(I'm writing this less than 24 hours after the show, so pardon my incoherentness! *LOL* I'll fix it up later when I get the chance.)
Setlist Elevation, Beautiful Day, Until the End of the World, New Year's Day, Out of Control, Sunday Bloody Sunday, When Will I See You Again / Stuck In a Moment, Kite, Angel of Harlem, People Get Ready, Staring at the Sun, Bad / 40, Where the Streets Have No Name, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, Pride Encore(s): Bullet the Blue Sky, What's Going On, New York, With or Without You, One, Peace on Earth / Walk On
WOOO! It was great! I AM SO PUMPED! And I'm so freaking tired! *giggle* What a great show and a great day. So fantastic, I don't even know where to begin! We made it on the rail in front of Adam, and we had a couple of good connection moments with Bono, Adam and even Larry, which I was just thrilled about. Near the beginning of the show when Bono was just finishing one of his first laps, he crossed in front of us. He put his hands together, as if praying, and took a bow and said thanks to each person in the front that he passed. When he got to me, though, he looked right at me, bent down and smiled and said, "hey you, thanks!" WOOOOOOO!!!! :-) And then next came Larry. I was thrilled because this was the first show where I could actually see him; so I shouted out, "Hey Larry," and wouldn't you know, he looked at me and smiled!!!! My friend really had Adam going for the show, though. She had a set of glow sticks and was teasing him with them. A few times he looked right at me and smiled, but at the end of the show, he came down and personally thanked my friend Karen and wished her a good night. What a rush that was!! I think Karen went to la-la land *LOL* It was her first time in the heart, and I fear now she'll never be the same again :-)
There were another bunch of really great moments in the show. "People Get Ready" was played after "Angel of Harlem." A fan came up on the tip to play. He started with the guitar, but Bono and Edge led him around the heart to the stage, where Bono passed him the mic and made him sing! The guy was actually a pretty decent singer, and I think the B-man was impressed :-)
Another great moment (and I was just 4 feet away!!) was when Bono came OFF the stage and right into the front row. He was after this girl who was teasing him with a set of devil horns, but a bunch of guys ended up holding him up. I tried to touch him, but dammit, my little arms are just too short! I am cursed! *giggle* I was also thrilled with "Out of Control." Bono introduced the song as if it literally was their first gig, and then invited fans to come with him to chat after the show. Amazing.
One fan really pissed Bono off, though. When they came out for the second encore before "One," somebody flashed a laser pen right in his face, which I thought was just pure rudeness. At first he looked really pissed off, but instead of yelling at the fan he simply said, "Hey guys, please put those laser things away. Remember, we're from Ireland, and it reminds us of something horrible and nasty." I thought he was very diplomatic about the whole thing :-)
During "One," a list of victims from Flight 11 and Flight 93 were scrolled up against a blue screen. What a touching tribute. It brought tears to my eyes.
On a bit of a downside, there were some technical difficulities; Edge's mic completely cut out during "When Will I See You Again," and from the tip of the heart Bono had to gesture for him to cut the song short. Also, before "One," Bono turned and accidentally slammed his guitar into the mic stand, knocking it out of tune. He kept playing though; I don't think anybody other than us in the first few rows really noticed.
Oh, there were also some lyrical changes for "New York;" Bono was reading them off a piece of paper taped to the stage!! If anybody has the exact lyrics, I'd like to know what they were!
Oh, and "What's Going On" was beautiful... I'm still in shock! One thing that was a bit of a distraction--there were also some problems with the sound... big probs. I have to admit I am a little ruined today. For some reason, the acoustics at Copps Coliseum were horrid (at least for those of us up near the stage), and I haven't been able to shake the ringing in my ears yet. The feedback was so loud that it literally drown out the band during some songs... would have loved a set of earplugs to filter it out, and I regret not accepting a pair from some great people in line earlier in the day (thanx for the offer! I wish I had taken you up on it!). After last night, though, I don't think I'll ever go to another concert without them! I hope my hearing isn't permanently damaged *sigh* I think Bono will confirm the acoustic probs, because he seemed to be signalling quite a bit to Adam during the show to tone down the bass, especially during "Bad" and "WOWY," and I don't recall him doing that so much before.
One interesting thing to keep in mind for those going to future Elevation dates: Word has gotten out about the GA, and even though we arrived at 6:30 am, we just made it in. About 75 people had camped overnight, and we were about 170th when we got there at 6:30 am (just to compare, I arrived 3 hours earlier than I had for any other gig, and I was more than 100 places further back than I'd ever been before. I'd say that at least for Hamilton, the cut-off for the heart was about 8:00 am. I was pretty surprised. Besides that, though, the GA went pretty smoothly in Hamilton. There was some line-budding, but in general everyone was great. We even got to hear the soundcheck! "Bad" and "Gone" were definitely played, as were snippets of "One" and "Pride," and a few others we couldn't make out. Those of us who were close enough to hear through the windows were rockin' in the GA line!! WOO! Bonus show!!
Anyway, I think this may have been the best one yet. Just the sound was a little much, but the feel of the show, the songs, the mood, it was great. Seemed to be more songs at this one, too. WOO! I'd like to take a minute to thank everybody. I had a ton of fun in the GA this time. I want to give a big shoutout to Joe and his wife--hey guys! Hope you had a blast and a great trip back! Sorry I missed you after the show. We would have loved to catch up with you and get your thoughts. I also want to say hi to Steve, Diana and Sandy. Great day, huh? :-)
Anyway, thanx again, thanx U2 for everything. I've been Elevated in Toronto, Montreal, Buffalo, Slane, and now Hamilton. They just keep getting better and better. I'm a little sad now; this will likely be my last show for a long while. I'm already suffering PES! :-) Still, I can dream... who's to say where the wind will take me? Peace. Take care, stay safe.