The U2 concert in Tampa, Florida on November 10, 1997 at Houlihans Stadium was my favorite of the Popmart tour, and my favorite ‘T’ U2 concert overall. It was at this show that my Larry (wait for it) was almost replaced by Bono in my heart – I said almost.

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, and Ft. Myers was only a two hour drive to both the Tampa and Miami shows. Third Eye Blind opened both these shows, and I really liked them. Lead singer Stephen Jenkins used the catwalk and the b stage.

At the time, the Popmart show in Tampa 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 were no GA shows yet, so this was sort of my first GA show. But unlike the GA shows that would come later, there was nothing between me and the b stage. On Popmart, U2 entered through the crowd and onto the b stage. When U2 played on 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.

U2 sounded better than the shows I had seen on the first leg of Popmart. Even though it was raining and the top deck of the stadium was empty, it was a great show that night in Tampa! 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 four years later on the Elevation Tour. Also in attendance that night 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.

The set list Tampa Popmart 11.10.97 was as follows: 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, All I Want Is You, Staring At The Sun, Sunday Bloody Sunday, Bullet the Blue Sky-America, 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.

This is part of my Blogging from A to Z Challenge about ‘My U2 Concerts A to Z.’ Thanks for stopping by. Please come back tomorrow as I write about my favorite ‘U’ U2 show.