by Shekhar

Last night's show was fantastic and while I don't want to give a second-by-second account of everything the two moments that stood out for me were the crowd singing the high pitched chorus wailings during Mullet the Blue Sky (yes I wrote "Mullet" on purpose...so stop sending me hate mail) and the whole scene when "The Bank Robbers" hit the stage at the end. It was absurdly funny when they were pulled onstage and as Bono led them from the top of the bomb shelter catwalk back to the mainstage one of the kids started skipping along behind like he was following the Easter Bunny. Also was it just me or when the kids didn't leave the stage, despite Bono's attempts, did Larry just take-off on his own drum solo that ended up resulting in a punk-esque conclusion to ISHFWILF?

If there's one thing that really stands out on this tour it's spontaneity. I mean in the past 3 tours during the real age of the internet I pretty much knew the setlist before the show started. When an elder gentlmen handed me some dot-matrix print out before the show saying "this is what they'll play, this is the set-list from last night" I felt pretty confident that I'd be getting a different show (whether it be due to the order or the song selection). The number one complaint people had in the past was that they played the same setlist every night, which I guess was the problem of having a highly choreographed show like ZooTV & Pop... and now the number one complaint seems to be the fact that the Streets isn't played with a red background and the lights aren't blazed to levels matching the sun, which is pretty minor if you ask me.

My last opinion is this, and granted people are free to do whatever they please to enjoy a show, but why on Earth would you pay like $100+ for tickets and then constantly leave your seats to grab a beer?
Pre-gaming is one thing but I just don't get why you would do it during the show. My vindication of course came when they played The Ocean resulting in a slight exodus only to see people rushing back to try and hear Beautiful Day. Suckers. I laugh at you.

Overall show was fantastic, second only to the Elevation NY show after 9/11 for obvious reasons....Can't wait for Dublin next month...

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