I sit here in Cali, a little over two days after U2 finished their third triumphant show at Croke Park in Dublin. I am completely jetlagged. I can’t figure out what time it is. I’m craving American food. But I can’t stop thinking that I got to see something special on Monday night.

Here’s how I spent my Monday.

Woke up in London after a too-quick visit with best friends. Got on the tube which took me to a train which took me to a plane which flew me to Dublin. Calling Southwest Airlines, did you know that Ryan Air has taken low-cost flying to such an extreme that they no longer have seat pockets on their aircraft? Those wily Irish.

Quick shower at the hotel, quick bag of chips (crisps for our European readers), into a cab to get in line. It’s about 3 p.m. It is hot. Even for this California boy, the sun is beating down. Luckily my melanin-fortified skin can take it. I think I saw about a dozen Irishmen burst into flames around 3:30 from the sun.

One of the weird things about a show of this magnitude is that you find yourself looking at familiar faces even though you might be 4000 miles away from the last place you saw them. As we walked up to the venue, who is in line for the outhouse but Dancing Alli and Professor Barbara, both of whom were last seen by me in Seattle. DA lives a couple miles away from me here in God’s Country. Other faces pass by my recognition filter. Is that the guy from Vegas? Is she the same one that danced in Vancouver? Half a world can’t separate us, can it? When the Hajj takes place, many of us feel like we need to go. It’s our duty.

SP and I are in the seventh cattle stockade row. Announcements are made. In the sixth stockade row is Bridget Little Edge, who I last hung out with at the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame when the U2 exhibit opened. That was a pleasant surprise.

The thing about the staff in Dublin, and there are more security than I’ve ever seen at any show, is that they’re friendly. They keep people in check, but in the politest of ways. There is no us v. them mentality to the security staff, which is how I feel the US people think of concerts. The guy announced that we’d all get in the pit and not to run, but one thing that security never understands is that just getting in the pit isn’t good enough. Everyone has their preferred space. Right at the front for the brave people, at the back of the enclosure for short people who need space. My preferred place is against a catwalk barricade so I never have to turn around. When SP and I finished our patented “fast-walk” we saw that DA and PB were exactly where we would have gone. There was room for our butts along with theirs and we sat down for the next two and a half hours. Met Jenny sitting next to us who was six months old when Live Aid was broadcast, making me feel even older than I am.

So there we were. Inside the pit. Facing the Adam side catwalk. The target platform was just to our left, the main stage, just to our right.

And the people came. Little by little the place filled up. Bathroom breaks, hand stamps, snacks, discussions, laughter, sunburn. An extremely beautiful day on the floor of Croke Park.

The crowd appears to be late arriving as The Bravery starts their set. The crowd, such as it is, is very supportive of them. I don’t recognize any songs. They look like a five-piece Stray Cats tribute band. They’re good. And they preen just enough so that they don’t look like they’re nervous to be playing in a venue larger than they’ll ever see again.

Break. Then Ash. The crowd sings along. The pit is full and rowdy in the best of ways. The stands are still not filling. At this time on Friday and Saturday we were well into a wave. After Ash there is some fun with a beachball. It falls again and again into the barricade, but instead of popping it, as security would in the US due to a beach ball’s obvious terrorism link, they perform relatively expert volleyball serves. On two occasions, a security guy does a free kick from the target platform itself, to the cheers of the crowd.

It’s showtime. 8:45. No band. No Arcade Fire. Interpol, then Killers, then David Bowie, then the CD restarts with “1979″. Where is the band? Is it because it’s light out? The sun is actually hitting the right fourth of the screen. The wave is gaining power after a lackluster beginning with boos all around for the top right section which can’t seem to follow it across the floor.

Then Rocco walks out to the Edge side target and watches the wave go around, offering encouragement on his microphone. He says prophetic words. “Night One was cool. Night Two rocked. Night Three will kick ass.” The crowd goes crazy, as expected. His reason for the late start? The sun on the screen and the late arriving crowd. Now it’s past nine and my entitlement sense is kicking in because of the 11 p.m. curfew. Will we get a shorter show? No encores?

It’s well after nine when Arcade Fire finally plays. The boys take the stage and launch into Vertigo. Oh well, same setlist, at least we’re in Dublin.

They look good close up. I’m surrounded by people who sing along and jump. Not like the back of the place. Bono bounces with arms outstretched. The song ends and we all get ready for whatever official BOY song is next. But wait, what’s this? ABOYou. Not usually seen until late in the setlist, it makes a very early appearance.

Gloria. Crowd goes crazy. Elevation, we’re jumping and my knees hurt, but I’m not complaining. The false start still gets about 75,000 jumping prematurely. Remember that these shows aren’t for us. Or are they?

An Cat Dubh is next. Before the show, while we were meeting the people around us as we sat against the barrier, Irish Alex, with a thick accent, told us that the correct pronunciation was “Un Caht Doo”. So let it be known from this day forward.

Into the Heart was a song I thought I’d never hear live. Then they brought it out at the beginning of this tour, but the crowd response wasn’t what they wanted. I feared it would be gone forever during the third leg. I’m going to admit something here. When I got my iPod they were offering free engraving on the back. I had seventeen words to work with. I chose the same ones that have been on my license plate frame since 1985. “Into the heart of a child, I can smile, I can go there.” So hearing Bono sing those words in Dublin was one of those transcendent moments I’ll never forget. He also pulls up a little girl in a cowboy hat. They walk to the tip of Edge’s target and Bono takes her hat off and he puts it on his head. He tries to give it back to her, but can’t. It’s stuck on his ear monitor. Beautiful Day starts, but Bono is stuck trying to get a hat off his head. The girl offers help and shows him how to loosen the string. There is no hat wrangler on staff, though there is a headband wrangler on the payroll. The hat finally comes off averting an emergency.

Beautiful Day plays. Then ISHFWILFor. Bono is about to announce the next song, but the crowd continues to sing and he waits for us while smiling. Then Edge sits at the piano. New Year’s Day? October into NYDay? Sweetest Thing? Nope. Original of the Species. Edge not playing his best, the band not coming in until halfway through, but a great song nonetheless.

Then the song that causes the most tears the most quickly for fans of the band. Bad. People in the pit are beside themselves. It sounds great, the back of the arena is standing, everyone watching Bono on the left target ramp. Fabulous. As the song is ending, he begins singing “I met my love, by the gas works wall. Dreamed a dream by the old canal…” Dirty Old Town makes the Dubliners go right into their singalong mode. Fun, fun, fun.

COBLights finally made use of the screens. MDrug is dedicated to Christopher Nolan, who the song was written for and is actually in attendance. Bono recites some of his poetry before singing. Then SYCMIOYOwn starts and Bono is finally coming down our ramp. As he makes his way, an Irish flag is thrown, so are sunglasses and a cowboy hat. Note to fans: Bono is about to sing a song about his late father and what he meant to him. He will not stop what he’s singing about to put on the hat that you just threw into his path. This bugs me every time. Are you offering him a present? If he touches your hat and then throws it back is that some kind of connection? For feck’s sake, let the guy sing a song to his father without you thinking that you can become part of that song. Because you can’t. Ok? It’s his song, not yours. End of sermon.

I’ve written before about being directly in front of him when he sings the opera note. And about being in the very back as he sings that same note. The former has much to recommend it over the latter. The three screens again have close-up, medium, and far away shots of Bono. The rest of the band is his support in this one case. He is steps away when he hits the note this time, along with the crowd. It’s pretty cool. I’m again close enough for him not to need the microphone and this is one of the rare chances to look into his uncovered eyes.

LAPOElse brings Larry down our side. The headband wrangler does her job and Bono is outfitted and drums exactly as goofily as he’s done all tour. Sunday Bloody Sunday is again a highlight as the entire place is standing and dancing and pumping fists. Bono mentions that the English army made a mistake in Croke Park during the first Bloody Sunday and the coalition forces are making the same mistake as the British by imprisoning Iraqis without a trial. We’re told that’s called internment. BTBSky. RTSSTill and we’re actually in the fog. Pride into Streets. Willie could have proven how special Dublin 3 was by replacing the flags with the red screen, but no such luck. I look back during the lights portion. Everyone is standing.

Bono continues his streak of not being able to read a calendar as he says during the interlude to One that “for the past couple of days we’ve asked people to take out their cell phones…” As we all know, since the first show in San Diego, the cell phone portion of the show has been part of the permanent setlist. One begins, but Edge can’t for the life of him find the right note to come in on. Bono looks at him as if to ask if they should just start it over. These mistakes that Edge makes during this show will prove to make it much better than it otherwise would have been. He made countless mistakes at this show, thereby proving that he’s human. I’d like to thank him for that.

One plays, but instead of the Fulani Chant that Bono and Edge have been doing at the end so far this tour, Bono goes back to the Elevation Tour by singing “you hear me coming Lord, you hear me call…” The geekiest among us go absolutely nuts realizing the rareness of this little piece of music. Then before we can catch our breath from our good fortune, Bono says “Only for you Dublin” and begins singing Unchained Melody. What else can happen? Holy shit.

They leave the stage. What about the curfew? Will we get any of the ZooTV stuff? How will the end the show?

The slot machines on the screen tell us that we’ll get the Zoo stuff. Zoo Station and we are completely covered in fog. Bono comes out way before his video image is finished putting the crowd in the position of figuring out which Bono is the real one. He marches towards us wearing his uniform, Edge is on the other platform singing “It’s alright, it’s alright”. The Fly is next and the screens look spectacular up close.

Next up the blue lights and WOWYou. For Dublin 3 all bets are off. Bono will add the “We’ll shine like stars in the summer night…” he has to. It’s Dublin. He looks to Edge at the end and I figure this is it, I can die now. But even after an extended ending bridge, they finish up as usual. I’ll keep my memories of PopMart. It was the only thing we geeks could have wished for after the show was over, that extra little bit.

Then the show ends with the second performance of Vertigo. We get the Stories For Boys ending. The lights are bright,the crowd excited, and we’re set to go home. After all, the screen still says, in cartoony cursive, “The End”.

SP and I turn towards each other, happy in the show, glad to have experienced it, then I notice something and say to him “the keyboard is out there, we’re getting Yahweh.” PB and DA can’t believe their luck. It’s way past curfew. They don’t appear to be ending this show anytime soon. The band leaves the stage for a bit and all indications were that it was over. But they begin playing it, with the animation on the screens. Larry is nowhere to be found as his part gets nearer and nearer and I can picture him backstage urging the band to call it a night. He completes his assigned keyboarding task and the song ends.

Bono mentions that the last three days have been more than they could have hoped for. I believe him.

They’ll leave now, right? Wait a minute, is that a bass that Edge is holding? Now they’ve done it. We’re going to end the Dublin portion of this tour with “40″. And not your run of the mill “40″. Bono gets the spotlight, which isn’t really strong enough to reach the way back. He does a couple of laps of the stadium with it. He sets it up, takes off his rosary beads and hangs them on the microphone stand and waves goodbye. A couple subtle differences happen then. Adam, who always seems to be in a hurry to get off stage the second Bono does, keeps playing. He hits some chords, does some Edge-like picking work on the guitar and after an Adam-eternity, leaves the stage with a wave. Edge is next. Then Larry is alone drumming. He plays along with the crowd as always. He stops playing while the crowd sings “How long…” like he always does, but this time, he lets the crowd sing two, maybe three choruses by itself before launching into his loud solo, which he also plays longer than normal. Then he stops, walks to the very, and I mean very, tip of the main stage where he waves all over the place, and walks out.

We are spent. We are hugging each other. Can you believe Unchained Melody? Dirty Old Town? “40″? People are smiling as they leave the stadium.

It’s so hard to write down how a show is better or worse than another show. But this one was better than most, and not just because of the shuffled setlist. It seemed to me like a thank you to Dublin. It wasn’t technically perfect, but I’m sure that the shows at the Dandelion Car Park weren’t technically perfect either, but we all wish we were around to have seen them.

Bono spoke out against the coalition forces in Iraq, the band did snippets we haven’t heard for years, songs were debuted for the European fans, the setlist was shuffled. No one knew what would happen next.

It reminds me of what it used to be like to be a U2 fan. Before the internet. Remember when we didn’t know the next song or what the stage would look like? We didn’t know what would open the show and we cheered long after the last song because we didn’t realize it was the last one. That’s the vibe I felt on Monday. They still found a way to surprise us, even me, and my name is Answer Guy.

They had a crane to film the Saturday show. Monday, they had photographers with huge lenses (in this case NOT a euphemism) following them all over the place. In some shots on the big screen, Edge was blocked by the outline of a photographer. The band actually bowed backwards, much like they did for the Rock’s Hottest Ticket Time cover all those years ago. Were they taking photos for another version of the program, or for DVD artwork? I wouldn’t mind reliving this show again.

So now I’m back from visiting my favorite band’s city and I’ll have to wait for my favorite band to visit my city in November.

I feel spiritually fulfilled, ready to take on new challenges. I want to thank all the people I met for the first time and those I’ve seen at other worship services over the years. And a special thanks to SP, who dragged my ass out of California in the first place.

Not a bad three shows, all things considered.

Answer Guy.