Fans sit it out to get tickets to see U2 at Slane

Tickets for U2 at Slane in August go on sale this morning, 46 hours after one Dublin fan began queuing.

Dave Farrell, a 40-year-old hotel porter from Ballymun, took up position in a deckchair outside Grafton Street's HMV shop at 9 a.m. on Thursday. His friend Vincent Kearns from Terenure joined him after he had finished his early shift at Pat the Baker's.

By yesterday the vigil-keepers had swollen to a dozen, ahead of today's 7 a.m. opening.

Dave and Vincent are old hands at queuing. They met during a similar vigil last October for the release of the U2 album, and are good enough friends to share a two-man "survival bag" - bought in a camping shop around the corner - at night. Vincent also bought his first pair of long-johns on Thursday, at Dave's suggestion.

HMV and nearby Burger King have been keeping the queuers fed and watered, but the two men also attracted sympathy from passers-by. "They think we're homeless," says Vincent.

"People come up and offer money, but of course we don't take it. We could have paid for the tickets. One person offered us a packet of cigarettes."

It was a surprise to everyone that Martin Shanahan wasn't first in the queue. Originally from Bantry and now the owner of a record shop in Great Yarmouth, he can usually be found at the top of the line. But when he eventually turned up at 6 a.m. yesterday to claim third place, he explained that tickets for the English tour dates had just gone on sale: "I had to organise queuers there before I came."

Martin has queued here for every U2 concert in the last 10 years: "Dave and I know each other since Achtung Baby in 1991". But his devotion to the band doesn't end there. He will travel to Miami in a fortnight for the opening date of the US tour, and claims to have attended no fewer than 130 concerts in the 1997 epic, Popmart. "I finished paying for the last tour yesterday," he jokes.

Over the counter at Ticketmaster outlets, tickets are £36.50 plus £3 booking fee each. A 12.5 per cent service charge - bringing the ticket cost to £41 - applies to bookings by phone (tel 1890-925-100), or on the Internet (www.ticketmaster.ie and www.mcd.ie), where lines also open at 7 a.m.