'Summertime in Soldier Field'

5 Jul 2011
The only place to open this review is at the end. A quarter century, almost to the day, from the death of Greg Carroll, friend and crew member, tonight closed with a beautiful tribute.

'The moon is up and over One Tree Hill
We see the sun go down in your eyes.
You run like a river on to the sea
You run like a river runs to the sea...'

If All I Want Is You surprised everyone at the close of the Nashville show, tonight Soldier Field was equally transfixed as a song the band  rarely play outside Greg's New Zealand, emerged from Moment of Surrender to end the night.

'Twenty five years ago we lost our great friend, his name was Greg Carroll, we wrote a song for him...
'Here's the  deal,'  added Bono. 'If we screw up really badly you don't put it on the internet.'

It was a fitting finale to a memorable night, the day after the Independence Day before.

'Summertime in Soldier Field,' as Bono had observed early on. 'Where else would you want to be?' Opening with a dazzling quartet  of tracks from Achtung Baby before slamming into Out of Control ('This is our first single...') and 'Get On Your Boots', no-one wanted to be anywhere else.

'How was it for you this morning after the party?' asked Bono, referring to the Chicago White Sox game the previous night, 'Was re-entry a little difficult. Edge and I missed the party, from what we hear Larry and Adam have been the very soul of it...'

They were working on a campaign, he continued, to extend Independence Day into Independence Week. 'We've been talking to Mayor Emanuel. You don't have to go to work tomorrow - it's official!'

You could say that went down quite well.  

'My kind of town, Chicago is my kind of town'.

The band have had some great times in this city, including three nights here at Soldier Field on PopMart in 1997 and you never have any doubts about an audience here. 'Incredible, we've had some noisy shows but.. something very special happened with our band and your city!'

Were you at  Soldier Field tonight ? When was it you realised you were Out of Control?  What was the moment you'll never surrender? Add your own review and upload your photos on our Tour Pages.

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