U2 - Well Worth the Wait!

U2 was originally scheduled June 3, 2010 to kick off the North American leg of their current world tour, U2 360, in Salt Lake City.  Not sure why they picked SLC, but it was big local news here at the time.  But then while rehearsing for the tour in Munich, Germany Bono suffered a serious back injury in May of 2010.  Several of the earlier tour dates, including SLC, had to be rescheduled.  

Thankfully Bono was successfully treated and U2 finally made it here for their concert last night, and Blain and I went.  It was AMAZING!  I think it was probably one of the best concerts I've ever been too.  It certainly was the largest, over 50,000 in attendance.

The 360 Degree stage was fantastic.  Though ironically I couldn't help but wonder what kind environmental "footprint" it left.  It was massive with lots of electronic wizardry.  Just to haul that thing around the world, not to mention to power it up, would take a lot of energy.  It was very impressive and I guess if it entertained people and made them feel good (which it clearly did, myself included) there are a lot more destructive ways to use energy resources such as war.

Bono and the whole band were great.  The music was great, the rapport between the band and the audience was great.  Like I said, the best concert I've ever been too (sorry Green Day, though your Denver concert I went to last year was a close second).

The funny thing was, I hadn't bought tickets to the original show scheduled in 2010.  I can't remember why, probably just busy with other things.  I like U2 and had bought Joshua Tree when it first came out in 1987 (yes, folks, I'm that old and it was an LP not a CD), but I'm not a huge fan.  Anyway, just decided not to pass up the opportunity and had gotten the cheapest tickets which were behind the stage.  I figured correctly that since the stage was 360 degrees around we would still see them walking around it a few times.  They turned out to be great seats.  Yes, they spent about 50% of the time facing the other direction but the other 50% at least one of the band members would walk around the stage and play (especially exciting when Bono came our way).  And when they were on our side, the backside, we were pretty close.  I loved it and am so glad we took the time and money to go.

http://www.u2.com/news/title/robobono-in-salt-lake-city

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700138518/More-than-a-year-after-postponing-its-show-U2-rocks-Rice-Eccles.html

Opening band - The Fray

Between Sets

Bono checks out the backside of the stage!