U2 Vertigo Tour Houston, TX Toyota Center. My first time to go to a U2 concert and it was worth every penny. U2 is known as one of the best live bands around, and they didn’t disappoint. The band was fully into every song they performed and really got the crowd engaged.

You can read the full review below, but my favorite part of the concert was when U2 finished the first encore with the classic With or Without You. Roxy, my girlfriend, isn’t the biggest U2 fan, but she knows they’re my favorite band. She thinks all their songs sound the same, but I’ve inserted a few U2 songs into some of the CDs that I burn for her on special occasions. Anyway, the only song she recognizes is With or Without You, so I called her when U2 started playing the song, told her I loved her, then held the phone out so she could listen to the entire song. She loved it, and I think I have converted her into a U2 fan. We decided that we will go to a U2 concert together some day.

I became a big fan of U2 while I was in college, but I was living out of the country during the Elevation tour, meaning this was my first real chance to go, but the tickets sold out within minutes of them going on sale. I lurked on eBay until I found a good deal for three tickets for the D, R, and me, and bought them.

U2 opened the show with City of Blinding Lights and the crowd was a little flat. You could tell many of the nosebleed section were casual fans only. For a moment I thought that the rest of the night was going to be like watching a band play on TV. Nevertheless, Devin and I sang along with COBL, Vertigo, and Elevation. Then came Electric Co., a real old song of U2s that most of the crowd was unfamiliar with, but not me :). It’s an awesome live song - there are some great guitar riffs and bass notes. Other memorable moments included a rocking rendition of Love and Peace Or Else (another great live song) that featured Bono banging away on the drums and leading to Sunday Bloody Sunday.

Overall the casual fans would sit down on some of the slow songs, subduing the atmosphere a bit, but they went crazy with Where the Streets Have No Name and the arena was deafening - it sounded like the noise at a good Aggie football game.

My second favorite part of the night was the last two songs - Yahweh and 40. Yahweh (entire lyrics) is a modern praise song that has some beautiful lyrics such as take this soul, stranded in some skin and bones, take this soul and make it sing… take this mouth, so quick to criticize, take this mouth, give it a kiss…. 40 (lyrics)is an old song from the War album that was inspired by Psalm 40. When they finish 40, each member of the band walks off one by one while the others are still playing. Finally Larry Mullen Jr., the drummer, is left keeping the rhythm while the crowd continues to chant: “How long, to sing this song”. He finishes off with a drum flurry, waves to the crowd, and the concert is over.