by John "frkyu2" Kahler

Monday March 28, 2005 San Diego, California U.S.A. U2 Opening Night Vertigo Tour After and all-nighter with about 300 other die-hard U2 freaks and a Day-Long of un-certainty we entered “The Ellipse” opening night of the long awaited 2005 Vertigo Tour. It had been almost 4 years since we last witnessed the Greatest Rock Band in the World back in Los Angeles, CA 2001 @ Elevation Tour. “Kings of Leon” warmed up the crowd loud and proud thank you very much… About an hour later U2 took the stage to the roaring approval of the sold-out crowd. Confetti drops from the ceiling as U2 breaks into “City of Blinding Lights” The 2005 Vertigo Tour was on! We were right in front by the stage as U2 broke into “Vertigo” which took all of us into a state of euphoria. What a great start! Then they took us back to their roots with a set of 4 or 5 songs from their early years, songs they may have never played live in-concert before but we all enjoyed. Then they broke into “Beautiful Day” by now all of us were dripping in sweat they took us up a notch with “New Years Day” with EDGE playing flawless on piano and guitar. It was amazing… Bono then took a moment to speak to the crowd then broke into another new song off the CD “Miracle Drug” next was 2 more from the new CD “Sometimes & Love and Peace” then it was back in time with “Sunday Bloody Sunday” with the whole place singing like a Choir. “Bullet the Blue Sky” was next then a song from “Joshua Tree” which I had never heard live before “Running to Stand Still” with Bono playing the harp. Then a clip was played on the video monitor behind the stage. Then 2 songs from “Auchtung Baby” ….”Zoo Station & The Fly” they ended the set with “Elevation” After about 10 minutes U2 came back for an encore with Bono first making a statement to the crowd about Africa then they broke into “Pride” everyone singing in unison. Next to joyous approval they played “Streets” then Edge was flawless with “ONE” as great as I’ve ever heard them play it. Now they played another new song “All Because of You” then “Yah Weh” which was not one of my favorites off the new disc but turned out to play great live with everyone singing. The first concert of 2005 Vertigo Tour ended with “40” with each member of the band leaving one by one Bono first then Edge followed by Adam then Larry hung around for a bit and did a mini drum solo all along while everyone was singing “I will sing…sing a new song…” For being the first show on the tour it was great but I really missed hearing some of their best songs that to me should always be played “With Or Without You” “BAD” “All I Want Is You” We (John & Craig) have tickets to 4 more shows in L.A. I (John) took some decent pix with a disposable camera, another thing really cool about U2 is they let you take pictures that fans can treasure for years to come. I was lucky to get a photo of Paul McGuinness (U2 Manager) and I with another U2 fan. I had a fan from the east coast take a shot of us right in front of the Ellipse. And of course some good shots of the band. More to come…

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