by Elaine

So, a big part of the success of tours like this one is all the seats sold, even those in the rafters, where I was. To the left of stage and you couldn’t fit anyone behind me. Theater of the Clouds, yeah, I was up there all right. Maybe it’s symbolic to my involvement with the band and/or it’s causes. Not like I’m above it all, more like too far away, behind a veil. Honestly, I was lost through much of the first part of the show, putting it down to poor acoustics. Up so high, things happen to the sound. The crowd, such an integral part of the show, begins to compete with the sound of the band. At first I thought maybe Bono was leaning on his audience a bit much to carry him through his paces. “I can’t sing, with or with out you…” Wait, that was the guy next to me;) Because then he does Pavarotti in Miss Sarajevo and I think, yeah, this guy can still sing. So is it because I haven’t heard much of the new album, and it’s been too long since I heard IWF? I couldn’t hear much of the speechifying he did, but some of his sermons did make it up to me. “Don’t become a monster to defeat a monster.” I didn’t get his blindfold being a torture reference in BTBS, I just thought he traded his sunglasses for a different set of shades. So I guess the mini war between the bassist and the drummer was all inside my head too. The drummer seemed to get in the last lick with his solo at the end of the show. All in all, having a bird’s eye view was actually enjoyable. The effects of the lighting might be even more encompassing from up there. The Christmas tree of cell phone lights was cool. Got to do the wave for the spotlight Bono threw around the place. Had to be careful of the mysterious ways I was moving in front of my seat. Had it been snow instead of people, it’d be a black diamond pitch for sure. The thing about being at a U2 concert up in the nosebleeds, they still make you feel part of the show. I felt Bono called up to me personally a few times. How did he do that? I really enjoyed the show, but reading these reviews, I realize how much of it passed me by. But never fear, I finally get what How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb is all about now. Maybe I even get what U2 is all about now…

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