review by Jennifer Lariviere

The moment had finally come...the U2 concert, long waited for, with ticket in hand since early April, having been kept at perfect temperature in my fire safety box at home.

I made my way onto the floor, past the 2 security checks, to appear in front of the stage, smack in the hole dubbed as the "ellipse". Holy shit, here I was. I was actually able to touch the stage over the security bar while winking at the guard next to me; he smiled and nodded in approval. The energy was so pleasant, never before have I literally felt attached to the entire human race surrounding me. Politeness and courtesy prevailed. A feeling that would unfortunately last only a few hours.

Montreal’s own Arcade Fire opened the show at 7:30 sharp, playing with extreme intensity and fiery enthusiasm. Creative and forceful songs blared out as the crowed began to pack in the Bell Center. Arcade Fire was an excellent choice to set the tone of energetic passion.

The time had come...in larger then life fashion...the world’s biggest rock band of this time...U2! Opening with ...City of Blinding Lights... I attempted to absorb seeing them so close; everything appeared to be completely surreal, especially the confetti flying down over my head creating a gorgeous rainbow. Only the first song, and the crowd were already insane with excitement.

Bono showed off his French asking how the crowd was, then exclaiming, "Vive les Montrealais, et les Habs! Vive U2...a Montreal"! This elated the crowd to another level, as U2 rolled into "Vertigo". Following this came "Elevation, I Will Follow, I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For, and Beautiful Day"

Bono took his famous shades off in respect for his late father singing, "Sometimes You Can’t Make It On You Own". The crowd lit up with flowerlike bows that were handed out to women before the show, glowing with shades of red, green and blue. The emotional level was high. Bono himself couldn’t help but say simply, "Wow!" as the crowd overwhelmed and stunned the band with their cheers.

The remaining set rolled on; "Love and Peace or Else, Sunday Bloody Sunday, One, Bullet The Blue Sky, Miss Sarajevo, Pride (In the Name of Love) and Where The Streets Have No Name, 40 and Bad". U2 also broke into a small rendition of The Clash’s "Rock The Casbah", before completing their 21-song set.

The band moved around on the catwalk during the show allowing the entire audience to get a great view. First encore invited Quebec’s own Daniel Langlois on stage, a treat for Daniel certainly! And Larry even had a second drum set on the catwalk for optimum exposure. Bono also took time out to remind the 20, 300 guests that we should be pushing our Canadian leaders to strive for more contributions to end world poverty, but quickly returned to the music as the crowed booed Prime Minister Paul Martin.

After 2 encores, the lights went up, and our minds were officially blown away. We all took a little something personal from that crowded show... part of the magic that is U2.

 

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