by Steve C.

For those fans traveling to multiple gigs, Milwaukee may be remembered more for the continual downpour on the day's GA line than the actual show, but the show itself was full of memorable moments.

I'm not sure if it's because the Bradley Center was smaller than Chicago's United Center, or if it was just the crowd, but the sheer volume of crowd noise in the room was definitely louder than Chicago, and the band definitely fed off it, putting in great versions of ISHFWILF and "Love And Peace," especially. Additionally, Bono announced it was the 29th anniversary of the first time the four members got together, and also praised the recent IRA disarmament treaty during an unusually emotional "Sunday Bloody Sunday." After seeing so many routine runthroughs of the song, it was refreshing to see something special come out of it. The ZooTV encore seems to have been dropped, replaced by an acoustic set, tonight consisting of "The First Time" and a slightly botched but amusing "Wild Horses," which recovered in only the way U2 can.

Really the only negative I have to say about the show was after the solid main set, and the surprising and well-recieved first encore, the now-standard ABOY/Yahweh/40 second encore was rather anticlimactic. Two new tunes and the mellow "40" just aren't the kind of mindblowing set-closer U2 is capable of, but other than that, a spectacular show. I think they definitely made it worthwhile for the 300+ fans that stood for hours in the rain-soaked GA line all day.

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