by Tom Humphries

OK, here’s my first review. This was my first of 4 shows on the Vertigo tour. I drove up from DC and had a great time. I get them in Dublin in a month and then DC in October.

Well, there isn’t all that much to add that hasn’t been said already. I think one of the biggest surprises was at the beginning of Elevation when it seemed the crowd started the “whoo-hoo, whoo-hoo-hoo” WITHOUT prompting by Bono. Maybe I’m wrong but it seemed we started singing it in response to the opening guitar note and not at Bono’s urging. At one point Bono just stopped and looked out at the crowd belting out the whoo-hoos and said something like, “Well, that’s Philadelphia”. It was a very cool moment.

I went absolutely nuts when I heard the drum beat as an intro for Gloria. I was bouncing around like on a pogo stick (before the people around me reacted to the song). That was great. I never thought I would hear that song in my life.

I must mention the embarrassment that was some of the people around me. I was in the nosebleeds in 204A so I wasn’t expecting a dancing-fool section but I wanted people to be involved. Next to me was a mother/daughter tandem who were great. They knew 75% of the songs and danced to the ones that they didn’t know either.

However, there were two sets of people who were awful. On the other side of mother/daughter was a string of 5 neckless mental midgets who feel the need to reload on the beer input every 3 songs, REGARDLESS of song. (They are probably Eagles fans) It was pathetic. I sorta understand if you wanna grab a beer during The Ocean (but that still p*ssed me off) but doing it during Pride is embarrassing. One bozo kept flicking off Bono, screaming at him, “you f’ing suck, Bono.” And whenever Bono would say ANYTHING other than singing something, this yob would shout, “Shut the f up and sing.” It was sad.

But that may not have been the worst. Directly in front of us was a family of mother, father, daughter, and son. The son was probably 11-13 years old. He walks in to sit in his $50 seat, wearing his $35 tshirt and eating lots of expensive food. Before U2 took the stage, he put in his ear plugs, laid back and fell asleep. He didn’t wake until they left. It was insane. The 4 of them never stood up (I never sat), occasionally sitting on the arm rest during Streets or something big. They were gone 2 songs into the 1st encore. I wanted to dump my coke on their heads. What a waste of space.

But despite these people, the rest of the crowd was great and for the most part really into it. I can’t wait for Dublin.

So, like I said, I got them 4 times this year. 1 down, 3 to go. I am gonna hear them play BAD, right? Please tell me I will.

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