Mysterious Distance: Even Better Than the Real Thing!!!

Thursday, March 31, 2011

Even Better Than the Real Thing!!!

Give me one more chance, and you'll be satisfied.

Give me two more chances, you won't be denied.'

Opening night of three at Estadio Unico de La Plata in Buenos Aires and a big surprise right at the top of the show as the return of Space Oddity gave way to the unmistakable opening bars of Even Better Than The Real Thing. A huge response from this capacity crowd for a song that hasn't been in the live set for almost a decade, and the Argentinian volume levels didn't drop all night.

'What time is it in the world… and where are we going?
Palermo… San Telmo…Canitas…Buenos Aires! '

Magnificent led into Mysterious Ways and before the return of the new and unreleased North Star we had a stadium-wide rendition of Happy Birthday led by Edge to Chanty, a good friend who's in town. Felt like there was a big Irish community in the house tonight. 'Still Haven't Found' included a shout out to a special guest:'John Cusack in the house tonight...'

Bono wondered aloud why this place 'so far from where we live feels so much like home', before introducing his 'team-mates' with a suitably sporting theme for this soccer-crazy nation: 'The youngest member of U2, with the feet of a dancer and a truly great dribbler... Larry Mullen Jnr on drums'; also on stage tonight, 'the handsome, El Pipita of U2 on bass guitar' and 'the omnipresent... Pupi Zanetti of our band, The Edge.' As for the singer? 'Not so sure but If I could be him I'd be Carlos Apache...'

Great vibes all round tonight, both celebratory and serious: felt like the entire stadium was clapping in unison during a moving instrumental version of Mothers of the Disappeared, and Bono recited the names of the 'madres'. There was a special tribute to fans who have been waiting outside, camping for days, ahead of this show.

'What a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful night, we will not forget this, what a great country you have, what a great city, out in La Plata, where the streets really don't have names. This Grand Madness, this Space Station, let's take out your phones and make it disappear...'

And there was one other notable tribute before the close: 'Think about Gustavo Cerati... we send love, love, love and respect and he will hear your voices tonight.' As Alexis in Buenos Aires added on Twitter: 'Bono just sent a big kiss and hug to Gustavo Cerati, a huge Argentinian musician, that is in coma for almost an year, great moment for Argentinian fans...'