Gosh - it feels like only yesterday when I met up with M2 and many MANY other fans (and celebrities) at Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas. I can still remember the heat of the sun on my back and how quickly it got cold that night. I wasn’t best pleased with Rage Against the Machine opening because my seat became part of the mosh pit, and the local security hadn’t done anything to bring order to the disorder up towards the front. In the end, it worked out OK as I managed to leave that area of the pitch and got to stand next to the soundbooth when “Staring at the Sun” was attempted. I remember standing there with my hand over my mouth in shock that my music heroes could actually f’up at this level - but that shock couldn’t be matched by the dismay seen on the crew’s faces inside of the soundbooth area. That was when I realized that they really were human afterall. After all of that, I managed to bump into Paul McGuinness and was able to hand him my “WANTED: THE DALTON BROTHERS” flyer I had made up. He laughed and asked if he could keep it. (Yes, I seem to be the historian of U2’s alter egos).

The start of the PopMart tour for me was like one big family reunion. This was the first tour where fans in internet chat rooms and mailing lists (like Wire) were finally meeting up with each other for the first time in person. Las Vegas was where I met M2 for the first time in person, as well as just about everyone who I consider to be among my closest of friends. It’s great to hit the road to do some travel when it’s tour time - it’s the time when I can meet up with everyone again and be reminded of the fact that I wore my discoball jacket for the start of PopMart. (Yes, that’s right - I did wear a discoball jacket! Who said you couldn’t get into the kitsch of PopMart?)

It made me happy to Google “U2 Las Vegas PopMart” to find that the Las Vegas Sun Newspaper still has their coverage available for folks to read. If you feel like going back in time, check out the coverage. I still can’t believe that they only played “Do You Feel Loved” a total of only 9 times on the tour - but then again, it was a bit tough for Bono to sing.