I traveled to Florida for the third leg of the Popmart tour. My parents have a condo in Ft. Myers, so I had a free place to stay. Laurie flew down with me to attend the shows in Tampa and Miami, both about a two hour drive from Ft. Myers.

At the time, the Popmart show at Houlihans Stadium in Tampa on November 10, 1997 was my favorite U2 show I had seen, including all of ZooTv and Popmart. I think mainly because I stood right on the b stage, rather than staying in my seat. There was nothing between me and the stage. And for Popmart, U2 entered through the crowd and onto the b stage. I thought they sounded better than the shows I had seen on the first leg. It was raining and the top deck of the stadium was empty, but it was a great show! Third Eye Blind opened, and I really liked them. Instead of karaoke like in the first leg, Edge sang Sunday Bloody Sunday, and a belly dancer from the audience came on up on stage for Mysterious Ways, like during ZooTv. I didn’t know it at the time, but that belly dancer was Melissa Pruitt who would become my friend 4 years later. Also in attendance was Beth Nabi, who blogs over at http://bethandbono.com. It was Beth’s first U2 show. She and I would meet and become friends 14 years later in Denver and see many shows together on the 360 tour.

A few days later on November 14, 1997 we drove over to Pro Player Stadium in Miami for my last Popmart show. We again did not stay in our seats and stood right at the b stage. I grabbed onto Bono’s leg (sort of hugged it actually) as he leaned over into the crowd. Although I have always been a Larry fan, I was really digging Bono during Popmart.

The set lists for both the Tampa and Miami Popmart shows were the same (except they played Miami in Miami): Mofo, I Will Follow, Gone, Even Better Than the Real Thing, Last Night on Earth, Until the End of the World, New Year’s Day, Pride, I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For, All I Want is You, Staring at the Sun, Sunday Bloody Sunday, Bullet the Blue Sky, Please, Where the Streets Have No Name, Discotheque, If You Wear That Velvet Dress, With or Without You, Hold Me Thrill Me Kiss Me Kill Me, Mysterious Ways, One, Wake Up Dead Man.