by Bob Dougherty

Having seen the less stellar performance in Washington D.C. the week before, I was hoping that U2 would be hitting on all eight cylinders for the opening night at Giants Stadium. In short, they were. This also happened to be the best of the three nights they played this venue. U2 proved themselves and solidified themselves as the most prolific rock and roll band of the 1980's and 1990's.

This was to be a resplendent evening all round. Except for the fact that the stupid bitch I was supposed to take to the show with me forgot about the date, little went wrong. In the parking lot before the show, 20 of us ate hotdogs, threw the football, and listened to older U2 bootleg tapes from my car stereo. As for the show itself, the band gave us verteran Pop Mart goers few surprises, but improved upon almost every song in the set markedly since Washington, one week before. Bono was in excellent voice. Hell, I hadn't heard him nail With or Without You like this since the Love Town Tour days. Gone was magnificent, not only in its inherently brilliant melody and vocal arrangements, but this particular performance stirred me in mysterious ways. It is increasingly becoming one of my favorite U2 songs. The band has perfected the art of stage presence and in a single number, Bono can exude the earnestness of his Joshua Tree persona, the arrogance of The Fly, the the swagger of the band's current theme: kitsch.

One big disappointment for me was the noticeable absence of "Do You Feel Loved", the second song from the new CD. I don't get it; it's probably got the most powerful bassline of any song from Pop, and it's lyrics almost entirely sum up the album's crux. It's a melody driven chorus that I find completely engaging and I hope the band decides to put it back in the set list.

Of the four Pop Mart shows I saw, this easily was tops; I look forward to their next invasion on Giants Stadium.

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