by grace ellen

The concert at Notre Dame was one for the history books. The venue was so small, the heart took up the whole floor. The highlight was when Bono had a bunch of NYPD and FDNY people come on stage (saying they were obviously the real heroes, whereas celebrities were just selfish people who did what they loved and got paid tons of money for it -- and thank you, by the way!) and he led them on a lap around the heart to cheers and high fives from everyone. Not a dry eye in the house. It was striking to see the firemen and policemen not in uniform; they looked so young in their jeans and t-shirts, just like the rest of us, Americans in the crowd, yet such heroes. They gave him a FDNY hat and he turned it around backwards and stood back and gave them the spotlight and the cheers, and clapped for them and hugged them all. It was one of those once in a lifetime moments. Incredible.

He talked a lot during One ("I could go on all night") about heroism and bravery, and abject poverty fueling religious fanatics, and changing the world. He really ties all his big ideas together simply, seeing the WTC in a bigger light without saying we brought it on of course, just challenging us to address poverty and change the world with our courage and bravery, with our heart and spirit. "A state of mind -- a state of heart -- a state of spirit."

The general tone of the audience and the concert was upbeat and euphoric as opposed to emotional and wrenchingly sad, which was surprising but somehow perfect. Lots of American flags instead of just Irish this time. American flags with hearts in the middle. Pretty cool.

It was oddly, shockingly scary in moments being at a concert... stupidly worrying about that tiny chance that there'd be Anthrax in the air conditioning or whatever -- and it occurred to me that going to see U2, like getting on a plane or a subway or doing other everyday things, has become a political act requiring courage of a sort. Strange... Lots of extra police and security though, so not to worry!

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