Friday night in Minneapolis with Karl and U2. Got there around 3pm to see the line was already quite long for the GA folks. On this tour, they are doing a lotto system to determine who gets in the middle of the ellipse. On the Elevation tour, the earlier you arrived to wait in line, the more you were guaranteed to be inside the heart and closer to the stage. They changed to this lotto method in order to "make it fair for people who have to work during the day and can't wait for as long"..... that's crap. Take vacation like I do to wait in line. So knowing my chances were the same no matter what time we got there, I decided a trip to Old Chicago to get some beer in me was in order first thing.
Stood in line starting around 5pm and finally around 6:30 we started moving. They had 2 lines once you get to the front of the main line, one for U2.com ticket holders (that was me) and one for normal GA ticket holders. When we got up there, the engineers inside of us said stay in the normal line... it's moving faster and has the "inside" turn as well. When I get up there, they scan my ticket to see if I'm lucky or not to get inside the ellipse and so'nuff - VERTIGO VERTIGO VERTIGO appears meaning I'm in. I get to take one person with me and off Karl and I go to be next to the main stage for the night. Interesting to figure out that there were 4 other Iowa State folks standing next to us..... Go Cyclones!!
Opening band was Dashboard Confessionals who were ok, but of course I still hate opening bands. They are one of the better opening bands for U2 who have had the pathetic groups such as Smashmouth and Kings of Leon open for them. Then the fun started. City of Blinding Lights of course opens the show as usual. So much fun to be up that close (about 10 feet from the Edge and his incredible guitar rips all night) and be able to see everything. Bono continues to entertain and amaze me with his energy. He has this ability like nobody else to involve the crowd and get us screaming and jumping and swaying whenever he wants. Part of that is because he is so humbled to be on stage still and how amazed HE is when he hears the entire 20,000+ fans singing his songs... his lyrics! That would be pretty sweet. Per the startribune article - there were 20,240 people there which is a record for the Target Center.
The highlight of the night was Bono (who I later found out was seen at Mayo clinic this week - not sure why) giving props out to the Mayo Clinic. Bono talked about how they took the Edge to Mayo and told the doctors there that "The Edge is from the future". The doctors in reply of his tests said "his brain is incredible and even impossible" something Bono claims they've known for 25 years. He even said "this song goes out to the amazing Doctors and Nurses of the Mayo Clinic" as they began to sing Miracle Drug. How cool is that? Just wish I could have seen him while he was in Rochester.
What amazed me was their performance of Who's Gonna Ride Your White Horses which I will look, but not sure how many decades it's been since they last performed that one. Adam even had to have a sheet with notes on it next to him on stage as yes, it's been a while! A quick performance of The First Time was a great rendition with just him and the Edge acoustically as they moved to the end of the ellipse. Bono performed Miss Sarajevo (sans Pavarotti - but Bono assured us he's been "gaining a little weight") which was a first for me and I thought he executed quite well.
But as all concerts come to an end, Larry went down the stairs, but Bono decided they weren't done. As the band yelled for Larry to come back up, U2 decided the Minneapolis crowd deserved yet another encore... but this time, let's do Vertigo again since it gets the crowd so pumped. Amazing.... amazing..... something you don't see very often but you know what? It worked perfectly!
Here are some pics that I leave you with:
Sorry for no song or video of the day today..... I will leave you with a webpage which are a couple of U2 links with reviews, etc. of Friday's concert......
Startribune
U2.com
Set List
Have a great day!!
2 comments:
Update - I'm in Burlington, Vermont now where it's overcast and fall weather (just like I left in Rochester). I like it here as I can see mountains and I think Canada. I'll have to ask.
Anyone want to come visit?
Enjoyed your concert review.
I was at the 9/21 show in Chicago and am flying down to Atlanta for the 11/19 show.
What a great tour!
Bono, in the parking lot of the United Center on 9/20, chatting with fans pre-concert:
"I have to tell you guys something. Chicago has the handsomest fans."
:)
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