U2 360 Tour, Etihad Stadium, Melbourne.

December 2010, Etihad Stadium, Melbourne.

Or as I liked to call it, The Jay Z 360 Tour.

But I couldn't tell Alison that, it was her birthday present after all, and I wouldn't want her to think I had an ulterior motive or anything.

This tour had all the hype: two superstar acts, the Claw (the biggest stage ever assembled), highest grossing tour of all time, highest attended tour of all time, probably the longest tour of all time, and surely one of the loudest. The downside of such a big production was that carting all this stuff around the world guzzled enough fuel and emitted more carbon dioxide than flying to Mars and back. Isn't Bono trying to save the world or something? Maybe he was on a break.


Let's start with the main act, Jay Z. He rocked. Big time. He flowed effortlessly through a 10 track set including Dirt off Your Shoulders, Empire State of Mind, 99 Problems, from his newer material, Big Pimpin from the old school, and the highly appropriate Encore to finish it all off - 'can I get an encore, do you want more?' - yep, I really did jigga. This guy has some serious hip hop anthems up his sleeve. He slightly spoiled it by including Hard Knock Life (I can't take the chorus from Annie seriously in a rap song) but we'll forgive him for a crowd pleaser.

Ok, I admit it U2 were excellent as well. We hadn't heard any of their new stuff from No Line on the Horizon, but it sounded pretty good. They played a whopping twenty odd songs, with highlights being Mysterious Ways, the emotion packed Sunday Bloody Sunday, a bit of Frankie Goes to Hollywood covers. With such a long set, I wondered if we would have the stamina for the encore. Thank god we did, and no Bono the god bit doesn't excuse you including amazing grace in it. That apart, it was sensational. Hold Me Thrill Me Kiss Me is my all time U2 favourite and they saved the best for last. U2 must have a combined age of 250, they had the energy and enthusiasm of teenagers, they were great value. Yep Bono preached a little, but he's forgiven.

The Claw meets the Edge.

I am not as sure about the value of the 360¤ angle though. The Claw was designed to allow the band 'to sit in the crowd's hand' according to Bono. An open stage with viewing on all sides, the stage was definitely innovative. But I could really only see one winner - U2's bank account. It helped them sell 20% more tickets as seats behind the set were sold, when they are traditionally screened off. Unfortunately for the fans who bought seats here, they really only got to see the back of the Band's heads for 90% of the time, as they hardly ever turned round. I would have been disappointed especially as for a 360¤ show, you would have expected the stage to be smack in centre field. It was actually at a goal end, so more of a 270¤ experience at best - admittedly it doesn't have the same ring does it? Thankfully we were in the standing section front on.

Not quite the same is it?

The other talking point was really whether Jay Z was the right supporting act. I was in Berlin for their first joint billing the year before (name dropper) and it worked for me. Jay Z gave it his all rocking up a festival like frenzy, but the stadium was both youthful and half empty for his set, meaning the oldies probably chose to fill the bars rather than fill their boots with a headline hip hop legend. And that includes Alison, who humoured me a little. Ah well, their loss.

The production was lavish, and the sound probably travelled all the way to Mars even if their set didn't. A great night.