We arrived at Twickenham at midday to make sure we got into the "Inner circle". We got our wrist bands about 3.30 and were let in about 4pm. It was such a relief to get out the dusty gravel car park in the blazing sun and into the stadium. The temperate was in the mid thirties, it was very humid and no shade at all. We got our space right by the B stage, where they play the drums in Love and Peace or Else.

Idlewild opened and suffered they sun shinning right in there faces. Next up were Ash who increased the pace. At 8.15 the into song was on (WHAT IS IT) and the band launched into Virtigo. As I said we were at the front and to see the band up so close when they strolled down to the B stage was amazing. The highlight was Love and Peace or Else, we could hear the drum being struck a split second before it came out the speakers. Adam Clayton had a smile on his face from start to finish, Larry Mullen gave us all the thumbs up on his stroll to the B stage. You could see the fun that the band members were having. Running to stand still is a brilliantly haunting song. Tonight we got Wild Horses (the words had been typed out and stuck to the stage just in case Bono forgot the words – first time they have played the song on the tour), and With or Without you which we didn’t get on the Saturday night.

It was a fantastic gig, up there with my first gig at Milton Keynes on 1985. The band played with feeling, passion and fun. Bono gave a special mention to Bod Geldof and more importantly Aung San Suu Kyi'sin who is imprisoned in Burma.

There were so many other highlights. As I said, we were up close to the stage and you can see what a fantastic show man and artist Bono is, as well as an intelligent activist.

The show finished bang on 10.30 and we were out of the car parks by just after 11.00 and back in Brighton a bit later as there was an 8 mile tail back on the M25 due to highway maintenance. (we got stuck for an hour after on almost the same bit of road the night before due to a bad crash and the motorway being closed)

Roll on Hampden Park on Tuesday

Mark R

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