by Jay

My goodness, its almost been a year since this show. Reading these reviews brought back so many good memories that I thought I should get mine down as well.

I'm from Vancouver, but was at the University of Ottawa for three years (2002-2005). I was still in Ottawa when tix went on sale. Not knowing where I'd be living in November 2005, I purchased two GA's during the presale (2nd day of presale no less)! I could only get two nosebleeders after 30 seconds of the presale for the New Jersey show, so I was surprised with my luck.

Moved back to Vancouver in the summer, but there was no way I was going to pass up the chance to see U2 from the floor (saw them from the balcony level for Vancouver Elevation and New Jersey Vertigo) so I bought a flight and arrived in the frigid early winter of Ottawa. There was also no way I was going to pass up another chance to see my 2nd fav. band, Arcade Fire, open! What an amazingly talented and energetic band.

Took a friend from Ottawa who had never seen U2 before. Like a lot of people already mentioned, we stood outside in the cold for way too long, but it was all worth it when my friend's wristband scanned us into the "bomb shelter".

Having seen the show before, we b-lined it to the back of the ellipse where we could see all the lights and video screens, and also be right where the drums for Love and Peace were. The night was going amazingly well until I realized that I forgot to charge my new rechargeable batteries for my camera! I was going to be inches away from Bono and the boys without any proof! Tried asking everyone in the ellipse if they had extras, even asked the media photographers who were setting up as well. No luck...until the nicest stadium attendant ever gave me the batteries out of her flashlight! Whoever you were, you are a saint!

Arcade Fire were incredible, as always. Just wish they would have come on stage with U2 as they did in Montreal a few nights later.

Then came U2 and a show I'll never forget...mostly because of how close we were.

One disappointment that was mostly my fault was that they played a very standard setlist for the later shows of the 3rd Leg, and having seen a few too many setlists before the show, there were no surprises for me at all. Had hoped for Gloria and a Zoo Station, The Fly encore (or Discotheque by some miracle). I also had hoped for Wild Horses or The First Time, and Bad to close...but the acoustic Stuck was actually really good, and hearing the spiritual bliss of Yahweh and 40 again at the end was still amazing.

Highlights of the show were Original of the Species (disappointed we didn't get the LED lights and video for that song:( But we did get the Edge on guitar and Terry World on piano...a rare, fantastic treat! City of Blinding Lights, Still Haven't Found ---> In a Little While and Miss Sarajevo? Awesome, Awesome, Awesome.

Also glad to hear the young boy wasn't a plant by the band. He was great, what a memory for him and his family!

We too spent the night singing and dancing along with Bono's brother Norm and his entourage, who was happy to have a picture taken with us. Haha...Looking at him made me feel like I was seeing Bono in 10-15 years (I hope I'm not way off on that guess!).

Crowd was pretty good from what I could tell. My friend became a much bigger U2 fan, and I travelled back to the warmer climes of the West Coast completely satisfied with my ROI (return on investment). Great memories indeed.

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