“Everything is going as planned. The 50,000 spectators expected for tomorrow’s concert will be satisfied with the infrastructure of the U2 show,” says Gaston, a handler at the Nikaia stadium, confident on the eve of the concert with Bono and his colleagues.
The stage is set. With a little imagination, one can envision the field covered with die-hard fans of the biggest rock band.
Tents are springing up around the stadium to offer comfortable hospitality.
Everything is planned: from large fridges, ideal for refreshments, to arrows to make this concert a labyrinth where it will be easy to find the entrance and exit.
“Since Monday, we have been working hard for this event in Nice, even though it’s very hot. We relax in the morning and the afternoon watching the training of the Nice players. Except today,” shares Louison, a forklift operator on site. Indeed, the players of OGC Nice have been asked to train elsewhere, specifically at the Ray Stadium, to not disturb the construction.
But all the previous lines are just fiction. The idea was pretentiously good: to recount the preparations for the biggest rock concert of the year on the French Riviera. Unfortunately, the recurring phrase “sorry, you can’t go through,” uttered by security guards at every entrance to the site, prevents this little report that would have been easy to do.
Too bad, it would have been necessary to contact the press service… just to take three photos and describe in three lines the spectacle of the U2 concert.
Vincent Trinquat