After what must be a good two months of off and on searching, I hit the jackpot this weekend. I found a collection of FTP sites offering downloads of U2 bootlegs. They even had an "A" quality audience bootleg of the 11-30-01 concert in Atlanta, which Genia and I attended. Amazing! I spent all day Saturday downloading the files, and last night I listened to the whole concert. My memories of the concert came flooding back, and I was blown away all over again.

The band walked onto the stage, house lights up, with the opening chords of Elevation playing. Bono walked to the tip of the heart, knelt down on one knee, and made the Catholic sign of the cross before jumping up to begin his performance. The whole band was on fire for every single song, and the emotions Bono conveyed remind me of the stories of the Slane Castle performance. This was clearly an emotional night for him.

He talked about losing his father and dedicated "Kite" to Mike Mills (REM) who had recently lost his father also. He mentioned Micheal Hutchence (INXS) before singing "Stuck in a Moment" and said that there were "less stars in the sky" before singing George Harrison's "My Sweet Lord." He talked briefly about September 11th before an acoustic performance of "Please." Bono recited the line from the Psalms -- "What can I give back to God for the blessings he's poured out on me?" -- as The Edge played the spectacular opening chords of "Where the Streets Have No Name." We were feeling a bit of heaven on earth at that moment, and a heartfelt performance of "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" took us a little bit higher. As I listened to Bono sing "Hear us calling, Lord, knocking at your door" as he closed out "One," I shared the cry of his heart. The show closed with "Walk On" and a chorus of Hallelujahs before Bono said "and unto the Almighty God, thank you, for all gifts, [and] blessings." Amen.

The power of this concert was amazing, and there are few other moments in my life that compare. It was everything U2 means to me rolled into one two-hour shot. Having this bootleg, and being able to listen as I remember, is a really special thing for me.