You have to face it. Living in Brazil can be used as such a nice excuse to confess that you haven't seen U2 live in your whole life, even though you are a fan since the early 80's. That used to be my case until February 20th 2006, when I finally lost my "Irish" virginity. Or sort of, you know. Well you then might say: how come you missed PopMart back in January 30thin Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro? Simply because I was in the midst of a mess in my life, unemployed and with a kid due. Everything solved. And my son, wife and, of course, I surived to see U2 eight years later.

It was more than worth this relentless wait, I must say.

After getting panicked last January, I managed to get my tickets. Luckly enough, not did I get my pair of tickets but I was fortunate enough to be in the VIP section of the stage (closer to the HOT area). What a ride.
Having listened and watched several U2 shows all my life, I can tell all the readers from the elevation-tour.com that there was something really unique about the lads' performance this time. I had watched the Brazilians gigs on DVD but now, it was different. As a friend of mine who is also a fan told me afterwards, Bono, The Edge, Adam and Larry's faces where shinning so bright and they were showing such an enthusiasm that were something out of this world.
They looked to be having fun onstage.

After City of Bliding Lights, Bono ad-libbed: Lucky you, lucky me, lucky me...it was so evident his pleasure of playing in my suffered country. The fans were behaving top class, singing everysingle note of every tune. One of the best examples were in Elevation, when the crowd eventually played a vocal duet with Bono! You could witness on his face..

Early on another curiosity. Having finished Until The End of The World with Edge's guitar played as it was his last gig, Bono is approached by someone who hands in something to him. He reaches out and grabs it. Quickly puts in his mouth because Edge's keyboard was for New Year's Day. He seems to be enjoying it and shows the package to Edge who can't hold his laughter. Not being able to see what was really going on, I just ended up knowing what was up when I returned home. A fan had given Bono a pack of...BONO (milk cream flavoured) biscuits. Yes, that's the name of the brand! And I can tell this was something I always dreamed to do. To give Bono a pack of Bono! This brand has been around since the 70's so it was a pure and cool coincidence.

Another show highlight was Where The Streets Have No Name, when Bono introduces the song and had a speech about the free Americas. He then started to rave several Latin America countries but when he finally mentions Argentina (with a mischievous eye, poking fun) we realise he knew very well about Brazil x Argentina soccer rivalry. Having realised that he wasn't going to be cheered, Bono starts to laugh very hard and the booing is unavoidable. We knew he was having a ball. Yet on the songs' performance, another moment: when he's running towards the crowd on the stage's ellipse, Bono slipped and almost fell down, but he could recover in time. It showed that his elasticity is still fine!

Towards the end of the show, and just before Original Of The Species (song which has been unexplicable ommited from the set from this show on to this date (March 1st, Buenos Aires first gig), Bono took up his trusty acoustic and performed a heartfelt version of The Beatle's Norwegian Wood. As also a Beatles fanatic myself, I could do nothing but kneel down in thankfulness and joy! For me the biggest acts that have ever appeared on Planet Earth were U2 and The Beatles. So having Bono singing this tune made me feel even more whole.

Throughout the gig, people seemed not to believe on the real power of U2. I mean, the fans were aware. But the band behave with such compromise to the audience that seemed they wanted to give their lifes away, just like Bono expresses on With Or Without You. Actually, they gave themselves away and left the country leaving us with a bittersweet taste. When we'll be seeing them again?

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