by Henry Wagner

Once again we went through lots of trouble to get our tickets from TNA, but in the end we got free V.I.P. tickets again, cool. They told us that we had to buy tickets for the next two shows, and we got field seats. Tomorrow I'd get to experience my first race across the pitch. The V.I.P. seats were up in the stands again, but this time no access to the field. We hung the Wire banner over the railing and people slowly came over to check it out. The we plotted our move to the field, and thanks to some creative talking by Nico we got down there.

By the start of the show Nico, Elena, Christian, and I had made it into the area in front of the main stage, near the b stage. After getting crushed in Sao Paulo Darci decided to stay in the stands. The crush along the rail in the main section was even worse than Sao Paulo. I watched in horror as people were continually pulled out of the crowd, some unable to walk. I was hoping to meet up with Martin Stieglmayer from Austria, who was also traveling around South America, but hadn't seen him up till now. We finally spotted him along the rail, in front of the b stage, getting crushed, and he didn't look good. Steam rose up from the crowd when they sprayed water to try and cool people off.

The opening bands were different, and I just couldn't get into it. We heard they were considered to be funk, so during the break before U2 came out they spun an incredible set of great funk tunes. We heard the "Theme from Shaft," "War, What Is It Good For," James Brown's "Sex Machine," and many other classics.

This time when U2 hit the stage we had a great view. Bono spoke in Spanish many times, and the audience was incredibly loud, singing along at every opportunity. Whenever Bono would come out to the b stage we would struggle to keep our spots, but tonight I was determined to hold my ground. The crowd had a great chant, they'd sing, "Oh lay, oh lay, oh lay, U2! U2!" Sometimes it would be "Bono" or "The Edge" instead of "U2", and the band just loved it.

With the standard set list again, I knew they must be saving something special until the end, and it could only be one song. As Bono introduced One he said "Every country, every city, has it's ghosts. These ghosts won't be forgotten." As he said this the Madres de la Plaza de Mayo walk out on stage, about thirty in all, and begin slowly walking back and forth across the center section of the stage. I knew what I was about to witness will be something special, history, one of those rare moments that makes traveling thousands of miles worth every penny. Seeing this, hearing the crowd sing along, and knowing what has to come next, overwhelms me, and the tears start to flow. Bono sings an incredible rendition of One as the Mothers continue to slowly walk. Then, as the song ends, they all line up across the stage, behind Edge, Bono and Adam. Without a word Edge begins Mothers of the Disappeared. A new video sequence begins, footage of the Mothers marching in their search for justice for the sons and daughters, as Bono starts to sing. The song is almost too painful to watch, and to hear. Bono changed the words slightly to "We hear their hearts beat, and still their hearts beat" I thought 40 in Seattle was emotional, but the next few minutes in River Plate Stadium, with 70,000 people singing "Oh oh oh oh. Oh oh oh oh." goes beyond description. One thing remained, Bono starts singing "El Pueblo Vencera" and the audience joined in. This was it, the moment I'll never forget, the defining moment of my POP Mart tour, and my 15 years as a fan.

As the song ended Bono walked to the base of the stage, turned, bowed, and applauded the Mothers. Larry stood at his drum kit and did the same, followed by Edge and Adam. One of the Mothers stepped forward, took Bono's hand and held it in the air, then took off her white head scarf and handed it to Bono, who put it on. The band left the stage and the audience roared in their applause of the Mothers, and began to sing what I was later told is Argentina's national anthem. As the lights came up we embrace each other, everyone savoring this special moment. As we were leaving the stadium a bus carrying the Mothers was pulling out of the parking lot, everyone stopped and respectfully applauded.

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