by Liz Z

Hot Night in the Garden

Talk about a celebrity presence!  U2’s final night at MSG for the e+i tour felt like being at a gala.  I’ve never heard so many name-checks at a U2 concert before, from the 150+ UN ambassadors and various politicians, musicians, models and writers and family members that the band was excited to have in attendance.

This was my last show of five for this tour, and I was excited to be back on the floor of MSG after being in seats for MSG2. As we entered the venue, the MSG staff on the GA line reminded us to “drink lots of water” as it had reached 96 degrees that day.

This was also the only U2 concert where I had been mistaken about the ticket on-sale time back in February (!!!).  At the time, we assumed this would be the last show of the tour (Mohegan had not been announced) , so I immediately scooped up scalper tickets for GA in my desperation, something I’d never done before.

My friend and I arrived to the venue around 7:15 and easily found a spot about 6 people back and 3 in from the rail on Adam’s side. This was also the closest I got to the main stage of all the shows I saw.  The floor was significantly more crowded than the previous MSG shows, so we stayed put where we were for the whole night. It would have been fun to move around like I did at MSG2, but it wouldn’t have been possible to navigate through the crowd.  I thought our spot was great because we could look at the video screen when we wanted to, yet take in the whole band up close for more songs than not. This was a great strategy for my friend who was seeing her only show of the tour with me, too!

While the Edge’s side typically sees more VIP attendees, my friend noticed Salman Rushdie on our side’s section coming back with drinks.  I was surprised that Bono gave him a name check for “Love Is Bigger” later in the night.

A few minutes before the show began, the crowd got excited as they noticed Bruce Springsteen settle into front row seats right in the middle of the arena.  I knew he’d have the perfect spot to watch the Edge for “Pride In the Name of Love,” so I looked for him during the song and noticed he sat in his seat (while fans around him stood up, dancing and videoing the wonder that is the Edge). I suppose Bruce did that to not take away from Edge’s moment, which was such a nice gesture.

One of the most memorable moments of the night was when Bono pointed out this was the 30^thtime they had played MSG, more than any other venue, outpacing McGonagle’s Pub in Dublin with 29 shows.  I’m a total numbers geek and I was caught off-guard that us uber-fans didn’t realize this before the show! Props to the analysts that ran the number for Bono before the show!  This was my 11^thshow at MSG, so I can say I’ve seen over 1/3 of their shows at the Garden. PS:  If you haven’t done it already, atu2.com has an awesome feature on their site where you can track all of your shows and see how many times you’ve seen a song played. 

My friend and I are fans of the children’s books by Oliver Jeffers (funny side note: I knew him from U2’s “Ordinary Love” video before she gifted my son one of his children’s books… so funny).  So, we were both super excited when Bono mentioned him before “Cedarwood Road” (“…Could be the street Oliver Jeffers grew up on.”  I didn’t notice any mentions online about him being in attendance, but I have to assume so!

I noticed an amazing camaraderie between Bono and Adam at the show tonight. Bono mentioned how Adam’s wife was in attendance and also jokingly praised Adam for being great at diaper duty for their young child. Bono gave Adam a lot of love during “City of Blinding Lights,” wrapping his arms around him and the two gave each other wining smiles.  Being so close to Adam a few times on this tour, I now fully realize what an epic bass part that song has.  

During “One,” Bono talked about how Edge’s family marched in Washington DC for #FamiliesBelongTogether and dedicated the song to Michael Stipe, in the audience.  It sounded like Bono mixed up a verse of during One, maybe one of the only times I’ve personally heard him do that, but he must have had so many words running through his head. It was probably one of his most talkative shows of the tour.  Tonight’s “Love Is Bigger Than Anything In Its Way” was dedicated to the Capital Gazette shooting victims and all reporters and writers, as well as Salman Rushdie. And the last dedication for the whole concert went to Steve Averill, who designed all of U2’s album covers and helped name the band. Bono even directed a spotlight to go on to Steve who appeared to be on the floor. I don’t think I’ve ever been at a show where the band put a spotlight on an attendee, and how awesome that the entire show, not just a song was devoted to him.

I had hoped that Kendrick Lamar might come onstage for “American Soul” as Bono had name-checked him prior to the song’s start, but the recording prevailed for the concert tonight. I would have to listen to a recording of the concert to remember all the other musicians he named, but I also recall the band The War On Drugs, plus Patti Smith (who had been at a previous MSG show too).

I’d also hoped for a “New York, NY” snippet.  My only wish for any U2 tour in the entirety of me seeing them play live is that they would vary the set list a little more than 1 song from night to night. I realize it’s not possible with the elaborate orchestration that’s involved in making the experience visually incredibly, but the lyrics of that song particularly resonated to me in the July heat:

In New York summers get hot

Well into the hundreds

You can't walk around the block

Without a change of clothing

Hot as a hair dryer in your face

Hot as a handbag and a can of mace

It was a hot summer day and a hot night in the Garden in NYC!

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