by steve patty

The hours leading up to the show were very hectic, coonsidering I just came off an 11 hour work day that started at 4 a.m. I then rushed home so I could shower and change clothes for the big show. But wait, my wife informs me that my son has soccer pratice for which I am the assistant coach. Extremely frustrated by running late, I dart out of practice early and drive like a madman from Fort Worth to Dallas to meet my friends. Arriving at Reunion Arena at 8:20p.m.,I sprint down to the floor. After connecting with my old college buddies, I position myself as close as I can get to the center of the catwalk(about 50 feet back). Since I hadn't been drinking heavily like all the people around me,slowly but surely I was able to inch myself closer and closer to the front of the middle catwalk. People around me were leaving to go to the restroom and fans were also needing breaks from the push of the crowd. I was lucky to get myself positioned about five feet from the catwalk. Before I know it, U2 comes out with full house lights on to Elevation. The sound is incredible but the anticipation of being so close to the center of the catwalk and knowing that Bono will soon be there is awesome. After the second song Beautiful Day, Bono and the Edge slowly walk the catwalk to "the End of the World." This song kicked some major butt. Highlights were Bono acting like a bull, ramming the Edge. Before I know it, Bono is singing right in front of me. This is better than front row because there is no barricade only six feet separating me from the man himself. Bono was on fire Tuesday night, talking to the crowd(even thanking them for spending their hard earned money, a rarity in the self indulgent rock and roll landscape of today). A extremely good looking girl wearing a tight black t-shirt was standing two people over from me. She had a shirt on that said"Will Work for Bono" instead of for food. Bono obviously noticed this young lady during the first prance around the catwalk. In the middle of the show, he pulled the girl up and sang to her for about 1 minute. I assume Bono's wife was not at the show (lol). Anyways the absolute high point of the night came when a few fans tried to pull Bono off the stage and I was able to grasp his hand. It sounds fanatical to the reader but if you were there, you could tell Bono was cracking up. He was feeding off the energy from our section so much that off microphone, he stated that we were "crazy Texans" Other highpoints of the show were Bono introducing the band. He said that the band was originally called the "Larry Mullin Band" when introducing the drummer. I don't know if he was joking or not. When introducing Adam, he stated that he was the orginal manager and had even printed up cards that said Adam Clayton-Manager. The funniest moment came with the intro of the Edge, stating that he was a father of many, many, many children, likening him to Abraham in the Bible. Bono also stated that the first time they played Dallas it was opening for a wet t-shirt contest. He asked Larry if he remembered where it was, but Larry just shook his head. The best song of the night was "Where the Streets Have No Name." A close second and third were Sunday Bloody Sunday and Bullet the Blue Sky. That song began with a video of Charles Heston stating that guns were good in good people but in bad people that were bad, the video then showed a young girl around my son's age alone in a house discovering a gun. It was very disturbing footage and definitely hit close to home since I have young children. The only disappointment I had with the show was that they didn't play "Pride", "40", or "11oclock Tick Tock." I had heard that they might be playing these songs. In conclusion, I have to say this was the best show I have every been to and I have been to over 100 different shows ranging from everyone from Aerosmith to ZZTop. I had seen U2 several times before but this show was the best. When I got home and was excitingly telling my wife how awesome the show was, I told her that if the review in the Fort Worth Star Telegram didn't say this was the best show ever, then they were not qualified to review concerts. I made the comment out of jest. My wife woke me up at 9:30 in the morning and said "Steve, you won't believe this." Sure enough in the second paragraph the review stated that this was the best arena rock show he has ever been to. I TOLD YOU SO. Of course it din't hurt that I was so close to Bono, I could see his sweat and grab his hand. Thanks U2 for giving me a renewed confidence in rock and roll. After seeing Sting the summer before, I was getting pretty frustrated with the barriers between artist and fan. On Tuesday night, Bono broke them down. Rock on and one piece of adive, "Don't miss this show,this is Rock and Roll at its best."

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