by Greg T

It's funny that I am writing a review for this show right now because this show was about 13 years ago, but for some reason, I feel compelled to share with devoted fans just how good this show was. In fact, I remember reading in a Rolling Stone interview that Bono felt it was the best show the band played on Zoo TV and was one of their best ever. I was 16 at the time and my friend and I got tickets from a broker for the show. We were going to get 4 tickets but could only get 2 so I felt bad that the 2 guys that got shut out couldn't make it. Anyway, the day of the show I came home from school and what do I see on my bed but 2 more tickets that were closer than the ones we got from the broker. (Funny thing about the broker tickets 13 years ago for zoo TV we paid 65.oo a ticket for the nosebleeds behind the stage. On this tour (Vertio)they were over 350 for the nosebleeds, AMAZING). My dad's frined knew someone at the arena and got us tickets. So my friend Sam and I took the better seats and let the guys who got shut out take the ones behind the stage. I remember the setlist and I remember Satellite of Love being the only song I didn't know all night. Anyway, All the songs from the Achtung album were amazing, 10 in total, So Cruel and Acrobat were not played. Bullet the Blue Sky was awesome and WTSHNN was the highlight. Others that stood out was the different live version of RTST and an amazing version of Bad. Some of the shows "moments" were when Bono called the White House, played with the remote control for Zoo TV, sang "Tonight NJ belongs to me" during Angel of Harlem, and came out pimped out in a silver glittered suit throwing dollars during "Desire". It was an amazing show all together and one that I know will stand the test of time and I will never forget. But what I think was so amazing for me was that it was not only my first U2 show, but my first concert. And after seeing a show like this one as my first show, I had such high expectations of every show of any band that I saw after it. Now, I was only 16 at the time but none the less, I knew I liked U2 and I knew what good music was. The feelings I got as a teen age child listening to this live was something I will never forget. I had no idea what I was going to feel afterwards and the one thing I can say is that this is a band that made me feel things I had never felt before in my life. U2 and Bono in particular, have a way of touching your soul in such a magical way that when the show ends you always want more, when a new album comes out you want another song, when a song ends you can't wait to hear another. This was the tour and the show that started it all for me. I first got into them when I was 12 and heard ISHFWILF and WOWYou on radio but missed the J Tree tour. I have seen a lot of concerts in my time since and I think considering visually and musically, crowd and band energy, and overall entertainment, this is still the best show I have ever seen. I'm not really sure that something better will come along, unless that is they find a way to outdo themselves, which I am sure is not a far off possibility.

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