I’m a writer by trade (hence my hilariously undersized camera) and have covered countless concerts and festivals over the years, but photographing a big-name show is an entirely different deal. Instead of taking in the whole evening, you are often, as was the case last night, herded like pre-schoolers into a designated area incredibly close to the stage. For the first 3 songs, after which you are unceremoniously escorted back to a media tent where you can’t see anything at all. It’s totally worth it. Being right in the middle of 80,000 screaming fans is basically like getting a small taste of what it feels like to be Bono. But let’s rewind a bit…

As soon as you got off the metro, you knew something big was going on. The thousands of people were clearly buzzing with excitement as they headed towards a bizarre structure (known as “The Claw”) looming over the skyline, which, to me, looked like a set piece from 70s sci-fi movie…

The thing about The Claw is that it is, of course, designed to put on one of the best and biggest rock shows of all-time. Each of its arms contains these cool little chairs that people sit in to control individual lighting systems. I’m pretty sure even the been-there-done-that group of professional photographers were impressed.

U2 were late taking the stage. One of my new photog friends was pretty sure the reason was that they were trying to time the start of the show with sunset- which makes sense. If you’re going to create a bazillion dollar (my estimate) lighting show, you need the right backdrop. And they got it. I don’t even remember which songs they played because I was focused on not messing up this amazing chance to take photos, but I do have one clear recollection: Bono is a vamp. You don’t become Bono casually. Every dip and theatrical swoop was executed to perfection. It was kind of hilarious but mostly impressive.

As mentioned before, I didn’t have the massive arm-length cameras that everyone else was sporting so, besides the shot below which I frantically tried to snap when The Edge walked by, I don’t have any great close-up shots. But I do some pretty good pictures up on The Montreal Buzz Flickr account which you should check out. Or you just go the U2 360 show yourself. You won’t regret it.

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