by Kristy Mikos

Hello again! Here's my review for the one Chicago Elevation concert I had floor tix for! We didn't get there until about 8pm, so I knew we had no chance at the heart. But, I hadn't planned on that, obviously! Didn't matter that much, though, because we were about 15 feet from the tip of the heart and could still see pretty decently. I'm gonna share a bit of perspective from the floor, now.

Can somebody please explain this to me? I'm wondering if it's like this at all arenas or just the United Center? I bought a bottle of water and my friend bought a beer. They wouldn't let me bring the water on the floor but they let Charlie bring the beer. Does this make any sense at all?! No wonder people were passing out around us!

A funny sidenote. I brought a beach ball to the concert. For the PopMart concerts here, people brought these HUGE beach balls. We actually got it all over the field of Soldier Field and one made its way almost completely around the stands. Then the security grabbed them and popped them. ARGH! Stupid, they didn't have to do that! What's this hatred for beach balls?! LOL! We didn't even get the little one I had for this show half-way blown up before security took it. Damn! This drunk lady behind us just said all sad, "They took your beach ballll!!!" LOL! It was pretty funny. I have to say, drunk people amuse me! (Hey, I've got nothing against getting drunk... I do it too! And I'm sure I'm just as amusing!)

Luckily, glow sticks *are* allowed. I didn't see that many during the other Chicago shows, but there were a lot on Tuesday! I brought eight! Blue, green, and red. There was one section in the 300 level, on Adam's side, where just about everyone had a glow stick! It was great. They'd go crazy spinning them after each song.

Elevation and BD were great. UTEOTW was excellent! Edge can do things with a guitar you can't even imagine! Disco was awesome! Giant discotheque on the floor of the United Center... love those colored lights! New York was good... I think it was this night (all three shows kinda bleed into one) that Bono started singing, "It's my kind of town, Chicago is... my kind of town" and of course everyone went insane!

Alright... 11 O'clock Tick Tock! A lot of us knew this was a possibility, but when you hear it starting, you still go insane! It was sooooo funny! Bono says, all energetically, "This was our first single!" and they start into it. Then, Edge's guitar like blew up after the first few chords! I dunno what happened for sure, but it sounded like every string broke at once! He's standing there looking at it like, "What the Hell?!" and after the rest of the band got over their shock, they just laughed insanely! It was so great! Dallas jumped up there and handed Edge another guitar. Edge looked at him with mock anger, haha!

Then Bono goes, "OKay, let's try this again. This is our second single!" and laughs as they start 11 O'clock over! It was hilarious! Bono said something like they hadn't played it in 20 years so that was their excuse! Whole place jumping. Sounded great! Incredible energy. I had to bounce away from these drunk guys who were dancing like crazy and became hazards on the floor! Security was watching them all night, lol!

When they ripped into Out Of Control, I think everyone in the entire arena lost their minds! I was in shock! Dancing like you have never seen before in your life! This is when people started passing out around me! I dunno if it was from overindulgence, excitement, or both. One guy went down and security dragged him to the back of the floor so he wouldn't get trampled underfoot. A girl went down and her friends dragged her away. I think at least four people around me just dropped like flies! Then, before Out of Control was even over, I see the guy that was dragged away dancing next to me again, LOL!

SBS was just a balls-on version! Incredible. Desire with the harmonica was a real treat. Shocked a lot of us. We were like, "Whoa, harmonica!" LOL! Bono just smirked like he was gonna laugh.

Okay, I'm not really against weed. But why do people always spark up during Bad?! This is like the one song you definately shouldn't, ya know? Happened at Soldier Field for PopMart and again this night! I took it from the guy behind me and gave it to my friend to pass on. I didn't want it near me for that song. But, when we turned around to give it to the people in front of us, a security guy was right there! He just said, "Can't you wait til after the show?" And we were like, "It's not ours! We're not..." So he made my friend put it out. Some people were disappointed, but it made me feel better. I was like, "Why during Bad? Why not Mysterious Ways or something?!" Oh well, some people never learn!

Well, we were already in a cloud of smoke by then. I guess it affected me, cause I don't remember hearing "40" at all! DAMN! Maybe that was during our conversation with security? Why'd I have to miss that?! ARGH!!!

Streets was amazing. I think better than the other nights, but it's hard to tell because it's always incredible! Whole place went insane! Love those lights! They were right on us on the floor and it was unbelievable!

Mysterious Ways? Oh my God! I dunno if it was just being on the floor or what, but this was like the best version of this song I have ever heard! It just completely and absolutely rocked! Edge's guitar was amazing... on fire. But it wasn't the same sound as on the album... a bit different solo or something. Whatever it was, his improvising made it even better! I said to a bunch of girls by me when it started, "Ready to dance, girls?" I just had to laugh when one said, "HELL YEAH!" and they all busted out their belly dancer moves!

It's a lot of fun being a belly dancer with glow sticks! One girl asked to borrow them for awhile and I let her. It's funny... anywhere else, I wouldn't expect to get them back, but I did before the song was even over! That's one thing I love so much. U2 fans are so nice and considerate! I had one glow stick attached to another (had a loop on top) and I was spinning it during the show. During one song, it flew off and went like 20 feet behind me. Luckily, it didn't hit anyone. I was like, "Well, I'm not gonna go get it. I've got enough anyway." A few minutes later, a girl comes back with it and laughs, "I believe you lost this!" LOL! How great is that?!

Also (this makes me sound stupid, but I'm gonna mention it anyway!) I had this little backpack on with my stuff in it. Wallet, cell phone, glow sticks, gum, lipstick... ya know, stuff. But the snap doesn't close good. So when I'd be jumping up and down for some songs... all my stuff would fly out and go all over the floor! I was like, "Oh CRAP!" But a bunch of people gathered it up and gave it back to me. It happened a second time and they did it again! I quit jumping after that! Man, I'm so proud of U2 fans! Anyway...

Bullet was incredible! I had a red glow stick in one hand and a blue one in the other. Matched the lights. I dunno if any of the boys saw me, but for the, "See them burning crosses" parts, I made a cross with them. A lot of the fans around me liked that! ;D Then I used them to copy Larry's drumming... so much fun!

Another wonderful fan thing. There was a drunk guy in front of us that was quite tall. My friend and I couldn't quite see Bono and Edge when they were on the tip of the heart, so he took pictures of them for us. He was wobbling around (almost fell over a few times, he was one of the crazy dancers!) and said, "I dunno how good they'll turn out!" and laughed. Then he hugged my friend and I while saying, "I LOVE U2! I LOVE YOU GUYS!" and the group of people around us laughed with approval. It was fun!

During the end of the night (I think) Bono thanked us again for our support of Jubilee 2000. I signed the petition on the website, so the thanks felt good. Then he said, "Imagine what 18,000 (?) people can do if they put their mind to it!" or something to that effect. Cheers everywhere.

Walk On was amazing, as always, but it was even better this night. It was great seeing the lyrics from the floor. I've been through some *really bad* crap in my life (as I'm sure most everyone has) and the "Leave it behind" part just really hit home for me that night. For some glorious moments that night, I actually did leave it all behind. And I never thought I ever would be able to. God, it felt so good. When it was over, I just wanted to cry. I felt truly, really free for the first time in my life. I remember Bono saying something regarding this before. Something like, "If we can take people to another place, let them leave their problems behind, even if it's just for a few hours, then we've done what we're trying to do." I think he was talking about the PopMart Sarajevo concert... but they did it for me Tuesday night. Thank you ever so much, guys!

For those few hours Tuesday night, I felt like I was in a dream. On another planet or in this wonderful dimension of love and peace... with the best music known to man! I dunno exactly how to describe it, but it was surreal. I think I found the slipstream. I'm just glad that when Bono, Edge, Adam, and Larry go there... that we go there, too. Thanks, boys, for bringing us along for the ride. Whether it be to a shanty town or higher than the sun, you can always count on us to follow!

Oh yeah, P.S. - my friend... who couldn't name one U2 song before he went, said this was *one* of the best concerts he'd ever been to. What?! It should be THE BEST! Hehehe! Think we have another U2 convert in the making here!

Kristy... happier than she's been in SO MANY years! Thank you, boys! <3 <3 <3 <3

Return to previous page | Post a Review of this show!