by Tom

U2 April 10, 2001

This was the second show in Calgary and my second chance to see the boys in my hometown. The reviews from last night's performance were quite good and the papers were full of pictures. Tonight I had my own camera and a mission to get my own snaps - I was not disappointed!!

My brother-in-law and I stood inline in arctic winds (with hundreds of others) for about 2 hours before getting inside and down to the GA floor. We immediately picked a spot to the right of the tip of the heart and settled in, with only two rows of people in front of us. After suffering through PJ Harvey (she was much worse this time) the house lights finally came up and the band came out pretty much on schedule around 8:50pm to the soar of Elevation.

Well the highlights were many for us tonight, because of the songs they played, the energy of the crowd and of course because of how close we were! They dropped Discotheque, Desire and Bad from the song list and replaced them with Even Better Than The Real Thing, All I Want Is You and a stunning Ground Beneath Her Feet. For that song, Edge and Bono came out and sang from the same microphone RIGHT in front of us !! Oh man I hope my pictures turn out!! It was a supreme high point for me because here I was, as close to them as I got when I was in Dublin for the two Zooropa '93 shows - something I never thought would happen again. And this time, there was only about 20,000 people sharing the experience as opposed the 60,000 at Dublin, RDS :) Wow!

Bono was talking a lot more tonight too. He made us laugh again when he introduced the band by explaining how the band had some other names before they were known as U2. So I shouted out "The Hype!" and he said "Our first name was the Hype, although it was more hype than anything else." Then I shouted "Feedback!" and he said "Our second name was Feedback, although most of that comes from the left side of the stage" as he pointed towards the Edge. "Finally, and this is most difficult for a lead singer to admit but we were known as the Larry Mullen Jr. band" and that lead to Larry coming down to the tip of the heart all smiles :) Bono once again introduced Adam as "Lord Adam Clayton" (their first manager) and the Edge was again described as a scientist, "Who gets sexual pleasure from working with data", heh heh.

Bono later said how much he appreciated Canada for our support for the band from day 1. "Thanks for waiting 20 years or whatever to see us" (their first time in Calgary)... to which we cheered loudly! "For those of you who are only 20 years old... well, thanks for waiting 20 years". Earlier he had said that last night's reception was incredibly warm and he described us a very loud and receptive crowd. I don't know how they managed to top last night's show but they did! He also asked how high up we were (Elevation!) but nobody seemed to get a straight answer to him (we're about 3500 ft above sea level) and then he said "Well, then that's not what's making me dizzy up here". He pointed to somebody in the front row of the heart and said that they might be the reason though, because there was a bit of pot smoking going on (as usual).

Crowd favorites again included Sunday Bloody Sunday, Streets and yes All I Want Is You! Bono again introduced All That You Can't Leave Behind as a song for Michael Hutchence, and when they finished that and launched into Gone, he said "Another one for Hutch". A nice touch. He also showed his soft side when he pulled a little girl about 6 years old onto the ramp to dance with during the ending of New Year's Day. Finally near the end of the night, his wife Ali came out and danced with him for With or Without You, although it was pretty hard to tell from where we were. I think he danced with 3 girls tonight, and no stage jumpers like the ending of last night either, heh heh.

When Bono said tonight "I know the tickets were expensive. Thanks for spending your hard earned cash to come and see us. And thanks for your support over the years".... I figured what the hell. So, yes, I finally broke down and bought an Elevation tour T-shirt (at $46 Canadian, ouch!) and despite the nasty prices the line-ups were deep at the merchandising tables. Also, there was a rumour on the radio after the show that this one had been recorded for a live album next year well all I can say is I bloody hope so!! It was definately an experience worth reliving!! :)

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