by Jon

Delirium, insanity, madness...

Four words that still don’t adequately sum up the show and the audience in Montreal yesterday.

We lined up at 10pm on Friday in –10 C weather, hoping to be among the first in the GA line for Saturday’s show. To our amazement, we were numbers 138-141! Some people had been camping out since Thursday! Madness…not in a moral sense but analytically speaking. The staff gave us numbered coupons, then wristbands at 1am and told us to come back for 6:30am. We did, and we made a day of it, singing in the snowy weather, freezing but ever more inspired with every chilling gust of wind. When the doors opened, the energy went right into the building and it didn’t let up until 11.

Arcade Fire was great. They’re an interesting act and it was nice for them to be back in their hometown, I’m sure. U2 has been taking the stage to AF's song ‘Wake Up’ for the whole tour and it was fun to see them live.

When 'Wake Up' came on the PA later, most of the crowd already knew what time it was and then the lights went out. Delirium! And it only got better. The set list was awesome, UTEOTW and Bad were highlights, but as usual, Streets stole the show. The noise in the building was deafening all night but after Streets the pitch was nothing short of hysterical. Bono was clearly awed by the noise on numerous occasions saying “wow”, shaking his head and smiling, talking about the noise made by 747s, and thanking them for the memory. “We won’t forget this”, he said. Stuck in a Moment was also very powerful, done acoustically for the most part and with 22,000 (screaming) back-up vocalists.

A pleasant surprise: Bono didn't miss a note during Sometimes or Miss Sarajevo. Not one.

The only unfortunate part of the whole experience is the same one that's dogged this tour from the first day. The random lottery system for determining entry into the ellipse reamains a terribly justified system, disproportionately discrimintating against fans who are willing to sacrifice. It's really a shame.

Thanks to U2 for another awesome show. And thanks to that insane but awesome Montreal audience.

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