November 7, 2006 - Brisbane, Queensland, Australia - Queensland Sport And Athletics Centre

Media Review:

The Australian

City sees blinding light as U2 better late than ever

by Iain Shedden

DRESSED in black, shrouded in white light, Bono made his late, dramatic entrance on to an Australian stage last night.

Entering to the sounds of Arcade Fire's song Wake Up, Bono emerged from a ramp in the middle of the audience at Queensland's Sport and Athletics Centre in Brisbane and led U2 into their first song on Australian soil for eight years, City of Blinding Light.

Covering every metre of the massive stage, Bono then inspired a 50,000-strong singalong of the group's hit Vertigo before once again disappearing into the audience.

It was the start of a well-received two-hour performance by the Irish superstars that included a parade of hits spanning their entire career, including Elevation, Until the End of the World and New Year's Day.

Eight months after it was first scheduled, U2 finally got the Australian leg of its Vertigo world tour under way.

The crowd heard Bono and his three colleagues - The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen - power through a catalogue of hits including Pride (In the Name of Love), Where the Streets Have No Name and Beautiful Day.

The group was backed by a 25m-high wall of light and an assortment of screens beaming images of the band to all points of the vast arena. U2 have spent the past week in Australia, relaxing on the Gold Coast and rehearsing at the Brisbane venue for their first band shows since March.

Before the show, the four members were given a send-off by fans at their Gold Coast hotel with Bono kissing babies and the rest of the band signing autographs, some of them on female fans' Melbourne Cup day frocks.

The band then flew by helicopter from the Gold Coast to the venue. Tickets for last night's show were snapped up in less than a day when they went on sale last year.

However, the tour, scheduled for March, was postponed due to an illness in the family of guitarist The Edge.

Last night's show was also the biggest in Brisbane since U2 last played on their Popmart tour in February 1998 and the Elton John-Billy Joel show the following month. Bono said before the show that U2 wanted to give Australian audiences something that hadn't been seen anywhere else on the tour, to make amends for the postponement of the dates and for the fact that they hadn't played in Australia for eight years.

Earlier in the evening, American hip-hop superstar Kanye West opened the show and entertained with a dance-heavy set that included his hits Touch The Sky and Gold Digger.