Summit County Citizens Voice

The legendary Irish group puts on a phenomenal show at Mile High Stadium

Bono and The Edge of U2.

Story and photos by Jenney Coberly

DENVER — I’m not sure anyone else on the music scene today could fill Mile High Stadium, but filled it was for the U2 concert on Saturday night, May 21. What is it about U2 that inspired 70,000-plus people to pile into the stadium? Well for one thing, many of their faithful follow them around the country, attending multiple concerts. The women next to me flew in from Salt Lake City, and was planning to see U2 again there Tuesday. A guy behind me was from New York and goes to U2 concerts all over the country. I overhead him on his cell phone telling a friend that “you should have come to this one, it’s going to be great.” I overheard other conversations around me where people were talking about the airport and their flights.

The concert itself was an amazing experience, in large part due to the charisma and larger-than-life presence of Bono.

Bono.

All of the band members stepped out onto the ramps surrounding the main stage at some point in the concert, so anyone in the front rows of the stadium floor got an up-close and personal look at Bono, The Edge, Adam and Larry.

The Edge on the catwalk.

Adam Clayton.

The Edge.

Larry Mullen.

Bono is well known for his charitable works, and before the concert, ONE campaign volunteers were  outside of Mile High, signing up new members. Bono is a co-founder of ONE, which fights poverty and disease around the world. In addition, a portion of the concert seating along the runways were designated as the “Red Zone”, with proceeds helping the Global Fund and Product Red’s work to fight AIDS in Africa.

Bono.

In this video, the band performs their song Stay (faraway, so close). Bono has a few humorous introductory remarks about Frank Sinatra.

No, this isn’t the set of a remake of the War of the Worlds movie, it’s the stage . It took days to set up prior to the concert, and was prominently featured on the local news channels.

The U2 "space station" at Mile High Stadium.

The stage crew to operate the vast apparatus marched out prior to the start of the concert like the astronauts from the movie the “Right Stuff”, in uniforms with tools dangling everywhere from belts and harnesses, and proceeded to climb the lofty heights to their perches.

Guy in the sky.

Filed under: Colorado, music and concerts Tagged: | Adam Clayton, Bono, Denver, Edge, Frank Sinatra, Mile High Stadium, pictures of Bono, pictures of U2, rock concerts, Summit County Colorado, Summit County News, U2, U2 360 tour, U2 videos