by Traci Haddock

Just got in from 2 of 3 Boston shows and tonight's show put Tuesday's performance to shame! The boys were on the ball all night and seemed to truly enjoy performing tonight. Bono's voice was much improved from Tuesday's somewhat scratchy performance. Larry and Edge helped Bono out on the vocals for Elevation and Bono again called the Bostonians "Sexy People" (as he had the previous show). Gloria was the best surprise of the night for me, as it is one of my favorite old tunes. The crowd was really into the song and Bono couldn't stop smiling. Bullet the Blue Sky followed Sunday Bloody Sunday and Bono added "Johnny comes marching home today" to the song. In an amusing twist, after With or Without You, Bono suddenly requested the band play Out of Control during the encore. He said it about 3 times before Larry and Adam began the rhythm needed. Edge had to be coached by Adam as to how to play the opening sequence (definitely not something they had rehearsed recently!). It was just great! Clearly not planned for the set list and it was such a pleasant surprise. Larry was shown to really be laughing and enjoying himself during the song, and Bono was again laughing. It was so cool (for lack of a better word) to see the band really enjoy playing the song. Towards the end, they played Original of the Species - yet another clear surprise for the band, especially for Edge. He picked up a guitar and then Bono spoke to the band - the guitar went away and Edge accompanied Bono on the piano instead (poor Edge messed up once or twice and laughed at himself during the song). It was a moving piece and Adam and Larry didn't join in until half-way through the song. Bono apologized to Edge during the song for surprising him (again with half a laugh on the end). Interesting note: Bono dedicates the song to pregnant women and then ends it with "I love you baby" or something super close to that. And then they ended with Bad, which was (as always) just amazing to hear live. Bono added in the chorus of 40 towards the end, but the audience didn't start singing it in earnest until the band walked off the stage for the night. They played over the time limit of 11pm (9-11:10pm) and it was a disappointment when the houselights finally came on. Can't wait for Saturday's show!

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