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I have six of their albums and the gig was after work hours. So, yeah…when Charlize Theron again proved noncommital on the whole romantic dinner thing, I decided to head on down to Regent Street, eventually settling on a position at least 50 metres away, K10D and 90mm f2.8 in tow (not ideal shooting conditions, but then again last time I tried to photograph U2 it was using a 3megapixel point-and-shoot from the halfway line of Stadium Australia).

And since it was a free concert, so I was hardly going to say no!

It was a ‘surprise gig’ but the evidence was out there for anyone walking past BBC House that day that somethat was going to happen (and it wasn’t a Miley Cyrus concert….).

Adam Clayton and The Edge exit BBC Radio 2 less than an hour before their ‘surprise’ ‘mystery’ gig.

Three-quarters of a Bono leaves BBC Radio2. Thanks, dude with purple clipboard!

By way of background, U2 basically took over the BBC today – from interviews and a morning concert in front of 400 lucksters, to a TV show and more interviews during a drivetime broadcast. So when they started wiring the outside of BBC House with cables that stretched to the roof, only a couple of people were massively disappointed Coldplay weren’t doing a performance

“Why yes, we DO have a new album out”. (Though I’m not yet fully warmed to ‘Boots’, I think both ‘Breathe’ and ‘Magnificent’ are good tracks.)

No, BONO! Get away from The Edge!! (wait, that could be misconstrued…)

“You know the words, so everybody sing along!! Oh, come on… this album has been pirated and available on bittorrent for weeks, as if you haven’t illegally downloaded it already!“

‘Wait, what? The Ting-Tings and Taylor Swift also have new albums out? Damn… we may have timed this release badly..”

The crowd was approximately 5,000 people, and the BBC live coverage (which I enjoyed the next day) was excellent too. Best concert I’ve been to, based on the artist and the entry fee.

Bono noted the irony of somebody like him who is afraid of heights writing a song called ‘Vertigo’ and performing it on a building roof. Oh, great…what next… the band really weren’t lost when they wrote “Where the Streets have no Name”??

The Edge also needs to get away from… the edge.

The band played three songs (‘Boots’ and ‘Magnificent’ from the new album, and ‘Vertigo’ from the prior one) then hurried back for a quick addional performance of ‘Beautiful Day’ before the crowd were asked to disperse. Or, I guess preferably, go camp outside the closest HMV til Monday when the album is released.

“Yeah, so… if you guys could all clear the road now, we can move our Bentleys before they get wheel-clamped…”

Ah, London. It has its moments. And this was several. Oh,and a couple of hours before that I snapped Mr T leaving BBC Radio1. Somtimes you get your cake, and you get to eat it, and then Charlize Theron calls. Today, I scored 2 out of 3 and I’m not complaining!

Until nex time!