Rockin' On!!

When I was 16, my Mum took me to see my most favourite band in the whole wide world.

I was so freaking excited!  It couldn't come quick enough.  I had all their albums and videos and salivated over them constantly (sssh, I still do sometimes).  To actually have the chance to go to something so momentous was staggering.


Mum and I stood in line for hours to get in to the Sydney Football Stadium.  It was November, stinking hot and incredibly humid.  I got sunburnt really, really badly.  But I didn't care.


When we were finally allowed in, there was a mad rush to get as close as possible to the stage.  Mum, being the sensible person that she is, didn't worry about those sorts of shenanigans and was happy to stay at the back of the solid wall of people - much to my dismay.  How was I ever going to touch Bono all the way back there???


Mum let me buy a t-shirt from the merchandise stand.  I still have it and wear it regularly.

So after the crappy Big Audio Dynamite completed their set (which seemed to go on for HOURS),  U2 finally graced the stage....and oh my LORD, they were AWESOME!!!


Now my vision was slightly limited, even with the screens they had all over the stage due to Lurch standing in front of me.  So I pulled out my trusty camera to take pictures that I could drool over later.


Be amazed by my outstanding photography skills:

Ok, so I know they're crap. But I drooled over them anyway, because it was proof that I was actually there, RIGHT THERE, in the same space as Bono *sigh*.


What the photos don't show though, is that people were fainting left, right and centre due to how goddamn hot it was in there.  The amount of people, the hot, humid night - it was oppressive!  Even though I wanted to wave my hands in the air, like I just don't care, I did it mostly because I could reach above the heat that was hanging over us and feel cool air above it - it was a relief.


It also helped that people were flicking huge amounts of water around from their water bottles....meh, guess they didn't care about dehydrating.


Afterwards, I was completely deaf for about a day.  But it was so worth it. Sadly, I haven't been able to make it to one of their concerts since.  But I will one day.


So I just have to satisfy myself with my video of the concert, youtube clips and my trusty old instamatic photos while wearing my faded t-shirt and remember the good times.




So tell me, what concerts have you been to and what were your favourites?