by Carrie

My friend Kathleen and I drove from MA and met up with our friends Steve and Jessica for the Montreal show. It was amazing….I’ll get right to the good parts:

Higher ground.....Sgt. Pepper’s playing and the lights are still on. People have no idea that they will be out next. Then came the remix of Elevation they play before entering. Everyone started going bonkers. Just off the wall. Cheering and screaming and yelling and hollaring and floating above the ground. And just when you don’t think the noise can get any louder- there they came..........

Adam first then Larry and Edge and Bono- we were flipping out. Bono noticed it- you could see it in his surprise as he looked around at the beserk fans and the cheering pummeled up inside of him! It was glorious and elevating!! Following Elevation they went right into Beautiful Day. The people there that night were loonies- just off the wall with u2 love and you could feel it from the very first moment. Adam couldn’t stop smiling- he was going off!

Until the End Of The World starts “Hey JESUSS!!! This is JUDAS!!” with Bono screaming and yelling and behind Larry and up on the heart and then down into the audience, grabbing hands of his desire. Then it was the bullfight and Edge starts coming down and then Bono saunters up to him, grabs his cheek and kisses the other one. Then they went head to head, literally, and were really giving each other the eye. It was insane, their connection during this song. Just completely them together performing for us. You could see that for them in that song the rest of the world disappears. It was so awesome.

New Years Day- oh Adam’s bass line, Bono at the tip back arched and belting, microphone pointed heavenward, voice even higher…

Out of Control!! Bono still hasn't spoken to us but pummeling us with song after song. Bono's encouraging us, get out of CONTROL!! Oh and Montreal was goneeee! In the middle of the song Bono pauses and takes on this little kid look- he's a little boy again, eyes shy and hands nervous, feet shifting and voice emploring. "This is our first single, I was just, well hello yes I, well I'm 17, no he's 14, he's 17 and he's 16. yes, yes sir I know it's out of tune, yes but this is our first single, it's called Out Of Control, and well I was just wondering if you wouldn't mind listening to this for us?" Crowd goes NUTS. teenager bono clarifies: "Mister Record Company man, would you mind listening to this for us? It's called out of control..." I know there was more but it’s hard to remember it all…then he starts singing again and jumping around and waving his arms like raising a fire and people were letting go more and more and more as he lifted his arms and celebrated and cheered....get out of contrrrrrrrrrrool!!

SBS was next and I can't really remember a lot of this song except that it wasn't as angry but more of a promise like this was going to be over! Good version, I enjoyed the song. Larry was awesome. He really shown this entire show, really played spectacular!!

When Will I See You... very quite, just Bono, ,just one spotlight on him. His voice cracked a bit in the beginning but it was a beautiful part... right into

Stuck. Now. I have NEVER heard a place go as nuts as Montreal did during this song. The first chord and people were bellowing at the top of their lungs with Bono and Edge. The whole roof came off the arena during this song. It was soooo spectacular.

Kite kept the entire momentum going..... not much said, I don't think. Bono really didn't talk at all to us during the show. He basically just sang and expressed his joy this way. It really was amazing how surprised and happy he was with the audience. It was so special, and this song was very good.

Angel of Harlem with the full band was one of the prettiest noises I've ever had the extreme pleasure of hearing in my life. It was just spectacular. So celebratory and beautiful, Larry again and amazing and Edge wonderful, walking towards the tip with Bono walking the other side to meet at the tip. Just so happy and so much celebration in that great song. Bono really shone and his voice was perfect.

Next was Staring at the Sun. Acoustic, at the tip. Bono and Edge. It was great b/c they shared that one mic and during the part "happy to go blind" Bono slowly lifted his arm and then brought his hand down to cover Edge's eyes. The second time he sang that he did it again and covered his own eyes with the crook of his arm. It was so good.

Jessica made a sign about wanting to dance with the Edge. Both are near her and she lifts the sign up and Bono read it and was smiling and then starting opening his eyes wide like he wasn't sure if he could do anything. We were all going crazy, pointing down to her, she was so calm just holding the sign and smiling so elegantly! Then Bono jogs up to Edge who had started walking back to the stage (for Bad) and gets his attention. Jess had put the sign back down but quickly raised it again, and he showed Edge, who read it and smiled. Bono shrugged and was shaking his head at Jessica, like there was nothing he could do even though he wanted to help!

Bad…Bono is on the right wing of the heart (facing stage). He's singing the first or 2nd stanza from Bad. People are lighting lighters. This one woman held a lighter. Bono was singing to her. Then he started motioning to her. He began to motion for her to come forward. She was lifted on stage- she was about five months pregnant! They were dancing and swaying and she was just shaking her head in amazement and happiness. She was very composed but so happy! During the guitar riff he steps back and releases her. He gets this great smile on his face and slowly puts his hands to his shirt. Slowly he lifts his own shirt a little, motioning for what he wants her to do. She understands and lifts her shirt so her whole belly is showing and then slowly turns around so everyone can see. The audience goes wild. He puts his hands on either side of her belly, and so gently and slowly he leans in forward and kisses her stomach. It was so sexy and beautiful. Bono leads her to the end and very carefully she is lowered down. Bono walks a few feet and starts singing "Won't you be my, be my little baby" in the most amazing voice and he was just crooning into that microphone eyes shut and so sweet. He waved at her a few more times when he walked past her. Bad ended with a beautiful snippet from 40.

Streets. Bono is running, he's off and he's running like I've never seen him run before, head down and arms pumping and just OFF! Spectacular. It was Streets at its best. As always!

Mysterious Ways was next and so groovy! He was just so into the song. In the heart every single woman was moving her hips and swaying in mysterious ways.

Pride came on and I said to myself "They still haven't dropped this song." But tonight’s was my favorite performance of it. It was great. The whole band was so ON during this song. Bono ad-libbing about Martin Luther who did it and we could do it too- WE could do it. Empowering his audience. Bono says Thank You! thanks for coming out!! Good night!! And pride goes on and then it's over and they walk off. The crowd is singing the "do-do-dodo" of Pride over and over again and didn’t stop until the music that intros Bullet started.

Bullet. My mouth just hung open, like I can't believe they are playing this but I knew they’d be gentle with it. Bono had the spotlight again. He used it on the audience, commanding everyone with the twist of his wrist. He didn't sing about john and at the end he did NOT sing the America part. He left that out, leaving the song so powerful.

What's going on, Bono is just cute in this song, he grooves and gets really into it. Very heartfelt song.

New York. It was scary to hear this song. He changed some words - same as the other night when he changed the opening of "are you all right" he said "political fanatics are not welcome in NY.”

With or Without You. It was beautiful. Those blue lights. The best part was he sang the extension “we’ll shine like stars” – he sang it for the crowd that night!

“Thank you, goodnite! Thank you! thank you!” Larry comes from behind the set and waves. Adam and Edge and everyone waving. Bono waving. It was like someone had set a firecracker off. The place was nuts. People were just off their hinges. It was incredible. Bono looking around in awe and awe, mouthing "wow", "wow", just looking at everyone. They clapped back for us- they made half a move to leave the stage and Bono says to the others "let's stay. One more" and he's pushing his hands down, like to tell them to stay. And then he leans to talk them, telling them what song was up next, I’m assuming.

He gets to the mic and thanks us for spending our hard earned on a rock show, and for the work on drop debt and jubilee, and how after sept 11th things seem so much more relevant now. How hate and anger starts in this poverty, and we can't let these extremists work off of other's poverty to spread evil. We must spread love, not hate. -- his speech was great. He told us they went to see Canada's Prime Minister today and talked about that. Right into One. So beautiful. POE very quiet and so sacred, sung with his eyes shut.

Walk On. Just set the roof on fire. People losing their minds- the hallelujahs just so beautiful. The song was amazing and the crowd was even more on than the band. It was so amazing to witness.

I watched Larry and as he hit the last drums the last part of that last song, he finishes up and looks up at Adam and goes "whewww!" with this amazement and unbelieving in his face. It was so awesome.

They stayed and clapped back to us and shook pl's hands and shook hands and peole were going crazy - it was so incredible. Bono didn't want to get off that stage, I can tell you that much. It was that sweetest look on his face, just staring at everyone all over the entire arena, shaking his head in amazement, not believing. He didn't want to get off that stage. He knew he had to leave but he didn't want to- I saw it in his eyes. If he could make that concert last forever...

Thanks to Montreal for an amazing show. Thanks to Bono and Larry and Adam and The Edge.

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