by David Mumford

Having driven through 270 miles of threatening cloud cover, I arrived in Dallas determined not to let the thought of getting drenched at the Cotton Bowl bum me out. I was fortunate enough to have seen Zoo TV at both the beginning and end of the tour, and spent way too much money buying decent seats for Pop Mart.

The big question everyone seems obsessed with is "Does Pop Mart surpass ZOO-TV?" The stage is certainly impressive in design. Minimalistic yet presence. It did not rain, and the setting sun cast a shaft of golden light across the Arch before the show began.

The sound was disappointing. Bono's mix was almost unintelligible during Mysterious Ways. The band screwed up and took a while to recover during the segue from Still Haven't Found and Stand By Me. This moment, done so wonderfully during ZOO-TV, seemed a mechanical after thought.

In fact, I thought a great deal of Pop Mart was very uninspired. Even Bono didn't seem much interested at times. The new stuff worked well, especially Gone and Miami; and Pride, Streets, and Hold Me... were well performed but With or Without You was flat and pointless. Bono couldn't seem to finish with it fast enough.

I think that experiences are ultimately judged by the quality of the lasting impression they leave on you. I am very glad I saw Pop Mart, when it worked it really worked. But it was very forgettable. I hope by the time the show reaches Houston in November, they will have fine tuned it and given it a life of its own.

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