by Maggie

My friend John and I arrived at the SJ Compaq center at 7:15 a.m. in order to ensure our place in the heart. We were numbers 27 and 28 in line. The SJ staff made the whole "line up" experience quite organized! The women who handed Bono the Union Jack at the tip of the heart were in front of us in line. Several of us thought having the British flag was an odd/bad idea. Bono certainly prooved us wrong!

After battling hours of cold, rain, long trips to the bathroom, and pizza delivery places that wouldn't deliver to the line (thank you finally to Domino's!), we put the lawn chairs and blankets in the car to prepare for one of the greatest shows I've ever seen.

Getting up at 4 a.m. to drive to SJ paid off as John and I were basically 2nd row dead center in the heart. We were so close we could see the hair on the back of Bono's hands.

What can I say that hasn't already been said before?! It was so surprising to hear Kite (now we have to get Wild Honey in the set list!). Angel of Harlem and Stay were HUGE surprises, too.

The band sounded great - though during Walk On, Bono was clearly irritated at Adam a couple of times, especially on "You're packing a suitcase..." Edge seemed to be having soooo much fun.

There's something so surreal about being 4 feet from Bono during Sunday Bloody Sunday and holding an Irish flag over your head. Several of the people around John and I helped us hold the flag aloft and so he and I sang along to SBS bathed in the colors of the flag above us. Beyond words!

There is something so humbling and indescribeable about being second row, center, and looking around to see 19,998 other people in the arena (how many does it really hold??) who would give their right arm to be where you are and have Bono's sweat flung on them!

My only complaint (and this is totally a personal thing) - I hated losing sight of Bono when he was rambling around the heart or performing at the tip. For me, my concert experience is based on how close I can be to the artist/performer. Though I was within an arm's length of Bono 50% of the night, I felt deprived during the rest of the time. It's a great concept to actually have two "front row" audiences, but when he was at the tip, I felt like I was frantically swivling my head around to see where he was.

Oh, and New York could be dropped without any complaints from me.

Anyway, words just can't do it justice. You have to EXPERIENCE it. Get in the heart!

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