I want to begin this report with 3 main points:
1) I am officially hung over from last night’s show (if you can have a U2 hangover), 2) Forget what I said about Las Vegas 2 being the best show I’ve seen on the tour - this one blew that gig out of the water BIG TIME,
3) The crowd last night was louder than any show I’ve seen at the Garden yet.

In the sixth of seven shows to hit Boston during the Vertigo tour, Bono made it quite clear as to why they came back. At the start of “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For,” Bono told the sold-out crowd that they don’t come back three times to the same city for just anyone, and that there’s a special understanding the Boston fans have with the band, as well as saying that it’s great to be home again at the Garden.

As Bono was saying this, the audience grew more and more boisterous, with the noise level bringing the place down. It wasn’t that the fans weren’t loud by the 5th song in the set - it was the fact that the fans WERE from the beginning of Arcade Fire. The roar from the Garden as soon as the house lights dimmed was a sound usually reserved for when the Red Sox win the World Series. The arena was rumbling.

After spending a week on vacation, the band came out energized and ready for the shuffle..ready for the deal (oh wait, that song wasn’t played this night). Larry looked magnificent with his sun-kissed glow, and Bono had more energy than all 4 of his kids put together. Edge was jumping higher than we had ever seen him jump. And Adam…well, he’s still the King of Cool and was enjoying himself immensely.

Even the songs sounded like they took a little vacation and came back refreshed. During Sunday Bloody Sunday, Larry was drumming differently - it sounded like banging industrial steel and it added a greater emphasis on the bridge in the song. Edge’s guitar solo in Bullet the Blue Sky was on fire. Adam’s bass line in Streets brought the place down. Bono’s intro to Bad had us all singing before the song even started.

During Until the End of the World, Bono chased Edge around the ellipse at breakneck speed twice - and I mean RUN! The lights during Until the End of the World were magnificent, and Larry’s drumming…oh my goodness…he didn’t want to end the song…he kept up the closing drum line at least 4 times before finally ending it. It was the best version I’ve heard of that song to date.

The fans were all singing background vocals on most (if not all) of the songs without any real prompting. During One, Bono brought up on stage 14 fans who were all in the front row area of the ellipse. They had draped over the front of the rail flags from various nations (as well as the Zootopian flag for those on U2.com), so Bono had them come up with their flags, serving as a backdrop for the end of One. The fans were all singing the “whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh” part at the end of One as Bono was bringing them up. Heck, fans were singing along to Miss Sarajevo. The fans were what made this show even more special than it already was.

I believe that the band felt that shared love - that special bond - and that was why the show didn’t end after 40. According to Joe O’Herlihy after the show, All Because of You and Fast Cars were both surprises that they had to scramble for. It was sad to see so many fans leave at the end of 40 before the lights came back on. Over 40 fans started the GA line for tonight’s show at the end of 40 (and slept outside in 25-degree Fahrenheit weather - hope the frostbite is worth it for tonight’s show…but I digress). The crowd got louder and louder the longer the lights stayed off and as soon as Edge came back up on stage, EVERYONE in the Garden was the loudest they had been all night. Words just can not adequately express the sheer joy I felt when I saw all 4 members back up on stage to do an unprecedented third encore.

So much magic - so much excitement. The gauntlet has been thrown, Boston….show 7 is going to be the last one to hit the city for a while…and we’re going to need to be a noisy bunch to match the intensity of the show last night. I know we can do it - I’ve seen us rise to the occasion before. I have absolutely no clue how U2 will top last night - (might I suggest throwing in Mofo, perhaps?) - but I trust thoroughly that U2 will pull something out to put us into a level of ecstasy usually reserved for Red Sox World Championships.

Last night’s show felt like an end-of-the-tour show…the kind you’d expect for Portland. I’m still hungover…body aches, voice aches, but I want more - and I can’t wait for tonight’s gig.

As always, we’ve got photos! Even though I was in the back of the arena with GA, my husband had arrived later than I did and was lucky to get into the ellipse - so he had photo duty last night. Check them out here.

And…our buddy Phil also has some photos too - enjoy them here.

No, Larry’s not in Boston yet (as of 10 a.m. today), but Mexican newspaper El Universal has spotted both him and Bono vacationing in Alcapulco as guests of the Camil family this past week. The photo gallery can be found here.

Yes, that is a spiderman backpack Larry is carrying. (Great choice in superheroes, imho). Looks like he was spending quality family time there - nice to see

The photo captions are in Spanish - translation loosely says that Bono was visiting Guy LaLiberte, the creator of Cirque Du Soleil in Guadalajara, as well.

And for those in Boston…the weather folks are predicting 3 inches of snow for today and a Nor’Easter for tomorrow into Tuesday. You think Bono will integrate “let it snow” into the lyrics tonight?

Former U2 cover band Exit are featured on “Extra” this weekend (check local listings). You may recall that Exit joined U2 onstage in Los Angeles last month. “Extra” profiled the band, who described the exciting night. The Edge, when asked to comment about the group, had this to say: “If they can write songs, they’ve got everything else goin’ for them.”

Shameless plug: the next Achtoon Baby, which I plan to finish tomorrow, is all about Exit and their time onstage with U2. Please excuse the lousy photo–this is what happens when I take photos of the TV.

Besides the weather forecasters declaring we’re in for some “verti-snow” Monday and Tuesday next week, Boston Globe’s very own Steve Morse has been busy putting together his top 10 list of U2 shows. You can take a look at the list and other U2 related stories on Boston.com here.

Bono was featured on MTV’s teen-screamy daily pop countdown show today. Starstruck host Damien Fahey interviewed rock’s elder statesman via a so-so phone connection that added an extra patina of grit to Yer Man’s voice, which was already a little hoarse (or as my family likes to say, a little hoss).

Bono introduced the video for Original of the Species and attempted to explain what the video is about, referring to the animated child as a “porcelain-skinned robot girl…who wants to be real.” Fahey remarked that the premise reminded him of something out of a Steven Spielberg movie, and an excited Bono revealed that the video was in fact inspired by Spielberg’s A.I., how about that? Bono praised the team of animators who worked “night and day for two months” to create the video.

TRL “premiered” the clip and returned to Bono after the screaming teens did their thing. For the next several minutes, Bono discussed the AIDS crisis in honor of World AIDS Day. Since he was not in the studio, MTV showed some slightly dated still photographs of Bono as he spoke to the teens (his standard spiel that you’ve probably all memorized). Damien Fahey let Bono go on probably a bit longer than was scheduled, but who can stop this man once he gets on a roll? The rest of the countdown was severely abbreviated as a result and the kids had to miss most of the new Madonna video. But they didn’t seem to mind.