All that you can't leave behind

U2 is about to set a record: seven shows in one year at Boston's biggest arena. The Grateful Dead holds the current record with six, but U2 will surpass that with two more dates at the TD Banknorth Garden on Sunday and Monday.

It's not surprising, really. U2 has had a love affair with Boston ever since the band played its first US gig at the Paradise in 1980. Personally, I've rarely seen a U2 concert that didn't move me to the core.

I'm taking this opportunity to thank all the readers who have made music as central a part of their lives as I have. I'm leaving the Globe next week after 31 years on the beat. Many memories have been priceless, including the following top-10 list of U2 performances. I intend to keep writing and will still go to shows, among them U2 on Monday.

March 6, 1981: The Paradise This was U2's first headlining set at the Paradise (it had previously played the room as an opening act) and the band's charm was quickly apparent when Larry Mullen Jr.'s bass drum broke. Singer Bono read the crowd's minds when he sighed, ''Aaah, I knew they weren't as good as they said they were." The band's intensity eventually carried the night. Bono praised Boston opening act La Peste and the Boston scene in general. ''I'm from Ireland where not too many people say good things about other bands," he said.

May 5, 1983: The Orpheum Theatre U2 turned the 2,800-seat Orpheum into its living room. Bono's showmanship made it all feel intimate, from powerful, gospel-tinged ''Gloria" to political anthems ''Sunday Bloody Sunday" and ''New Year's Day" to a snatch of Michael Jackson's ''Billie Jean." And Bono got so carried away that he ended up on a side balcony, pumping fists and shaking hands in a frenzy.

Dec. 2, 1984: The Worcester Centrum The night had the striking image of Bono singing ''Bad" (with the line ''Isolation, desolation, let it go") while inviting a young female fan onstage for a therapeutic hug. Slides of Martin Luther King Jr. affirmed U2's civil rights stance, and the tribute to King, ''Pride (In the Name of Love)," was a dramatic closing tune. Bono also led a chant of ''No war, no war" during the show, as the Centrum crowd joined him movingly.

June 14, 1986: Amnesty International's 25th anniversary show at Giants Stadium Somewhere amid 11 hours of music and the sight of protest legend Abbie Hoffman running around in a stars-and-stripes-draped shirt, U2 stole the show. This ''Conspiracy of Hope" concert featured a slew of musical activists such as Joni Mitchell, Joan Baez, Peter Gabriel, and Lou Reed, but U2 blew everyone away, lifting hearts with the anti-apartheid hit, ''Sun City." And pity the Sting-led Police, which followed U2 but was rusty from inactivity.

Sept. 17, 1987: The Boston Garden Incredibly, the band's lighting rig broke down, but Bono shouted, ''Let's turn the house lights on! Rock 'n' roll doesn't need all these expensive lights and smoke bombs!" The show was salvaged by songs from the group's ''The Joshua Tree" album and by The Edge rippling through guitar leads while dressed in a Navajo vest with wide-brimmed hat that made him look like a psychedelic medicine man. And emotions were touched on ''One Tree Hill," a tribute to band employee Greg Carroll who'd died in a motorcycle accident.

March 13, 1992: The Worcester Centrum U2's Centrum connections ran deep, since the venue was the first arena the band ever played in America -- in 1983 when the top ticket cost only $13. This night was bassist Adam Clayton's birthday. The band hired a woman in bunny ears to present him with balloons and a pink feather boa. A crazy moment, but the music soared beyond the kitsch, and a stunning moment came when Bono sang ''Angel of Harlem" on a B stage in the middle of the floor.

Aug. 20, 1992: ''Zoo Station" tour at Foxboro Stadium U2 didn't go into stadiums lightly. It used a tech-heavy production with eight video screens (a satellite dish pulled in various cable shows on them), and several East German Trabant cars dangling overhead. But the band also managed to find the human element by featuring a live belly dancer on ''Mysterious Ways" and a tribute to Celtics basketball star Larry Bird from Mullen, who dedicated ''Tryin' to Throw Your Arms Around the World" to him.

April 25, 1997: ''PopMart" tour kickoff in Las Vegas Out in a stadium in the Vegas desert, U2 unveiled a $6 million light-emitting diode screen and popped out of a giant, 40-foot-high, lemon-shaped mirror ball at the end. It was a bit Spinal Tap-ish and very loud given the massive dimensional sound towers throughout the stadium, but possibly U2's ultimate spectacle. And the band brought it all home with the closing peace anthem, ''One."

March 24, 2001: ''Elevation" tour kickoff in Sunrise, Fla. U2 debuted a heart-shaped ramp that extended from the stage well into the crowd (and has been modified for the 2005 tour as well). The only problem was that Bono fell off of it during the apocalytpic hard-rock of ''Until the End of the World," sending a gasp through the audience. But the tough Dubliner was back on his feet quickly, doing volcanic versions of new tunes from the ''Elevation" CD and sprinkling in improvisations on the fitting Bob Marley song, ''Get Up, Stand Up."

May 26, 2005: The FleetCenter This was the second show of a three-night run -- and the first to include diehard-fan favorite ''Gloria." Anytime that's in the program, you're in luck. Bono spent a fair amount of time preaching during the night, particularly about the need to erase poverty and eliminate Third World debt, but it was woven in masterfully. A great U2 show is about information, not just entertainment.

Bits and pieces: To coincide with the fine new Johnny Cash biopic, ''Walk the Line," a new, 61-song box set, ''Johnny Cash -- The Complete Sun Recordings 1955-1958," has just been released. . . . Jam-band moe. plays the Orpheum Theatre Jan. 19. Tickets on sale tomorrow. . . . Matt Molloy of the Chieftains was at Tir Na Nog on Tuesday to hear the David Johnston Band. Molloy just opened a new pub called Shaskeen in Manchester, N.H., partnering with Tommy McCarthy of the Burren. . . . A hot night of rock with Damone, the Dents, and the Glow at the Middle East Upstairs next Wednesday. . . . Any band want to play in Scandinavia this spring? The Planetary Group and Sonicbids, which have previously sponsored tours to China, are taking applications from bands at planetarygroup.com. The deadline is next Friday. . . . Tonight: The Emergenza Festival with a flock of up-and-coming acts at the Middle East Upstairs, Bowman and the Illegals at PA's Lounge, Paranoid Social Club at Harpers Ferry, the Liz Borden Band and Syphlloids at Sky Bar, Porterdavis CD release gig at Toad (preceded by Bleu at 9:30 p.m.). . . . Tomorrow: Certainly, Sir has a CD release show at T.T. the Bear's, and Tim Piper's tribute to John Lennon is at Somerville Theatre.