Yesterday at Dreamworld with U2

U2 getting vertigo at Dreamworld
Monday Nov 6 16:41 AEDT
Irish supergroup U2 is preparing for its Australian tour opener by taking on
theme park thrill rides and getting up close to a Bengal tiger.

The band, which will resume its Vertigo world tour on Tuesday night after an
eight-month postponement, risked a dose of vertigo by taking on the scariest
rides at Dreamworld on the Gold Coast.

Frontman Bono, guitarist The Edge, bass player Adam Clayton and drummer
Larry Mullen Jnr had the theme park to themselves late on Saturday night.

The four 40-somethings took time off from rehearsals to try such thrill
rides as the Giant Drop, Wipeout, Tower of Terror, the Cyclone Rollercoaster
and The Claw.

They were also treated to an up close encounter with 12-year-old Bengal
tiger Mohan on the theme park's Tiger Island.

U2, which hasn't played a concert in Australia since early 1998, has been
based on the Gold Coast since last Wednesday, with the band members
regularly mixing with fans outside their luxury hotel.

Around 50,000 people are expected at the Queensland Sports and Athletics
Centre (formerly the ANZ Stadium) in Brisbane's south for Tuesday's tour
opener.

The band's last major concert was at River Plate Stadium in Buenos Aires in
early March.

The group flew from there to Sydney but headed home without playing a show
after a band member's relative became ill.

Since they last toured Australia, U2 has produced two of its most critically
acclaimed albums - All That You Can't Leave Behind and How To Dismantle An
Atomic Bomb.

Material from a new album expected to be released next year - including a
cover of Scottish punk band The Skids' The Saints Are Coming and a new track
Window In The Skies - could be sampled on Australian audiences.

U2 is being supported by Grammy Award winning hip hop artist Kanye West.

Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Tony Blair has said in a UK radio
interview that U2's 1987 hit Where The Streets Have No Name is his favourite
song of all time.

Said to be about division and violence in Ireland, the song is still
regularly part of U2's concert set-list.

U2 will play at Sydney's Telstra Stadium on Friday and Saturday nights
before heading to Adelaide, Melbourne and then New Zealand.