Edinburgh Here We Come

Today was a miserable day weather-wise, and the rain drizzled down for most of the time. We got a taxi into town and I went to get some money from the bank before we headed to the bus stop. Sue had been told that the fare to Edinburgh was just £10 return, which seemed incredible, so we were ready to pay more. As we suspected, the fare was not £10..... it was actually £9.90!!! Incredible. But the journey was not the most comfortable, and it lasted 3 and a half hours. Torture!

We got there in one piece though, and got a taxi to our hotel, the Travelodge Haymarket. It was a lovely old building and our room, termed an "Ample Family Room", was indeed ample! We were gawping at it and saying it was the biggest room we had ever stayed in, until we suddenly remembered the Penthouse Suite at The Clarence. Duh! How could we have forgotten that!

We unpacked and got settled in, before it was time to head off to dinner. Sue had booked us a table at Vittoria's, a lovely Italian restaurant near to the Liquid Rooms. The food was gorgeous and we had a lovely bottle of wine too. The interior reminded us of The Clarence, with all the wood panelling and the laid back atmosphere. Well, it was laid back until a family at the next table had some quarrel with the staff! Something seemed to be wrong with their order, and the father of the family kept on glaring menacingly over at the kitchen pass. Everyone was handling him really well, but we reckoned he was just after a free dinner!

While we were in the restaurant, I got a text message from Alan (Boner from NU2) saying that the soundcheck had been a disaster because he could not reach the high notes. He had been suffering from a potentially deadly strain of man-flu (!!) all week, and now when he reached the higher registers, his voice disappeared! I tried to re-assure him that it would all be okay, but I was worried about Julie and what she would think. She had come all the way from Southampton and this was her first every NU2 show. Sue and I had been telling her how fantastic they were! Gulp!

But as it turned out, all was well. Boner was struggling a little at the beginning, it is fair to say, but as the gig wore on, he warmed to it and his voice held out very well. This band never disappoint, and they all work so well together, and work hard! As I always do, I marvelled at how accurate they are to U2, and Alan's voice is so close to Bono's it's spooky! Sometimes was stunning. Wild Horses was a nice surprise. And Discotheque rocked.

I had requested Ultraviolet through the forum and was eagerly awaiting that. However, it appeared in a very surprising and unique way! The Fly started, and Alan dedicated it to "the people from England".... A great version followed, and when he got to the Achtung Baby part, Alan changed it to Achtung Debbi, which made me smile! Then.... they sneaked Ultraviolet in there, which was amazing, and really a wonderful touch as it blended very nicely back into The Fly to finish! Great stuff.... and now known as Ultraviolet Fly!! It would be great to see U2 do that!

The crowd were wonderful, and the usual Airdrie lot were there. They really are dedicated NU2 fans and dance and sing along (drunkenly, it is fair to say!) to all the songs. It's obvious that the lads like them being there too. How great to always have that support. A little taste of what U2 feel when they look out and see the familiar faces in their audience.

Sue took some great pictures of the night, which can be found here, and towards the end, I crept to the front of the stage, taking he camera and capturing these two, one of Adam (John) and one of Alan.

Adam Claypole and Boner

After the gig, which we thoroughly enjoyed, we went outside and waited for a while to see if we could arrange somewhere to go and meet the guys. John came outside and said that Finnegans was a good place to go, and it was only two doors away, so we went there for a drink and eventually, Alan came and we had a brief chat. He had lots of people who wanted to talk to him, so eventually we decided to drift back to the hotel. We needed to get a train before midnight anyway... or else it would turn back into a pumpkin!!!

We said our goodbyes and headed back. On getting to the station we realised we would have over half an hour wait for the train, so we got a taxi instead, and ended the night with a nightcap in the bar of the hotel.

A great night. Thanks to NU2... Julie's first impressions of them were very high, despite Alan's worries.