by John "frkyu2" Kahler

John, Craig & Mark on the GA Floor Estadio Tecnologico. For John & Craig this was our 10th Vertigo Tour Show and 20th overall since 1997. For Mark it was his 3rd ever (all on Vertigo)U2 show. We purchased the ETS Tour package found on u2tours.com and I'm happy to say everything worked out fine. We attended the ETS U2 pre-concert fan party where we found out there would be no scanning of tickets to get into the ellipse. It was first come first serve and people had lined up for days before the concert so we figured we would have slim if any chance to get inside the ellipse. ETS had a drawing for wrist bands at the party but we didn't win. We arrived by ETS shuttle at Estadio Tecnologico about 5:15 p.m. We walked in a 1/4 mile long line that was moving very fast. Once inside the GA Floor was almost full. We checked both sides of the floor and found that Edges side (left) was closest. The Opening Act "The Secret Machines" were okay for a band we had never heard of before we all gave are approval. From where we stood we saw Edge go down a staircase to the left of the stage and walk around the back of the massive stage. This was an outdoor concert and the stage was totally different than any of the previous shows we saw in the States. After about an hour wait the intro song began and we knew they were about to start. U2 walked on stage and began with a bit of a technical problem in tecnologico stadium (feedback) as they broke into uno, dos, tres, catorce and leg 4 had begun.... The Monterrey crowd roared their approval...it was a great show and U2 mixed up the set list a bit from the U.S. shows we had attended. I was particularly happy to see them play "Bad" and "Original" was awesome. They sang a Mexican song "Cielito Lindo" which got the entire Mexican crowd singing along. "Sunday Bloody Sunday was great as was "Miss Sarajevo" which Bono sang to perfection. The main set ended with the usual "Streets to One" with a different speech from Bono (this one in spanish) Instead of appealing to the crowd to take out their cell phones they crowd lit up the night with an unforgettable fire of cigarette lighters. The encore was great with U2 coming out twice. First was a great version of "Until The End of the World" then Bono brought up a Mexican girl for "Mysterious Ways" she was obviously overwelmed as Bono kneeled down in front of her as he sung the song. Then U2 played my favorite "With or Without You" We all hoped they would come out for at least two more and U2 didn't disapoint as they returned to play an acoustic "Yah Weh" and then surprised the crowd by playing "Vertigo" again. It was to me the best concert I had witnessed this tour. Bono's voice was excellent and Edge was unbelievable as was Larry and Adam. We made a mad dash for the exit as there were more than 20 thousand on the GA floor. My only regret is it may have been my last concert this tour as it doesn't look good for us to attend any of the South America or Australia/New Zealand shows....we have an outside chance for Hawaii but it will be a hard ticket to get....I took some amazing photos with my new Sony DSC-H1 12 optical zoom. I will post 6 here and another 12 in future posts.... Thank you U2 for putting on such great shows this past year...we will never forget...and thanks to ETS as without them we wouldn't have made it to this show...

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