by Steve Hendricks

It is quite a thing to write a review of a concert over 13 years after having seen it, but I was quite sad to see that this great show only had one other review (someone who posted it nine years after having seen it:). My concert review goes beyond just the event. At this time, I was just coming into my musical identity. Achtung Baby had been out for some time, and my buddy introduced me to U2, a band I decided was just about the best thing I had ever heard (a belief I still hold to this day). Just one day before this show, however, I came down with chicken pox. I was miserable. I also was not going to miss this show, unless I was dead or in prison. So I attended the show, freezing although I was sporting a black trenchcoat, sporting a white surgical mask so as to limit others exposure to my sickness. I found Adam's getup later during "Popmart" very similar to what I was wearing, and in the back of my mind, I wondered if he had seen that strange fan in this mask and wore it as a homage to me.

I remember, very vividly, Bush senior and his We Will Rock You speech, as well as the moment when Bono emerged from the stage, kicking the air against the blue video screen backdrop. For the rest of my review, you may as well check out a copy of the concert video of U2 in Sydney that's available, because minute details, as you may well understand, are hard to come by. There were painted cars as spotlights, bellydancers, and amazing imagery thrown at us in as surreal a surrounding as you can imagine. We stood on our field seats the entire time, without break if my memory serves, and I'll be danged if they took that gigantic stadium and shrunk it down to the size of a much smaller venue. U2 plays big, and this concert was one of the watershed marks in my life. I am always in awe when I see them again after years pass, but I don't know if there will ever again be a concert that can in any way touch what Zoo TV did for me. My baptism into the church of rock and roll was complete when Bono told us that Las Vegas was more Zoo TV than Zoo TV, and Larry complained to the crowd that "if this is a desert, how come it's so !@#%%@# cold!?!?" That is still probably my favorite concert quote to date. Thanks guys. You won over a fan for life with your amazing musicianship and ability to touch the soul.

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