September 11, 1992
Cyclone Stadium; Ames, IA

Opening Acts: Primus, Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprosy

Main Set
Confessions
George Bush Rap
Zoo Station
The Fly
Even Better Than The Real Thing
Mysterious Ways
One-Unchained Melody
Until The End Of The World
New Year's Day
Wild Rover
Trying to Throw Your Arms...
Angel Of Harlem
When Love Comes to Town
I Still Haven't Found
Satellite of Love
All I Want Is You
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Bullet The Blue Sky
Running to Stand Still
Where the Streets
Pride

Encore
Desire
With or Without You
Love Is Blindness
Can't Help Falling in Love

My remberances

Absolutely mind blowing. I wasn't much of a fan before. I liked Rattle and Hum a lot. The Joshua Tree tracks were annoying. And their earlier stuff just didn't do much for me. A guy at work (Rivendell) that I didn't know very well ended up with an extra ticket, so I bought it. There were four of us on the trip, we piled into my brand new Protege and headed east.

We missed the opening acts, which looking back on it, is a major drag. But we were comfortably in our seats before the main event. And what a main event. The visual spectacle was absolutely the most sophisticated setup I'd ever seen. Tons of TV monitors that turned the stage into the set for a Max Headroom meets MTV religious revival and hootenanny. I kept leaning over to my buddy (I can't remember his name) and asking him the titles of the current song. So...it turns out I think I like the new disc (Achtung Baby). The concert ended with Bono singing Can't Help... a capella. It was the perfect ending because it took the crowd from its frenzy down into a mood of satisfaction and denouement.

I remember leaving thinking, all concert tours for the next 10 years are going to be compared to this one.

Other notes:
Carter VanPelt went to this concert with a tape recorder stuffed in his fanny pack. He was in line for the confessions booth before the show. Carter was going to mention the fact that he was bootlegging the concert, but they closed the booth before he got in. (There were 10-12 of the 'confessions' played on a big screen before the concert opened. I only remember two: a pair of guys bragging about cheating on their girlfriends with the same girl and a couple of girls making out.)

Chip and Chris Stanley were also there. They were in the back and ended up getting accosted by security and arrested. They were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. Chip ended up having such a bad experience, it was a long time before he felt comfortable going to concerts again. Of course it passed before the Nirvana concert we went to together in Omaha...but that's a whole other story!