For about three hours, I got to be 23 years old again.

A couple weeks ago, I was transported back in time to 1987 when an early birthday gift from a very “someone special” found us in the midst of the Mercedes Benz Superdome listening to the rock band U2.

I’m a teen of the 80s and U2 to me back then was the Beatles of teens from the 60s. I loved their music from the first time I ever heard “Bloody Sunday,” but I really got into U2 as I was finishing college.

It was the summer of ’87 and I got a CD of U2’s “The Joshua Tree” at the mall in Slidell, Louisiana, and couldn’t get enough of listening to it. The first three tracks on that album are my all-time favorite U2 singles – “Where the Streets Have No Name,” “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For,” and “With or Without You.” In my opinion, the album is the group’s best ever and in a way, is a spiritual album wrapped in roots music from the South, as well as their home of Ireland.

The entire album spoke to me then and still does to this day. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the chance to see them on tour and had never seen them play live.

So when I found out they would be celebrating the 30th anniversary of the albums release with a tour, I immediately looked at their tour dates to see if they would be anywhere in the mid-South. And wouldn’t you know it, they were coming to New Orleans.

I didn’t check the ticket prices and besides, the concert was on a Thursday night.

But soon after I accepted the editor position here at The Post, my “someone special” told me she had bought tickets to the concert as a gift for my birthday.

I was shocked and couldn’t believe that we were going to see U2 – the band I consider the greatest of my generation – live and in person.

When U2 took the stage and played those first three tracks from “The Joshua Tree,” I admittedly felt myself overcome with emotion, while at the same time felt 30 years younger. It was an amazing experience for me. It was spiritual-like.

It’s a night and birthday gift I will never forget; a night when I felt as though I was 23 again.

Rob Sigler is editor of The Vicksburg Post. You may reach him at rob.sigler@vicksburgpost.com. Readers are invited to submit their opinions for publication.