by Keira

For U2's second show in New York, the opening act was No Doubt. They have so much energy on-stage, my friend compared it to an aerobic workout. We arrived to hear "Just a Girl," "Ex-Girlfriend," "Go," "Spiderwebs," "Don't Speak," which Gwen Stefani dedicated to the people of New York City, and some of the songs from their upcoming album, "Rock Steady." Once No Doubt left the stage, we broke out the War Tour flag (which would later sadly get shishkebab sauce on it from a street vendor) and prepared to be El-E-vated.

No matter how many times one goes, the sheer excitement never fades - the build up of U2 fans beginning to dance as Madison Square Garden's sound system blares "Higher Ground," followed by the fans in the heart swaying their arms back and forth over their heads during "All You Need is Love," and then the entire crowd rising to their feet during "Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band" because they know what is next.

50,000 people follow the moves of the 300 fans inside the heart pumping their fists up in the air as they yell "Woo-hoo!" over and over as the "Elevation" Influx mix begins and the band one by one climbs the stairs onto the stage with the house lights still on. The crowd and the band are ready to give each other the show of a lifetime. Bono adds an "Elevation, Isolation, etc." rhyme similar to that of the classic "Bad" one at the end of the opener.

Bono seemed to interact more with the audience on this night than the first. Perhaps he felt more secure and comfortable performing in New York City a second time. He spent more time parading out on the catwalks of the heart and he seemed to talk directly to the audience a little more. The energy of "Elevation" continued to reach all time highs with "Beautiful Day" as Bono sang, "Touch Me! Take me to that Other Place....Teach me, New York, I know I'm not a hopeless case." He later leaned into the audience at the tip of the heart as a group of lucky fans held him up during "Until the End of the World." He also rolled around on the catwalk into the arms of fans, and laid in mock death, protecting his microphone from the excited screams of the closeby fans, and then met Edge near the tip of the heart for the bull dance during Edge's soaring solo.

In the middle of "I Will Follow," Bono sang about being in NY when the band was just starting out, playing the Ritz 20 years ago, and passionately performed the rant: "Ring those bells, Edge, ring those bells.....20 years...we'll never grow old...our spirit will never grow old" and then added the powerful "You Changed Me....Thank you....You Changed Me....Thank you" right into "Your eyes...make a circle." During his speech/solo vocal it was the first time MSG became quiet and stopped singing along word for word. It was great to hear Bono's voice alone, unassisted by my own voice, my friends, and that of the other 50,000 in attendance.

During "Sunday Bloody Sunday," just like the previous night, Bono held an American flag and sang, "Wipe your tears away." Following this song, Bono thanked the IRA for their decision to disarm. "No going back, no going back, no going back," he repeated. Around this time, Bono's blue shades came off, much earlier on than they normally did during the first leg of the tour.

As Bono introduced "Kite," he mentioned that his brother was in the audience that night. "Our father passed on a few months ago....but this is a song he left for me." He began to sing the old girl group hit, "When Will I See You Again," which segued right into Edge's sweeping guitar sounds of "Kite." Again, Bono repeated "Goodbye" over and over during each refrain. That line rang true throughout all of the NY audience after September 11th.

As Edge and Bono began their acoustic number at the tip of the heart, I was very pleasantly surprised to hear the opening of "Stay," one of my all time favorite U2 songs, which I had never heard live. Bono wore an FDNY baseball cap given to him by a fan. The most touching moment of the song was when Bono changed the ending lyrics from "the bang and the clatter as an angel hits the ground" to "It's quiet and there's noone around, just the bang and the clatter of a most extraordinary town," which he repeated two times.

"Bad/40" was amazing as always. Bono incorporated "Everybody Hurts" into the song and on this night, pulled up a girl from the audience and slow danced with her, and knelt down and hugged her for some time.

The closing of the main set with "Where the Streets Have No Name," "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, and "Pride" just about blew the roof off of the Garden.

The band came back on-stage for the first encore with a powerful "Bullet the Blue Sky" complete with Bono's Light Man routine and yells of "OUTSIDE!" He laid on his back on the catwalk in the dark as he said, "into the arms of America." Bono and Edge then played an electric "What's Goin On" which transitioned smoothly into a very rocking "New York," complete with skyscraper-esque screens with Bono yelling over and over as the song ended, "I love New York, I love New York." Again, the cheers of the Irish in the house dominated...felt "like they owned the place."

Bono again spoke of tolerance in this city and said that his pre-encore speech to Edge backstage beforehand seemed to make more sense than the one he was giving us at the present. He commented that everyone can get along here in this city - Irish, Muslims, black feminists, etc. He made a reference to "Spinal Tap" and called New York the "capital of Rock and Roll...the capital of Tolerance....the Capital of Hip....the Capital of Attitude," to which MSG roared approvingly. Only in NY, only in NY.

The band closed with "One" as the victims of the hijacked planes names scrolled down the screen behind the stage and into the projected lights of the Garden's ceiling. Bono included the extra verse "Lord, here us knocking, hear us crawl, hear us scratching, scratching at your door" at the end of the song. Because there are so many names of the deceased NYPD and NYFD, the band played "Unchained Melody" as the names continued to be honored. "Walk On" began, which was bittersweet because it was the last show of the tour I'd be seeing and because it is such a great song live. Bono sang, "Home, hard to say where it is but I know I'm going.... Home...that's where New York is." The words "I know it aches and your heart it breaks, you can only take so much...." and "Stay Safe Tonight" seemed more appropriate now than ever.

"Good night, God bless you," Bono told the crowd as one by one the band descended the staircase to underneath the stage. The house lights remained off until the recorded version of "Grace" began to play on the house system, making it official that there would not be a 3rd encore that night. Bono and the boys had left the building, but had elevated and filled us 50,000 New Yorkers present with healing, hope, elation, joy, and an evening with the best rock and roll band of our time in a most interesting time. They have and will continue to have the job.

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