The U2 360 show in Nashville was fantastic, which was a nice reward for that long trafficy 16 hour drive from Miami the day before. It was my 50th day on my U2 360 across America tour, my 10th show this leg, my 69th U2 show overall and someone said Nasvhille was the 100th show of the entire 360 tour. U2 played The Wanderer for the first time, honoring Johnny Cash. After Moment of Surrender as U2 was walking off stage, Bono pulled a blind guy up on stage who played guitar while the band came back and played All I Want is You and then Bono gave him his ‘goal is soul’ guitar.

Tasha flew in the morning of the U2 show in Nashville. We relaxed in our hotel room in the morning, then had lunch at Blackstone on the way to Vanderbilt Stadium, which was about a 7 block walk. We arrived at the stadium and immediately discovered where the band was going to enter – we saw the signs for the dressing rooms on the building attached to the stadium. Since it was hot and sunny, we decided to stand in the parking garage to wait for them. We had a great view of where they were going to get out of their cars and enter the building, or if they walked out to sign autographs and take pictures we could run down to meet them. After a couple hours, everyone figured out where we were and joined behind us. Edge arrived first, waited in the car a while, and then went into the building. We noticed that Edge’s car had a Shelby County license plate, which is Memphis. Then we saw Willie Williams give Edge’s security guy a Sun Studio tee shirt. Were U2 in Memphis visiting Sun Studio and Graceland without me? Bono arrived next and started to walk toward us, but his security pulled him back saying they didn’t have time. Adam and Larry arrived at the same time. Adam got out of the car first and went into the building. Larry then got out of his car and smiled and waved to the fans then went into the building.

I watched the show in Nashville from Adam’s side of the stage because Tasha loves Adam. Also, U2 entered from Adam’s side of the stage, so for only the 2nd time I didn’t watch them walk under the stage from Edge’s side. Bono again shouted ‘Achtung Y’all!’ during The Fly. Bono pulled our friend Dan up on stage during I Will Follow – it was Dan’s birthday. To honor Johnny Cash, U2 played The Wanderer for the first time ever in concert. I heard the audience cheer for the first time when Bono sang, ‘a shout rings out in the MEMPHIS sky’ during Pride. After Moment of Surrender, Edge, Larry and Adam were walking off stage when Bono announced they had a special guest. A guy appeared on stage and played guitar to All I Want is You while the rest of the band joined in. He dedicated the song to his wife and then Bono gave him his green ‘Goal is Soul’ guitar. Security was really annoying and wouldn’t let us stand to watch U2 walk out of the stadium, but we managed anyway. After screaming LARRY a few times, he finally turned to me and smiled and waved. As we were walking out of the stadium, we noticed the fan who was on stage was walking out right in front of us. He was blind, and he didn’t have the guitar with him. He said he had a sign saying something like ‘pull a blind man on stage’ and they were mailing him the guitar. I later realized I had been emailing him the day of the show trying to find him a GA ticket.

Please watch my video of U2 arriving at Vanderbilt stadium http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OB3ed9UMgxI

Please watch my video of U2 entering Vanderbilt stadium http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgF3IaPSYho

Please watch my video of Larry and Bono LET ME IN THE SOUND http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLLu2YFJB0w

Please watch my video as Bono introduces the band http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phx0gdKTXoY

Please watch my video of U2 peforming The Wanderer for the first time http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAx66QBtgRI

Please watch my video of Larry during I’ll Go Crazy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PR6uHmOtMi8

Please watch my video of Larry’s drum solo during Scarlet http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvpgePre1mQ

Please watch my video of the fan on stage playing All I Want is You with U2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzcxD0I7tgA

Please watch my video of an overview of U2 360 Nashville http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6InUy1jNWA

The U2 360 show in Nashville was a great show! It bumped Baltimore out of the spot for my second favorite show, and may even be better than Seattle – although Larry did shake my hand at the Seattle show. But in Nashville I saw Larry arrive and get out of the car and walk into the building, which I hadn’t seen Larry arrive at any of the previous 9 shows. We got 2 extra songs in Nashville – the first time playing of The Wanderer in memory of Johnny Cash, whom I love, and All I Want is You is played with a fan on stage who got to keep the guitar. Also I got to hang out with a lot of my friends – Tasha, Chuck, Jennifer, Melissa, and others. I didn’t take any pictures, which is proof I was really into the show. It was hot though – hotter than Baltimore even.

The morning after the U2 show in Nashville, we drove to Hendersonville about a half hour away to visit Johnny Cash’s grave. Tasha and I are both big Johnny Cash fans and had never been to his grave, even though I’ve lived in Memphis the past 3 years.

We left Hendersonville to make our way to Chicago for the U2 show Tuesday.  We passed by the Corvette museum on the way and stopped at Abraham Lincoln’s birthplace in Kentucky – even though we thought he was born in Illinois. Now we’re spending today the 4th of July relaxing in our hotel in downtown Chicago. Later we’ll go out and enjoy one of our favorite cities. Tomorrow is the U2 360 show at Soldier Field, the only venue this leg that I’m seeing U2 where I’ve seen them before. I wonder what special moments will happen during U2 360 in Chicago – my 70th U2 show?