U2 Vertigo Tour Setlist Photo Essay 9.16.2005 // Air Canada Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Like I mentioned in the post from the car on Friday, the first sign that this could be a special day was the random radio scan falling on a station called 'The Edge'... interesting enough to take a picture to start off our Toronto journey...


It poured all the way to Toronto on Friday. Not knowing what the line situation was for the GA ticketholders, this was not a pleasant sight...


Got a room with a view at the Sheraton Center a couple blocks from the ACC...


Got in line around 5:30pm and the regular GA line was around the corner. A few girls were making a sign in preparation for the show. We decided to get in the U2.com line which was about a third the length of the regular GA line. We heard rumors that because the regular GA line had two turnstiles it moved faster as opposed to the U2.com line only having one turnstile. We took our chances...

We got in! Our decision ultimately paid off! While the general GA line did move slightly faster, the U2.com line was still short enough that we got in with the first group of about 300 people. Got to the scanning tables and actually got into the ellipse on the first shot! The U2 gods were taking care of us that night! Maybe they like the Vertiblog...


Reality took awhile to set in. When I first looked back at the empty arena, and we were on the rail literally feet from the main mic, it finally sunk in that we were front row for U2. The odds of just getting a GA ticket were high, but to be in the ellipse was just something we never counted on. What a kick ass surprise.


After Dashboard Confessional (who were great, btw...), the stage is set up for U2.


Edge's guitar tech (Dallas) was meticulous in setting up Edge's rig. From lighting positions, to adequate foot sweep over the pedals, it was interesting to see the pre-show tweaks taking place up close and personal...


City of Blinding Lights surprised us as the opener as it's been pretty much Vertigo out of the gate for the past several shows. We did see them setting up the keyboard initially, so that should have given it away. We were still a little bit in awe at this point at our good fortune. Bono immediately grabbed a camera and started snapping a few pics of himself...


These shots are deceiving at how close we actually were.


Bono wrapping up COBL... he was pumped and the arena was deafening. Loudest crowd I've ever heard at a U2 show...


Remember our interview with Barco, the LED lighting company? It was nice to see the MiSphere's up close right out of the gate... They were VERY cool and even up close they were visually effective. We'd heard people saying that if you were up close you'd miss out on the light show. We found that not to be the case...


Adam in the groove for 'Vertigo'. It was great being toward Adam's side. Some fans had made some sort of sign for him and he seemed to get a kick out of it. Lots of smiles from the bass man.


Bono doing some Woo-Hoos into Elevation...


Bono really was feeling the energy from the bomb shelter.


Edge and Bono make their first trek out onto the ellipse... We're used to being in the nosebleeds so this was a nice change in perspective...


Edge giving the fans behind the stage some attention...


Bono during 'Sunday Bloody Sunday'...


Edge ripping it up during 'Sunday..'


Bono finding his way to the mic with his 'Coexist' bandana covering his eyes...


Streets!


Bono changed the words to 'I want to take shelter from the Hurricane...' in reference to Hurricane Katrina


One...


...with Daniel Lanois, co-producer of 'The Unforgettable Fire' and 'The Joshua Tree' as well as a collaborator on several other U2 projects over the years...


Lian Lunson (producer of 'Leonard Cohen I'm Your Man' premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival) was on stage to film 'All Because of You' and the 2nd ever performance of 'Fast Cars'... who knows, maybe we'll be on the dvd as they panned the cameras several times across the front row...


Bono really kicked things up a notch during the 'Fast Cars' filming...


More 'Fast Cars' shots...


Bono hamming it up as the song closes... one lucky fan got the tamborine he threw into the crowd.


Local Toronto band 'Menew' was brought up on stage to play 'Out of Control'. They were actually pretty good... Bono and Larry could be seen behind the drum kit nodding their heads showing their approval.


These guys were having a blast...


Crowd was going nuts...


Edge playing Adam's bass during '40'.


My favorite shot... Bono shining the spot on the crowd all around the arena.

Well that's it. We hope this makes up for the lack of live updates on Friday night. It turns out Verizon Wireless does not allow emailing pics from the Rogers Wireless network...