Well, it’s been 2 weeks since I was across in Dublin seeing U2 with 3 of my Pals, (2 of them being my bosses) (and 1 of them being my better half).  We flew in to Dublin on the Friday, and got to the digs about 12noon, 1pm ish,… I can’t actually remember to be honest…!

Can you guess what we did first of all after dumping our gear (and a quick unpack and change of clothes)?
No?
Well, where are we? Dublin… What happens in Dublin? Guinness…..

So – there you go – straight out to the Temple Bar area of town, (which luckily was a stone throw away)..
Now this wasn’t the only reason we were in Dublin, it was obviously to go and see U2 on their 360° tour – however – that was on the Saturday night..
Friday therefore was Guinness and Cider..
And then we realised we hadn’t had any tea – so there was Pizza at the end of it..!

Anyways – back to Temple Bar… I actually lost count of how many bands we actually saw over the course of the day..
but I do remember a few songs – The Irish Rover, The Wild Rover (No Nay Never), and of course – they played many many U2 songs – such as one which you can see in the YouTube Video!

There are a few dodgy pictures too, including me, the Mrs, and Fiona (@geeketteFi ) +hubby (Ed)

Fiona and Me...!

Fi and Ed on the Way Out - literally

Temple Bar welcomes U2 Fans..!

THE Temple Bar

All the Gang

This singer was absolutely amazing

the Mrs and @geeketteFi (Fi)

Temple Bar at night

So I guess after all that, there’s really only Saturday to go – and that means one thing – U2, Live, Dublin, Croke Park… and as I’m a die hard fan… it means Queuing from 9am, however – by the time the girls get up and dressed we get to the stadium at 10.15am, with a brief stop at the cash machine after spending 200Euros the night before.

So – Taxi driver calling us mental for going so early, however we want a good spot in the Inner Circle. we get there and there’s 600 peeps in front of us! – eek! – my number is 613, so, we get to the queue… more photos:

Queue Dublin II

Prawn Cocktail Crisps

Herded into the Inner Circle

My View look Up

Soooo after the queue around about 3.30pm – we were herded into the Stadium, and yes – straight into the Inner Circle – how tremendous! – we didn’t get a great spot – however – after looking at videos on YouTube etc, I’m glad we weren’t half a stadium away in the middle of the crowd…

now as for the gig itself, it really started around 6.30, when some band called The Republic of Loose arrived on stage, and I have to say – the lead vocals looked drugged up to the eyeballs… After them it was Kaiser Chiefs, I’d heard from the night before the main Support act comes on stage at 8pm… so I thought – (at 10 to) time for a Pee… So – off out the Inner Circle, and as I’m walking out – I happen to notice Kaiser Chiefs coming on Stage…. aarrgh – run!!!!
Managed to get back half way through their first song… and what a show they put on, very pleased they were supporting, Ruby Ruby Ruby Ruby! I predict a Riot, lead singer even managed to do a bit of Crowd Surfing around the inner Circle – tremendous!! – I was jumping everywhere – indeed there is a YouTube video where you can see me jumping up and down!

So of course – after that – It was the main event, and oh my god what an event it was.
U2 360° Tour – In Dublin – Croke Park – Brilliant.

There’s nothing really much else that can detract from the fact that it was a truly stupendous concert.

the Videos on YouTube are amazing.

Especially this one of I still haven’t found what I’m looking for – I totally remember singing this to the Top of my voice!!!.

I’ve also got more pictures…

Kaiser Chiefs

The Crowd

The main man - Bono

Larry Mullen Jr

and yes – unfortunately at that point was when my battery started to decline – aaaaargh – blackberry madness, it was probably because I was twittering as well, darned battery – next time – note – buy another battery too…

U2 played 23 songs, only themselves on stage – no sexy dancers, only the backdrop of their massive – no – ENORMOUS stage… it was truly amazing – and to be sooo close in the Inner Circle – at their home town gig was just truly brilliant…

Sunday – bloody Sunday – in Dublin – we were going to do a bit of the touristy thing… however – that kinda got blown out the water once we got near the bars!
Guinness was the order of the day! As you can so blatantly see below:

Guinness

Guinness and Friends

Giunness

We love each other really

So – that was pretty much the weekend… Digs were good, food was good (apart from the Saturday) when all we ate was shite, Friday was Guinness and Magners Cider, Sunday was the touristy bit, (with a little drink thrown in) and then of course we had a superb Chinese as well – all in all a great weekend – it was a pity we had to get up early on the Monday to come home..

We are going to see U2 again at Hampden on the 18th of August, however – I feel that won’t live up to Dublin for some reason… and we won’t be queuing from 9am, we’ll be somewhere on the outer reaches… It will still be good though – seeing it from a different angle…

Still can’t get over how good u2 are live – especially after 30-odd years together… wow…

One Love, one Band, One Stadium, U2 / U2 / Croke Park 25th July 2009 – will be in my memory forever. brilliant.