by Jeff

From Section 335:

I was pleasantly surprised by Muse as they were a fantastic opening act. I agree with most folks that a solid sound check is due for them however. At times, difficult to hear the lyrics as the music really overwhelmed. Still, a great opening band. During U2's sound check, we watched the crew fix a broken tile on the big screen. I'm not sure when the tile actually broke, but we noticed during Muse that the tile might be damaged. Loved all the visual effects. I've never seen the band in an outdoor setting and it was very cool.

Even thought I really like NLOTH, I was very happy to hear more of the older tunes. To hear Unforgettable Fire live again wow! I’ll never get tired of hearing New Year’s Day or Sunday Bloody Sunday live. Bono didn’t really have the long speeches this time and seemed to fit his messages in more with the flow of the show. With that said, I really didn’t like the flow of the show. Seemed like we’d hear 1 or 2 high energy songs and then the whole thing would be brought back down by something less lively. I like ebbs and flows in the past U2 shows I’ve seen but these were extremely dramatic. Almost mood killers at times.

The crowds in DC, in my opinion, are there more to sit in their seats and take in the experience rather than being an active participant in the experience. Call it the “cheese and wine” crowd but it is what it is – and our section was just flat out boring. Amazingly, no one (sans the two young girls next to me) stood as they came on stage in our section. I was really psyched to hear Magnificent so early in the set, tried to get others in our section to stand up but found myself standing again with only the two girls next to me. It wasn’t until Mysterious Ways that anyone else took to the music and stood up. I was absolutely dumbfounded. The nice positive about this was we had a clear view into the stage as all the folks in the rows in front of us stayed in their seats for the entire show.

With all that said, I had my kids with me at their first U2 show and they loved it. One of them said “You see the videos and you hear the music but until you see them in the flesh you just don’t understand what their concerts are like”. I’ll see them live every chance I get as their music continues to be a huge part of my life and now my kids.

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