by Joanne Knipmeyer, Dacono, CO

Little Stevie opened the show and Bono had hurt his arm the night before. Bono already had an audience member play his guitar and then started asking the crowd if someone else could play his guitar. In an instant I remember yelling to my friends, “It’s going to be The Boss.” 4 of them looked at me blankly and the other friend realized the same thing I did; if Little Stevie opened then there was a good chance Bruce was in the audience. Sure enough, Bruce came out and Bono got a taste of why Philadelphia loves The Boss. It was one of those rare magical nights in music. A seemingly strange pairing of artists but an incredible display of everyone’s talent. It made me appreciate U2 even more, for Bono to know his audience well enough to supply the only replacement that wouldn’t cause Philly fans to boo him off stage, was a stroke of genius.