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Four lads who shook the world...

My word, he's lookin' old, now. The dark-hair - sometimes jet-black - is clearly betrayin' a few grey bits, now. The face a little gaunt. The barrel-chest is less apparent and he really isn't all that tall, in fact. Even with a typical-lookin', Footballers Wife at his side, he looks unconfident, reticent, out of place. Gary Speed shouldn't feel like this, not here at the City Of Manchester stadium, the home of Manchester City soccer team. Speed - now of Bolton Wanderers and a hero of mine, when at Newcastle - is sitting next to me, high in the stand, with me realizing that's he's a lot more mortal than I thought.  Our attempts at conversation are unfortunately brief, although his glamorous wife is friendly towards mine, when she makes her way to the toilet. The stadium-rock vibe ain't their usual thang... Bono? He's over there on stage, as large-as-life-as-ever.

For Fiona and I, it's Manchester where it all began. As first dates go, a U2 concert takes some beatin'. This was the Elevation Tour in 2001. Four years and we're back in Manc, with our favorite band as part of our honeymoon.

But it's different now. Then, they played the MEN Arena, a slightly smaller, enclosed venue; something which contributed to it bein' a special night. The European leg of the Vertigo Tour however, is all played out in the great outdoors and although that's inevitable, considerin' the ridiculously overwhelmin' demand for UK tickets, it don't make for such a rockin' gig.

The Speeds are not uncommon. There's loads here to see Bono: approachin' summit of a peak with his pre-G8, pre-Live8 media exposure. Loadsa people too far from the stage, too unfamiliar with U2's set. 

It starts promisingly enough - a raucous rendition of Vertigo itself, the recent No.1 and single devotee of all things three-chords and three-minutes long. Hard-core U2 fans, who've followed the progress and changes to the nightly set-lists on the band's website, are eagerly anticipating the next song...at previous shows, the second song has been an early track from their early career; "Gloria," "The Ocean," that sort of thing. Tonight we get "The Electric Co." a song I often thought was overblown and bombastic. Not now - this must've been such a live favorite, as it shows U2 at their original punk rock best: tight, passionate, electrifying.  

They run through other classics, such as "New Years Day," and make it look so easy. They tease us with a delayed opening to "Elevation;" they make a point of welcoming "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Lookin' Fo"r back into preceedings:

           You broke the bonds and you loosed the chains/Carried the cross/ And my shame, and my shame...

The Speeds are lookin' interested, but motionless - the Bee Gees it ain't. 
                   
It's a strange night. Half the people are either sittin' down and lookin' outta place, or lappin' up each number and singin' along to the words, invitin' a variety of looks and glances from the others. My wife and I stand up and slow dance to "All I Want Is You," the first dance at our wedding reception. Other couples are doin' likewise. 

Then there's "Beautiful Day" and the Speeds become animated. The song is popular in Britain for it's been use as  theme music to much televised soccer coverage. Here, it's essential. Parts of the audience have a waning attention-span. It does the trick, and the three tracks on-the-bounce off the new album also prove popular with the less fanatical. It's here that U2's Christianity fully comes to the fore, with Bono repeating his claim that, "...all are equal in the eyes of God."  "Love And Peace Or Else" provides the bridge between the new songs and the more-overtly political material. It's a song that evokes BRMC and shows that U2 are still open to new sources of influence, still receptive to different sounds.

That particular 'cisco combo's lyrical concerns are often religious themes, albeit from dark places. U2's are specifically full of light. That's why "Sunday Bloody Sunday," the religious imagery on the blindfold that Bono sings with, during "Bullet The Blue Sky" and the CO-EXIST slogan in neon-lights backdrop, along with the revolving flags of the most impoverished African nations during "One" have by now mesmerized most people. It's not only performance art; it's more than a spot of Dadaism; it ain't just religious and political propaganda - we're bein' confronted with the reality of life and death, with inner-most feelings and with an inarticulate speech of the senses that reveal our child-like need for...something other. For God, healing, redemption.  

Just when we thought it was safe to go into the encores, we get an emotional and visual 180-degree turn. The next clutch of songs are all Achtung Baby-era U2. Even after what's just preceded it, it's a reminder of just how aesthetically and sonically different and challenging the Zoo TV Tour and the album which inspired it was. 

This is true punk rock. Brilliantly. We get a tight rendition of "The Fly" which is played to not mass excitement, but an almost silent, stunned stadium. This is true post-modernism, more than anythin' they did in the 90s, linking new material with the greatest hits with the obscure. So everyone goes home happy. We end with the contemporaneous "Spiritual Yahweh," before reprising "Vertigo," and along with the "Girl with crimson nails/Has Jesus round her neck...", we get the message, at long last. That whilst we think we're principled and upstandin', we can easily get giddy and require the services of a Saviour. So, we're back where we started.

Gary Speed? He's over there in the car-park with his wife, havin' left early.