by zoofly

This was a fantastic show, and it topped my Elevation show (Boston 4 in June '01), even if I was at stage right and had the up close and personal view. I was at the far end of the floor 10 rows behind the sound board (which was distracting at times because of their lap tops and video monitors giving off a lot of light.)

The Love & Peace opener, imo, I didn’t think worked. While the "release! release! release!" was good fun; I think the song is almost too much too soon. Maybe that’s the point of it though, and it seems to flow better with Vertigo, Elevation (great fun for the off key singers in us all!) and Electric Co.(Edge rocked his guitar parts) behind it.

The only downer for me was ‘An Cat Dubh’, I just don’t dig it, but Into the Heart was a bit of saving grace for it. Pride felt a bit lackluster, even if the majority of the crowd knew it and responded in kind, the band felt a little like it was going through the motions, but at the end when Bono led the crowd in the chant/sing-along made its case as why it shouldn't be out of the live set. Miracle Drug was awesome, seeing Larry really putting his heart into his singing gave it even more gravity. The crowd also seemed to really hit its stride when 'New Years Day' and 'Sunday Bloody Sunday' were played back to back. My hands went numb from the repeated clap-along with Larry's snare drum. Probably hands down, 'Streets' was received as the most enthusiastic of the night. Just a sea of waving arms and energy and love! This may have been the overall peak of the show. One was also brilliant, if from a spectator’s view, with everyone’s shimmering neon blue cell phones looking like alien fire-flies, it was magic.

The Fly seemed to catch a lot of people off guard, but even this in its new iteration, can still make the band sound a little discombobulated until the solo saves it. My most emotional moment was 'Wild Horses'. I knew it was something special, and Im sure many other U2 freaks and die-hards did too, (Bono noted that they hadn’t played it in over 10 years) and so I proceeded to blow out what was left of my voice straining every last ounce of breath out of my gut.

Party Girl was a lot of fun, before the song, Bono unveiled a placard on which the Governor of Boston proclaimed in writing that May 24th was U2 day in Boston, so Bono took his magnum of champagne, popped the cork, and let it fly!

At the end of the 2nd ‘Vertigo’ (A song that left a few bemused onlookers to wonder; ”Haven’t they played this one already?” , the band took their much deserved applause and bows, and left under cover of only a few stage lights. We then proceeded to give them a raucous standing ovation until the house lights came on 3 or 4 minutes later begging for one more song!
It was totally fantastic and a special night for all who attended. The only thing I could do, was sit in my seat, which I hadn’t touched in over 2 hours, and just laugh uncontrollably. The joy, excitement, the thrill of what I had just seen was overwhelming, I suppose if It had ended with the more poignant '40' maybe they would have been tears, but tonight wasn't so much of a “Goodbye” to the U.S., as it was a "We'll see you again soon friends."

Thank you Larry, Bono, Adam and Edge.

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