Radio Mastersound Blog

There’s sentimentality, shocking omissions and too much new stuff… but somehow it all works. Hampden Park, Glasgow, Tuesday, August 18

In more ways than one, going to see U2 is a lot like going on a rollercoaster. Before you crucify us for lazily resorting to journalistic cliché, however, we should state that we’re not talking thrills and simple, giddy nausea here. We’re talking, first of all, about the waiting. The endless, anticipatory, gridlocked hours of it. Then comes the ‘oooohing’ and ‘aaaahing’ as the bells, whistles and general whizz bang-ery comes into view; this time in the form of a giant, four-pronged crab-like contraption in the centre of the stadium. After that, there’s the pulse-quickening realisation that said waiting is almost at an end. And finally, there are a series of peaks, troughs, swerves and swivels that leave you wondering if it was all really worthwhile.
To cut to the chase – it is. Eventually.

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