KEY POINTS:
"U2, NZ - I was there." The T-shirt on sale in Queen St said it all.
This was never going to be just a rock and roll concert. Even the promoters were billing it as an event.
There have been rumours of a U2 show in Auckland for so long now that there were those who wondered if it would ever happen.
The significance of it all, fuelled by the New Zealand inspired song One Tree Hill, began to take on almost legendary proportions.
And each time is was "definitely happening" something came out of the ether and blew it away again. When the stories filtered through that Bono has throat problems in Sydney, the collective sigh of resigned disappointment was almost audible.
But last night it happened, in the near-perfect setting of Western Springs on a balmy spring evening.
In some ways U2 could never live up to the expectations and in others they had satisfied them without playing a note, just by being there.
Whatever, it was a strange evening by anyone's standards and one that finally belonged to the four-piece rock and roll outfit from Dublin.
The odds weren't exactly stacked on the band's favour. Tonight they play a bigger, sold-out show, but for the later-added Friday concert it was a placid, almost reverent crowd that greeted the superstars.
B.B. King and band made a fine job of their support slot, turning a neat, somewhat indulgent but mainly pacy blues set, marked with outstanding songs.
But if U2 thought it was going to be an easy ride, they must have been surprised by their audience.
It was as if the crowd was collectively overawed by the mere presence of the band, and after five years, it took a while for the band and crowd to make friends again.
That they did was down to the group's energy and effort, never more so than in the opening songs.
They started in dark, broody fashion, wiping away the jolly All You Need is Love intro tape with the heavy and dramatic Bullet in the Blue Sky and following up quickly with a stinging version of Desire, and some of the fiercest, sharpest lead guitar The Edge has probably ever played.
Early on, Bono struggled to find his voice but he battled admirably and ended the night like a marathon runner at the end of 1500-metre jaunt.
And as the evening unfolded, U2 provided many highlights, many of those moments you tend to treasure.
There was, of course, One Tree Hill, with its Maori introduction - there was the classic New Year's Day, during which Bono serenaded a girl from the audience, there was the spectre of U2 past in I Will Follow, an atmospheric and embracing version of Van Diemen's Land sung by the Edge, the rousing Pride, dedicated to Dr Martin Luther King, and cleverly inserted references to The Stones, Dylan, The Byrds, Joy Division, and Bob Marley.
And of course there was the finale of Angel of Harlem, When Love Comes to Town and Love Rescue Me (dedicated to the heroes of East Germany and China and marred in true Western style by a brawl).
It took a while last night, and no doubt tonight will be much easier. But U2 was an event. And yes, I'm glad I was there.
