Magic night in God's Country

23 October 2009 ~My evening hosted by U2 + 40,000 fans.

I flew out of Edmonton with such excitement I thought I might burst! 5 long hours later as we flew into Vegas the plane changed direction, came around, and from the right hand side of the plane you could see Sam Boyd stadium and the 360 stage inside! The people on the plane commented they'd never seen any one so excited to come to Vegas! It was a party atmosphere.

On concert day as I rounded the corner onto Broadbent drive there ahead of me peeking over the stadium was the massive claw! It looks greenish in real life...like fluorescent green tarp with big orange buttons. Its sheer size was phenomenal. I had 'claw awe' and in the car I let out a huge OH MY GOOOOOD! It was a special moment for sure and it hit me...I am really going to see this concert soon! Many U2 fans were already in line at 6 am when I got there at 2 p.m. There were about 800 people lined up.

I joined some of the Zootopians in the tailgate party and we had a blast. I took some beers and walked up to the front of the line, took photos, talked to all the peeps in line, gave them water if they were out, and they had a merch table right at the front. I met lots of fans, they were all fun and everybody shared in the excitement I felt. It is great to be around people who are as excited as you are. It was electric!I made my way back down the line as everybody was packing up to get ready for the line to move up. We spent more time dancing and listening to U2 in the tailgate section and when the line started to move at 4 we walked our coolers and whatnot over and joined the line...I imagine there were about 2000 of us by that time.

We met so many great people in the line. Amnesty International came by and we got a picture with their sign and signed their petition. ONE was there giving out bracelets and taking pictures of people kissing.We slowly moved forward until about 5:30 when the GA line was consolidated and then they opened the doors and let groups of about 100 or so in at a time. They wrist banded on the way in. There were tons of media trucks from all the major news stations, they asked us where we were from and there were so many Canadians near us. They interviewed us and then we got the line up singing ISHFWILF. Amazing! Then we were moving up to the front and I thought I might pee my pants I was so pumped to FINALLY be getting in!

I flew (floated) up the giant staircase and ran into the venue and there to my right the stage stood in all its glory! I was amazed how it filled the stadium from side to side, top to bottom! I ran to the front and ended up about 3 deep back from the outside rail, dead centre. Then I sat down for the first time in about 4 hours and rested my feet. whew! It was going to be a long wait. It was hard to stay patient.

About and hour later the Black Eyed Peas took the stage and pumped us up. They were better than I thought they would be and the "tonight's going to be a good night" song was their last and we were all bouncing up and down in GA, a mere glimpse into what the energy was going to be for the concert. Once BEP was off the stage the crowd had grown and we all got a little closer together and waited to hear Space Oddity, to signal the beginning of the concert…it was the longest 35 minutes of my life. My feet hurt and I was so thirsty but I was afraid to leave my spot just in case I couldn’t get back there…so we waited and the uber U2 fans in the crowd threw up a HUGE cheer when the familiar sounds of Space Oddity began…We all counted down with the song…5, 4, 3, 2, 1 and then the giant mast down the centre of the claw belched forth huge clouds of smoke and we knew lift off was moments away.

The butterflies in my tummy made me jump up and down with glee and then there he was, Larry, walking up to the drum kit and wearing that classic white T in his sexy way…then came the drum beats and the sounds of Breathe…and I had to remind myself to breathe…and the crowd erupted again when The Edge appeared, then Adam! Breathe sounded amazing, you can feel the beat in your chest the sound is so clear and crisp…and then the crowd erupted as Bono struted out…It was magic..total lift-off…he sang to us, we sang back to him…”Breeeeeeeaaathe, I can breathe…” It is phenomenal live!

Bono told us the future needs a big kiss and then The Egde fired up Get On your boots and the guitar exploded in front of us and we all gave the future a big kiss! Bono knocked it into high gear, but it is really Adam who shines with the bass in that song. I was right down front and could not believe every time they came within about 10 feet of me!!! Boots got the whole pit jumping up and down in unison…the energy lifted us all up!

Bono moaned rather seductively a few times...then the familiar sound of Mysterious ways came on and the whole place went nuts….Bono strutted around with his best dance moves, The Edge walked around the stage in front of us. Beautiful Day made me break out in Goosebumps…ATYCLB is one of my favourite albums and very emotional…when it started the whole place sung right from the beginning and I noticed Bono give The Edge a look like, “wow they are loud!” and it was such a beautiful day…It was not windy, not too hot, not too cold, it was like we were indeed In God’s Country, so Bono sang a snippet of that, “dream beneath a desert sky…” perfect for Vegas and the crowd knew it. The whole stage is lit up green a blue…for obvious reasons…it was very cool lighting!

Then….impossible to believe we could be louder…the beginning of I Still Haven’t Found What I’m looking For started and Bono just let us sing…he turned his mic around, motioned to the boys to quiet it down and we all sang…“I have climbed highest mountain, I have ruuun through the fields only to be with you…..only to be with you….” it was very powerful and the emotion in that song, from the whole audience was tangible in that moment…Then Bono took us up into the atmosphere and we all held out our hands to him when he sang “held the hand of the devil…it was warm in the night…” I can’t explain that part any better…there are no words in that moment…only feelings….Love, anticipation, longing, sadness mixed with great unbelievable joy…as Bono likes to Say God was in the room. So was Elvis. LOL!

Bono started with Stand by me, which EVERYBODY sang to him…(it is like all our voices pooled there adding to the volume of it…) Then Bono put on his best Elvis Swagger and led us along to Viva LAS VEGAS! “Vivaaaa, VIVAAAAA LAS VEGAAAAAS!” Hilarious. Huge applause!

Then Larry and Adam took a break and Bono and the Edge moved closer together and sang Stuck together. I LOST it. Tears streaming down my face and we all sang…”Oh LOVE look at you now…stuck in a moment…” The Harmony of the last verse with Edge on lead with Bono together…it sounded amazing.

My favourite song on the new album, and THE moment I have waited for since first hearing it, No Line on the Horizon…it was better live than I thought…the crowd in front wanted to bounce and when they launched into it, it builds and builds intensity and BAM! It was awesome! Straight into “ELEVATION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOOOOO WoooooOHooooooo! Woooo! Woooohoooo!”And we were Elevated there…never been in GA before and now I know why it is so amazing….when the whole audience jumps as one, we are a team with our only goal: SOUL! The place just lost it…it was the most incredible feeling!I think next came “In a Little while” which was special to me because this whole time waiting to get to Vegas I thought the lyrics were perfect….”Friday night running…to Sunday on my knees…” There was a really sweet bit in there from the ISS…Bono stopped to watch the big screen with us and it was a pure moment of awe. VERY cool…

Then Unknown Caller, which is such a great song for a big audience because they did it like Karaoke…and you now how U2.com asked everybody to send in video of themselves singing…they use those images up on the screen…juxtaposed against a huge map of the world…it was brilliant. “Ooooooh oooh oooh, oooh oh oh oh!” It is such a fun song! Then Bono put out his hands like a conductor at the end and had us all sing, “bum, bum , bum bum bum…ba bum bum bum bum…as it build to Edge’s solo…which proves why he is the best guitarist ever. LOL! Great rock song!Then Until the end of the world started up and Bono and The Edge play off each other big time…remember when they used to the bull fight…Bono the bull trying t gorge the Edge? Well…(Oh I wish I had a photo) they use the two bridges that circulate around the stage to get closer and closer to each other as the song builds up steam at the end and just as they are about to reach each other the bridges move away from each other…incredible climax and they had it timed to perfection! I will always remember that moment as they came so close in front of me …Then came the visually most stunning bit of the set…starting with Unforgettable Fire, which is such a heart wrenching song…the screen descends and lights up the whoooooole arena! The swirling lights mimick movement in a way that is truly exceptional. Kudos to Willie Williams.

Bono pulls a kid on stage and they break into COBL! The screen almost touches the tops of their heads…I have seen photos…I KNEW it was coming and it still took my breath away…And then just to crank it up VERTIGO. Now I have never seen COBL or Veritgo because I missed that tour and HOLY SHIT! I think I even said that out loud a couple of times…again being in the GA for Vertigo was something incredible. 1, 2, 3, 14! And the pit went CRAZY! I started to laugh…it is a feeling like nothing else I can explain!

Bono gave a shout out to The Killers with a bit of All these things that I have done…The Killers may have been there, they are from Las Vegas..so that was cool. Oh and Bill Clinton was there too…that was pretty sweet. My friends walked past him and his security on the way to their seats, they said he was having a great time with a huge smile on his face!

Then came Crazy Remix and Bono spent most of the next two songs right in front of me!! Here is a wee video for your viewing pleasure...and a break from this long ass review:

He was right there… AMAZING. The crowd loved it and I would say, of all the new material, it seemed like the crowds fav. I lost it at the end and had to put the camera down just so I could bounce...too funny! Sorry about the singing!

The whole arena went green for SBS! Bono knelt in front of us. Is that the most powerful song? It really blows your hair back I tell ya. I have seen it a couple of times but this time I could see the emotion on Bono’s face and he is transported elsewhere for that song… he is transformed. How do I explain it…it’s like he’s in a dream and when we sing it with him it only drives him further into it. Then a bit of an irish Lullaby, MLK, before Walk On I pulled out my mask and wore it and felt overwhelmed by Bono’s words about Aung Sun Suu Kyi, he is so eloquent…at the very end the ONE campaigners come onto the stage and stand for her, as if we all were her for just a moment…it was very beautiful and touched me greatly.

There was a break and I braced myself because I knew it was going to be ONE next…and from the end of the Tutu speech I felt the tears well up as that song filled the desert night with love. That song gets me every time. The part about “I can’t keep holding on to what you got….when all you got is hurt..’. So intense and wondrous and emotional for me. We were all swaying together…Bono’s voice lifting us up….I know now it is not what U2 songs mean to U2 that make them exceptional but instead, what all of us as fans find them to mean…that song to me is very powerful because it takes me back to a specific time in my life. I realized that I also bring power to it…

For a week I have been thinking about being in GA for Streets and when the time came it did not even compare to what I had imagined…what is it about that song that is like the power of a jet taking off? That guitar riff that caused me to forget everything else around me -- was like I was part of something so intimate so natural and base...elemental. The smell of the earth was in that arena at the time, wafting up from the powerful air conditioning coming out of the stage for the band…it was ethereal…I am pretty sure my feet never touched the ground that whole time. It exceeded my expectations and blew me away and after I felt lighter….connected and right with the world. At the end when we sing, “Love, Love, love” with the crowd all singing…”love, love, love…..” Can anybody explain that? That feeling? That moment? I am struggling to and well…it is something I will cherish as an experience.

Then the band said bye…but it’s like everybody knew there was more…there was no ridiculous cheering to beg them to come out…it was almost as if everybody needed a moment to collect their thoughts after Streets.Enter Bono in his super cool laser coat of lights. The steering wheel mic drops and Ultraviolet floods the stadium with brilliant flecks of red laser. It was an incredible performance.

It leads right into WOWY and the mirror ball on the top of the mast lights up all of Vegas casting out sparkles & twinkles while Bono belts it out. At the end he slowly removes his coat of lights and hangs it on the mic as it ascends to the heavens…it was a very sad moment the way he watched it go…as he bid it adieu it dawned on me…Moment of Surrender was next marking the end of the concert and I felt a flood of emotion…it was almost over…so I gathered myself and my new friends around me.

Let me tell you…it is some feat that Bono can sing that powerfully at the end of 2 hours….and it is powerful….the first line elicited a “WOW” from those near me. We were immersed in a milky way of lights, all surrendering to this incredible band and singing, “oh, oh, oh, oh, ohhhhh.” Incredible way to finish the most incredible show.

They thanked us and stayed up on stage long enough for me to convince myself they might sing another….and then they slowly walked away to massive cheers. We all stood, somewhat stunned…like we all had to take it in for a second. Like a U2 haze that clouds your head with love and fulfillment. What an incredible feeling! I walked about feeling a bit tipsy having consumed no alcohol for hours…my feet hurt, my knees ached, my calf muscles felt like they might rip…but none of it mattered. I had to sit and catch my breath before I fell to my knees . Worth every second of waiting, worth months and months of planning, worth every cent I spent that I really don’t have. The U2 fans, the people I met the fun times in line all of it together…well it was magical!

Song/video Du Jour: Where The Streets Have No Name - Las Vegas 10/23/09 - Sam Boyd Stadium October 23