“What kind of a person spends $30 for a t-shirt?” I wondered as I was standing within a mass of people Friday night. As the crowd made its way forward and I forked over the cash to a young lady, I suddenly had my answer. People like me.

It was Friday night and I found myself sitting in traffic on my way into Oakland. I was amazed at how many cars were on the road, and even though I was driving in the carpool we were moving at a snail’s pace. I was really looking forward to this evening, which had promise of great music and just plenty of fun. It was a nice departure from the slow-paced couple of weeks I had while recovering from the cough/cold that I had. I feel much better, by the way.

We got into Oakland fairly early, about an hour and a half before show time. After passing the arena, we decided it was time to grab some grub. We figured we could just make a U-turn and head back to where we saw some places to eat. Well, apparently that wasn’t possible and we found ourselves driving deeper into the more industrial areas of Oakland. It was a little scary, but driving behind a police car made us feel a little safer. After about 15 more minutes of seemingly random driving, we found ourselves where we wanted to be. We ate and headed to the arena.

After handing over $15 for the privilege of parking my car, we found a nice spot near the exit of the lot. We got inside and after spending some money on t-shirts, we found our seats. The seats we had we actually pretty good seats, fairly centered and not too high up. We sat down and watched the incoming crowd. The stage set-up was interesting, with a heart shaped catwalk enclosing a small area. We wondered about who the lucky people were that got tickets for that area and lamented for those who were stuck up high behind the stage. 7.30pm quickly approached and we were surprised at how empty the crowd seemed. The arena floor wasn’t very packed and many of the seats were still empty.

No Doubt came on stage and played a set of all their hits. They played Spiderwebs, I’m Just a Girl, Don’t Speak, Sunday Morning, New, and their new song, Hey Baby. Gwen looked exquisite and the band was rocking. We were a little disappointed at the crowd’s reaction. While the people in the enclosed area were moving pretty well, the rest of the crowd was fairly motionless. They finished their set in about 45 minutes and we were eagerly awaiting U2.

By this time, more seats had been filled and empty space on the arena floor became scarcer. Security was tight, but not in the way I had expected. Getting into the arena was a piece of cake, with backpacks and purses lightly searched. No metal detectors, etc. But those people trying to improve their viewing positions by going down to the arena floor were quickly turned back by security.

About a half-hour passed before we heard the opening notes of Elevation as Bono and the rest of U2 made their way onto the stage. They played a very impressive set of newer tunes, playing Beautiful Day and Stuck in a Moment, and older songs, such as The End of the World, Sunday Bloody Sunday, Pride, where the streets Have No Name, just to name a few.

The crowd was electric, the band was dynamic and Bono played the crowd as only Bono could. He brought up a few lovely ladies onto the catwalk and seemingly serenaded them. He also brought a guy on stage who wanted to play a song with them. Bono laughed at the back of his sign which read, “In America, it pays to advertise. The stage crew brought man a guitar and it was really amazing. The guy (whose name I sadly forget) was extremely talented and the song (which I did not remember) was well played. However, the moment of the evening (for me) came about halfway through the 2-hour set.

We had spotted a man down in the crowd earlier that evening, using a green, white and orange flag as a cape. I didn’t recognize it at first, but soon I realized that it was an Irish flag. The flag had made its way to the catwalk while Bono was standing at its front. He immediately took the flag and raised it up to the audience, which elicited a cheer. He then reached over to get an American flag which had made its way up to the stage. He took both of the flags and hugged them tightly. Then he laid down the Irish flag to his right on the catwalk and the same with the American flag on his left. He sat down in between both of the flags, lay down between them and wrapped himself with both. It was truly a great moment.

The show ended in a wonderful tribute to New York and those who died on September 11th. The second encore had U2 playing my favorite song, One while the screens behind the band displayed the names of all those who died on the 11th, including all the members of the NYPD and the FDNY. And before leaving the stage, Bono showed the crowd the inside of his leather coat, which contained the American flag as a lining. He turned the jacket inside-out and hung it over the microphone stand, and left.

Best show ever.