Ok… I’ve been gloating about this like nuts on AIM, but I gotta gloat some more here. Back about a month ago I nailed myself 4 tickets for U2’s Elevation concert on ticketmaster.

I took my best friend Uma with me, and I sold the other 2 tix to my friend Tammy Loh, at cost, and she brought her friend Susan.

The stage setup was interesting, with the layout shaped with a heart, and a fan pit in the middle. Uma and I are ultra-hardcore U2 fans. Although this is my first U2 concert (I couldn’t get tix to last summer nor their 1997 tour), this is Uma’s 3rd. grrr >:-) *jealous*

From what she’s seen and experienced, she said that this has been the best concert that U2 has ever performed, mainly because it was:
1. after the 9/11 attack
2. the last night they were playing in NYC
3. a tribute to those victims of WTC, NYPD, and FDNY

It was quite an emotional thing, and many were in tears.

They played their main singles from their latest album, but played some good oldies especially some of my favorites including:
* New Years Day
* Still haven’t found what I’m looking for
* Pride
* One
* I will follow
* New York City
* Sunday Bloody Sunday

It was all good until the encore finale, which was plain phonomenal. They started with “Pride” and a big TV screen rose from the back of the stage, and stopped to play an exerpt from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at the part where he talks about seeing the promised land and not being able to go, “free at last, God almighty, free at last…” The screen stayed up and U2 broke out into “One” and the big screen lit up with each of the 4 airplanes that were lost on that day. Listing all the people and crew aboard those 4 doomed flights. Then they broke into “All You Can’t Leave Behind” and listed all the NYPD and FDNY people lost on that tragic day… This is where it got VERY emotional mainly because nearly at least over 1,000 names were scrolling and it took a long time go through them. You never realize how immense the magnitude of the loss of 1,000+ people, until you read EVERY SINGLE NAME. You stop for a moment and realize that you are damn fucking lucky to be alive and that these people sacrificed thier lives to make it a career to make people like us safe, and ask for no recognition. Tonight was their night of honor, do not let their names die in vein. When the names finished, NYPD and FDNY representatives came up on stage to say a few words, mention a few names of the people they were close to that was lost, and U2 honored them. Edge sported a NY Yankees shirt, Bono had on an FDNY t-shirt, and the jacket lining of his leather coat was the American flag. Kudos, U2. A band who is geniune to their music, their beliefs/politics, the community (and world around them), and use their power and influence for the benefit of the greater whole. This is why U2 is still my favorite band of all time.

More pics in the Gallery