U2 Concerts October 2005

October 17 -- Joanna and I pose outside the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia. We traveled the two hours with her friend Scott to sit in the second to last row in the arena, pretty darn far away from the stage. It was still amazing. U2 opened the show with "City of Blinding Lights" -- the lights came up to reveal Bono out on the elliptical stage with red and silver confetti raining down from the ceiling. After they brought the energy level up with "Vertigo" and "Elevation," they launched into classics "I Will Follow" and "The Electric Co." The whole show was great, a mixture of old favorites, songs from the new album, and Bono's trademark social commentary. We had three encores, and Bruce Springsteen and his wife joined the band on the second encore and jammed for about 10 minutes. I was loving it and I'm not even a Springsteen fan.

Joanna and Scott before the show.

No rest for the weary -- immediately after the show we have to head home for work tomorrow.

October 19 - Two days after the show in Philly, I went with Rick, Tom and Jamie to MCI Center in DC to see U2 play again. We got to see the show from an entirely different perspective -- the floor. What an experience! This time the confetti was coming down mere feet from us.
The meat of the show was the same as in Philadelphia, but this time it was as if I was part of the spectacle instead of watching it from afar. When Bono spoke, he was talking to me. The Edge might as well have been sitting in my living room. By the way -- that guy can play. You can't miss that fact in concert.

I did accidentally refer to Larry Mullen Jr as Joey Mullen (a former hockey player). No wonder the guy in front of me looked at me weird.