by Kevin

Was in Red Zone 1 for last night's show which was a great location. Having seen U2 in Dublin in July, DC was a letdown, but they still put on a spectacular show. The crowd was the worst crowd for any U2 show I have seen (16 to date). It felt like all night Bono was trying to get the crowd into it and could not including on big reaction songs like Vertigo and Elevation. Even in the inner circle where everyone usually bounces for these songs, the reaction was underwhelming. It could be that FedEx Field is just a cavernous stadium but I think it had more to do with the type of person attending: the "wine and cheese" crowd as I have heard some call it. I had one guy behind me screaming "play something good" everytime they played any of the new songs and others around me where more interested in getting another beer than the show and these were people who paid to be in the Red Zone! It's not that people were not singing along; they were, but as a whole the crowd was dead in comparison to other shows I have seen and I think the band feeds off the crowd.
I am also a little disappointed that they cut No Line on the Horizon which happens to be one of my favorite songs off the new album. I just do not understand how you only play 22 songs in front of one of the larger crowds of the tour. I did love that they played New Years Day! One final note, Your Blue Room does not work for this show. I know there are a lot of hardcore U2 fans who love that they are playing this, but it kills the crowd after Elevation because of the pace of the song and that fact that 90% of the crowd have never heard it before. If they want to play something with a similar feel, Electrical Storm would be much better. All and all, as usual U2 put on a great show but it is amazing how much the crowd can affect the overall concert experience.

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