I wrote this in my journal in November 1992, right after my first U2 concert...Zoo TV in Vegas. I didn't think much of U2 until this concert...I have been a die-hard fan ever since.
When we went in, the Sugar cubes were performing the opening act. Our seats were way at the back of the stadium, but we had a plan of how to get onto the floor. We did have 2 floor tickets, so 2 would go on the floor, then 1 come up and get someone else, and keep doing it until everyone was down. We ran onto a problem, though. They stamp the ticket and your hand when you go down! We had to get onto the floor, but security guards were at every staircase that went down. We got an idea. There were port-a-poties lined up on the floor, right in a good place to jump on them and jump down onto the floor. We had to try it.
Ben tried. He jumped over the railing and onto the top of the port-a-potty. He should have got on it carefully instead of jumping on it, because when he landed on it, the roof fell through! Me, my room mate, and Dan were sitting on the front row, right by ben. We started laughing SO SO SO SO hard! That is the funniest thing I have ever seen in my life. He still had a hold of the railing, so with all the adrenaline, he quickly got back over the railing and ran into the crowd. Afterwards, he said he heard a scream, so there might have been someone in it! I could not stop laughing. I hurt so bad from laughing! Ben was laughing hard, too. Matt decided to just jump straight onto the floor while no guards were looking. He made it! We did the same.
About a half hour before the concert, we were on the floor! We were proud of ourselves. We walked around for a while, and found some seats that weren't taken pretty close to the front. Then the moment came. The lights went off and the music started. There was Bono, Edge, Larry, and Adam. Chills went down my spine. The stage was amazing! It took 50 semi trucks to transport it. After Zoo Station, the first song, some people came, and Ben and I were in their seats. We went to the back and got some pizza, then walked up one of the isles. The stage had a little catwalk that went way out into the crowd, and there was a mini-stage at the end of the catwalk. The isle we walked up went right to that mini-stage! We walked up to where we were about 5-10 feet from it, and that's where we stayed the whole rest of the concert!
Right after we got there, the whole band moved out onto the little stage and played about 6 songs, including "Trying to Throw Your Arms Around the World," one of my favorites. It was SO dang awesome. There was Bono, about 10 feet in front of me, singing these awesome songs. I didn't ever want the concert to end Towards the end, during "With or Without you," a kid got up on the stage and started running toward Bono. Security guards tackled him. When he got up, I saw his face. It was Jeff, my roommate's brother!!! I couldn't believe it. Bono said (into the microphone) "Security off the stage! Never get on a U2 stage! This is my stage. This man belongs here, you don't. So security got off and Jeff stayed up and talked to Bono for a second. What he said is "Remember me from D.C.?" It was totally rad. The great and awesome concert finally ended.
We went out to the parking lot, where Jeff was waiting. They had kicked him out. He said he was dang glad he did it, though. One of the people in our group recorded the whole concert, including the part where Bono told security to get off the stage. Jeff loved that part! He told us that the security guards tackled him and his knee jammed right into the rail that the camera moved back and forth on and really hurt. Then he looked up and saw this big silver guy (Bono had his silver cowboy suit on) reaching out to help him up. At an earlier concery in DC, Jeff had got up on the stage and Bono told security to leave him alone, then he told Jeff to pick him up.
I know *just* what you mean...something about the opening of "Streets" that just makes you feel awe-inspired and connected to the rest of the world in a very profound way.
