from Toronto Sun

Windsor-based singer Julie Kryk figured she nabbed some choice seats for U2's concert at the Thomas & Mack Centre in Las Vegas Sunday night.

It turns out they were nothing compared to the view she got from the stage when Bono & Co. invited her up for a version of Curtis Mayfield's People Get Ready.

Kryk, the 21-year-old sister of Toronto Sun Executive Entertainment Editor John Kryk -- himself a U2 fan who, we assure you, holds no sway with the band -- recently attended U2 shows in Hamilton and Chicago, where she saw fans get on stage by holding up signs requesting to play with the band.

Not to be outdone, she caught Bono's eye Sunday with a placard reading, "This chick plays a mean guitar."

"I figure maybe I had being a girl going for me, since I'd only seen guys get up with them before," says Kryk, who's previously played to large crowds as part of Lilith Fair.

The singer got a laugh out of Bono by donning a pair of sunglasses like his trademark pair before The Edge handed her an acoustic guitar. She then led U2 into People Get Ready.

"I knew the song," she says. "But I made sure I practised it in a lower key the week before, just in case."

U2 has added eight new dates to their U.S. tour, which was originally scheduled to end at L.A.'s Staples Centre. They touch down in Phoenix tonight and continue on before wrapping up in Miami Dec. 2.

The band's Elevation Tour TV concert special, taped at a show in Boston last summer, airs in the U.S. on VH1 tonight. MuchMusic will broadcast the show Dec. 6 at 9 p.m.