Danshul, Neha, Saumya, Mahima and I started for Raleigh in what we thought was well in advance, however, half way to the destination, we were confronted with the most horrible jam ever(not very uncharacteristic, when 30,000 other people also wanna watch U2 perform!). Anyway, after two and a half hours in the car we reached the stadium. Finding no place to park the car, we decided to abandon it by the side of the road... thats right just left it there and walked to the venue.......
On reaching the stadium, we were greeted with the most elaborate set I have ever seen. The stage was designed like a space ship and the band Muse greeted U2 with the song "Ground Control to major Tom"....it is a moment i will never forget, actually watching Bono climb up the stairs to the stage....Moreover, the stage had a huge projection screen which showed images of all the members of the band sequentially.
U2 opened with a few songs from their latest album and then they sang "Elevation"....i truly felt elevated and from then it was "I still haven't found what i'm looking for", "Vertigo", "Stuck in a moment" and a couple of other tracks...... Bono then picked a kid out of the crowd, walked across the entire stage with him, gave him his shades and sang "City of Blinding lights" for him.....
Bono is known for his affiliations to several causes and this concert was no exception, he talked about the ill treatment of the people of Iran and Jordan. He played clips of the atrocities being committed there on the projection screen while singing "Bloody Sunday" in the background. He then continued to speak about the oppression of the people in Burma and about Aung San Suu Kyi, the elected leader of the people of Burma who has been under house arrest for the past 20 years. All the while projecting images of Aung San Suu Kyi on the screen and singing "Walk on".
However, my favorite of the evening was "Where the streets have no name", The Edge was terrific in this song, with the guitar playing achieving a new level altogether. After a couple of more songs they played the song several people had been waiting for " with or without you"..... it was magical to hear Bono croon this number a couple of feet away from me.
It was a day I will never forget and will always carry the image of the band playing their best hits to a spellbound audience of nearly 50,000 people. Thanks U2!
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