U2 were one of the very first bands I fell in love with when I started getting in to music when I moved to America in 1984. My cousins, who I was living with over there, were into U2 and I quickly become a fan. Devouring their albums, listening to a live broadcast of a concert, etc. When I came back to the UK my love for them continued. I remember picking up The Unforgettable Fire cassette on a trip to London’s Oxford Street HMV branch (a massive multi-level store of musical goodness) and The Joshua Tree was the first CD I ever brought when that was released. I remember their LiveAid performance in 1985 and had wanted to see them live for years. So managing to get a ticket for their Zooropa Tour at Wembley Stadium was a dream come true.

I made the slight mistake of meeting up with a bunch of Australians before the concert. One of them worked at one of the local pubs in Finchley and she’d suggested all meeting up and going in together, which sounded like a good idea as I was otherwise heading in alone (which I didn’t mind, but company at gigs is always fun).

The problem was that we all met up in a pub… somewhere in Swiss Cottage I think… and although a bit of a cliche… and I guess there are reasons why cliches come about… my friendly Australians did like to drink… and chat… and drink… and…. well, put it this way… we’d arranged to meet up at about 2pm so we could grab some food and a couple of drinks with plenty of time to get to Wembley for the 4pm doors opening and catch Bjork (opening act on at 6pm) and the Stereo MC’s who were supporting U2. What transpired was a mad dash to make sure we got there in time for when U2 actually came on stage. I think we made it in, and on to the pitch, with about 10 minutes to spare.

Of course being in a crowd of 80,000+ fans, and getting on the pitch (all standing) as opposed to a seated ticket meant that we all lost each other soon enough. I got surprisingly close to the front and had a great view.

U2 were everything I hoped they’d be. Bono , Larry, Adam and The Edge were phenomenal and it still ranks as one of the best live shows I’ve ever been too.