What's that noise ?.

We have just watched an old edition of Top of the pops on BBC 4. Back in 2001 the week after 9/11 there was a special edition of that programme too. It was to mark what had happened the week before.

I was at that time working for someone who was going to perform and it worked out that I would be driving him to the studio. When we arrived I parked the car and went in. We were given yellow wrist bands with Top of the Pops printed on them. The was a sound check as it was going out live. We went into the studio and met up with the roadie that had the guitar and my charge went off to sing. I listened and it was nice.

I then wandered off and was looking up at all the signs that I had grown up with and was quite taken aback that I was on the set of Top of the pops. Small things,small minds etc....

Well when I made my way back to the main bit of the studio everyone had gone. It was dark and still. Then I heard some noise from across the floor. A blonde guy was sitting at a set of drums and was knocking up. Then the bass player came on and plugged in and tuned then a guy in a woolly hat came on and plugged in his lead guitar and had a fiddle. Then a smallish guy in sun glasses made his way to the mike and looked around and gave the others a nod. Then my mind melted,as the opening cords of "Where the streets have no name" started powering out of the speakers. U2 were playing live and I was the only one there. I did not know what to do, leave and mess up or stay where I was really not meant to be.

I stayed to the very end. They finished and left the stage. People reappeared and I was lost in the crowd. After the show I was in the bar with my charge who I had told of my adventure, when Bono came up and said hello. Not to me you understand. Without missing a beat I was introduced with the tag line 'He sneaked in and watched you rehearse. My heart stopped. Thankfully the nice Irishman has a sense of humour, as I tried to explain that I had been shut in rather than crept in.

It was a wonderful thing to have one of the biggest bands on the planet perform just for me. Even if they did not know I was there...........