U2 rock Cardiff

U2 blow the roof off Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium

Bushwhacked

State Department Doctors Bono Quote

Cardiff pix

Cardiff 29/6 by James

Dublin I pix

Dublin 24/6 by cvodb

Another U2 iPod Deal

Another deal: refurbished B&W screen U2 iPods are $249 (Click red “Save” at bottom right)

Bag lady

The story of ‘the bag’

Meanwhile in Cardiff…

Wales is having the good weather, but the crowd in the Millennium Stadium won’t be able to enjoy it once inside: the place has a roof.

The house lights go down for Starsailor at 4.45pm local time. They seem excited to be there and the singer claims he was ‘one of those sad ones who’d stand on his couch watching U2 videos pretending to be Bono.’ They are followed by The Killers at 6pm: singer Brandon Flowers is wearing his fetching pink jacket. (It’s Dior Homme by Hedi Slimane, we’re told.) Flowers and his band get a massive response from the crowd, everybody is singing along.

We are told U2′s performance is similar to their first Twickenham show. It seems less spontaneous than Dublin, but Bono brings in the funny with some quotes regarding The Edge and Wales: ‘Like Saint Patrick, The Edge was stolen from Wales and to rescue Ireland…’ Right. Bono only needs to sing the first two or three lines of Unchained Melody and the Welsh crowd takes it from there.

After the show, our team narrowly avoids a head on car collision with support act The Killers…

Alex & Martin capture U2 at Dublin 3

Fans are curious about the film cameras in place at U2′s Dublin II and III shows. From what we saw, the second night was filmed, with cameras all around the main stage (including a large crane on stage) and shelter (and possibly the rest of the stadium, can someone confirm this?). On night three, however, there were no large cameras, at least none visible from our spot front stage.

We did see French directors (at least we’re fairly sure it was them) Alexandre Courtes and Martin Fougerole (responsible for the Vertigo and COBL promos) who were on stage for the entire show. You can see Alexandre in this picture, as he’s following The Edge going down the B-stage during Love and Peace or Else:

The duo took pictures with SLR cameras and were filming parts of the show (as well as the audience before the gig started) with mini DVs. Whether the footage shot at Dublin will see the light of day is as yet unknown… we can’t help but hope it was a dry run for a video shoot in Amsterdam.

News from the Cardiff front

U2log.com founder editor ‘Hoppy’ is currently queueing in Cardiff where he says about 100 fans had gathered by noon GMT. Local organisation is, in his words, ‘slack’.

Around 4pm fans are upset when half of the original queue sprints towards a second line at an adjacent gate (which local security suddenly decided to create) in an attempt to secure a better position. Gates open at 5pm followed by what was described to us as an ‘effing dangerous stampede’.

Fans, take note, the bomb shelter is quite large. If you’re among the first 500 or so queuing up, you’ll be more or less guaranteed a good view. For those of you who absolutely need a barrier spot, be sure to be among the first 150. B-stage spots are popular, but the band spend a lot more time on the main stage — so you can always consider going for front stage.

Will Bono attempt a Welsh countdown tonight? Will U2 manage to continue their winning streak? We’ll try to keep you posted, but mobile contact is currently a little sketchy.

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