Seats: General Admission – Front Row Centre, Outer Rail
With respect to the show, it was another special one. I can’t say enough how amazing Azteca is as a concert venue for the 360 tour. Unlike Wednesday’s show, which was the third show put on sale after the first two sold out, Saturday night was packed to the rafters. Over 110,000 fans for that sold-out show. My friend Cathal, who has been to every city on the tour, has a strong claim to say that Mexico City has the loudest fans by function of culture and sheer size of the stadium.
Thirteen years ago that night, Frank Sinatra had passed away. In homage to Sinatra, Bono sung Strangers in the Night to great effect after Until the End of the World. It’s moments like these – rare snippets – that make shows special for us multiple concert goers. Another highlight of the show was hearing Desire once again. I remember the sing-along part when I was at the Barcelona show at the start of the tour, and craved to hear the same volume and dedication to the lyrics of this Rattle and Hum classic. I wasn’t disappointed to hear the Mexican fans singing the chorus to Desire. To boot, it was a pleasant surprise to hear Stay (Faraway, So Close). Although English was not their first language, I was amazed that the Mexican fans sung along to every U2 lyric with gusto. This linguistic phenomenon, of non-English speaking fans being to sing the English lyrics of U2, has always blown me away. Hearing Discotheque added to the end of I’ll Go Crazy Tonight was another highlight, particularly the guitar riff that Edge adds at the end. We don’t get a lot of Pop material, but when we do, it’s a precious moment.
Near the end, it was nice to hear Ultraviolet make a reappearance. It is a funky song that can get the crowd bumping before the climatic end of Moment of Surrender. I’ve always loved Ultraviolet, and am gutted that we don’t get to hear it often enough. It is understandable that U2 wanted to change the set list from what we were accustomed to from the first North American leg. As such, going to a city that has multiple shows allows us to hear Ultraviolet at least once. This helps justify my trips to Anaheim and Montreal for the remainder of the tour.
