even better than the real thing - U2 in buenos aires

where to begin.
even for those who hate bono and are not a fan of u2's music, last night was a sight to behold. i was lucky enough to go to the first of their two concerts here in buenos aires and i have never witnessed anything like it.

the city has been an absolute buzz of excitement for these shows. everywhere you turn there something regarding the shows. the tickets were going for a bigillion dollars and i didn't think there was a chance in hell that i'd score a ticket but, as is usually the case, my dear friend craigslist came the rescue. i posted a want add and got a few responses from people who really jacked up their prices and then finally i got one kind soul who only did a 50% mark up, fernando. he said he liked my name (i think he said that his mother's name is anne or something) and he noticed from my email signature that i had lived in nyc and he loves nyc so he thought it was a sign or something. when i met fernando we talked about how he has traveled all over the world and seen all sorts of concerts but how a concert in argentina is different. he said the energy and passion here cannot be matched. holy shit. he was so right.

the show was scheduled for 10pm. he told me to get ther around 3pm. what? i didn't take his advice but i also didn't realize that it is not just the hardcore fans that show up five hours early, the WHOLE stadium shows up five hours early.

when i got there, i positioned myself up high in the stadium because i was as interested in seeing the crowd interact with the band as much as i was interested in seeing the band. franz ferdinand opened and they started their set with an intro cover of neutral milk hotel which led into one of their own songs. wha? awesome! they were really fun and got the crowd all crazy like. the crowd was already in high-spirits. u2 as only been to argentina once before and it was almost a decade ago so every individual in the stadium had to swim the deepest ocean, climb the highest mountain, fight a couple dinosaurs, walk over hot coals and then throw down a load of cash in order to get their hands on a ticket. they were AMPED.

and then u2 came on. i wish i had the words to describe the crowd. it was absolutely one of the most amazing and beautiful things i have ever seen in my life. it was so beautiful i didn't know whether to laugh or cry. looking down and just seeing this mass of humanity, this sea of people, a liquid crowd moving together. so happy, so enthralled, so overwhelmed. 70,000 people, a small city, 7 or 8 times the size of ojai. everyone singing every single word, fixated on one point. just blew my mind. those thousands of people turning into one entity for three hours. on top of that, i've never seen the band perform like they did. the energy totally ignited then. they were insane. near the end, bono kept approaching the microphone in order to say something but he couldn't seem to get the words out(and if there is one thing that the man never lacks, it's words). he kept stepping up and then taking a step back and just looking out in awe shaking his head. finally, he said, "we will never forget this. you've been the best", then he stepped back and looked out some more like he couldn't leave the stage. at the end he finally said thank you and good night as the rest of the band was leaving the stage but he just continued standing there blown away.

ah, music. amazing.