by Andy Starfield

Monday nights U2 show at the First Union Center in Philadelphia was far and away the greatest concert that I have ever seen in my life. Going into the show, i had no idea what to expect. U2 was my favorite band, but I had never seen them live before. I knew the songs would be great, I knew the crowd would go nuts, and I knew that the band would put on a terrific show. However, I did not realize just how amazing it would be.
Being a huge 76ers fan as well, it was great to hear Bono refer to the Sixers at the very beginning of the show. With the immense NBA Finals banners hanging everywhere, and knowing that U2 was about to come onstage, I could not have been happier.
From the new album, I thought that the best songs were Stuck In A Moment and In A Little While. Stuck In A Moment sounded so good in concert and I like it more every time I hear it. In A Little While was great because of the reference to Joey Ramone, and also due to the fact that Bono pulled up a fan in the front row, at the Heart's Tip, to join him on stage. They sang and danced to the song, and after Bono said, "It pays to where a Ramone's shirt."
My favorite song of the show was Stay. Bono brought his acoustic guitar to the tip of the heart, refering to the band writing the song in Berlin during the Achtung Baby days. He felt that Stay was the most beautiful song that the band had ever written. After hearing him play it, it was hard to disagree. It is now my 2nd favorite U2 song after One.
Following Stay, with Bad/40 and Where The Streets Have No Name was incredible. I got the chills for both songs. Hearing the intro to Streets is my favorite sound in the entire world.
Bullet The Blue Sky was the most surprising song to me. The lighting and background footage was really impressive. The references to Charlton Heston and Timothy McVeigh made the song all the more meaningful.
I cannot wait to see U2 again in the future. The expensive tickets are well worth every penny. It was nice to hear Bono thank the fans for spending their hard earned money on the band, and for giving him such a nice life. Hopefully the rumors about a fall stadium tour will come true.

Return to previous page | Post a Review of this show!