by Lyndee Stelling

Hi! My name is Lyndee Stelling and I thought the Eugene concert was fabulous. My husband and I drove 950 miles roundtrip to be there! The sound quality was amazing. Probably the best I have heard from any band, regardless of venue. I think they spent their money on the right stuff! (I noticed the screen seemed to have a few small scattered "bad spots" that didn't work. That thing must cost a fortune to maintain! 16 Floodlights, spotlights, you name it -- if it's a light -- it was probably there! No wonder it takes so many trucks to transport everything!)

The band seemed very loose in a local interview before the concert (right after they got off their plane.) Edge seemed to be the spokesperson during the interview, although Adam & Larry made a few comments while Bono mostly chatted with the fans and signed autographs. (Of course it's hard to tell how much was edited out of the entire interview, so maybe they captured every word Edge said and cut the rest...who knows!)

Our seats were halfway up, 3 sections away from the stage and, as far as I could tell, everyone stood for the entire concert. They definitely know how to put on a show! I must say that it amazed me how many people didn't know the new songs and that they seemed surprised that the band played so many off Pop. The one piece of advice I would give to anyone who is going to one of their concerts is to buy the album, listen to it, and learn a few songs! (Personally, I think most of the songs are pretty good...I love Gone & Staring at the Sun.)

I took the Las Vegas setlist with me and made notes throughout the concert:

Intro.: Techno version of M's Pop Musik

Mofo
U2 rocked, but very little audience recognition or enthusiasm.

I Will Follow
Excellent. The audience came alive and sang along on the chorus

Even Better Than the Real Thing
Also well done.

Do You Feel Loved
Great live. This could be a great singalong if the audience would listen to the album!

Pride
* Incredible. I would rate Pride as the best song in the concert, especially in audience participation and overall audience rapport. Similar to the Rattle & Hum version, including (after the Uh Oh-Oh Oh's) "For the Reverend Martin Luther King...SING!"

I still haven't found what I'm looking for
* Probably second best song of the concert. I gotta give U2 credit for putting a lot of feeling into their entire performance Also great sing along.

Gone (note that it is BEFORE Last Night on Earth!)
Fabulous! Translated to live performance extremely well. My favorite Pop song.

Last Night on Earth
Interesting abstract cartoon film of "stick people" prior to the song. The stage was blacked out while we watched this mini-movie where a woman was telling her man that she was going out shopping and that she would be back in a bit. Bono yelled "Goin' shopping my arse!" then they started Last Night on Earth a couple minutes later. An excellent live version.

Until the End of the World
Also pretty good

If god will send his angels
Only did the first verse. I'll bet this song gets dropped from the setlist before too long. Just not a great "concert" song.

Staring at the sun
I love this song, but it sounded terrible live! Bono was great and Edge's guitar sounded great, but together it sounded like they were each in different keys or something. Definitely not a technical or timing problem. This was very disappointing because it's my secondfavorite from Pop.

Daydream Believer
Kinda silly karoake singalong that made everyone laugh. Edge did a nice job directing and singing.

Miami
They really got into this song, but no one else did. The audience roared when they went right into the drums for Bullet the Blue Sky.

Bullet the Blue Sky
Extended version. Bono was handed an "American Flag" umbrella...I couldn't tell if he got it from the audience of if it was a planned prop. Mock sword fight with the umbrella against invisible opponent, several minutes of Bono in a bowler with the red, white, & blue umbrella doing a little Gene Kelly to "I Want to Live in America" from West Side Story, before they went back to the end of Bullet the Blue Sky "...into the arms of America" I thought it was pretty cool. It surprised me a bit that he was such a good dancer! I see that Amazing Grace is listed in the setlist...They did NOT play Amazing Grace.

Please
Well done. Teased the audience by playing the intro to Sunday Bloody Sunday, then singing, "I can't believe the news today," then Bono shifted back to the end of Please after trying not very successfully to get the audience to repeat "Please" numerous times.

Where the streets have no name
Superb. Everyone loved it.

First Encore - out of the mirror ball lemon. Probably the same as the other concerts.

Discotheque
Played on the small stage at the end of the "runway." Nice, multicolored, checkerboard lighting. Right after, they played part of another song that I didn't recognize. Don't think it was one of theirs. I caught the words "Testify" and "Believe," but couldn't hear it clearly enough to identify it. Then they went right into With or Without You.

*Note: They didn't play If You Wear That Velvet Dress. I really like the song, but it's just not a concert song. I was surprised that it was in earlier shows.

With or Without You
Another great singalong song! Bono ended up back at the main stage and the rest of the guys were still playing out at the end of the "runway." When this song ended, he said "good night and thank you" and left. Edge, Larry, & Adam picked up their instruments and followed slowly. It didn't look like a "planned" exit and I thought for a minute that they were REALLY done.

Second encore

Hold me, thrill me, kiss me, kill me
Shots from the video on the screen.

Mysterious ways
Had a significantly different sound to start. This is one intro that I would not have recognized immediately without my trusty setlist! It was very good, just different.

One
This is a great song and Bono really wailed!

They played a bit over 2 hours. I wish the audience had been a little more hyper and that more of them knew the songs on Pop. I will DEFINITELY see them again if the opportunity presents itself!

Thanks for the opportunity to share my opinion!

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