by The Fly Guy

Chicago 4...we knew it would be tough to match Chicago 3, and proved to fall just short (barely).  U2 still sounded great, the songs were as great as ever, the crowd was into it but the same magic and energy just wasn't completely there like last night.  With that being said, still an amazing night, as you would expect when a song never played live would make it into the set list….

This was a special night for me, as it was my 19th show overall and it was also the anniversary of my first show, 18 years ago to the day (June 29, 1997).  It was also the first night my wife and I would be able to attend the show together... with 3 kids it a difficult thing to do (see the best band in the world 5 times in a week).  

We had GA tickets and arrived at about 3:30pm.  We were probably about #325 in line at the time.  As we waited we meet some great people in line and it made the time go very fast.  We were let into the UC at about 5:45pm and went to the North side (last time in GA I chose the South side and wanted to try and different view).  This was a great choice, as we were about 2-3 rows from the front of the 'e' stage.  Amazing location!  Again, we met some great people in our area, which just makes the GA experience so special.  There are always a few careless people in the crowd, but for the most part there is always far more great fans surrounding you at a U2 show.  

The highlights of the show are obvious:  the long awaited debut of "The Crystal Ballroom" and the "Sweetest Thing" on the 'e' stage.  Crystal Ballroom sounded great, and I felt very fortunate being right there to witness it at the 'e' stage.  Sweetest Thing was fun...Bono had the South Side sing 'Oh, Oh, Oh' while the North side sang 'The Sweetest Thing'.  Also, Bono didn't know the lyrics well so he had a printed copy given to him on the stage....which then was brought to him when he moved to the piano.  After the song Bono told a joke about his serious bike accident in late 2014.  We said when he was seeing the doctor, he was told he would not be able to play the guitar.  Bono then asked if he could play the piano, and the doctor said "why start now".  The Meerkat was not done by a fan, but by a crew member tonight, probably so the band can focus on the debut.  Bono did bring up a young boy named Evan during "City of Blinding Lights" to walk with him.

Overall a great show and yet another one that I will never forget, just not quite to the level of Chicago 3.  It's sad that we only have one last night in Chicago coming up this Thursday.  I am looking forward to the final night and hope to be surprised once again!  I am holding out hope for songs not yet played in Chicago (or in some cases for years) like ‘California’, ‘The Troubles’, ‘Two Hearts Beat As One”, and “One Tree Hill”….we will see soon enough, and I can’t wait!

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