Those four guys from Dublin, known worldwide as U2, were in town for a sold-out Saturday night show and a nearly-sold-out Sunday show on June 6th and 7th at Pepsi Center in Denver. I happened to catch both shows, and have the scoop on how they gave props to Colorado, differently, each night.

U2
Samir Hussein, Getty Images
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When U2 tours, it’s a big deal: Their 360° tour was the biggest grossing concert tour ever, taking in over $700 million. So, when their ‘Innocence & Experience’ Tour hit Denver for two shows, people showed up! Saturday night’s show was sold-out, and Sunday’s was just about sold-out as well, filing the Pepsi Center with lots of super-fans, as well as folks just wanting to see what the guys do to draw such crowds.

I was fortunate enough to go to both of the shows that weekend (June 6 and 7, 2015), and aside from the great performance, the great stage (with that giant rectangle screen), and great crowds both nights, I thought it was great how Bono and the band brought Colorado and Denver references into each show.

With Saturday night’s show, they made two references on how the state has helped the band and the world. First off, Bono was talking about how there is now peace in Ireland, and thanked former Colorado senator Gary Hart. I almost spit beer! Gary Hart! Nobody’s brought his name up for years! Bono thanked ol’ Gary for helping keep long-lasting peace in Ireland. At first I thought that Gary must have had a key role back in his senator days helping Ireland, but now I think Bono was talking more about how Gary is now the U.S. Special Envoy to Northern Ireland and the ongoing peace process.

In the second reference on Saturday night, Bono was talking about their near-seminal performance at Red Rocks in June of 1983, where they filmed ‘Under A Blood Red Sky.’ That film spurred a couple of videos that played on MTV all the time! Bono brought up how the band had used just about all the money they had to get the film off the ground, and the thought of cancelling the show due to horrible weather would have been detrimental to the band’s success. He thanked legendary concert promoter Barry Fey for letting them continue with the show and pretty much helping them really get started in the U.S.

On Sunday night’s performance, Bono made a more personal reference to Denver. He brought up how when he ‘came off his bike’ in Central Park in November of 2014, it was two woman from Denver that were first to assist him on the scene. He joked how he doesn’t remember the accident at all, and therefore doesn’t remember being a bad patient with them. At one point, one of the women had to yell at him, “just sit your [butt] down, Bono!” He let the audience know that the two women were there at the show that night, to thunderous applause.

I can’t honestly say if Bono actually remembered the name of the venue, but he did know what city and state he was in!

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