On the Road With U2

My musical journey on the road with U2 started 21 years ago today in Hampton, Virginia. It was Saturday March 7, 1992, and I was 19. My first U2 show was the fifth of the ZooTv Tour. On the morning of March 7th, my best friend Cindy and I drove four hours south from Ellicott City, MD to Hampton, VA. Back in those days, there was no need to get to the city of a concert a day early because there was no general admission – we had actual assigned seats on the floor. We checked into our hotel and immediately walked across the street to the Hampton Coliseum, even though it was hours before the concert was to start. We saw a small circle of people with a big microphone hovering over them. As we got closer, we realized Bono was in the middle of that circle! I didn’t speak with him, but got close enough to take pictures and to hear what he was saying to everyone else. For my first U2 show, I was seated in the fourth row in front of The Edge. Bruce Hornsby and Phil Joanou walked in from behind the stage and passed by us on their way to the soundboard. The Pixies opened, and I did not like them at all. But then again, I just wanted to hear U2. I had waited five years since the release of The Joshua Tree to see them in concert!

In Hampton, VA on March 7, 1992 for the only time on the ZooTv Tour according to U2gigs.com, “The Fly is played after Even Better Than the Real Thing and Mysterious Ways, rather than before.” The set list from my first U2 show was as follows: Zoo Station, Even Better Than the Real Thing, Mysterious Ways, The Fly, One, Until the End of the World, Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses, Tryin to Throw Your Arms Around the World, Angel of Harlem, Satellite of Love, Bad/All I Want is You, Bullet the Blue Sky, Running to Stand Still, Where the Streets Have No Name, Pride, I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For, Desire, Ultra Violet, With or Without You.