by Scott McDonald

I found this show to be better than the Popmart spectacle of 1997. U2 came out (I'm not sure what time it was, I didn't have a watch) with a remix of "Elevation" playing in the back. The guys grabbed their instruments and kicked into the song of the same name. Next was "Beautiful Day", which I thought was a little weak compared to the album version, but it was still good nonetheless. "Until the End of the World" (one of my favorite live songs) followed and there was a lot of playful antics going on between Bono and Edge during it on the catwalk. At the "End of the World", Bono was lying down on the catwalk, Edge was over him, taunting him with the guitar, and Bono tried to kick him.

"Mysterious Ways" seemed to be the first song where the whole arena really got into it. Bono then started talking about the 25 shows they've played here, talking about the days of the Paradise club here before performing the Beatles' "In My Life" leading into "Stuck in A Moment". "Kite" didn't quite have the effect it does on the record, but it was still a great moment. I was surprised to hear "Gone". Good song, little crowd response. A lot of the fans in our section were mad "New York" was played, considering the amount of hatred we Bostonians have for them, but I thought this was one of the few songs from the new disc that sounded better live. "I Will Follow" and "Sunday Bloody Sunday" got the crowd back into the show. Just a random observation: it seemed like most of our section didn't really know too much of the new stuff and it seemed like I was the only one who sang with every song. With that being said, "In A Little While" followed. I really wish they played "When I Look At The World" in it's place, but then again they're not here just to please me.

Bono then did "the hardest thing a singer has to do" and introduced the rest of the band, which got a huge response. Larry, Adam, Edge and Bono were all on the catwalk for "Desire", which included a little of Van Morrison's "Gloria" (not the version many of us would have liked to hear). "Stay" sounded great and gathered a nice response from the crowd. "Bad" was one of the highlights of the night. This song is one of their best live and I'm sure many agree with me. Bono added a little of "40" at the end, although I had hoped the whole band would play it. "Where the Streets Have No Name" and "Pride" ended the main set and left us wanting more, but we all knew they would be back.

Those images during "Bullet the Blue Sky" were a little disturbing. Bono ran around with a small spotlight, shining it all over the arena and rapping about the police during it. "With or Without You" gathered the most noise from the crowd all night and it sounded good. The band left again and came back a few mins. later and kicked into "The Fly", which was loud. Very loud. Edge's solo in that song rules. Also, the screens behind the band with the "BeLIEve" thing was good to see again. "One" was probably the highlight for me out of every song played. It sounded amazing as usual. Finally they closed with "Walk On" and said goodnight. All in all, the best one I've seen them play (I've only seen them twice), although Bono seemed like he was having small problems with his vocals. Who cares though? Not me. U2 RULES!!!!

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