Hi Wire World!
As I said before, I still can't believe it. Even though I only got
the chance to meet one Wireling (Hi Marie!) personally, and two
others by phone, I didn't got an autograph, and I wasn't too close to
the stage, I couldn't be MORE excited right now...I'm still in
oblivion, and I'll try to summarize it all.
It was around 9 pm. In that moment, the opening act began to
play. It was a Chilean group named Santa Locura. They played 5
songs, more or less. They weren't so bad, nor excellent either. After
the band ended playing (about half an hour), you could feel the air
filled with impatience, people knowing the time is coming, but not
knowing the exact moment...Until Bittersweet Symphony (at
least for me, I guess people didn't know that BS is regularly
the song previous to MI)....I started feeling really excited. The
adrenaline was rushing all over me: My first U2 show ever was
about to begin...When MI began playing, people realized that the
time was coming. With Pop Muzik, the people began dancing, like if
they were preparing themselves for THE moment...until the word POP
appears in its wholeness on the screen (the O that was a soccer ball
really caused a stir in the crowd because that day, Chile
had just won a soccer match to England, 2-0)...until our dear
guys appeared!! Adam and Larry were really cool, Edge was a
cutie and Bono seemed to be fueled by an electric spark! People began
dancing and jumping to Mofo, but apparently people didn't know that
well the lyrics to it. People began to jump even more with I will
Follow (me, I was a little coil jumping around!)
Walkawaywalkawaywalkaway, I will follow...I don't know why the show
began to become a really PERSONAL experience for me. Even though
there were another 64,999 persons (approx. figure, I don't have the
exact number), I felt that the show was specially for me...I don't
know if it was because I went on my own, or because going to a
PopMart show meant (and still means) so much to me, but the
experience could be compared to being in my room, listening to them
and feeling how the music flows into me...It was that intimate
despite being such a stadium act. Gone was truly intense because I
had heard it entirely on the previous soundcheck in the afternoon; it
was like listening to the result of what I had heard before.
When EBTTRT began, everything came all over me. It was the first time
I heard an AB song live!! (AB is my #1 record) That song made me
fall in love with the four of them once again. After EBTTRT and
before LNOE, Bono began to spoke in Spanish:..."Buenas noches!
Gracias por esperarnos...Nosotros tambien los esperabamos. Es U2 en
el fin del mundo...Viva Chile! Viva Santiago! Viva el futuro! (Good
night! Thanks for waiting...We were waiting for you too. It's
U2 at the end of the world...Long live Chile! Long live Santiago!
Long live the future!)" And so, LNOE began.I loved the animations
onscreen...In the middle of the song, Bono made references to the
full moon above the stadium ("the moon is high") and that they were
"en el fin del mundo", at the end of the world. Edge was great on
the "You gotta give it away" part. UTEOTW made me feel outside and
inside myself at the same time. It was a weird and surreal feeling!
NYD set the stadium on fire. Many people went exclusively for
the older songs, so whe NYD began, people went crazy! I felt the "I
will be with you again" line very deeply into my heart, like a
promise that I had to do to myself, making them be with me again!
Pride was totally AMAZING.People couldn't stop repeating the
"oh,oh,oh,oh" part, even over the "early morning..." lines!
People were bouncing to the song. ISHFWILF made the whole stadium
vibrate with joy. It was dedicated to Victor Jara. It was a touching
moment because everybody was with the lighter on, so it was a
beautiful sight. Then, THE MOMENT came for me...I heard the two first
notes of Bad. It struck me deeply because I wasn't sure that they
would be playing it...and it is one of my favorites...Bad was really
beautiful. It broke me into a thousand pieces and put me together
again.
Then, it was the b-stage section. Bono said that he went to the grave
of Pablo Neruda, and that he had brought a flower from there. Then,
he dedicated SATS to Pablo Neruda. Afterwards, Edge gave us
his SBS rendition, which totally moved me. They continued with
BTBS, which was very, very intense. Edge showed his awesome
talent as usual :) Streets was also a very strong experience The
animations were great!!
The Bono said "This is a song for the Irish", and Please began.
People didn't seem to follow much the song, until Bono asked us to
repeat with him "Please...Please...Get up off your knees now" . The
ending broke my heart once more: it was a beautiful falsetto! It
made me cry, really...Then, the LEMON TIME was about to begin.
Some people began actuallly singing Lemon (the full song on the
normal version), but not everyone. Then, the lemon began sliding to
the b-stage...it opened slowly and the boys were wearing the Chilean
soccer team jerseys, which cuased a huge frenzy! Larry came down
first, and Bono came down last, holding a soccer ball. He kicked the
ball to the audience after saying "you just can't get enough/of that
lovey dovey stuff" (It was all so fitting. The lovey dovey stuff
seemed to be soccer, which we Latin American people adore! It's a
passion!). Discotheque made me dance!
Velvet Dress...people were a bit lost with this one. They tried to
clap to the song and they couldn't. Nevertheless, they became very
excited when Bono picked the girl from the audience to dance with him
(me, I was green with the envy ;) The first notes on WOWY brpught
TOTAL ECSTASY into the stadium. People were really waiting for
this song. Everyubody sang to it really loudly.
Afterwards, they went for a moment, and they showed the two goals
that Salas (Chilean soccer player) scored against UK. People were
actually shouting Goal!, until the MacPhisto symbol appeared on the
screen. Edge showed us once again his brilliancy. Bono was really
funny on this one, drawing on the air a halo over his head and then
the horns, the halo, and the horns....People clapped more when he did
the horns....
Mysterious Ways made everyone dance. People reacted really well
to it. The moon reference worked out well too! You could feel
also the chemistry between Bono and Edge. That made the song
great! Lift my days, light up my nights....
Then everything began to take a more serious look. Bono made
a reference to "Viva el futuro! But to face the future, we have to
deal with the past...and with the ghosts of the past...Hey Mr.
Pinochet, tell these mothers where are their sons...let the living
bury their dead...Is it getting better..."The mothers began appearing
onstage with signs that showed their disappeared relatives, saying
"Donde Estan?" (Where are them?) I couldn't hold myself back and
began crying because of the feeling that hearing One live for the
first time meant to me, becuase of the mothers, because I knew the
show was ending soon...Everything ended with Mothers Of The
Disappeared, and the mothers speaking to the microphone introducing
themselves and saying the names of their lost relatives...then they
asked for justice ("Exijo justicia!"). Bono sang El Pueblo Vencera
(The People Will Win) and the dream ended there...
...though I'm still in oblivion...
a thrilled Peruvian Babyfly,
Mary
PS: Happy St Valentine's day Wire! (belated!)