by theadge

(I wrote and posted this review on my personal Facebook page back in 2009 after the concert took place. Not my best writing! But this captures the fresh emotions of the moment, as opposed to rewriting it now, so I've only edited to take out names of friends, etc.)

So I'll start at the beginning... I stayed at a friend's house the night before, which was nice since he lived near the stadium. I didn't really sleep much or at all though since I find it hard to in a foreign place anyway and plus I was so excited. We got up at 5 in the morning and got to the stadium at 6. We were among the first 100 people there. We were given a number so we could keep our place in line but unfortunately this also made it difficult to try to get my brother to join us (although he still got in the inner circle and we were in each other's vision; but it sucks he wasn't with us up there). Honestly, the wait wasn't nearly as bad as I thought. I really never felt tired, nor hungry, nor bored...at least not much. We had chairs and we got lunch, so it wasn't bad. The people around us were friendly; we even got cute home-made U2 pins from this woman in line. It only kinda sucked when we had to put up our chairs and then wait and hour in line before they let us in.

We did hear a soundcheck of several songs around 3:30, but apparently it was the techs and not the band themselves, which is not usual for them, but apparently they weren't getting in to Dallas until just a few hours before the show (from what security told us). I can see why they normally do it themselves, since there were a couple of times where it was obvious that Bono and The Edge weren't happy with what they were able to hear in their earpieces (their performances didn't suffer at all, but we could see them talking and gesturing to the techs). That kinda sucks since The Edge's guitar tech, Dallas Schoo, is pretty awesome, so I shall blame this on technological issues. We were trying to get his attention when he was testing stuff, but I think he couldn't hear us over his amp.

But I digress. Anyway, we get in and we have to go down this huge wrap around tunnel to get to the floor. It took forever! We got into the inner circle and take our places. This is around 5. No matter what you see in pics, you don't really grasp the scale of that stage ("The Claw") until you are right by it ("a spaceship," as Bono refers to it). I see why people want to go to multiple shows cause there's definitely a lot of different viewpoints to be had. We were right by the stage, so we could see the screen if we looked up but not the lights that come off of the legs. But yeah, just incredible.

Anyway, everything seemed to be fine but the a bunch of stadium security people came and told us we were in the wrong place! They said this was for the Red Zone ticketholders. Now the Red Zone is a seated section on the sides of the stage that people pay good money (I believe it's auctioned) to sit at and the proceeds go to the charity. There's probably not enough of those people to fill those seats, let alone the inner circle that fits 2000 people! I tried explaining to guy this and that he needed to check on it, but he was a complete asshole and they got the cops. We refused to move. Fortunately, the cops eventually sided with us, either because they recognized they were being morons or because they didn't want to have to deal with a full blown riot! Seriously, had we been forced to move, we would have been well behind the regular GA people and NO ONE WOULD BE IN THE INNER CIRCLE. I imagine the band would have been pretty pissed off at this shit, not to mention the stadium would have had a lawsuit on their hands I'm sure. What a bunch of (unapologetic) morons.

So yeah, that kind of ruined the mood for a little bit but things got better when Muse finally got on stage around 7:30. They played 8 full songs running almost 45 mins exactly. They rocked! They are great performers, particularly the front man who can play some crazy guitar (with some crazy looking guitars and effects). They even through the riff from Led Zep's "Heartbreaker" in there at the end of one song. So yeah, definitely impressive. They played most of their old hits from the previous albums, probably the best of the new songs, and "Map of the Problematique" from "Black Holes and Revelations" which is one of my absolute favorites. Definitely the best opening act I've ever gotten, though I loved PJ Harvey as well.

But anyway, that was still the appetizer to the main course. Muse ended their set around almost 8:15 exactly and things were ready by 9 for U2 to go on. News reports are saying 70,000 were there but if there were 30,000 empty seats, I didn't see them. It was packed.

You know it's about to start when you hear David Bowie's "Space Oddity" over the speakers (turned up louder than the normal background songs) and the dry ice starts coming out. Then the lights go down, there's a clock on the screen and some intro music plays. Larry Mullen walks out on stage and starts the drum intro to "Breathe" followed by Adam Clayton, The Edge, and then Bono when the guitar part comes in (at which point I think I jumped a few feet in the air!). We were between The Edge's and Bono's spots and just a little towards the lift side where The Edge is (he was just around 15 feet in front of me much of the time, and of course Bono gets just as close as well as he moves around). After Breathe, they go into several more of their big rocks songs to get the energy going - Get On Your Boots (which after all the flak it took when it first came on radio, seems to go over pretty well live), Magnificent, Mysterious Ways, and Beautiful Day.

Then they break it down and really let the audience in... as they let us sing the first verse of I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For (with some of Ben E. King's "Stand By Me" for good measure). Bono and The Edge then performed a great acoustic version of Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out Of. No Line on the Horizon followed and Elevation after that which promptly blew the roof off the stadium. So at this point I should mention there are moveable bridges on the stage that swing around and connect their stage with the outer ring. One of these moved right above us a couple of times including during Until the End of the World (one of my personal favs) and The Edge rocked out right above us! This sequence of songs was probably my favorite part of the show (if forced to choose!).

So that leads us to what is the halfway point of the show. Beginning with The Unforgettable Fire, the screen extends into its full, funnel form coming down just above their heads! Really incedible visuals, especially during City of Blinding Lights (which is appropriate). Bono pulled a kid on stage and they ran around the outer ring. Vertigo and a dance remix version of I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight (with a snippet of Michael Jackson's "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough") were great crowd pleasers to finish this section. Larry even got to get out from behind his drum kit to play the bongos out there, although halfway through he has to throw these to a tech and quickly run back to his kit to finish the song! Adam never came by our side but I saw him walk across the bridges and on the outer ring. I got a couple of pics/videos with him, Bono, and the Edge playing together near the front.

Sunday Bloody Sunday is reframed as an ode to the Iranian protestors as images play on the screens and green lights color the stage ("Get Up, Stand Up" was another effective snippet used here). MLK and Walk On are dedicated to Aung San Suu Kyi. Bono explained the situation since it's doubtful most know anything about Burma (I'll admit that I didn't myself until 2000 when they first wrote that song for her) and they gave us a bunch of masks with her face, which were worn by Amnesty International volunteers who walk on the bridges. A video of Desmond Tutu leads into One and then an absolutely euphoric Where the Streets Have No Name. This glory may have put a tear in my eye.

Video of the "Zooropa" space baby with a strange voice (I couldn't make out all of what it was saying) leads into the encore part, which was definitely a major highlight as well. Bono wears this suit with laser lights than just looks beautiful and has this steering wheel-looking mike that is suspended from a heavy cable from which he actually swings on while singing Ultraviolet (Light My Way) - perhaps my single favorite moment - and With or Without You. He threw it towards the audience a couple of times for us to sing the song chorus and caught it both times just in time to sing his part (he must have a lot of practice at by now). Bono was loud and has more energy at nearly 50 than I do at 25! The set ends appropriately with Moment of Surrender and with Bono commanding we all take out or phones and turn the stadium "into the Milky Way." It looked gorgeous. Sadly, almost good things must come to an end so they finished the song, took their bows, and left. It was thankfully not until then that my voice started to crack.

So yeah, freakin' amazing show. These guys were just born to play live in front of tens of thousands of people. The set is massive and a sight to see, but they were successful in simulatenously making it seem intimate with the 360 view and bridges to the outer ring. Especially since I was so close it felt like I was in a freakin' club seeing the guys. I sang my heart out... (and afterward my body felt like I did!).

The sound was overall good, though the bass still drowned out the guitar somewhat when they were playing something heavy (Bono was always clear where we were though. He sounded about ten times louder than everything else, which is quite different from what I remember when we were in the stands when I couldn't tell what he was saying when he spoke) He threw out a lot of shoutouts to the Cowboys and other Texas-related things as he always does. A lot of cheers were had, though some people booed when he announced Tony Romo was in the house (ha!). Amazingly, it didn't hear my ears at all. But yeah, I can't describe how awesome it was. The previous two concerts I saw were great, but now I got to see them up close playing the music. This has definitely at least made my year. Earlier today I heard U2 on my Pandora station.. it was almost weird now to hear their music and it not be played live before me! I couldn't have asked for a greater birthday present that's for sure.

I got at least one pic and one video from every song (they played 22 songs running almost exactly two hours). It's kind of funny though since to make enough room on my phone I had to go and delete the ones I took at the Coldplay concert I had seen previously! :) Not great quality, but they'll do.

P.S. When they came to Dallas for the Vertigo tour in 2005 they pulled a guy on stage to play Angel of Harlem. When we were leaving we saw a sign that said "Remember me? Angel of Harlem '05." I was wondering if that guy was gonna be there! I considered making my own sign but didn't end up doing it. Maybe next time!

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