by Markus

What an amazing concert!!

This happened to be my second U2 concert (Other one ws elevation) although i have been a diehard fan since Joshua Tree came out. I think i was around 12 years old then...

Anyways, the concert experience began with me begging, lieing, and coercing security to let me in with my 35 mm camera. After all that work i was rather disappointed with the pictures but i included a few of the better ones.

I had seats in the front row balcony next to Marie (who has posted her own review)and must say that they were the best seats in the house for that price. Not only do you see the fantastic stage, video and special effects production, but you also have a reasonably good sightline to the band. Unlike some other people, the seating was located in a great spot for the audio imaging as well...some friends of mine who sat farther towards the back of the stage complained about the fact that the speaker towers were too close to them. They left the concert with ringing ears.

The crowd was getting impatient when 9 PM rolled by as they were having video problems with one of the screens, one of the techies came out and told them to be patient since they were wanting everything to be perfect because they were going to film parts of the concert for production purposes...the crowd went nuts.

The concert started with City of Blinding Lights and and the place went electric, you could tell it was going to be a special night as the crowd was right into it. The use of the LED strings as a video screen was pure genius...it reminded me of the POPMART screen but for arenas without sacrificing the sightlines from the back. I believe that during ALL Because Of You, they even sent a live video feed through the lights as Bono's image came up on the lighted drapery.

My personal favourite moments from the concert was Elevation, Bad, and Bullet The Blue Sky. I'm not the biggest fan of Elevation, but that night they played it like it was meant to be played in concert. Bono got the crowd going, singing along with him before the rest of the band kicked into full gear, the result was a extended version of elevation, probably lasting 7-8 minutes with the crowd singing throughout.

Knowing that the band has been switching up their sets from concert to concert, i wasn't expecting Bad to be played...to my surprise, the set list was very similar to the one in Seattle the concert before, and Bono was in fine form singing and hitting most of the high notes.The only disappointment was that he did not throw in the Beatles' Norwegian Wood at the end.

Bullet the Blue Sky was pure sublime: Unlike in Elevation tour, the Edge took some 'edge' off the screaming guitar riffs and let Bono do his stuff...Bono effortlessly blended BBS with When Johnny Comes Marching Home and The Hands That Built America, sending chills down my spine.

Other highlights of the concert included Bono probably breaking the record for times pulling people up on stage, not once, not twice, not even three times, but four times. The third time was a comedy of errors as Bono pulled up a girl who had a sign saying something like "i ditched my wheelchair so that i could dance with you."

Instead of dancing, she stood their almost in a daze, not knowing what to do. At one point, the jacket that was tied around her waste slipped off and Bono graciously picked it up and tied it back up. He led her off the stage and picked a new girl who immediately took advantage of the opportunity, letting her hair down and started dancing with Bono...the crowd loved it.

The crowd went nuts when bono put Paul Martin's phone number up on the screen and asked everyone to phone him and show their disapproval for reneging on his promise to provide foriegn aid in the fight against poverty. It was surreal and humourous to see all the cell phones light up all over the arena as people punched in the number.

Of special significance to me, Bono emphasized the importance of equality for all the world's peoples, regardless of race or nationhood. The crowd cheered as each article of the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights was read out by a holographic image on the overhead video screens.

Overall, this concert outdid the intensity of the Elevation concert, as well as the tightness of the set. The band was definately in fine form tonight due to the filming.

Closing out the concert with 40 was expected but kind of a let down as the crowd seemed to have lost some energy and was not cheering like they were earlier...it took a while for them to catch on and sing along as the band left the stage.

Using Walk On as their closing song on the Elevation tour, was much more powerful to me, as it encapsulated the whole concert into a powerful emotion of regret, sadness, redemption, love, and forgiveness...i remember the lyrics rolling above your head as they were being projected onto the walls of the arena. It made you feel like you were in a womb rather than an arena, and as i walked out of that place, i felt as if expelled from the garden of eden, empty and drained emotionally.

I can't say the same for this concert, as the fans seemed tired by the time the band came on for the second encore. Overall, however, i enjoyed this one more due to the stage production, the primarily rock and roll set, and the great seats. I felt i had gotten my money's worth by the time Vertigo was played.

***** Stars and 2 thumbs up!!

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