by Brinson

As a U2 old-timer who's managed to see them on every tour since War in 1983, I was bummed when the tour dates were first announced (no Tampa show!), but then I was held, thrilled, kissed and killed when the Elevation tour added a Tampa date with only about 2 weeks notice. At a venue where I had inside connections. And on a Saturday night no less!

Tampa's legions of U2 fans were SO primed for this show--we were the back up singers many times during the show, starting with the high pitched "Woooos" Bono starts Elevation with, and we nailed it! Elevation and Beautiful Day were perfect one-two punches to get the show started, very high energy and setting the tone for the rest of the show. If the lads were tired from the tour, I couldn't tell by watching or listening. Like in every previous U2 show I've been lucky enough to see (this is my 8th since '83), the energy from the band to audience and back was very high from beginning to end.

I couldn't have made up a better set list myself, although I would liked hearing With or Without You, but then again I wouldn't know which song they did play to cut from the set for that one--good excuse to get the DVD from Boston. For me, the highlights were Where the Streets Have No Name and Bullet the Blue Sky, during which Edge coaxed some SCREAMING riffs from the Stratocaster. Jimi was grooving in guitar god heaven on that one.

Another thrill for me was the way the guitar tech (I was too far away to tell if it was Dallas himself) would play a few riffs on Edge's rigs at full volume during set up after Garbage's set. Just a few notes here and there to be sure all those effects were working, but MAN did it sound cool to a guy who's been trying to do an Edge impression since 1989--after all these years, on a good day I sound a little like Edge on a bad day, early in his career, with a hangover. It's only rock and roll, but I like it, like it, yes I do!

Seeing them again reminded me of my first show in 1983--they were one of many bands that came along in the "new wave" of the early 80s, but feeling the energy in the room on 6/22/83, I could tell these guys had something more than a good solid rock band going on. I've never missed a U2 show since then, and I've never seen a mediocre U2 performance--always a full throttle, over-the-top evening of U2 music.

After Zoo-TV and POPmart, this tour showed that all the bells and whistles aren't what make a great show--it's those 4 guys on stage, 10s of thousands of us in the audience, and three chords and the truth.

Garbage's set was very well played and recieved, and it was a great double bill.

The best U2 show I've seen until the next one, and thus inspired I'll keep working on my Edge impression.

I'll never catch him, but I'll have fun trying.

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