U2 at Giants Stadium, East Rutherford, New Jersey - September 24, 2009

I'm not sure I've ever mentioned this here before, but I am a huge fan of U2. In fact, every time they come around on tour, I'm always ready and willing to sell my soul and empty my bank account for my tickets. Thankfully, I haven't had to do either yet, though I have come close to the latter. I have also, thankfully, fully converted one of my friends into a fellow hardcore U2 worshiper. She mentioned to me the other day that she thinks I did it JUST so that I'd have someone willing to drop as much money as me on concert tickets. I believe I nodded and smiled.

This tour was no exception, of course. In a manic Ticketmaster refresh-a-thon several months ago, we managed to secure our seats at the September 24th show at Giants Stadium - my 5th time seeing them live. Hallelujah!

The concert was last week and this review is better late than never. Obviously all opinions contained herein are completely biased and slanted in the direction of "Bono is God." With that said, the band was completely awesome. The crowd was on their feet all night - with the exception of the boring-ass people in our section, who kept sitting down and making us question their sanity. Also the girl in front of us, who had her hand in (yes, in) her boyfriend's ass for most of the show. Toward the end of the night, Bono announced that they'd broken Giants Stadium's record for crowd attendance at an event (a record previously held by the Pope), with over 84,000 people present. That was pretty cool to hear.

I don't think I'll ever be able to accurately describe what it's like to see and hear "Where the Streets Have No Name" performed live to 84,000 people... or to any concert crowd, really. It's never been one of my favorite songs of theirs, but live, it might be my most favorite - especially when tens of thousands of people are singing along to it in unison. When I tell people this and they say "Oh, yeah, I saw it on the DVD" I'm just like... no. Listen. It's not the same. You have to BE THERE to understand. It's crazy, but in the best possible way. Even if you're not a fan, seeing these guys live is an experience. In 2001, I took a friend of mine with me to an Elevation show because I had a free extra ticket and he happened to be jonesing for a rock show. He wasn't a fan going in to MSG that night, but he's been to every tour since then, and owns every album. It's an easy conversion process.

I love that the band has adapted the outer circle mechanism to all of their stage shows since first introducing it on the Elevation tour in 2001. It manages to make the whole thing seem a little bit closer, even when you're sitting in the mezzanine and 84,000 people are packed in with you. Something else that Bono has always done, which I love, is tack random song snippets onto the ends of things. Music's fading out and he'll start singing The Beatles' "Blackbird," the chorus of "Rock the Casbah," or a verse of "Amazing Grace." Verses that he's ad libbed onto his own songs over the years have become standard practice at live shows - though I have yet to hear him sing the extra verse at the end of "With or Without You" (which is my favorite song in the history of the world, ever), it's kind of awesome that the fans just know these things and can sing along to something they've never heard on an album or downloaded online.

Anyway, I guess I'm gushing now, so I'll stop. Here's a set list from U2 360 at Giants Stadium on September 24, 2009 - for anyone who's interested.

1.  Breathe
2. Get On Your Boots
3. Mysterious Ways
4. Beautiful Day / She's A Rainbow (snippet) / Blackbird (snippet)
5. No Line On The Horizon
6.  Magnificent
7.  Elevation
8. I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For / Stand By Me (snippet)
9. Unknown Caller
10. Until The End Of The World
11. Stay (Faraway, So Close!)
12. The Unforgettable Fire
13. Mofo (snippet) / City Of Blinding Lights
14. Vertigo / It's Only Rock 'n' Roll (But I Like It) (snippet)
15. Miss You (snippet) / I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight / Rocks (snippet)
16. Sunday Bloody Sunday / Rock The Casbah (snippet)
17.  MLK
18. Walk On / You'll Never Walk Alone (snippet)
19. One / Amazing Grace (snippet)
20. Where The Streets Have No Name / All You Need Is Love (snippet)encore(s):
21. Ultra Violet (Light My Way)
22. With Or Without You
23. Moment of Surrender

Image from the balcony, leaving Jones Beach Theater.

This is what happens when you reunite Blink 182 and pair them up with two other incredible bands.

YOU SELL OUT JONES BEACH BABY! ( which I believe is the first time in history )

Seems like things are back to how they were before the band broke up. All members are cracking jokes, laughing and making sick music.  Weezer sounded great and played all their hits, despite troubles with their instruments.  Sorry guys, I missed Taking Back Sunday. I got there too late.

Here is my dilemma about the order of bands. It went Taking Back - Weezer- then Blink (headlining)

Even though Weezer has been around since the dawn of time, I would have figured Taking Back to be a bigger/better band. (At least in my eyes) Especially in Long Island.

I guess I'm wrong. You decide.

p.s.  I got some video, I'll let you decide if I should post it.

Now I'm not gonna lie: I don't care how old a man is, what he looks like, or where he's been - if he can play a guitar the way Carlos Santana played his last night, he's going to make me happy... in my pants. Seriously. The kind of sound coming out of that instrument can only accurately be described as guitar porn. It's like transcending audio - a completely new level of music. The kind that vibrates through your veins and feels so good that even the clouds of pot smoke smelled delicious... and I really don't like that smell, people.

The acoustics at MSG are never great, but everything sounded surprisingly clear and unsticky for this show (unsticky being the technical term for when the music is so loud, the sound sticks to your ears when it gets too high... you all know what I mean.) The crowd had a great energy and the band was awesome. I'm hazy on the entirety of the setlist, mostly because so much of it flowed from one song right into the next. I do know that Black Magic Woman and Maria, Maria were major highlights, along with an instrumental cover of Stairway to Heaven. The lights, staging, and everything were pretty much perfect for the show. They played for close to three hours, which was all kinds of awesome. I left with my ears ringing and feeling sleepy, but happy... and probably on a bit of a second-hand high.

One more legend to cross off my list of People I Need to See in Concert.