There is no four piece band that can fill a stadium with lightning like U2. They have the technology. They have the desire. Of course, I am sure there will be mixed reviews depending on where you were sitting or standing, but from my vantage point, all was well with the world.

What a night it was! With the obligatory drug dogs at the gate and bag searches; the 60 year old gentlemen sitting next to me during the very muddy set of Kanye West threatening to call security and calling me an imbecile for discussing the need for rules in a stadium and the expectation of said rules to be broken at a rock and roll gig (something about a funny looking cigarette!); to the young man sitting next to my wife with ear plugs. All of this had me fearing that rock and roll was being held under a very large boot and that anarchy was going to be hard to find, even in small doses.

But as soon as the band hit the stage to embark on the Sydney leg of their Vertigo Tour to Australia, there was no reason to have any trepidation. We had yet to return to our seats and we discovered we were in a beautiful place to view and dance and sing and scream the night away while U2 delved into tracks from many parts of their songbook. For me  there were too many from How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, but I won’t hold that against them.. Vertigo did get the blood pumping and people out of their seats, it is a mover. This was followed soon after with the trio of  Until The End of the World, New Year’s Day and Beautiful Day which left me and Bono and The Edge looking for our respective beer or water bottles.

In an outdoor event the sound will never be perfect, but remove that known factor from the equation, and you had U2 flying through the evening. The sound of  The Edge was splendid as he exploded like three guitarists at once, Bono was gorgeous and Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr kept the beat moving forward. The last three tracks prior to the encore were Pride, Where the Streets Have No Name and One (with a brief tip of the hat to My Sweet Lord) and you knew there was more to follow.

U2 came back a bit funky with Zoo Station and The Fly during the encore, so we could all  dance some more. The rare treat of the evening was a full band version of Desire. According to web reports, this was the first time it had been played on the tour, except for one acoustic version back in February. Kite closed it off and we all knew that this was not goodbye, it’s just fare thee well for now.

So let me say thanks to the people who made my evening. The folks on the ferry from King Street Wharf; the crowd on line patiently waiting to see the inside of the stadium; the wonderful lunatics who came by dancing in the stadium and hugged and shook hands with us; the lovely fellow who took our picture with the stage lit behind us; and most of all the crazy dude on the way home who sprayed me inadvertently with a blast of his champagne bottle as I walked in the door from the deck of the boat. If only we had that moment on video, we would be winning something from some funny video programme.

And thanks to U2 for being able to bring it home to so many people in a very large space and make it feel as if they were there for each and every one of us. It is no easy task to make that happen and at the same time visibly display the joy you are experiencing performing. Saturday night gigs are always the best ones to be at and this was no exception, not at all.