by happytogoblind

Just wanted to make a couple of quick comments after the show. This was my first show of the tour and my 8th or 9th overall, most of them came during the Elevation tour.

This was only the fourth time that I had seats, they were directly opposite the stage in the first row of the upper level.

OK, so as for the show... I'm not sure if it was my seats and the fact that I had no one in front of me to judge the energy or what, but I know I felt a lot more disconnected than almost any other show of theirs that I have been to. I think it was a combination of the setlist not really flowing and the crowd only really getting into it for a couple of songs, but never more than say 3 in a row. Unfortunately I think the Elevation tour really set the bar almost too high for the pure emotion it evoked from one song to the next, with very few, if any downtime.

I think they really could have started off the show and got the crowd going if they played the more energetic(elevation version) of Elevation. I remember in the last tour how insane people got for that song, right off the bat, but everytime they started tearing into it, they would slow it back down and that theme continued throughout the show.

This was the first show that I went to that I almost felt like The Edge was the star of the show and not Bono, I don't know if it was the arrangements or acoustics or what, but he really stood out above the rest of the band to the point that I gained an even great appreciation of his talent.

All in all, it was a good show... but no where near the emotional ride that I've come to love from U2 shows that makes them special, instead it was more of a pure rock show. Which is fine, but not the U2 I love. Running To Stand Still and Bad were the highlights for me. I actually didn't mind Mysterious Ways and I usually don't like it at all, so I don't know if that speaks to the weakness of the rest of the show or not. They just seemed to jump in and out of a lot of songs, and you never really got settled in.

I have GA tix for a later show this year and I'm wondering if the experience on the floor might make up for some of the disconnect. I'm afraid I may just be expecting too much at this point, because it was still a great show, but anybody that was at MSG for the shows after Sept. 11th, knows what I am feeling. After being transcended, it's hard to go back to just being entertained.

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