by Karl Ginalski

My wife and I got into Montreal much later than we were supposed to, so were unable to hook up with anyone, so no great stories in that department, but that's okay. We took a walk by the GA line about 6:30 or so and just gave it the once over.
We got to our seats about 2 minutes before Arcade Fire took the stage (To Where the Streets..). Great entrance, great opening act. Insane percussionist. Don't miss these guys.

Then u2 took the stage. Man, oh man, what a great opening. Real good mix, insanely loud crowd, possibly the loudest I have ever heard. We had excellent seats; front row of the lower balcony, half way back-close enough to see the band, far enough away to see the whole show. I just plain LOVED the first two thirds of this show. Miss Sarajevo left me speechless. In case anyone is wondering...BONO'S VOICE IS BACK!!!! Sunday Bloody Sunday, which, to me, grew tired 2 tours ago, found new life, with it's relevancy to Iraq, supported by the "Rock the Casbah" bit. Nice touch bringing the young boy on stage. Beautiful. The whole anti war thing was great. But the last third or so, basically the encores, was a big letdown. They rolled out the hits, and bored me silly. Even Bad, which is normally among my favorites, which featured Canadian favorite son Daniel Lanois was far from the best I have heard, especially sandwiched among all the other hits. I know I've bitched and moaned about too many hits before, but that was not the real problem. The fact is, it seemd like they put very little effort into these songs. They could play them in their sleep and it seemed like it. And why does Bono even bother with that hat anymore during "End of the World", a song about Jesus and Judas? It made sense during Zoo Station and The Fly, but it just looked silly during the anticlimactic "Until the End..." and "Mysterious Ways"(blecch!). By the time they stumbled into 40, I was ready to leave, bummed out knowing that; A: There was no Miracle Drug, All Because of You, One Step Close, and B: NEITHER Electric Co NOR Gloria would be played. C. No surprises except Lanois. So overall...great opening act, Great first two thirds of the show, and it could've ended there, I guess, 'cuz the last third of the show put me to sleep.

Karl

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