by Carl

Traffic was stuck, parking was horrible, signs were misleading, roads were blocked, etc. Arrived outside the building around 5:40. Decided to stay outside to try and see the boys. No luck. Got in my seat around 5:55 found it was second to the highest row in balcony, great eh? Caught the end of the instrumental soundcheck, the middle of ‘40’, could have heard more, but I was waiting outside staring at a bunch of people staring at other people. Saw a lot of empty seats, they were counting down the time until the doors closed and there were still many open seats. As soon as they announced the doors were closed it seems i heard the opening bars of BD.... the sound was good but they were like lil ants down on the stage.

I know this is not proper etiquette, but I hopped out of my seat and walked/crouched down the aisle stairway to get a better view. Trying not to take my eyes off the stage.... amazing I didn't fall head over heels. Stopped at the bottom of my area in satisfaction, but I saw someone else going down with the same idea, so I went down another to the end of the first bunch of seats.... a whole row of open seats!! This was around the second chorus.... it was like a wall of sound. Damn. Bono's voice was in top shape and Edge was doing all his cool harmonics. Surreal experience. My first time seeing em live.... $65 (Ticketmaster fees, parking, etc) for that one song. At the end Bono was throwing his arms in the air and yelling, "The Goal is Soul". Well I answered his call and stood up, singing loudly the same thing, then mouthing it.
Watching the tape from the TV broadcast when I got home he seemed kind of pissed when he was waving his arms, then he looked up to where I was (the only one mimicking him) and smiled. Dunno, but that would be awesome… it isn’t cause Edge hit a wrong note, hehe.

I guess i should have gone down earlier but I didn't want to take someone else’s seat. All in all, a really energetic performance, though it was hard seeing them go off stage after only one song…. Ticketmaster site said no recording devices, I didn’t want to have my camera confiscated and didn’t think in time to buy a disposable. So of course when we get there they don’t even check.

(Slightly edited from what I wrote after the performance, captures jumbled state of mind)

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