by Tania Almeida

June 12 is a day I won't forget! My first U2 gig EVER....expectations were high. And I was never let down. What an extraordinary show it was.
The venue was amazing for itself. The Auf Shalke Arena is huge, with 60.000 people. The huge crowd witnessed a not so great performance from The Thrills, but had an amazing warm up with FEEDER. Great one. But amazing was to see Dallas Schoo get on stage and start tuning Edge's toys. From that moment ON, all just went UP. Arcade Fire...I knew it was going to blow any second. I was waiting for the EVERYONE...EVERYONE. but instead, I totally freaked out with the kick out of Vertigo....'Unos, dos, tres...catooooorce'! The arena was on fire and ready to burn for long. It was very nice Bono sang a few lines from Smashing Pumpkins 'Bullet with Butterfly Wings'. 'Despite all my rage I am still just a rat in the cage' sang a few times, and Vertigo was over. Then it was the normal set. Beautiful Day came out, not so strong like I thought, but ‘Cry/Electric Co’ soon brought the madness again….those old pearl are fantastic. It’s amazing to see how tunes with 20 years still work out so well live. Then an amazing 'Elevation' with the fantastic effect of the 'ehuuuuu uuuuuus' at the beginning, the crowd singing all together. 'New Year's Day'. Now THAT was a moment that made me shiver. I hold that song very dear to me. And I was holding a sign saying: 'THE BOYS PLAY ROCK AND ROLL/CAN THIS GIRL PLAY THE DRUMS? NEW YEAR'S DAY' so once it started I just jumped all over and held the sign up high. I swear in a few seconds, Larry was looking straight in my direction, probably trying to figure out what my crazy sign had written. Coincidence or not, at the end of NYD Bono crossed the catwalk, and came towards me....first looked at a sign of two fans on my right...and then he saw my sign. and stared at it for maybe 15 seconds...scratching his beard with a very thoughtful face, then looking at me...it was unbelievable. Then he just turned around and made a sign for the band...'City' started. I love this tune. I guess it has been growing a lot since the tour started, and has been conquering a great meaning. ‘Miracle Drug’. Adam messed up a bit, and the boss, Larry Mullen Jr…looked at him willing to break his neck. Larry ended up loosing himself on the rhythm section, but nothing very serious. I love this tune on the album. But the thing is…it doesn’t work well live. Maybe over production on studio…I don’t know. But I definitely felt something was ‘missing’ there. A great light effect at the end. A green sign of a heart beat crosses the big screen…as it slows down and stops….when Bono introduces the next song: ‘This is for my father Bob’. ‘Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own’. WOW. This song is so human, so perfect, and reaches so high…you feel a naked heart on stage…really. It’s a highlight of the show for me. Bono reached the high note perfectly. What a voice. He is in a great vocal shape.
From ‘Sometimes’ stillness to ‘Love and Peace’s wildness….God..this tune is so fantastic and mixed me so much…that I can’t even quite remember what I felt or what I did during the song. This may be a bit worrying though. And talking of military beat, straight off to ‘Sunday Bloody Sunday’. I thought ‘Sunday’ could rest this tour. I apologize now. It’s great and has a great soul live. Everybody sang along. During the slow part of it, Bono makes everybody think about his CoeXisT band. Religious union. All equal under the eyes of God…all sons of Abraham. Off to ‘Bullet’. It’s a strong full message, ending with a humble surrendered Bono on his knees, using a snippet of a POP track, ‘Please, please, please…get up of your knees’. Very strong moment of the gig. It’s easy to get carried away with it. ‘Running’….Bono starting OFF with the harmonica it’s a unique moment as well. Very relaxing….takes you back there to the nostalgic days of The Joshua Tree. Not as powerful as the live version of it during Zoo TV, which ended with those screamed halleluiahs, but this sort of whispered version has a very deep magic on it. This part ended with the ‘human rights’ being showed in the screen.
A short break, and they come back with ‘Pride’. Maybe the one I liked less. Apart from the nice singing from the crowd, with the ‘oh oh oh oh…oh oh oh ohs’, the song is easy to dismiss, specially if compared to what was coming next. The living hymn, the sacred place immortalized in a song, the one and only ‘Streets’.
No words to express what happened there. It’s U2’s musical symbol and that’s all. A crazy crowd danced and jumped and sang along all the words…great light effects as well. I love this ‘africanized’ version of it. But, before the breack for the encore, time to relax a bit with another great classic: ONE. Time to appeal for humanism and solidarity from the crowd. Because’ we are more powerful when we act as ONE’. Great momentum, specially the cell phones raised up high. Beautiful.
Short break…and we needed it…because we had to get ready for the best part of the whole set..the AB block.
‘Zoo Station’ DAMN…this is the tune I never thought I would hear live. This tour resurrected it. And in a very wonderfull way. I was taken back there…to 92/93. Bono’s image, ‘kicking’ the air….fantastic. Great visual as well.. on to ‘The Fly’. This tune sounds better then ever to me. Just came to prove Edge is getting better every single day. That man is really a show man. Edge was right near to me and I could see him hitting those strings with a controlled rage…fantastic. Bono came from the opposite b stage to join Edge to ‘Mysterious Ways’. No fan on stage to dance, but the boys did well. Edge left…and Adam’s bass couldn’t disguise what was coming next…another smashing classic from U2…an eternal one…’With or Without You’. This tune makes me shake for being so mysteriously good. Bono just really connected with the audience, first with eye contact, then literally jumping to the fence and holding the fans hands.
It was great. He was standing so close to me that I could see his big blue eyes…! He left as the song ended…head to the main stage..and ‘All Because of You’. This tune may be called simple, common, whatever. But the truth is it works perfectly well live and everybody jumps and sings and it’s a great feeling at the entire venue. Bono and Larry went to one b stage, while Edge and Adam came to the other…and they started ‘Yahweh’. The live acoustic performance of it makes the album version sound like a b side. It showes that, when a song is good, maybe the best we have to do it’s to totally undress it, take all away and leave it simply with it’s naked beauty. That’s what I felt with ‘Yahweh’. Then Bono said this was a very special occasion, because of the great things happening with the G8 and forgiving the debts of the poor countries (and for a second I thought: WOW…we will have the premiere of ‘Crumbs’)..but no..Bono just said: ‘Let’s sing ‘Party Girl’. It was great…some mistakes though..but nothing worrying. Bono forgot the lyrics and went to Edge. Then, Larry joined them playing the drums. I freaked out. I thought they would do it acoustic…and they were doing it FULL FORCE….! Edge even did the solo. Amazing. And….for the grand finale, sadly it wasn’t 40 or ‘Bad’…but ‘Vertigo’ came to show ‘the end if as fun as the start’.

What can I say? It was great..it was grand. The band seemed in a great mood. Adam was the real Jazz Man we know. Always smiling, with his very own coolness. He is great. Edge was better then ever….Larry just knocked me out…and Bono’s voice? Oh dear…words for what? It sounded strongly perfect. To those of you waiting to see U2 live, I have only one advice: ‘Get ready…to leave the ground’

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