B&B's Trip to New York to see U2

(Val was there too, but she mostly stayed at home)

On the 26th of October, 2001, me, Brent and Val drove to New York. Val visited her parents (who were very kewl), while me and Brent were there to see (drumroll) U2 in New York!!! On Saturday, the 27th!!! At Madison Square Garden!!!!!!! Yes, we got crap seats, but U2 are so such great performers, they made the crap seats feel like backstage passes. Besides, when you're standing up and hollering the lyrics to Sunday Bloody Sunday with Bono hollering right there with you, who gives a hoot about the seats? You're suppose to be bouncing around anyway, not sitting down (like the wankers on the right of me were doing... what's up with that?). All right, so the view could've been greater.... pthhhpth whatever.

For those of you familiar with U2's music (Hi Carol! Hi Siva! Hi Navs!) here's the set list:

Elevation

Beautiful Day

Until The End Of The World

New Year's Day, I Will Follow

Sunday Bloody Sunday

When Will I See You Again (snippet) / Stuck In a Moment

Kite

Angel of Harlem

Please

Bad / 40

Where the Streets Have No Name

I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For

Pride (In The Name Of Love)

encore:

Bullet the Blue Sky

What's Going On, New York

One

Peace On Earth (snippet) / Walk On

Out of Control

Bono was pumped that night. Or maybe he's like that all the time... needless to say he gave a hell of a show. All the classic Bono-isms were present... the karate kicks, the half-stumbling-half-jumping, the eyes-closed hands-raised wailing, the running-around-the-stage-and-jumping-on-a-speaker-during-the-intro-for-where-the-streets-have-no-name-ing... I could go on, but really, what I'm getting at is, that was the definitely 100% undistilled Bono. It was enough to make a grown U2 fan cry.

Some funny things that happened... a man in the crowd somehow got Bono's attention and proposed to his girfriend over the mike. Bono wished them well. awww..... Also, Bono did a slight pratfall during 'Until The End Of The World', though he's always tended to perform that song acting drunk... i guess it might've been a intentional pratfall.

When they were playing 'One' (still my favorite song of all time), they projected the names of Sept 11 victims scrolling up along the back half the arena. Since me and Brent were in that area we were basically the ones being scrolled on. I'm sure it was an awesome sight to see from the front. I was speechless (well the fact that I'd been hollering for 1 hour straight kinda helped).

During the encore Bono brought out some folks from the NY ems... firefighters, cops, and various ems people from what I gathered. He raised them up and called them true heroes... basically they had free reign of the stage for half the encore. During 'Walk On', Bono lead the whole bunch in a little parade around the heart-shaped platform... he was wearing an FDNY t-shirt, a police hat, while playing the guitar slung around his shoulders and leading these guys in a conga line. He had this smile on his face that made it look like he was happier than any of the fans in the crowd. I was tickled and moved and grinning like an idiot :p. The whole thing had become a celebration of the lives of a bunch of normal joes. What a party!

oh well... we have some photos we took in NY. I only scanned three so far, and only one actual concert shot... we have way more, but this is the only one where you can see anything significant. Brent took this when he snuck off to the front side of the stage. They were playing 'Bullet The Blue Sky'. He said it was a great view from the front, so I decided to take a stroll around the arena to get every other view. This was during 'New York'. They dimmed the lights, and had these banners behind the band, onto which giant shadows of the band members were cast. It was cool to see the whole thing while I was walking round the arena with my head turned towards the stage. Good thing I didn't trip and fall... :p

SO... here are the pics!

Brent took this pic of me as proof that, at the very least, I'd actually stood in front of MSG. However he was feeling artsy and decided to do an effects shot, hence the world-through-a-crack-user's-eyes look. So you can't really see what the sign says, which forces me to include the next photo...

...which I took of Brent. So there you go, we were there.

And this is the Photo Brent took in-concert! On the big screens, from left to right: The Edge! Larry Mullen Jr! Bono! Adam Clayton! :) OK, you can go back to work now.

University of Tennessee

U2 in New York '01!