Tag: Johannesburg

  • Awesome night out at the U2 concert in Jozi

    So, on Friday afternoon at about 4 o’clock I got a phone call from the guys doing the Highveld Stereo U2 campaign, which I blogged about a couple of days ago. The phone call was pretty brief, with just one simple question, “Can you get to Joburg on Sunday to see a certain band called U2 playing to over 100,000 people ? ” The obvious answer was OF COURSE YES !!!

    Pano of the stadium before the show (Click to enlarge to full size)

    And with that, my weekend plans changed in a matter of seconds. A few quick phone calls to the brother, and I had a plane ticket booked to Jozi for Sunday morning, for what would turn out to be, well, “A beautiful day”
    I had made arrangements with some friends in Durbs to go camping on a dads and kids weekend on Saturday night, so I woke up early on Sunday morning, and got the show on the road. I eventually got to Jozi at around 12pm, and slowly made our way to Park Station to catch a train to the FNB stadium to see U2 in action. The vibe was incredible, and when we eventually got to the stadium there were thousands & thousands of people.

    I would say the biggest disappointment was spending 45 mins in a queue for a beer token and then go to a bar to get a few beers. There should have been more places selling beer tokens.
    Eventually after having a cold beers, we made our way into the stadium to find our seats. I was in absolute awe as to how big the stadium is, and in even bigger awe as to how HUGE MASSIVE the stage was.
    The stage is designed in a 360 degree shape, so the band can move around and the whole stadium can see them. Although, we only saw Bono twice on our side, cause were at the “back” of the stage, but the huge screens and seeing the standing crowds kinda made up for that.

    The production of the concert was unbelievable. I honestly don’t think I have ever seen anything as slick as that, and the huge screens & video production were amazing. I also got the opportunity to (finally) meet Tinus from Fancam, who did a 360 pano shot of the crowd, which I reckon is gonna be amazing.

    All in all a HUGE big thanks to the guys at Highveld Stereo for the tickets, it was well well worth it getting up to see this once in a lifetime opportunity, so glad I did it :)

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  • U2 rocks SA in less than 360 hours

    U2 360 tour stage, before one of the 2 Zagreb ...
    Image via Wikipedia

    I have to admit, one of the biggest downfalls of living in sunny “Durbs-By-The-Sea,” means we don’t always get to see the world-class music acts that often tour our shores. One such act that is missing Durbs this round is the mega band U2. I have to admit, I haven’t always been a huge fan of theirs, but I would give anything to attend one of their concerts, just to say…”i was there”

    The U2 360 Tour kicks off in South Africa in less than 360 hours. That is about 13 days time. The tour starts in Jozi at the FNB stadium, and then moves to Cape Town 5 days later on the 18th. You may ask why such a long break between the 2 shows, and the reason for that is because, believe it or not, it takes 5 full days to set up the stage. The stage design is pretty unique in the sense it is a full 360 degrees. So you have a round stage in the middle of the crowd. Pretty cool I think !!

    The guys at Highveld Stereo in Joburg, who are the main media partners in the tour, have come up with a really cool idea to get some “gees”(circa World Cup 2010) going for the tour. They have put a specially built stage, which they will be dragging around Gauteng over the next 2 weeks, where members of the public can sing their favorite U2 song and win prizes, including tickets to the show. They will be advertising daily on their Twitter account (@947highveld) as well as posting on their Facebook page as to where the stage will be videos will also be posted to Highveld YouTube channel of the crazy peeps trying to get hold of that elusive ticket. If you would like to join in, you can use the hashtag – #U2Highveld in your tweets.

    I am sure that there are going to be loads of people trying to get these tickets, so if you live in Gauteng, I keep on top of Twitter & Facebook to see where the stage will be heading next. Should be a good laugh.

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