by Larry

My God, what an amazing experience. Although I have been a U2 fan for as long as I can remember (Unforgettable Fire was the second album I ever bought, when I was 9) last night was my first time seeing them live. The energy produced by the band was simply amazing; you could feel it in your entire body and see it in the entire arena. At every other concert I've seen at the Gund, everyone in the upper sections just sits in their seats and leaves the dancing & screaming to those on the floor and in the lower sections. Last night though, I rarely saw anyone in the upper deck sitting after New Year's Day. Even though my seat was in the upper deck at the far end of the arena, it was still possible to see every move by the band, and I wouldn't have traded those seats for anything. (Ok, so I would have traded them for a chance to stand inside the heart...)The band performed very very well, except when Bono messed up the first verse of Sunday Bloody Sunday. They played every song I hoped they would except Running To Stand Still. It was great to hear Bono speaking so fondly of Cleveland, most notably on two occasions. Before Kite, he spoke about playing at the Agora 20 years ago this week, asking about the other band on the bill, Bitch. "How are they? They still out there?" Great stuff. Later, he spoke about Joey Ramone and how fitting it was that they were playing in Cleveland because the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame's here, and the Ramones were the band that helped get U2 going, and something to the effect of the Ramones needing to be in the Rock Hall. Can't remember what all he said or what song it was before, because I was just so awed by his presence. The highlight for me personally of the whole show, however, was the intro to Bullet the Blue Sky, with the footage of Charlton Heston. What a sad idiot that man is... The second best highlight was during Where the Streets Have No Name. A fan on the floor outside the heart tried jumping the railing. Security grabbed him, right in front of Bono, and started dragging him out. Bono tried grabbing the kid all the way to the top of the stage before the bouncers finally realized he wanted the kid on stage. They hoisted him up, and Bono walked all the way around the heart with this kid, then sent him back stage. It was incredible. If only I could have been that guy...

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