by Phil Shapley

Firstly, I'm sorry 'Miss Fire' but I don't know which gig you were at...no-one was subdued at all!!!! In the words of Bono at the end of the set-'amazing...amazing... amazing night'. It kicked ass!!!
They came on with a real fire which never faded once throughout the set. I was on the outside tip of the heart and I have to say that that is the best place to view the gig from. I was in the heart in Birmingham and while it has a wonderful atmosphere in there you can either watch bono/edge behing you on the heart or the guys in front of you on the main stage (unless of course you have a handy flip-top head?). On the outside tip you get equally as much close range action without having to turn around constantly and miss the main stage action.
The guys were having a blast and delivering a 'top-notch' performance from the off. 'Elevation' included some of the Clash's 'London Calling' at the end which worked well. It was also a great version of '
Discotheque/Staring' .Bono started talking with the audience about his dad again before 'Kite' which is in my opinion one of the best songs live from the new material.. it has an almost 'widescreen' sound live if you know what I'm getting at??!! Bono's chats with the audience were almost like he was chatting to you in a bar, telling us how his father wished he had the voice of a tenor so he could 'actually have done something with his life'.. he seems to thrive much better of the smaller environment of arenas.
'Out of Control' absolutely rocked the joint!!!! It was so loud and everyone around me seemed to sing their loudest for that one..I've been following the guys live since '87 and haven't ever seen them play that so it was good to hear at last!
'Wake up Dead Man' gets more poignant every time it's played to a virtually silent arena..even 'New York' got me tonight!!We were also treated to a beautiful version of 'TGBHF' at the tip of the heart.. which Bono said they wrote with the English band 'The Salman Rushdies' who they were huge fans of....but alas no 'Stay' or 'Little While'.....ho-hum! We did get 'All I Want is You' though...and a blistering full version of it where the crowd nearly drowned out the extremely loud p.a. system...which continued seemlessly into a rousing 'Streets'(next time you see this live take a moment to scan around the arena to see EVERY person just loosing it...so good).
When the guys came back on for their second encore (usually to go into 'One') bono was chatting to a guy in the front row..and started to strum his guitar..the place lifted right up when he began to sing 'Angel of Harlem' and beckoned the band to join in for a clearly unrehearsed yet great version of the song. 'Walk On' seemed flawless and a lot tighter tonight...the projections actually working tonight as Earls Court was wide and tall enough to carry them well....they took a while to leave the stage after the end...with Bono's last words being 'Amazing..amazing..amazing night!'... too true!!!

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