Okay, so right up front -- I've never been to a live U2 show, so I don't have the breadth of experience and discernment that other reviewers have. I lost the chance to see them on the European leg of the Joshua Tree tour thanks to some untimely security threats that prevented American Department of Defense employees from moving freely around the continent. But in 2005, the planets aligned and I found myself outside the Portland Rose Garden following a bitterly cold and icy winter storm. I waited with my sweetie, my sis, and my "neighbors" in what I like to call the 210-218 block of Sharpie-marked souls. What great folks. What loyal U2 fans...I'll never forget them. The show? Even I don't have the words, and I'm a writer. Granted, I can't tell you the subtle nuances of the band singing this song vs. that song, or how the sound system in Portland compared or contrasted to the one in...well, anywhere else. I can tell you that I felt real magic that night, that I still have chills, that my eyes still well with tears and that I will never be the same. Thanks for letting me share!

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