Wow, only jusy seen this thread, was really interesting to see peoples comments about it from home! We missed the first song of U2, the ques were rdicilous, we moved about 500 metres in two hours, then they realised something had to be done and opened up the first gate. Got there in time to see U2 minus Paul, Bono has an amazing stage presence. Coldplay made me cry, they were amazing too. Robbie, Madge and Annie were other highlights, although many others were excellant. Pete D was a huge let down, don't know what they were thinking letting him in at all - the amount of money he has stuffed up his nose and in his veins probably could have helped in countless ways.
The lack of alcohal was a big problem (hic!) imo. It did lead to a lack of atmosphere, as none was on sale, and the tickets said you could not take it in with you either. People did seem to get away with it, but I am a good girl! We left after Robbie, we knew getting out would be awful and we really wanted a drink . We were orginally planning to make our way towards home and get the last tube/train, but um, got drawn into a pub nearby and had to extracted at 1 am two bottles of wine later .
Also think the lack of atmosphere was because of the long pauses between acts, it was very gappey and jumpey. Also by the end of the day people had been on their feet for at least 12 hours. There was little or no space to sit. Also crowd control were very strict about shoulder sitting, you would get bawled at by one of them as soon as they saw you - and trust me you wouldn't want to mess with them!
But the day was amazing, I am so glad I went, and I didn't mean to look like a miserable boring cow! I am very camera shy and as soon as one came near me I tried to pretend to be looking in my bag . Generaly the atmosphere there was friendly and quite commoradery (sp). The people in front of us were an elderly couple with flasks of tea, sandwiches, his and hers matching waterproofs dancing away to Snoop Dog! Bless them!