by Brandon

This was my seventh time seeing U2, dating all the way back to my first ever concert 17 years ago today during the Outdoor Broadcast. My first thought upon entering the dome was that they managed to make a stadium look like an arena. The design allows them to not be standing at the extreme end of the stadium. The result is that you seem much closer to the band than in the normal stadium show. Not even close to intimate, but still an improvement. I would prefer they have taken the logical step of going ahead and putting the stage closer to the center of the field and make it even more of a 360 degree experience.

The show was good but I cannot call it a great show. Highlights for me were The Unforgettable Fire, Ultraviolet and Until the End of the World. I enjoyed the way in which the immense stage was employed. With the high tech video screen and all the lights, it would have been easy to go for the continuously overwhelming light show and detract from the show. They certainly turned the effects up to eleven at times, but for the most part it was used to provide a very good light show without becoming distracting. Well done.

The new songs were a mixed bag in how they transferred to a live setting. I really like the new album, but I didn't feel like every song played worked as well live. Get On Your Boots benefited from the live setting. I think Magnificent was my favorite of the new tunes live. I would have liked to see Moment of Surrender somewhere in the main set; as a closer it was a bit of a down way to send everyone out. The other new songs did not fair as well to my ears.

With the older songs, I also found a mixed bag with some songs not holding up as well and others having become over played. Some songs, like Beautiful Day, still came across very well. I think City of Blinding Lights is improving with age. I was surprised that Walk On was one of the songs that was not aging well as it was a song to which I was looking forward. Elevation also fell into that group. I love One, one of my favorites, but maybe it is time to not play it every night. I thought I still Haven't Found... also fell into the category of songs that need not be played every night although I thought the version did last night was good. Sunday Bloody Sunday and With or Without You should also become rarer events. In fact, I think the live show would benefit greatly from having a list of classics and rarities from which several were pulled each night to complete the setlist.

I expect the political at a U2 show and don't mind it at all. It would be nice to stick to one cause, though. There was a three to four song run towards the end where to much time was spent on too many different causes.

I have focused on some negatives but don't let that fool you. U2 put on a very good show. I enjoyed myself for over two hours. The stage is amazing and well used. They put on a live show to rival most bands.

Muse was a good choice for an opening act. I may be checking out some albums based on their performance.

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