Sometimes, things happen out of the blue, good things. Today was one of those days for me. Laura, one of my coworkers came running into my part of the office in a bit of a rush, looking for a credit card to borrow. She wanted to order something over the phone but didn't have a credit card on her. I had been a little bit late that morning and hadn't heard that she was trying to buy U2 tickets. She asked me in passing now if I was interested as an afterthought because nobody else in the office had been interested, but I was even wearing my shirt from the last concert I had seen and quickly said yes. I knew that U2 was on tour, and had been planning to see them in Canada, but had ended up leaving for Germany just before they were due to play their Canadian shows. I had heard that they were coming to Cologne, but hadn't even thought about trying to get tickets because the concert was pretty soon. As it happened, the concert was actually tomorrow, but somehow Laura had got tickets. It turns out that she is a huge fan and had tried to accept that the show was sold out for the last three months, but as the concert date loomed she cracked and tried everything to get tickets. The night before she had heard a song come on the radio and she decided that she was going, somehow. So she called all the radio stations in town to see if they had any promotional passes that they weren't advertising or would be giving away. She didn't have any luck, but they gave her the box office number and said she should check with them since seating isn't always final when they sell the tickets. This was a pretty good tip because just that morning, the stage crew had set up for the concert, and realized that there was more standing room than previously expected, and they could sell an extra 100 tickets, we got some of the very the last ones and only hours before the show.
The next evening, we left straight from work, taking the train across to the feared 'other side of the Rhine'. (apparently there's nothing over there according to the locals on the side I live on, but it is in fact home to a sizable sports arena) It was six o'clock when we arrived, and though there was no mass of people jamming the doors (even the opening band wasn't supposed to go on until 8) the traffic of people coming in was pretty steady, and by seven we were happy that we had come early as the standing room area moved from casual shuffling space, to elbow to elbow, to shoulder to shoulder. The stage set up was simple, flat with no garish props, just an absolute jungle of lighting hung from a network of cables and scaffolding above, complete with several spotlight monkeys. These guys have the unenviable job of ascending into the lighting jungle by climbing rope ladders, sitting in little bucket seats, and spending three and a half hours suspended above the action, highlighting it from time to time with bursts of light. I couldn't believe that they couldn't afford robots for this job with the money I paid for my ticket…. In any case, their hard work looked really good as band members took turns running and strutting their way along the large heart-shaped catwalk that jutted out from the stage and into the audience. Being in this part of the crowd was fantastic. You see Bono doing his thing, from three metres away (wow he's short in real life). For me peak of the show happened relatively early on when Bono and the Edge both came out onto the catwalk while playing The End of the World and basically fought with each other using their instruments as weapons. One would lunge at the other while simultaneously playing his part louder, charging back and forth and being urged on by screaming fans. The Edge got the best of that one, pinning Bono to the ground with a vicious solo to end the song. Other highlights included Bono breaking out his German, thanking the crowd and declaring him self a Cologner (Ich bin ein K�lner) to almost no reaction, probably because as far as I could tell, nobody at the concert was from Cologne. I was surrounded by people from the UK, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, and even Romania. All in all, the show was a blast, and the concert poster was a much appreciated bonus as it is the only thing on my walls since I still haven't done any decorating in the apartment.
