At this time my parents often drove with me to the record shops in Zurich. These shops were the only possibility to buy special records from different bands. All my friends were fans from Depeche Mode. If you looked in these shops for these bands, you would find a lot of Depeche Mode and only several U2 records. Nevertheless I bought some items I am still very proud of owning them.

At the age of 17 years I had no chance to go to the Lovetown-Tour in Dortmund. That would change on the next tour.

I met another U2 fanatic in my little city. Oliver Deutsch, who now lives in Vienna but he is still one of my best friends. I am sure that many U2 fans knows him as a great collector and owner of the U2 page „u2-Three“.

With Oliver I started the adventure „Zoo TV Tour“. Being hard pressed for money we traveled 8 hours by train to Vienna. After watching the first Open Air concert of the Zoo TV Tour, we had an all night oddissey without a place to sleep. Next morning we traveled directly to Munich to see the next concert. The last Zoo TV Show was a great on in Zurich.

We also saw the following Zooropa Tour in Munich, Stuttgart and Basel, Switzerland, without any major incidents.

The Popmart Tour started for us in Cologne. Travelling by car it began with the loss of all of Oliver’s money. Ariving on the Butzweiler-Hof in Cologne we were surprised of the location and the few fans. Nevertheless we felt it was a great concert with a sensational suport band called „Die Fantastischen Vier“.

Our next trip was a triple-pack. 3 concerts in 4 days.

We went by train to Prague and saw the biggest stadium ruin in Europe. The Stahov Stadium. This was a solid show with no surprises. We slept in a hostel near the stadium and when we left the hostel on the next morning were joined by a german fan. Because of a bomb scare on the train station we couldn’t leave Prague. We went with this german fan to the Intercontinental Hotel and really met the band. They (Except Larry) signed T-Shirts before flying to the Comet Awards in Cologne. Last year you could find a video on the internet from the scens in front of the hotel.

After meeting the band for the first time in my life we travelled back to Vienna. On the next day we watched „Elvis Birthday Party“ in Wiener Neustadt. Before having a popmart break we saw the concert in Nuremberg Germany.

Our last Popmart concert was our first concert where we travelled by plane. Paris

My girlfriend Tanja came along with us and on the 5th september 1997 I poped the question on the top of the Eiffel Tower. The Journey and the concert were marked by the aftermath of the death of Lady Di.

On the 20th May 2000 my first son was born. He was baptized with the name Noah Bono.

Then came my second favourite period of beeing a U2 fan. The Elevation Tour was for me one of the most spontaneous, exciting and surprising tours. We saw two great shows in Cologne, one in Munich and two in Zurich. As with those three concerts before we were able to enjoy both Vienna shows from the heart in front of the stage.

Our trip to Dublin to the first Slane concert was the highlight in beeing a U2 fan from 1983 until today. We travelled from Zurich to Dublin and slept in the best situated hotel „Hotel Temple Bar“. We had a great time in the town and visited important places for the first time.

 The concert day began by taking a cab on 3 o’clock in the morning. We viewed the U2 wall for a short time and then we drove to Slane. We got the tickets from a friend in Austria. Didi from the great U2 page „U2Tour.de“ found the tickets for us as a member of the official fanclub. We will never forget this and we will be grateful for the rest of our lifes.

Ariving in Slane there were a lot of fans waiting just infront of the gate. The rain begins and the securities started with building a entrance barrier. All fans had to go behind this barrier and the fans who realized this too late, were the ones who suffered. We were lucky to be one of the first to enter the beautiful Slane Castle Arena.

After running down the wet gras of the hill, we managed to enter the heart infront of the stage once more. We got wristbands and were able to leave the heart to relax in the area during the first of the support bands.

After the great gig by Coldplay and the Red Hot chilli Peppers we waited for our last Elevation concert. Surprisedly Chad Smith the drummer of the Chilli Peppers wanted to watch the U2 gig also in the heart infront of the stage.

Also Bonos brother stood just beside us during the concert. We didn’t take a picture because of the private situation of that days.

It was the best U2 gig we ever saw because it was so emotionell and powerful. After the firework during „The Unforgettable Fire“ we were one of the last people to leave the area and walked the unbelievable long way to the buses. Very tired but lucky to have experienced our highlight of beiing a U2 fan we slept in the bus until we arrived in Dublin City.

Except for the Joshua Tree Tour the Elevation Tour was the unrivaled by the following tours.

During the next two years I was concerned with planing and building my house. I dreamed from a home cinema where I could watch my u2 DVD’s and released it in my cellar. My house is a U2 free area but in the cellar I have complete freedom.

On the 6 th december 2004 my second son was born. He was baptized with the name Joshua Joel.

The Vertigo Tour started for me in Gelsenkirchen

and brought us shortly after that gig back to Dublin. We saw the first two shows in Croke Park. After the second gig we walked back into the city and saw that a few people were waiting infront of the Clarence Hotel. We also waited some short time and Bono arrived, I was carrying a cloth patch of The Joshua Tree  but I forgot that it was impossible to sign this flexible patch without something hard underneath it. So I put my passport under the patch and gave it Bono to sign the patch. In my opinion a slightly drunken Bono signed the patch and opened my passport to sign again. Some days later I had some troubles to go through the customs.

Arriving back from Dublin I saw 3 more Vertigo concerts in Vienna, zurich and Munich. At the end of my tour I was a bit dissapointed about the lack of variety and surprises of the concerts.

2009 a dream comes true. U2 started their world tour in an european town. We decided to travel to Barcelona for both concerts. It was the first time, that we haven’t much information about the show and the songs. We arrived on  27 th June and booked a hotel next to the Camp Nou Stadium.

So we could spent a lot of time hearing the soundchecks but also had a great time in the beautiful city of Barcelona. We were a bit dissapointed that the band were pinched for time meeting the few fans outside the stadium.

On the other side it was a great opportunity to meet other collectors like Micha from www.zoogo.eu, Evert from Belgium, Fabio from Italy …….

On the 30 th June we saw the opening concert infront of the stage and it was a great show. We thought that the band especially Bono was very fierced but very energetic. After crabing „One“ we thought that nothing worked really well and some shared looks really bad.

Nevertheless it was a great concert and a superb experience to see a U2 concert without much information about the show.

The second show was bombastic. The band, the show and the songs were great. After the show I thought that it was the best show past Slane castle 2001. the Camp Nou was the best stadium to open a world tour because the atmosphere in it was indescribable.

To save money I determined to visit only the third concert in Dublin. I hoped that the third concert will be the best like 2005 and I can hear „BAD“ once more.

I booked a hotel in the middle of Temple Bar. Shortly after arriving in Dublin I met Oliver, his sister and Bernie (another U2 fan from Vienna). We travelled to Killeney to pass the time with making some pictures of Bonos house. We walked to his house, made some pictures and a few minutes later we went back to the beach.

The show on the next day was good but the atmosphere in Croke Park didn’t keep up with Camp Nou. So I thougt that in the future I will prefer to see U2 in cities like Barcelona, Madrid. Milano ……..

The Excellent version of „BAD“ compensate the costs for that trip to Dublin.

Keeping the faith with continueing the Tour in 2010 I ended my 360 Tour 2009

In August 2010 Oliver and I decided to watch the 3rd Leg Touropening in Torino. We drove to Italy and after checking in the hotel we met one of the greatest italien collectors, Fabio. First we had lunch in a typical italien restaurant with Fabio and Marco, another italien collector. After a very good Pizza we visit Fabio’s U2 Collection. I saw incredible items which I will maybe will see never again.

Then we drove to the Stadio Olimpico and stood in a line too long for getting in the Front of Stage area. Even so we enjoyed to hear „Return of the Stingray Guitar“, „North Star“, „Glastonbury“ and „Hold me,Thrill me, Kiss me, Kill me“ for the first time of this tour.

The next stops were the 3 concerts in Zurich and Munich. In Zurich we met Micha which we knew as collector and from our time in Barcelona. In Zurich it was really easy to get in front of the stage. We were very surprised to met Fabio and Marco in this area. Being directly behind the protective grating, we saw a good concert which started with „Magnificent“ after „Stingray Guitar“. Moreover we hear „Breaking wave“ for the first time.

The second show in Zurich was very special. The heavy rain, new songs like „Mercy“ and one of my favourites „Mothers of the Dissapeared“ but especially a perfect humored Bono made this concert to an unforgettable event.

3 days later we saw the munich concert which had the same setlist like Zurich 2. But this concert had never the intenseness like the rainy show some days before.

Since years I play cards with 3 friends of me. We gambled for less stakes and the money were saved on an acount to make a trip someday. We thought it was a good thing to make a trip to the last U2 concert of the 3rd leg. So we travelled from Munich to Roma.

The first day we visited the beautiful city of Roma with the Colosseum, the Spanish steps, the Trevi Fountain and many more interesting places.

On the second day my friends seized the opportunity to visit the expensive boutiques around the Spanish steps. After having lunch we drove to the Staio Olimpico. there we met all the other guys. Oliver with Sabine and Micha with his friends.

It was the atmosphere in the stadium, the knowledge that it was probably the last 360 concert for us and the very good „Strong Ale“ beer with an alcoholic strength of 7% which made the anticipation of the concert extraordinary. For me it was a great concert with one of the best „BAD“ versions I ever heared.

Flying home to Munich I sumed up, that it was a great Tour and maybe they will close the 360 extravaganza with a Dublin concert in 2011.

Oliver and I declared that we make a trip to Irland in the year 2011 and discover the island with a hire car. We will visit Slane again, the Moydrum Castle and other places of U2’s past.

Maybe we will see once again a 360 concert.

We didn’t go to Ireland or visit another 360 concert.

But when the I&E Tour was anounced, we bought tickets for the concerts in Torino, Berlin, Cologne, Barcelona, and Paris.

We started our Experience with the opening night in Torino. Short after arriving in Torino, King of Collectors Fabio came to our hotel and we drove to the Pala Alpitour. We met some other collectors and saw a great Show.

The next day we had the first meeting of some of the biggest collectors in the world and it was very cool.

In the night the second show was better than the first.

Because of private problems Oliver and I must cancel our trips to Cologne, Barcelona and Paris.

But we said, that we must go to Berlin because Berlin will be a special location and the shows 3 and 4 will be great. We came to Berlin on Saturday and on this evening there was the great Party of U2tour.de in the Meistersaal, where U2 recorded „One“.

It was so a cool party with friends like Micha and Stephan. We also met other U2 fans, we didn’t know before  like Wolfgang Willms and had great talks.

The next day we had a nice time in Berlin and visited some great „U2“ places and an irish pub in the night.

On monday we met the band (once more no Larry ) and the other guys signed our loved Joshua Tree items.

Than came a great show in Berlin with a great audience.

On Thusday we saw the best show with our favourites BAD and 40 !!!

So we finished our Tour 2015 with only 4 concerts.

Exactly on my birthday, the band announced that there would be a 30-year anniversary tour of the Joshua Tree album in 2017. What a great gift !
The first concert of this tour took me to Rome with my family. All four of us saw the first concert at the Stadio Olympico and the next evening I went to the concert alone. After the concert, I stayed in the GA and the security staff were convinced that I was part of the crew. I was able to stay for a long time and watch the roadies dismantling everything. Suddenly Dallas Schoo came up to me and started talking to me about the concert and especially about the guitar sound. We talked for a while and then I left the stadium with him.

Of course, the home gig in Croke Park was a must-see. Oliver, his girlfriend and I met at the airport in Dublin and stayed in Dublin for a few days.
Back in Croke Park was just great again.

Before the concert, a few celebrities like Glen Hansard were in the GA and The Edge also sneaked to the edge of the GA for the opening act. We saw a great concert including the unforgettable jet flyover during Where the Streets have no name.

The next day we rented a car to visit a few locations. Of course we drove to Cedarwood Avenue to see Bono’s birthplace and visited the Unforgettable Fire castle. On the way to the airport we visited Moydrum Castle and stayed in a coastal town.

The next tour stop took us to the 2 concerts in Amsterdam, where we met some friends and acquaintances again.

Just one year later in 2018 U2 came back to Europe with the Experience + Innocence Tour. We got tickets for the first two Berlin shows.

Oliver and his girlfriend didn’t arrive in Berlin until the day of the concert, so I took a walk to the Mercedes Benz Arena the evening before the first show. The band was doing a sound check there and afterwards The Edge came and took photos and signed autographs.

Only Oliver and I went to the first show. Karin, Oliver’s girlfriend, was also there for the second evening.

The second evening was unfortunately a very short one, as Bono's voice failed and the concert had to be stopped after 5 songs. Of course it was a shame, but it was also a strange feeling to have been part of something so extraordinary. Only the uncertainty about how the tour would continue or whether the entire tour would have to be canceled was depressing.

We were very relieved that the tour could continue after Bono's voice problems. In my opinion, these problems were partly responsible for the set list changing for the better. We arrived at the Barcelo Arena quite early and it was deserted. Only a few people were there, so we went to the bar in the stadium next door. We drank a few beers, and it must have been several. In any case, we were in a great mood and we really enjoyed the concert. Zoo Station, Stay and Who's Gonna Ride were the highlights of both concerts.

Attending a U2 concert at the former Point Depot was also on our to-do list. And so we got tickets for concerts 3 and 4 on November 9 and 10, 2018 in Dublin. The Achtung Baby/Zooropa part of Dirty Day, Zoo Station, The Fly, Stay and Who's Gonna Ride was incredible. The parties in the Church rounded everything off.

Since the tickets for the cancelled Berlin concert were still valid, I got another ticket and went to the final concert of this tour with my son Noah Bono. We enjoyed the concert one meter from the stage and can experience it again and again, since it was released as a fan club gift.

With a joint effort and several computers, we tried to get hold of the very few tickets for Bono’s solo play „Stories of Surrender“ in Dublin. We were lucky and were among the few who were allowed to attend Dublin’s „3 Olympia Theatre“. We arrived the day before and actually spent the whole day in the bar area of ​​the Clarence Hotel drinking Guinness. We met up with record sellers from Dublin and Oliver bought a few rarities. The next evening we saw Bono in the theatre, in a very good mood and singing with a great voice. Due to the fact that Bono and Adam’s bodyguard were also in this bar for a long time and checked everything out, we knew that at least Bono was staying at the Clarence. After the theatre, Bono Adam and a few other friends actually came and took the lift up and later came back down to go to the after-show party. The trip to this event was unforgettable and something very special.

2023 Las Vegas

Of course we couldn't miss U2's performance at the Sphere, so we flew to Las Vegas on October 29th. My friend Oliver knows Las Vegas very well, as he attends a trade fair in the City of Angels every year. 

After spending the first day visiting the Valley of Fire, Lake Mead, and the Hoover Dam, the following day we went to Death Valley, among other places. Our first destination was Zabrisky Point, the legendary spot where the cover of the Joshua Tree album was shot. We then drove further into Death Valley to plant our Austrian flag at Joshua Tree. 

We've been talking about being in this magical place together since 1987, and now, 36 years later, we were standing here in the desert. An indescribable feeling.

The next day, we visited a ghost town and the Colarado River. Afterward, we visited the Sphere and the U2 exhibition. 

Our first concert took place on the evening of November 1st. On November 3rd and 4th, we attended our second and third concerts, with the November 3rd concert, with its surprising "WAR" middle section (Two Hearts Beat as One, Seconds, Sunday Bloody Sunday), being especially memorable. 

On our day of departure, we watched "Postcards from Earth" at the Sphere before heading home that evening.

2024 Death Valley

Since I raved about the U2 Las Vegas trip to my family, we decided to visit the west coast of the USA in the summer of 2024. 
We chose the route from San Francisco to Lone Pine. We then drove from Lone Pine through Death Valley to Las Vegas in the morning.

Twenty-five minutes after Lone Pine is Joshua Tree, which, of course, we had to visit. It was an unforgettable experience for my sons Noah Bono and Joshua, and even my wife confirmed that visiting this place was something very special.

As you can see in the photo, the flag that Oliver and I had left behind six months earlier didn't survive the winter. So, as a family, we brought a branded wooden board with us and hope that it will stay at the Joshua Tree longer.

On the way to Las Vegas, we also visited Zabriskie Point. But since it was 45 degrees Celsius, we quickly got back in the car and drove to Las Vegas.

Hearing U2 music and going to the concerts is one thing. The other one is to collect their items. At the moment I collect all items from The Joshua Tree era.

IMORTANT AT THE END !!

I want to thank my „U2“ friend Oliver for beiing such a good friend since I met him.

And many many thanks to my wife for allowing me to be a fan and collector. Without her it wouldn’t be so fun and I couldn’t enjoy it.