by Brono (Bronwyn Kay Galloway)

Not a review, but a special story.

After this show, U2 concert #26 of 33 for me since 1984, I met Larry!

To preface the story, a few nights before, I was in the heart in the middle of the second row when I saw the gal to the right of me cutting her wristband off. I asked her why she was doing so. She, in her Croatian accent, said her friend didn't get in the heart and she was desperate to get her in. I told her I had an extra wristband (through a company promoting U2). She looked at me like I was an angel, showed me her fancy camera and promised all her photographs would be taken for me on the night. The friend got in the heart and hugged me as tears rolled down her cheek. The highlight of the Croatian gals' photography was when Bono saw us, looked right at us and posed, strumming his guitar, wrapping his tongue against his upper lip. The picture is remarkable, in part due to how close we were and she had a zoom lens.

After this concert my friends and I headed back to our hotel rooms one block away. As my roommate and I got in our room, I thought about how we didn't have to rest for the next day because there were no more concerts for which to sleep on the ground, etc. I asked her if she wanted to buy some beers, wrap them in bags, and go back to the venue and try and see if any bandmembers would exit where we could see them. She was game.

We met our friend at the store, got our beers, and walked back to the other side of the venue. We saw probably 100 fans sitting there. It was a warm night and fans were sharing their stories of the four London shows. Within minutes of sitting down on the ground, this gal comes up to me. At first I think she's this obnoxious gal that we kept seeing cut in line each day. It wasn't that gal, it was my friends to whom I gave the wristband. The "photographer" had made copies of her photos and told me she was looking for me! As I looked through the photos, I, and everyone around me, was blown away at the quality of them. They were 5x7 and looked like they had been taken by a professional; I suppose this gal is a professional of sorts, or at least experienced. Everyone thought I was so lucky to have been given these photos. One of the best pictures was this dark but close-up picture of Larry drumming.

Just a little bit later, a very nice car stopped in front of the fans. All the fans started gasping, hoping the car had a bandmember inside. LARRY MULLEN JR. got out of the car and started walking toward the fans! I left my beer, which got run over later, on the ground and went to join the quickly-forming auto/photograph line. Larry was very concerned for his fans' safety and had us moved out of the way of cars. Fans were having him sign their tickets or CD sleeves. Either someone suggested or I thought perhaps Larry could sign the picture of him that I just received moments before! I asked him if it would work and it did!

My roommate and friend and I each got a solo photo with Larry. Our friend also took two photos of Larry as he autographed my photograph!

Needless to say, we could barely sleep that night!

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