by Bobby

This had to be the most Beautiful Day of 2000. I got to shake hands with Bono and Larry before and after the mini-concert! Can you believe it? This is how it all happened.
A week prior to 10/30/00, I called TRL and always got an answering machine telling me to leave a message why I wanted to be on the show. SO I made several calls not leaving a message. So I called again to leave a long message, but this time someone picked up the phone. Her name was Courtney and I asked her if U2 was performing that coming Monday. She told they were so I asked her if I could be on the show. She asked me first, "Are you a BIG U2 fan?" I answered,"Are you kidding? I am one of their biggest fans!" She said, "OK, let me have your name and you can come to TRL." I was so excited. I brought my girlfriend along and she was so excited as well.
We took a train to New York and we were not sure if U2 would perform in the MTV studios or what. Anyway we were just happy to be there to see U2 up close. As we got there, we walked by 1515 MTV and noticed a huge line outside. We heard that the Yankees would be there as well. As we waited in line at 1 p.m., we could hear U2 playing on the roof. Shauna and I looked at each other and just laughed because this was surreal.
After an hour passed, a lady came out and was looking up names on the guest list. After about 20 minutes she came to us. She asked for my name and she looked at me, "Your name is not on the list." I was in disbelief. I told her, "Well I spoke to a girl named Courtney a wekk ago and she told me that I could come with a guest. I am from Boston and I was told I would be on the guest list." She looked with me at the list and said, "Ok, you can go up on the roof." I was thrilled! Shauna and I hugged each other while the lady slapped a gold wristband around our wrists. A gold wrist band meant the roof to see U2, a green wristband meant the studios w/ Carson Daly.
In the lobby, we were waiting and U2 came out one by one. Adam, Edge, Larry, then Bono. Bono wanted to meet all of us, but his bodyguard told him that they were on a time schedule. But we all waved and Bono waved back to all 25 of us.
On the roof, we saw Dallas Schoo tuning all of Edge's guitars. You have to understand that this roof is small. So the only way U2 could get to the stage was to go through the crowd, a la Popmart. When it was time, U2 came out and they were about 20 feet away from all of us. I couldn't believe it! Here they came one by one through the crowd. First came Larry, Edge, Adam, Bono. They were all short! I shook Larry's hand when he passed by. Literally passed by.
The first song they played was Elevation. No one knew the words to the song but everyone was dancing away. After the song ended, Bono came up to the people in front and chatted with them, shaking hands with them as well. Bono shook my hand too because he was about 4 ft away from me! I could see his blue eyes and see his face close up. The next song they played was Beautiful Day. Bono's voice was in top shape. Everyone went crazy when the beginning synthesizer notes came on to start the song. After the song, Bono again chatted with everyone and shook my girlfriends hand in the process. She immediately thought he was "sexy". The last song they played was New York. Near the end of this song he went through the crowd and everyone went nuts.
I guess Paul McGuiness was there as well, but I didn't see him.
This was one day Shauna and I will always talk about. Seeing U2 perform less than 10 ft away was cool. This was a BEAUTIFUL DAY!

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