The first attempt at a description

This might be a bit tedious if you're not a U2 fan or very familiar with their music. Sorry...but we should talk, because you're really missing out.

I'm at a bit of a loss to even start this one.

As some of you may know, I went to the U2 "Vertigo" tour last Saturday. U2 is pretty much my favorite band ever (but then why wouldn't they be, because they are arguably the greatest rock band ever!) and I have been planning this for umm...at least seven months. Why seven months? Because the CD, "How to Dismantle An Atomic Bomb", was released in November, that's why. You would think that after seven months of planning and listening and coordinating in conjunction with those 15 agonizing minutes on Ticketmaster* that I would have over-hyped this show. That my expectations would far exceed actual events. But you would be wrong.

I really can't even describe it very well, and I'm sad to not do the show the justice it deserves. Sarah and I listened to several U2 cd's on the way there, including the HTDAAB one, and we still hadn't worn ourselves out on the music by a long shot. Actually we listened to them on the drive home too, but I'm getting ahead of myself. Did I mention that we also drove to Philadelphia from DC, and that Sarah flew out from Texas? This is the level of excitement that preceeded the show.

The sets are spectacular. There is glitter - yes, glitter. Only U2 can rock glitter. "Everyone, everyone" singing along to every song. Not just along mind you, but filling in where we were supposed to, like we were the back up singers. For instance, on "Vertigo":
Bono: "Hello, hello" (mike to audience)
Audience: "Hola!"
Bono: "I'm at a place called Vertigo..."
And the beginning of "Elevation" which is normally quite rockin', but they did it slow...with no instrumentals really, just their voices and ours for the first few passes at the first verse, and then the guitars kicked in. Still giving me a goofy grin to think about it, even a few days later.

They also played some old and previously mentioned favorites of mine, well blended with newer songs. U2 has some ridiculous number of albums out, I think 14 was the number I read the other day, and while all of the songs are good, the number of songs that are truly remarkable is still too many to put into one show. I sang along at the top of my lungs, jumped around like an idiot, swapped stories with the drunk guy next to me, bonded with U2 fans, the list goes on and on. One thing I did love about the crowd was that almost 2/3 of the audience was wearing some form of a U2 shirt. I would say it was about 50/50 as to which part of that bunch was wearing an older shirt and which part was wearing the shirt that they just bought five minutes before. We were all THAT EXCITED. Sarah and I fell into the latter category, prompted not only by extreme excitement but also by the Philly cheesesteak juice we got all over ourselves while trying to eat in the car.

Okay, this is clearly going to have to be a multiple part post, as it's already on the long side and I've really only gotten started. More coming soon...

*I would just like to take this moment to say that ticket brokers, especially those that buy up loads of tickets using advanced technology systems and then sell them for $1500 a piece to desperate fans, they all deserve their own special corner of hell.