by Liz

It was a great night to say the least. The setlists have been pretty standard throughout the tour but actually seeing all of this, well it gives things a whole new perspective :-). Garbage kicked ass! It was a shame that the place was not even half full when they came on but I think they sensed enough enthusiasm from the crowd that was there. They had about a 45 minute set. It was nice when they dedicated Silence is Golden to George Harrison, "inspired by his guitar playing". I knew there were going to be a couple of George Harrison mentions last night. It became really sad when the PA started playing the Sargent Pepper album. Only two left. Its such a shame.

The house lights came on and then we were answered :-D. That was just a simple, and straightforward way for them to enter. They could see everyone in the arena and we could see them. Nothing grandiose from say PopMart and ZooTV (though I would have liked to have seen those too).

I wasn't expecting my seat to be directly in line with Larry's drum kit though. That was a great surprise :-). Unfortunately, I was still far back enough so I couldn't get any nice pictures. I confess that I snuck down to the front row of my section while Garbage was playing to see if I could there but still no luck. Oh well. I'll see later what comes out of the ones I did take. They didn't look like ants but I still had to rely on the monitors to get a better look at them. Here are my favorite moments.

Out of Control
Bono had some nice story to go with this one (which I'm probably forgetting most of). "This is our first single.......One day we went to a record company and we got a deal. Then we came to the United States (cheers erupt) and got famous. And then we got swelled heads, especially mine (roar of laughter)." Yep, that's probably how I would have described U2's journey too, ha ha!

Kite
This was After Stuck in a Moment and Bono talked about Michael Hutchence since it was 4 years ago he took his own life. Then he mentioned George Harrison a bit and what a loss that was. He dedicated Kite to not only his father but to Frank Mills, father of REM's Mike Mills since apparently Frank Mills died recently too. Throughout the show, I had been singing every song as loud as I could and jumping up and down with 18,000 other people. This one I became more somber. I stood perfectly still with my hands folded in front of me, at attention. This is one of my favorites off the new album and it was very moving to watch. I think Bono's voice broke a bit towards the end. I couldn't tell from the monitor shot but it doesn't surprise me if he did.

My Sweet Lord
For George Harrison. RIP. You shall be missed.

People Get Ready
This is the song where a fan gets pulled up onstage to play guitar. I know nothing about guitars so I suppose this is a piece that even a beginning guitarist can play. Bono grabbed this guy's sign and showed everyone (Can I Play People Get Ready With You?) and then cracked, "In America, it pays to advertise". The guy's name was Richard but I'll call him mini-Bono since he reveled in all the attention ;-). It was really cool b/c he follwed Edge onstage and he did a pretty damn good job. He was really digging it too. He got to hug the boys and Bono introduced his as Richard the Lion Heart. That was really fun to watch. Lucky man!

Please
"We wrote this song about what was going on at home. We had to grow up suffering, religious nuts, political fanatics. People who valued ideas rather than people. But this could have been written 3 mintues ago, 3 weeks ago, or even 3 motnhs ago." Very true. I always thought this song sort of out of place on Pop but its become the best song on there for me.

Bullet the Blue Sky
Bono on the loose with a massive spotlight! When I first heard this song, it was the most forceful (not at all in a negative way) delivery on a song I had ever heard. Bono just screams/shouts the words and the tone alone makes his point. During the song's climax, all the houselights go out and he's on the heart with his spotlight lit. He kept shining it on all the various sections and kept chatting, "This is America!". It was such a powerful rendition and the reaction from the crowd was phenomenal. I was awed to say the least.

One
Bono just raised his index finger in the air and I knew before they started playing :-). This song along with many others played tonight have taken on a whole new meaning in the past months. While the song played, the names of all the victims from the 3 airplane crashes scrolled across this screen. Once again, the loud singing stopped for me. I clasped my hands, as in prayer, in front of my face and sang along to myself. I cried enough over those times but it still affects me in many ways. The crowd was respectful too. They cheered when the the NYPD and the FDNY were included too.

That's it. That was my U2 experience. I was a part of something with 18,000 other people and it was truly something special.
(post-it)

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