On Saturday Night, Craig and I were extremely fortunate enough to see U2 from inside The Bomb Shelter. In this tour, someone in the U2 organization decided that it would be fairer to completely randomize who got to see U2 from the inner portion of the stage. Every 10th or 12th person is granted access randomly by computer scanning their ticket. I just happened to be one of the lucky ones. I was then allowed to bring one person with me. Of course, I brought Craig since he has the one who hooked me up with the ticket. Craig and I saw U2 from inside the heart in April of 2001 after waiting in line all day long. It was the first time either of us had been that close to any band, let alone the greatest band in the world! 2 days later, my sister and I saw U2 from inside the heart. This show ranks right up there with the Elevation shows.
At around 2:30, Craig and I settled into the U2.com fanclub line. There were about 100 people in front of us. Because it was well know among u2.com members that the process was random now, few people decided to waste their time in line all day. At a little past 6:00, they started letting fans in. They split the U2.com line in 2 and kept the main line as 1. You would think that would mean we would get in twice as fast. Wrong! Our lines crawled along as the main line flew through. I was getting a little pissed at this point. We saw people who showed up hours after us fly right by. Once we finally got through the search process, all of my anger disappeared in an instant when my ticket won the entrance to the inner circle. We kept hearing girls screaming ahead of us, so we knew they had won as we approached. Craig observed someone 6 ahead of us gain entrance to the Bomb Shelter, so I was bummed. When they scanned my ticket, I didn't scream like a little girl, but I did shout out a big Yeah Yeah! Craig and I high fived each other and proceeded to call Jerm and Bono's Mistress (Melissa). After a quick pitstop in the restroom, Craig and I made our way to the floor to stake out our spot. It was great to walk past all the other GA ticket holders and walk into the inner sanctum. As we entered the Bomb Shelter, there were less than 40 people in there. And most of them were crowded over to the right side of the stage on Adam's side! We had no problem walking a little further to stand right in front of The Edge's side with only 1 person in front of us. As we waited patiently through and hour of dead time and The Kings of Leon, we found out that we were on the main overhead screens the whole time because their are crowd cameras in the stage. We proceeded to goof off for the cameras, taking turns running to the back of the ellipse to see each other on the screen.
At about 5 minutes to 9:00, the chant Everyone, Everyone began to come across the speakers. We all started to scream because we knew that meant the show was starting. The lights went down and the boys made their way to the stage. All of a sudden Bono and Larry were on the end of the catwalk playing a little drum as Love and Peace Or Else pulsated through the arena. I have to admit, that in concert that song rocks! I hate it on the album, but I see why they made it. It was definitely a great song to kick the show off with. It was much more energizing than City of Blinding Lights, which they opened the San Diego shows with. The entire song, Bono was out on the catwalk. Next we got Vertigo and Elevation. All three songs whipped the crowd into a frenzy. It was a high octane start to an amazing show. Vertigo is so much fun in concert and Elevation gets you jumping up and down. Bono sprayed us with water during this part of the show. It felt good to get a little bit wet.
The next four songs brought us back to the beginning of U2. They played The Cry, Electric Co, An Cat Dubh, and Into The Heart. They are not my favorites, but it was great to see how far they have come over the past 25 years. Thankfully, they kicked it back up again with City of Blinding Lights, Beautiful Day, and Miracle Drug. Before Miracle Drug, Bono reminisced about his time with the Pope. He recanted the story of the time he met The Holy Father. He exchanged a pair of his fly shades for some of The Pope’s rosary beads. He said that The Pope got a big smile on his face when he put the glasses on. Bono had the rosary beads with him. He usually has them in his pocket during the shows, but he pulled them out and hung them on the mic stand tonight. He also spoke about The Pope during Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own. This is my favorite song on the album and Bono hit it on the head tonight. He hit all the notes and brought all the emotions that come along with this song. It was really great to be at a show that was so personal to Bono. He said you could tell where his mind was that night since The Pope died earlier in the day.
Next we got New Year’s Day, Sunday Bloody Sunday, and Bullet The Blue Sky. These songs are always so amazing in concert. Everyone knows them and they are still so powerful 22 and 18 years after they were written. I think they have played all three of these songs at all 7 U2 shows I have been to. They also played Running To Stand Still, which Bono dedicated to the brave US soldiers fighting in Iraq.
Next they hit us with 3 songs from Achtung Baby. This is their most solid album from beginning to end and all of these songs play well in concert. It was great to hear Zoo Station played again. It was the first time I had heard it live since 1992. It is a high energy song. We then got the retooled Fly and Mysterious Ways. I believe that it was during this set of songs that Bono pulled up a little girl from the crowd and paraded her up and down the catwalk. He told her, “How cool are you right now?!” It was quite amazing. I love it when Bono pulls people in from the crowd and makes their dreams come true. Everyone in the audience eats it up as well. After Mysterious Ways, Bono said goodnight.
Of course, that wasn’t the end of the show. They came out for rip roaring 6 song encore that couldn’t have ended the show any better. To start off the encore, they played one of their top 5 songs, Pride. Bono spoke about MLK’s dream for all men to be created equal. He said it wasn’t just an American Dream, but a global dream where all men are created equal under the eyes of God. He then poured his heart out into Pride with updated lyrics with the accurate time of “early evening April 4, shot rings out in the Memphis Sky.” It was followed by the ultimate concert song, Where The Streets Have No Name. This is always the best part of the show for me, because they light up the whole arena and everyone is going nuts. I took a video clip of it.
Next Bono made his plug for the One Campaign in which he challenged 1 Million Americans to make the world a better place. He said if we all work as one that we can make a difference in the world. One is another essential song in concert. Next was the final upbeat song in All Because of You.
To end the show, they did a couple worship songs. Yahweh and 40. It is so cool that they have gone back to closing the show this way. I hope they continue it throughout the tour. Bono once again forgot the lyrics to 40 and The Edge had to whisper them to him. I don’t know if this is real or an act, but it was amusing either way. As the boys left the stage, the audience continued singing along to 40.
Overall, this was an amazing experience. The show was tight from beginning to end and you could tell that they were getting into their groove. They were smiling and having a good time as they performed. I have never seen Adam so happy to be playing. We also got to see Larry play the keyboard, Bono play the drums, The Edge play bass, and Adam play guitar. If you can get tickets to this show, I would highly recommend it. It is worth every penny.
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