Brisbane.  Show 1.

Just as I was starting to feel most comfortably settled in Sydney, we up sticks and head north for a couple of shows in Brisbane.  Having declared UDI regarding hotels, I checked out of my accommodations and made my way over to the Hotel Fabulous to hitch a ride to the airport.  I took the opportunity of a stealth lunch whilst I was there - steak sandwich with a view of the harbour & opera house, which has to be one of the great dining locations on the planet.

I€™ve very much been enjoying the news from home where the rather appropriately named James Naughtie, longtime broadcaster of the BBC morning news programme, made a spectacular blunder live on air at 8am.  He€™s a Scot who speaks clearly and vehemently, so there was nowhere to hide when he spoonerised his introduction of €œJames Hunt, the Cultural Secretary€.  National uproar followed, though rather more with hilarity than offence, it seems.  It€™s on YouTube and well worth tracking down.

Our flight to Brisbane was commendably uneventful, followed by a drive to the venue with one of the most sedate police escorts I can remember (since when do police escorts stop at red lights and wait in traffic jams?)  Stepping off the plane we had been hit by a brick wall of humidity and it remained humid as hell for the rest of the evening.  There€™s been a huge amount of rain here of late and, even though we were spared a downpour tonight, the amount of moisture in the air was startling.  In the camera close-ups I could see that the band members were in shock during the first few songs (you could almost see in their eyes, exchanged looks of €œCor, it€™s hot.  Are you hot?  Is it just me, or€¦€)   It was a good show though, during which the band gave several nods to John Lennon who was murdered 30 years ago today.  Hard to imagine him at 70 years old, but I bet he would be doing extraordinary things.  Funny to think that it€™s quite possible that I would have met him were he still with us €“ it€™s not hard to imagine him having come to a U2 show somewhere along the way.