by Dale

This was my first U2 show. I had no idea who they were. A friend talked me into to going about an hour before the show. We got there 5 minutes before U2 went on. The place was a little more than half full. The Opry House held about 1200 so I would guess about 800 people were there. As soon as U2 started, the crowd started to groove. It was mostly standing room, but the back 3rd of the hall had bleacher type seats so you could easily see over the people standing. I stayed there for about half of the show. The crowd had started dancing about the 3rd song and never stopped. As the night wore on, more and more people from the bleachers migrated to the floor to join the dancing crowd and toward the end of the show, there were only 5 people still sitting down. I recognized only one song from the set, and it was I Will Follow. After the band finished their encore, the house lights came on and only a few people left. Everyone was having such a good time, they just hung around and continued dancing to the recorded music that was playing on the P.A. I thought that would be a good time to get another beer and rest from all the dancing. After 10 minutes, the house lights went down and U2 came out and played some more. The first song was I Will Follow again. They were out of songs and had to play them over again. They played 4 more songs after I Will Follow that I recognized from earlier in the evening but I couldn't tell what they were. I had never seen a band come back and play some more because the audience refused to leave. It made a lasting impression and I've seen every U2 show in Austin since that magical night.

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