U2 Concert at MCI Center, October 19, 2005, Nick Barone
From MemoryArchive
Who: Nick Barone What: U2 Concert When: October 19, 2005 Where: MCI Center, Washington DC
U2 is without question my favorite band, and on October 19, 2005, I finally got to see them in concert for the first time after years of waiting. To see them in my home town was also a privilege, and I had incredibly high expectations going into the show. I had been following their tour closely, so I had a pretty good idea of what they were going to play, but I was still blown away.
I arrived with my friend Becky at the MCI Center around 6PM, and found the line for people with general admission floor tickets. We got to go into a much shorter line thanks to my subscription to the U2 website (it pays to be a dork sometimes), and entered the building after waiting only about 20 minutes. From there, we waited to go through the ticket-reading machines which would determine if we had won a chance to stand inside the ellipse, and be extremely close to the band. Unfortunately, the "Proceed to Floor" message came up, and we entered the arena. We got a spot towards the center-left part of the ellipse, about 3 or 4 rows of people back from the guard railing. For a show of this scale, it was definitely a great spot.
After about an hour of waiting, the opening act, Damian Marley came on. He's the son of Bob Marley, and like his father, he played his own style of reggae music. However, his music had a more rock/rap vibe to it, which got some people on the floor dancing along. He and his group (which included one guy who's job was to wave a flag onstage the entire time) played for about 45 minutes, then the wait for U2 began.
U2's crew worked for over a half hour to get the stage prepared, and the wait was agonizing. Finally, the music they were playing stopped, and U2's entrance song for the tour, "Wake Up" by The Arcade Fire, started blasting out of the speakers. The lights went down, and the place started going crazy as the band members emerged onto the stage. U2's guitarist, The Edge, started playing the opening chords to "City of Blinding Lights", and that is when Bono appeared on the front part of the ellipse. The concert opened with a bang, as U2's 'curtain of lights" descended in the background, and glittering confetti rained down on the people in the ellipse.
Next, the group launched into "Vertigo", probably the most popular, albeit overplayed song on their new album. Bono gave us some "Spanish lessons" by having us chant the opening (uno, dos, tres, catorces!) with him. With the energy still high, the Edge started playing the familiar, electric riff for "Elevation", but instead of the song taking off, the tempo remained low with Bono and the audience singing the first two refrains. Then, the song exploded and was finished off as normal. It was a pretty cool twist for the song.
The crowd went crazy when "I Will Follow" came next, but one of the higlights for me came after that when they played "The Electric Co.", a frantic rocker from their first album, Boy. Next came "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For", a fan favorite which Bono let the crowd sing part of. "Beautiful Day" was played next, which really got the crowd involved. "Miracle Drug" and "Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own", two songs from their new album, sounded pretty good, but then came the "war segment" of "Love and Peace or Else", "Sunday Bloody Sunday" and "Bullet the Blue Sky". "Sunday Bloody Sunday" was great to hear live, and the whole segment was intense and flowed well together. Bono brought a young girl on stage during "Sunday Bloody Sunday" and she helped him with the "no more!" chant. After playing one of their lesser known songs called "Miss Sarajevo" (which came with a full explanation of the history of the song) U2 launched into "Pride (in the Name of Love)" and "Where the Streets Have No Name", which nearly brought the house down. I really believe that "Streets" is one of the best live songs ever, and the little speech about Africa before the song didn't seem out of place (since the song is about a place in Ethiopia anyways). Bono then talked about the One campaign before the band played "One" and left the stage ending the main set.
After a few minutes, the group came back on and played a couple of acoustic songs. "The First Time" (an obscure pick from their Zooropa album) and "Stuck in a Moment" sounded good given the acoustic treatment, and then "With or Without You", one of their all-time most popular songs, ended the first encore. Bono brought a young woman onstage for that one, which really must have made her life. After another short break, they came back on for a second encore, playing "All Because of You" and "Yahweh" from their new album. The last song, which was the closest to bringing me to tears, was "40", which is played almost like a hymn. They played the song and exited the stage one person at a time, with drummer Larry Mullen being the last one to leave. He sat there for a moment, and continued playing the song as a solo with the crowd singing the words. It was a great way to end the show, and the crowd sang the words "How long to sing this song?" for several minutes afterwards.
It may not have been quite the religious experience I thought it might be, but it was definitely the best concert I have ever been to, and it was worth the years of waiting. Bono and the rest of the band seemed to be enjoying themselves up there. I think the band still has some good things in store for us fans, and I can't wait to see them again next time they tour.
