Out Of This World U2 Concert- Kickoff in Chicago- 360 Tour
Growing up, I would always hear a U2 song. Whether I turned on MTV, (when it was good) the radio, or sat in my parent’s den to listen to music; U2 was always around and even now, their music is prominent in my life. So, when my friend Brad gave me the opportunity to see them live opening night in Chicago (360 Tour- September 12th, 2009), I couldn’t pass it up! Even if you like them or not, you have to admit that U2 is the best and biggest band out there; they have given us hit after hit for over 20 years.
We (Brad, his sister Allison and me) began our road trip to Chicago on Saturday. We had the tunes going and it was a pretty smooth 4 hour ride. (The rest of the trip will be posted later) We got to the hotel, rested for a minute, Brad’s cousin Derek showed up, we changed and headed out for the U2 concert which was at Soldier Field. We were staying in a suburb, so the hotel shuttled us to the Forest Park Terminal to ride the Blue Line, which is a part of the CTA. A worker there was kind enough to help us out and told us where to go to get a weekend train pass and let us on for free! When we got on, we found out that we had to take a shuttle from one of the stops to another train because of construction. I admit, we were kind of confused, but made our way. We walked around for awhile, found a CVS to get our passes, then walked on down to Soldier Field. Now, I knew we were going to be a bit of walking that day, and for some reason, I thought we would be directly taken to Soldier Field… No. I could not tell you what street we were on to start with, but we walked a lot of blocks and it took awhile to get to our most anticipated destination of the night.
We got there pretty much after the doors opened and I was determined to get close to the front as I possibly could! The others didn’t think it was possible… As soon as we walked in, we saw this:
It is called the “Spaceship”. I was in awe of it. It was the most spectacular thing I have ever seen in a concert in my entire life. I saw the pit, and I decided to go for it. I walked around the side, told the others to come with me and I went right to the front! It is hard to describe the set up, so you can see it here: http://360.u2.com/ Yes, we got up to the front even though people have waited for 11 hours to do so. We were on the left part of the stage where Adam would be playing.
First up was Snow Patrol and and I was pleasantly surprised! They had a lot of energy and sounded very good live! The stadium wasn’t filled up yet at this point,but a lot of us were singing along with the songs.
After Snow Patrol was done they told us that the U2 concert would be nothing like we’ve seen before, you could feel the anticipation. The whole place started filling in and right before they came on, it was packed.
The excitement in the air was exhilarating. Finally, after 20 years of listening to them, I get to see U2 live! They came on stage and the whole venue went crazy! I couldn’t believe it; I was here opening night of their 360 Tour in Chicago! U2 did not disappoint!
They were so full of life, love and energy. They went walking on these moveable bridges on their specially built stage so they could be closer to their fans.
We were directly in front of Adam who had a smile on his face the whole time.
The “spaceship” had a honeycomb structure that moved up and down and it was also a screen:
There was so much to look at during the concert. My eyes were always moving and I was singing along. They were walking all around and it was quite fun to figure out where they were at. They played a lot of their old hits and they played a few from their new album. “Get On Your Boots” was a lot of fun, so was “I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight”. Of course, I couldn’t wait until they played “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” and when they did, I must admit it brought tears to my eyes because it is one of my favorites.
One of the most fun parts was when Bono put on this jacket and swung around on his microphone:
The concert lasted almost 3 hours and I didn’t want it to end. U2 put on the best show I have ever seen. They are Rock Gods and they always will be. They rocked my face off! I highly suggest seeing this tour. You will not be disappointed and will walk away with no regrets, only higher admiration for U2.
Of course, I was just a little tired after the concert. Ha-ha
Misty's Musings 
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