U2’s final Vertigo Tour stop in Florida brought magic and mystery to the sold out St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa. The first person in the GA line had gotten to the arena at 1 a.m., and by noon there were already over 250 in line. The strong Tampa sun beat down on us throughout the day, but fans came prepared with umbrellas, sunscreen, and a lot of cold beverages. Fans were from all over once again - Spain, Brazil, Venezuela, Boston, New York, Alabama, and many local Tampa folks.

As a fan traveling from show to show, it is interesting to see that a “local” show really isn’t as local as it used to be as more and more fans are taking a U2-themed vacation to follow the tour. I met more people who weren’t from Tampa in the GA line than people who were local. After spending close to 12 hours in the GA line waiting to go inside, it was interesting to hear why people travel and if this is the only band they’ll travel for (for the most part - yes, U2 is the only band they’d travel for.)

Maybe it was the sun, or maybe it was because Tampa was a little more laid-back kinda city - I found the fans were relatively low-key during the show. Comparing the audience between Miami and Tampa, people weren’t as animated or as noisy throughout the show. Sure, the arena was hitting high noise levels during “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” and “Where the Streets Have No Name”, but that level was not steady through the night.

That said, U2 were on fire - and Larry was having a *great time* during the show. I ran out of fingers and toes as I was counting the amount of times Larry was smiling. Three fans were pulled up on stage, with two of them being able to sit next to Larry. The first fan was pulled up at the start of “Original of the Species”. Britney, a young teenager, symbolized the theme of the song (as Bono has mentioned in past interviews the song was written about Edge’s daughter). The second fan was pulled up to dance with Bono during “With or Without You”. The third fan brought magic to the night. Joey was pulled from his father’s shoulders in the ellipse and allowed to sit next to Larry at the start of “Yahweh”. He stayed on stage through “40″, when Bono asked him to help with the spotlight. The look of awe on Joey’s face matched many in the arena as he lit up all of the sections. Bono then sat on a monitor and let Joey take center stage with the spotlight for a few moments. Afterwards, he whispered something in Joey’s ear and proceeded to leave the stage. Before he could go down the stairs, Joey put the spotlight on Bono - showing Bono’s huge grin. As Bono waved goodbye to the fans, Joey then put the spotlight on Adam, and as Adam was leaving, he rather nonchalantly walked over to Bono’s mic stand and placed the spotlight down. Joey then walked back to where he was brought up on the stage and returned to the shoulders of his Dad. It was pure magic - you couldn’t script that…and that’s why we travel for a U2 show.

As for the rest of the show….Bono grabbed some red beads from fans in the front row at the beginning of the gig. The beads were a promotion from a local radio station. These beads stayed on Bono for most of the first set. At the start of “I Still Haven’t Found…” Bono brought up about how they had played in Tampa at a little place called The End Zone, and how fans needed to stick with them as the best was yet to come. During “Beautiful Day” Bono made a mention of Neil Armstrong as he motioned his hand like a spaceship going into space as he sang “See the world in green and blue.”

During “Sunday Bloody Sunday”, Bono had the crowd chanting “Show your mind - show your soul - in the USA,” which was the first time I remembered hearing him saying this during the song. He pointed to the coexist headband and said “I loved it so I tattooed it.”

Bono thanked the Floridians before “One” for their generosity. Even though Florida had taken a few hits from Mother Nature, the support towards the One Campaign was quite strong and Bono offered his gratitude.

Tampa is the last show for me until Boston, so I will pass the torch to the other @U2 staff picking up the tour in the meantime. Thanks for following my mini-journey through the blog and I look forward to reporting more from the road in December. For photos and notes from the show, visit here..