U2 @ Wembley Stadium, 15th August 2009

I would say that I am an armchair fan of U2, in the same way that I am armchair fan of Reading Football Club. I wouldn't normally go to a match or buy the shirt but I do read about them in the paper. I'd never seen U2 play and I only own a greatest hists compilation but I do like their music. So I was quite interested to see them at Wembley.


Opening for them on this occasion were Glasvegas, who I have stuggled to be interested in before. Their performance this evening did nothing to inspire me and I finally realised that all of their songs sound the same because they have the same drum beat. All in all I wished I had been able to get tickets for the night before and seen Elbow, but there we go.

When U2 finally took to the stage it took a little while for them to warm up too. They opened with material from their new album, which I have to say I wasn't familiar with and didn't make much of an impression. The early part of a stadium gig when it's still light can often be a bit difficult, and the staging came into it's own as the darkness came on.

Much had been made of the 'claw' that is the stage for the 360 tour - it was fairly impressive, especially with all the different lighting.



I was surprised hw political the set was, with specific references to the Iranian elections and quite a long set piece highlighting the democratic situation in Burma. There was also a video of Desmond Tutu which was actually quite creepy.

The oldies are certainly the goodies when it comes to U2 and my stand out track of the night was Sunday Bloody Sunday, closely followed by Where The Streets Have No Name. You can see the whole set list here:

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So overall, a pretty good evening :-)

U2's 12th studio album, No Line on the Horizon, is out now