by David R Martens

Glendale, Arizona 4/15 8pm

First thing- Kings of Leon aren't all that bad- their lead singer added, that it was their best show so far on this early U2 tour. I almost felt compelled to listen to their entire set.
Now that I'm aware of "The Arcade Fire"'s "wake up"- i was quite ready to wake up for U2's entrance. City of Blinding lights was more blinding to my ears- for some reason I don't think the sound was quite right for that first song- a tad staticy- that or there were an enormous amount of watts pumping through that system- i don't know. they fixed it for beautiful day- my cousins favorite song who came in from canada to see the show with me (they dont go to winnipeg anymore). The set was utterly unstoppable right through GLORIA- i'm so grateful for that song this evening-. but "the ocean" felt a tad "make-it-up-as-you-go"- the crowd didnt quite get it- and ADAM CLAYTON recognized the problem. For New Year's Day he toured the ellipse for the second-time, drawing our attention from the previous adlib- a true performer knows when to refocus the audience's attention. brilliant. the whole collection "love or peace" all the way through "streets" was utterly flawless- the crowd was getting tired of the perfect selection of tracks. Bono's "everyone" rant was kindof cool- seeing all those blue screens on cell phones reminded me of space, and how we have such a far way to go before we truly consider everyone equal. "one was lovely as always"- but it did kinof feel out of place- but that having been said, it turned out to be a great transition- into "the fly". "the fly" is the showcase for the edge, and i'm glad they freshened it up a little. "mysterious ways"- was sameas- but a beautiful african-american woman got up on stage with Bono and did her thing- i tell ya- it sure felt staged- but for mysake- it wasn't. i was hoping for "orginal of the species"- but so be it- yahweh brougt delight anyway. the boys all joined at the tip of the ellipse, playing together in the light. its so true- most studio bands suck live- here you had 4 boys, playing minimalist- and still dropping jaws. the cameras were in full effect. and 40 was a great ender, plus the way they gracefully departed the arena.

the small inclusion of "in god's country" is an arizona staple- they played the entire track in november 2001- an amazing show too. This show had me on the floor, with the people, shaking, pondering, clapping--it was nearly an outterbody experience- especially between 'miracle drug' and "sometimes you can't make it on your own". those tracks, instant classics, had the crowd speechless. the set was so smooth- and it wasn't a fat set either- pure and efficient. no zooropa and no pop- which made you think of the theme of the evening. a full circle- but still moving forward. we have the same problems in the world, but now its time to fix them. its amazing how the old and the new work so well together- plus vertigo sounded great. i felt tired with the track- but it was the right amount of enery at the beginning of the set. for my purposes they can drop elevation, put in "last night on earth" or something.

for the tour to be this young and this close to perfection is scary- bono's voice was the best i have heard it to date in concert.

try to go to the show on time - and let yourself warm up- because u2 is ready for you-- most of the time we're not ready for them.

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