I bought tickets for U2 on November 9th, 2009 for a July date in 2010 on their U2360 stadium tour. Bono hurt his back and was forced to postpone the North American tour until 2011. This tour stop was essentially two years in the making for me.

I have wined, dined, and 69'ed with a few rockstars in my life, but for me The Rolling Stones and U2 are in the stratosphere of rockstars, an almost untouchable force that brings me back to being a kid and looking up to these guys who graced my wall in poster form. The Stones fans are too old to have a general admission floor, so that eliminates the fun of camping out to get the best spots on the floor. Disappointing as that brings a sense of global community with other fans. You haven't really experienced a U2 show until you have camped out for hours to get those best spots along the stage.

Previous years I have been unlucky in getting inside the ellipsis or inner circle areas. But this year it was first come, first served, so I knew I had to be within the first 3,000 people or I'd be shut out. 381 was my number when I finally arrived and began making friends with the other U2 fans who congregated around me. It was my first U2 360 show, but those around me had seen Montreal, Toronto, Chicago, Baltimore, and I wished I had too. We talked about U2, life, previous concert experiences, and Dungeons and Dragons.

The stage is massive and honestly defies words. It takes place on a football field and is as wide as one (about 50 yards wide), it is over 200 ft tall, and almost 60 yards long. The idea was to create a massive concert stage so that a stadium show could feel intimate. From those who I talked to, U2 seemed to have accomplished that feat as well as one could. I still doubt the experience would be the same for those in the last row of the stadium than mine 4 rows from the stage and right at the barrier of the outer ring.

There was a center circular stage where two moving bridges could slide along the ellipsis where the members could pass over hardcore fans like myself giving us even closer access and proximity to our childhood rockstars. The band had a beehive nest of LED screens that had various images of the band members performing during each song.

The stage is supposed to be a big spaceship that landed in the stadium and that theme was carried throughout the concert from the opening song of David Bowie's Space Oddity, to Captain Mark Kelly saying hello to Philadelphia and introducing Beautiful Day, to cartoon aliens whistling Where the Streets Have No Name. I won't ruin all the surprises if you plan on catching the one of the five remaining shows, but it is a visually stunning spectacle.

The band caught a lot of heat for relying heavily on their new album No Line on the Horizon (NLOTH) in 2009. The set list had almost 6-9 NLOTH songs in it and it was turning a lot of people off. As a hardcore U2 fan, I think that album is a turd. I don't like any song on it and think it was forced and isn't mixed well. I was glad to find out the band mixed up the setlist and only played four tracks from NLOTH.

Stadium shows are hit and miss when it comes to sound balancing especially when you are playing in the round. Sound travels and bounces off structures creating a terrible echo effect depending on where you are in the stadium. I was afraid the back of the stadium would hear a nasty echo from the sound bouncing off the OTHER side of the stadium. That wasn't the case at all and the sound was so perfectly balanced people just paid 20 bucks to listen in the parking lot. Smart move, but for 30 bucks more you could have been next to me.

Bono kept the preaching to a minimum only praising the city of Philly, which the band loves to death, and pushing Amnesty International and the One campaign for a bit. The Vertigo tour saw a lot of preaching about coexisting and wars and Africa. It took away from the show a bit. This show was about U2, their music, and the fans who held on to their tickets for nearly two years.

A lot of people I engage with don't get U2 because Bono's efforts and ego turn them off, or the rhythmic delay of The Edge is a turn off, or whatever the reasons. I can't argue over taste, but I can argue with results; and for your money, U2 is the best show going.

From note one to note last, the band sounded perfect. Bono's voice was never better, The Edge's guitar work was spot on, and the rhythm section of Larry and Adam were locked in. They played a few songs I hadn't seen played live yet, one big highlight was Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me as Bono had a red laser black jacket and ran around stage as his Mephisto character. 

I advise all rock fans to create a bucket list of performers to see before they die to round out their concert resume. Write them down and then whenever that band decides to tour, you go and see them no matter the cost or date. You thought highly of that band enough to add them to the list, so get out and see them.

I think there are some MUST have's for every rock fan and seeing U2 perform Where The Streets Have No Name live should be on that list. I'd also add The Rolling Stones performing Start Me Up live. That's not my favorite Stones song, but it is one they love to play and almost always play.

Set list:

Even Better Than the Real Thing

I Will Follow

Mysterious Ways

Until The End of the World

Get On Your Boots

Magnificent

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

Stay (Faraway So Close)

Beautiful Day

Elevation

Pride (In the Name of Love)

Miss Sarajevo

Zooropa

City of Blinding Lights

Vertigo

I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight

Sunday Bloody Sunday

Scarlet

Walk On

Encore 1:

One

Where The Streets Have No Name

Encore 2:

Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me

With or Without You

Moment of Surrender

Happy Birthday to Nelson Mandela

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