by Matt Dumouchel

Lining up for the September 17th Toronto U2 show, I was confronted with the same "butterfly" feeling I have felt every time I have seen my favorite band live. That feeling has turned over the years from sheer excitement to simple anticipation. I am going to see one of the greatest musical spectacles in the history of music. That night I was going to see them up close on the arena floor. I was not disappointed.

First off... I give credit to Dashboard Confessional. They handled themselves well. While not an "well-read" listener in their musical library, they churned out their set with confidence and played their hits with a crispness not always common to an opening act. I was both impressed and entertained. The only negative to their performance was simply that the arena was very empty when they took the stage and their energy simply could not fill the entire place alone.

45 minutes pass, prompted by the usual standards of arena pre-concert songs. I realized quickly this was not an amateur audience as The Arcade Fires "Wake Up", cued to many that the band was about to take the stage.

There was little prologue, as Vertigo opened the show. Being the third leg of this tour, the band proved to be a well-oiled act from start to finish. Bono wearing his heart out on his sleeve, balancing between always saying too much and never saying enough... Edge's stoic sonic perfection... Adam's surprising energy, and Larry Mullen fueling the fire and providing a straight-edge backbone to every song. I was satisfied more than I ever had before attending a U2 concert.

Personal highlights include:
- hearing songs I never had heard live before (The Electric Co., Miss Sarajevo, HTDAAB material)
- Larry and Bono playing a single drum and cymbal out at the tip of the walkway during Love and Peace or Else
- The occasional throwbacks to ZooTV times (cue the belly dancer)
- seeing The Edge play The Fly on an acoustic guitar (he makes it all look so easy)
- Bono's references to Edge being from another planet in the future. "What's it like in the future?"... "Better."

What actually totalled two hours of time felt like three. I left the Air Canada Centre happy that I got to see and hear exactly what I had hoped. A brilliant show by the greatest band I have ever known. I look forward to seeing them again on Saturday.

I hope you enjoy some of the pictures I took while in the crowd.

Cheers,
- Matt

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