St. Louis' Best Concert Ever: What Is Your Pick?

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My first concert was New Kids On The Block at the old Busch Stadium. I was so excited I screamed until I was hoarse and I cried, literally big fat wet tears, during most of the concert. At ten years old I thought that my experience at NKOTB was the peak of my concert going existence, but I was ten, and ten-year-olds are irrational when it comes to pop music. Here is where a concert montage would be inserted including highlights like Beastie Boys in '98, the first Family Values tour at Kiel/Savvis/Scottrade place, 311 at Riverport and getting my tongue pierced at PointFest.

The montage concludes in October of 2001 at "Kielvistrade" Center with Bono taking the stage. By some stroke of concert ticket fate I had decent seats to see U2's Elevation tour when it rolled through St. Louis. I think the concert gods were repaying me for smothering my jealousy so kindly while I listened to my friend talk about how her parents let her go to the Zoo TV tour when we were 13 (I would have never even asked). It was one month after September 11; nerves were still raw and we still weren't sure how to act. The show started off with the typical U2 bang, and then they started playing "Where The Streets Have No Name," and the names of all the 9/11 victims started rolling on a screen behind the band and splashing across the sold out crowd. Bono wrapped himself in the American flag as the song closed and there wasn't a dry eye or throat without a chicken-bone lump in the stadium. Four months later, U2 played the Super Bowl half time show and played the same tribute, and it still had the same impact. I just looked the video up on YouTube and it had the same impact (you can check it out on the Video tab. It was one of the most amazing performances I have ever seen, and one of the only specific concert experiences I can remember in full detail.

The NKOTB show held the best concert ever slot in my mind for about eight years, but that was only because I didn't attend another concert during that time. I have seen so many concerts since 2001, including my all time favorite musician David Bowie. Even with a couple of outstanding Bowie shows under my belt and a Tool concert to boot, seven years later U2's Elevation Tour still holds the title (in my mind) of the best concert ever, hands down.

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