More than 98 000 fans went wild as the lights at Joburg’s FNB Stadium dimmed and an image of Irish rock band U2 walking into the arena came up on a big screen last night.
David Bowie’s Space Oddity played as the band arrived on stage.
Beginning the fifth leg of their 360 Degree Tour in Joburg, U2 opened the concert with Beautiful Day.
Lead singer Bono told the crowd it was great to see South Africa be “world class” during the World Cup last year. “The rest of the world is finally catching up to the fact that this place feels like the future,” he said.
“Thank you for your patience, we told you in 1998 that we’d be back.”
Drummer Larry Mullen jr told the crowd that being in South Africa was “as much as winning the World Cup”.
“From where I’m standing you look like a very attractive crowd,” bassist
Adam Clayton told screaming fans.
As Bono and U2 got reacquainted with South Africa, rock ’n’ roll echoed throughout a stadium that represents everything big and historic about the country.
Rock ’n’ roll lovers will chat for ever about their reunion with U2 and will smile at the memory of the helluva show these musical legends put together. Simply sublime.
Simply politically correct too, as Bono borrowed Madiba’s name, face and photograph for a track named after our living legend. And the crowd loved it. They screamed their lungs out.
Maybe their voices could be heard in Houghton.
There was a moment too for Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi and the 2 203 Burmese imprisoned for believing in democracy.
Bono made the concert unforgettable for one fan.
During the song Until The End Of The World Bono pulled the woman onstage.
He lay with his head in her lap while serenading her and then walked hand-in-hand with her around the stage.
U2 kept the crowd entertained with a number of favourites such as I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For, Elevation, Where the Streets Have No Name and One.
The show was made even more spectacular by its world-class lighting design with a variety of colours and patterns lighting up the stadium and the stage.
The 360 Degree Tour stage arrived last week to allow the crew at least six days to erect it.
It holds the world record for the largest concert stage to ever tour the world.
The stage is 68m long from leg to leg and 48m deep.
The tour was called the 360 Degree Tour because of the staging and audience configuration used for the show.
U2 is due to rock Cape Town on Friday.