo and hospitality passes and tickets to pick up, as Jane also produced a fanzine, Prattle and Fun, these were her passes/tickets from Propaganda. We both used the one photopass we each had here.

We had no idea where to go to get these and with Roundhay being such a huge venue we gave ourselves plenty of time to find the place handing them out. After a long walk up and down hills we found the tent, but only the tickets and hospitality passes were there. A very snotty woman snapped at us that the photopasses would not be there until 7pm. We had an hour and a half to kill so we just waited nearby, and had a snack and drink. At 6.30pm we noticed a plane come down rather low and circle above a couple of times, we wondered if that was U2 arriving, we later found out it was.

7pm we were back to the tent and this time a very pleasant girl called Sorcha had our passes and told us go and wait at the backstage entrance and she would come along and show everyone where to go. It was quite a walk there but we did it and waited. But by 7.50pm no other photographers had arrived and we were starting to get worried. We asked someone with a swinging laminate and walkie talkie if we were in the right place. He was really lovely and helpful and said he'd find out. Sure enough he was soon back and said that the photographers were meeting up the hill and around the corner. Big panic!!! Having these photopasses meant so much to us and now there was a chance that we would miss out.

We literally ran up the steep hill and, not being the fittest of people, nearly killing ourselves in the process. We reached the top gasping for breath looking desperately for people with big professional cameras. We couldn't see any, we walked on a little way and there they were, a small group of photographers - we could have kissed them! We joined them, still breathless and almost hysterical with relief and laughter, the "proper" photographers must have thought we were crazy.

At 8.20pm Sorcha came along and lead everyone down the hill back to the entrance we had been waiting at earlier! She walked very fast and as it was quite a steep hill we only just kept our footing. I must admit it was such a thrill to be let into the backstage area - and we did literally walk right through it as it was all set out behind the stage. It was a mix of marquees, portacabins, caravans, pretty basic and temporary looking, which of course it was. We didn't get much time to look around as it took all our time to keep up with Sorcha who was continuing to march us to our destination. I did think though that somewhere is this temporary village U2 were getting ready for their show.

We came right round right side of the stage and we saw lovely Jerry Mele standing there. Then as we came round into the public area I was literally hit by the power of a crowd of 85,000 people. Previously I'd only ever been within that mass of people and that was great, but to have those people there in front of you was mind-blowing. The physical energy generated by that took my breath away, I had never experienced anything like it and it gave me a little insight into how it must feel for the band.

We were led right in front of the stage and there were two platforms one on the left and one on the right that was for the photographers. We went to the left hand one, it was very nigh and we wondered how we would get up there. Regine Mowlett, U2's main PR person, was there, she was really lovely showed us a bar hidden under cloth that we could stand on to help us get up the onto the platform. It was still a struggle but we clambered up albeit in a rather ungainly fashion!

Jane and I looked at each other, hugged and jumped up and down - we were so excited we thought we'd burst! To be in that position, right at the front of the stage, was our idea of heaven. Up close though the stage was quite tatty, you don't notice that further away, it's amazing what a bit of distance and good lighting can do! I turned around looked out at the vast crowd and took a photo, I had to have a souvenir of of that scene.

Television, the Drug of the Nation played and we knew this was it, the last song before U2 came on. We felt a bit nervous now. Suddenly Edge, Adam and Larry ran on and Bono rose up on the platform high above us, and Zooropa Leeds was go! Zooropa rocked, Jane and I were dancing away and sometimes forgot to take photographs as we were enjoying ourselves so much being close to the band! At one point when Bono passed us he looked right at us and gave a little wave, that was so sweet. Next was The Fly which was brilliant, when you are that close you can see all the physical effort Bono puts into it, within a few minutes sweat was literally pouring off him. Even we wilted a little under the heat of the stage lights, I never realised how hot they were.

The nerves I had felt were now long gone. But during at one point Bono stood right in front of me looking down at me, I got flustered and ended up with a photo of his crotch rather than his upper torso!!!

During Even better Than the Real Thing Bono really played to the photographers. He lay down on the stage right in front of us, crept along the stage towards Jane and kissed her! I thought he would do that, he had a soft spot for Jane, when he was so close, a foot away, I had to resist the urge to touch him! Afterwards we jumped up and down with glee, I noticed Edge smiling at us, I suppose or reactions were a little different from those of the professional photographers. Our friends later told us that we had featured on the big screens a few times during the photoshoot, of course we had been oblivious to that at the time.

Then that was it, our three song photoshoot was over all too soon. Someone helped us down from the platform and Regine and Sorcha were there to escort us and the other photographers out through the backstage area. Jane and I didn't want to go out and all the way round to get into the venue with our tickets and so miss quite a few songs. I asked Regine if we could go back to watch the show and flashed my ticket (the other photographers weren't bothered about staying they were just doing their job). She glanced at my little non-professional camera and said, "Of course, just go back the way we came and into the audience". We said thanks and headed back like a shot!

We got a really good spot at the front on the left side of the stage and had only missed part of Mysterious Ways. During Until the End of the World Bono fell backwards heavily on the catwalk. He soon sprung up again probably buoyed by the adrenalin, he'd probably feel it the next day.

The set followed the usual pattern and the band were in good from, also for an open air venue, it also had good acoustics. At one point Bono said Roundhay Park made Wembley look like a "bowling green" (it certainly did!) and that this gig was the biggest live show they had done for a paying audience. There was a really good vibe, like a huge party, and all too soon it was over -but the party wasn't over for Jane and me, we still had the after-show to go to!

We went out of the venue and ploughed through the crowds towards the backstage entrance. We showed our passes and were allowed in. There was no one there to show us where to go so we just wandered around, obviously the band was gone (Roundhay is notorious for horrendous traffic jams so I don't blame them for doing a runner) otherwise I don't think we would have been able to wander about so freely. Then we saw a large hospitality tent and went in. From the outside it looked ordinary but inside it had "walls" like Austrian blinds and even a chandelier! Down the middle were tables laden with various alcohol, nuts, crisps, popcorn and other nibble. Much better than Glasgow where there was nothing to eat and a limit of two drinks each. We met up with friends Rosie, Martin and Helen there and had a really good time, there was a great atmosphere in there.

We hung back so we were almost the last to leave so we could take a few souvenirs to remember this very special evening by, we had drunk quite a lot of wine and had got to the silly stage by now . Jane and I decided we'd play the superstars on our way out of the backstage entrance saying, "No autographs tonight" as a joke to our friends who we knew would be out there waiting. Unfortunately that didn't work because they were waiting at another entrance!

Writing this now 15 years later I get a warm feeling and the memories have flooded back (aided by my trusty journal!) - all the excitement and fun of that night, a great show, good friends to share it with. I think it probably was the best U2 night I've had at a gig over all the years. One of MacPhisto's most popular sayings describes the night well. "What a Show, What a Night, What a Zooropa!"