by Kim "Pricken" E

The Ullevi concert was totally awesome, from beginning to the red letters of 'The End' on the backdrop. U2 really had us all at "hello"!!!!!!!
We went crazy from the first notes of Arcades 'Wake up" and began waving white items througout "Vertigo" so that the whole stadium became an End-Poverty-Now manifestation! The band was amazed at this, read about it on u2.com!

It was my very first live concert with U2, and all my high expectations were met! It will take only another U2 concert - down at the pit! - to beat this. (We had seats this time, they were good but see ya in the GA next time.)
It goes almost without saying that the audience was on its feet all the time, totally mad from the start to finish, so here's some of my impressions from the songs:

Vertigo, I Will Follow & Electric Co, Elevation:
Yeaaaaaaa! A surreal feeling, here they are for real! I'm jumping up and down, mixing up lyrics and my voice cracks already in the first Vertigo chorus :-)

New Year’s Day:
To finally see for myself when the Edge plays both the piano & guitar is amazing. This man is über cool, so is Adam when he strolls down the right ('catwalk') during his bass solo!

Beautiful Day:
The backdrop becomes magic during this terrific song, and Bono speaks Swedish!'En fantastisk dag!'

Still Haven’t Found What I'm Looking For:
Well, I sure have! I have no words. I am so happy to get to be a part of Bono's Ullevi church! You can almost reach out and touch the strong spiritual atmosphere in Ullevi.

All I want is You, City of Blinding Lights:
Ah, you look so beautiful! Extremely cool backdrop magic, and the band is powerful. I soo wish I was down in the pit.

Miracle Drug:
So great, and I believe I heard Larry's voice too in the yeaa-yeaa bridge. Or was I dreaming?

Sometimes You Can’t Make it On Your Own:
Bono sings extremely well, goose bumps all over, and I know I would have cried had I been down in the pit. My own dad passed away 6 months ago, so this song has been so strong for me, and hearing it live tonight was like coming to a beautiful end of a 6 months journey. The blue-ish backdrop lights is very beautiful.

Love and Peace:
Super cool backdrop lightshow and with Larry drumming on the b-stage this song rocks live! He hands over the drumsticks to Bono who goes at it like a maniac, I'm sure the drum skin will bust any second! Larry runs back to his real kit to begin

Sunday Bloody Sunday:
Woooooooa, the whole Ullevi goes completely bananas and everybody jumps, including the 65+ year old couple a few seats away!

Bullet the Blue Sky:
Powerful and suggestive performance and backdrop lightning. Begins with a pleasant punch in the face by the Edge! :-)

Miss Sarajevo:
Yessss! I so wanted to hear this live. It's really beautiful, and we all know where Bono got his opera talent from.

Pride in the Name of Love, Where the Streets have No Name, One:
This is a phenomenal set of songs that no words can describe!! I wish for everybody to be able to experience U2 performing Streets live!!!
U2 dedicates beautiful, beautiful "One" to Sweden, because we is one of few countries that give more charity than required to African countries.

It begins to rain, but nobody cares, least of all U2! Bono sings a snippet from "Rain" (Beatles), and after a short break goes on with

Zoo Station, The Fly:
I have no more superlatives! I can't take it no more.... then comes

With or Without You:
... one of my top, top fave songs all time, and despite the rain and the distance from my E section, I am completely amazed. A very lucky girl (from the Swedish U2 fansite www.u2.se that also organized the white tifo at the beginning) gets to dance with Bono!

All Because of You:
They should go with the super cool Killahurtz Fly mix of ABOY live ;-) because this is the only song that is just "ok" live, dunno why.

Party Girl:
A great surprise for us to hear this great old song, and get some champagne spray too, to go with the rain! Clap-clap, hey!

Vertigo 2:
Even better than the first time, and the audience completely loses it after Bono counts in Swedish! The new backdrop lights is so cool!

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