by Jeff

Gotta love those Golden Circle seats ... especially when you're in section 123 and 8 rows (8!) away from Edge.

What a night in Philly.

"Friday night in Philly," Bono said during the show. "There's no place I'd rather be than in Philly on a Friday night."

Then he looked over at Edge and giggled.

"Maybe in Dublin City on a Friday night!"

That was one of many, many highlights from U2's final East Coast show on the Elevation Tour.

This was my 7th (and final) Elevation show, and was easily the best.

I've been bragging in here how wonderful the June 11 Philly show was. And it was a great, great night ... standing up against the rail at the tip of the heart.

But this show was just incredible. It felt like it was never going to end.

HIGHLIGHTS:

1. Well, the seats. If you're not in the heart, you might as well be in the Golden Circle right at the stage. And we were ... after using our friendly neighborhood ticket agency to get the tickets. We were right at Edge's piano, and at the spot where Edge and Bono frequently jump onto the heart.

Bono usually jumps onto the heart toward the end of Beautiful Day. He was sort of standing next to Edge and was looking right into our section. I stuck out my right arm and started waving at Bono to come on out. He was looking right at me, and wouldn't you know it, he acknowledged me and jumped onto the heart, singing the last verse right into our section. Amazing.

2. Out of Control .... this was my 17th U2 show, but I'd never seen them play Out of Control. And what a version this turned out to be. They've been playing it off and on, so they really have it down. I've never seen Bono so playful. He was running around the stage, screaming and dancing. And three (3) times during Out of Control, he kicked cups full of water into the crowd!

The first kick was into the heart.
The second kick was over the heart.
The third kick was behind Larry.

He was just so animated.

3. Wild Honey ... funny story. They've played this song 4 times on the entire tour, and I've been at 2 of those shows. The other was at the Meadowlands on June 22, when they debuted Wild Honey with Daniel Lanois. This version was much better and tighter. And Bono knew all the words, which was a plus.

4. Please .... with no piano, just Edge and Bono. A really cool version. Powerful. Poignant. And Edge's guitar is just awesome.

5. Bad .... Just a great tune. And Bono has switched up his range and pitch on some of the parts, which made it even better. The place was going bananas during this one. And during the "wide awake" part, Bono was standing exactly in front of us, urging us on to sing. The emotion in his face was incredible.

6. Streets .... Simply the best. And seeing the lights pop on from that low angle was insane. It was a real gut-wrencher. I was so lost in the show by the 2nd chorus that I didn't even know where I was. I just sobbed at the end. Incredible.

"This is all we can do" Bono said, completely warn out from doing laps around the heart. He sounded beat.

7. Pride .... probably the loudest moment of the night. Between the first two verses, Bono turned to Larry and said .... "wow!" Larry just smiled.

8. Still Haven't Found .... Not sure if anyone else noticed this, but Bono brought an old line back. To my knowledge he hadn't done it yet .... but last night during the bridge, Bono said (very quietly) .... "I still do." That just floored me.

9. One .... the names on the screen just about says it all. Very emotional.

Tons and tons of highlights, gang. I could go on forever.

LOWLIGHTS: Uhm, Stereophonics. They just didn't do it for me. Sorry. But that's about it. Oh, I could do without What's Going On. Sort of a wasted 5 minutes, if you ask me.

I said it before and I'll say it once more: There is nothing like a U2 show. A total out-of-body, one-of-kind, religious experience.

Everyone out there says that the show they were at was the best show. I'm no different. But as a true, true U2 freak (trust me), it doesn't get much better than last night in Philly.

Thanks for reading my 7 reviews. As you can tell, I had an absolute blast on this tour. I'm already counting down the days until they put out a new album and get back to the East Coast!!

JEFF

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