U2 fans find what they're looking for

Thousands jam Davis Square for fun

SOMERVILLE - Tickets would have been a plus, but they came for the festivities, by the thousands.

Middle-age revelers who recall jamming to the rock band U2 as high school students mixed with 20-somethings who know a good party when they see one. Youngsters took advantage of the crowd to sell candy bars for school, and bar managers saw the busiest Wednesday night in March in Somerville in a long time. Street bands played nearby, people walked their dogs, and just about everyone took pictures.

U2's not-so-secret show last night at the Somerville Theatre in Davis Square, one of only a few publicity events planned to hype the band's latest CD, "No Line on the Horizon," turned into a carnival for anyone looking for midweek festivities as thousands hoped for any glimpse of the rock stars.

"Everybody just wants to be part of something really big," said Rob Ames, general manager of the Joshua Tree, an Irish bar in Davis Square that had a line of revelers waiting outside as early as 7:30 p.m. Most were looking for a Guinness and enjoying the band, even if it was only on the radio.

"I think every bar is playing U2 tonight," Ames said.

Greater Boston, particularly its sizable Irish community, has a romance with the iconic band that came from Dublin and played one of its first shows in the United States at the Paradise on Commonwealth Avenue 28 years ago. Front man Bono, they will tell you, cited his love for Boston in a 2004 interview with the Boston Irish Reporter when he said he had a "special feeling about this city."

Yesterday, as he pulled into the rear of the Somerville Theatre to find a crowd waiting and cheering, Bono signed autographs, waved hello, held a fan's baby, and planted a few kisses on one star-struck female fan.

Shannon Killeen was a baby when her parents took her to a U2 show in Ireland and now, at 28, she found herself mixing with the crowd, hoping for a glimpse of her favorite band.

"It was mental, a lot of fun," the Somerville resident said, calling herself part of the "mental Irish" who will do anything for a ticket to a show, even when the show was only a rumor just three years ago. "We thought it was a hoax," she said, "but we saw them, and it's the truth."

As the show ended at about 10 p.m., people who had been waiting outside the theater watched as awed fans exited, screaming aloud for cameras and gloating that they were among a lucky few.

Garret LoPorto, 32, and his wife, Heather, 31, of Concord didn't have tickets but they still got in, mixing in with a crowd.

"We came to be part of the tribe here," Garret said. "But we lucked out. . . . Somebody was shining upon us."

Many did not know what to expect. The show was kept quiet for publicity reasons, and tickets were scarce for the 900-seat theater. Police Chief Anthony Holloway said he learned the show was definite only two days ago and scrambled to set up safety plans.

Police estimated that about 3,000 people jammed Davis Square "This was big for Somerville, but good for Somerville," he said. "You can feel it in the air."

Many came out not expecting tickets or to meet a rock star, but just to experience the festivities.

Adam Messom, a real estate agent, brought his 4-year-old son, Jackson, to see the production trailers and buses parked in the area and the crowd waiting.

Mary Ann Wells, who has lived in the area 30 years, had never seen the street filled with so many people and such hoopla.

One fan held a sign that read, "U2, I've got on my boots," a reference to a song on the new CD. Paula Flaherty Bolotin, 42, of Northbridge sported a T-shirt that read, "Suburban Moms in Need of U2."

Some were the lucky ones. Scott Perkins and his wife, Shane, are the type of couple who deserved to get into the show. Their first U2 concert was 16 years ago, the first week they started dating, and there were kissing and cuddling. They celebrated to U2 songs. And last night, they had tickets.

"This is a full-circle moment for us," Shane Perkins said, waiting for doors to open at 8 p.m. "They've just meant a lot to us."