by Chris Motley

Well, damn, Ms. Harvey, go on and rock 17,000 folks why don't you?
Now that Polly Jean's finally joined the tour, DO NOT show up late,
she was fantastic last night, and I'm hoping like hell that she does
a tour of her own later in the year.
Oh, yeah, U2 were there, too (that's a joke, folks). What they lacked
in song selection they certainly made up for in heart and enthusiasm.
Bono really seems to be genuinely loving the interaction with the
crowd that the heart's ramps allow him, and yes, he did come back
and acknowledge us "behind the stage" folks several times. My main
gripe is that if they're going to sell seats behind the stage with
open rear views, don't visually please only the front of the house.
Adding some lights back there would be a really nice thing, as
would setting up 4 video screens like the front, instead of just 2.
The video banks must have looked really cool, but we couldn't even
tell what was going on because the video screens up top were
always dark when the banks were elevated. I think a much better
set up would have been to do a complete "stage in the round",
much like the Beastie Boys did on the Hello Nasty tour, I think it
would have been much more aesthetically pleasing, not to mention
there wouldn't have been a bad seat in the house.
Song selection, hmm... well of course they have to play the hits,
the standouts for me were Bad, The Fly, and Sweetest Thing was
actually quite nice. On the other hand, boys, please drop Disco-
theque! It's not sounding too good, and Mojo would be a MUCH
better choice in that spot. Also, as much as I love New York on
record, Bono's voice just isn't up to it live, and it detracts a
bit from the show.
But hese are just minor complaints, it's U2, it's live, and it's great. The lighting is spectacular, and the heart is really cool.
I wonder, though, if they'll do like past tours and come back to
the US to do stadiums in the fall? If so, I'll definately go again.
-C

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