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BRISBANE - Irish rockers U2 have used the opening concert of their Australian tour to campaign for terrorist suspect David Hicks to be released from Guantanamo Bay.
The Irish super group's frontman, Bono, raised the Hicks case during last night's concert at the Queensland Sports and Athletics Centre in Brisbane.
Bono, during the U2 classic Sunday Bloody Sunday, said Hicks should be released from the Guantanamo Bay detention camp in Cuba, where he has been since 2001. "We call for David Hicks to be brought back to Australia," he said.
The Irish supergroup blasted more than 45,000 Brisbane fans with a stunning display of stadium rock in their first Australian performance since early 1998.
Fans relished the spirited performance from Bono, guitarist The Edge, bass player Adam Clayton and drummer Larry Mullen Jnr.
The quartet of 40-somethings have been together in the band since their schooldays in Dublin in the late 1970s and they show no signs of dropping their guard in middle age.
The Queensland Sports and Athletics Centre was transformed with a monstrous stage at its southern end and an enormous backing screen that provided a visual feast.
U2 play at Sydney's Telstra Stadium on Friday and Saturday nights before heading to Adelaide, Melbourne and then New Zealand.
- AAP
