Awesome

They rocked the AAC so magnificiently. The Edge is a phenom. We had pretty decent seats. We took my new Irish flag that Rachel got me for my apartment. So much fun. Bono was in an improv mood all night. Making up new lyrics. Forgetting others. The highlight for me was probably the CoeXisT white headband that Bono later turned into a blindfold looking like a POW. Just really powerful imagery going on there. CoeXisT is a piece of graphitti art that they saw somewhere in the midwest and adopted. The C is the muslim crescent, the X is the Star of David, and the T is the crucifix. He summed it best: The worst kind of fight is a family fight - Mohammed, David, Jesus, all sons of Abraham. This was all during Sunday Bloody Sunday which Bono now considers a song for the war America finds herself in. He then pulled a child out of the crowd and had him sit up on stage calling him a son of Abraham and having him lead us all in the classic "No More!" chant during Sunday. "Wipe your tears away." It inspiring how much hope and faith he has in the future. That led into a rendition of Bullet the Blue Sky that was less angry and more bluesly and dedicated to the men and women of the U.S. Military. Bono improvising "When Johnny comes marching home again" at the end.

The other big highlight of the night was Bono pulling up a dude from the audience who had an Angel of Harlem sign that said he could play. They brought him up and brought out one of Edge's acoustics and away they went. It was so awesome, not just for him and everyone watching but also because they haven't played that song all tour and may not play it again for the remainder. It's one of Rachel's faves so it was very special to hear that one. After the dude got Bono to trade sunglasses with him (!!!) he took his place in the crowd and they played With or Without You the song Rachel really hoped to hear live because she hadn't the other two times she saw them. Of course Bono pulled a girl on stage and held her while he sang it, a staple of that song live. I was cracking up at the guy behind me who upon seeing this said, "O, he's pulling out all the stops!" So it was a night full of surprises, imagery, hope, compassion, rock, and of course vertigo.

Click here for more about Sunjay and the Angel of Harlem

Oh and Happy Birthday to Larry Mullen Jr! In LA for his birthday they were the Larry Mullen Band. Awesome.