by John Wilkinson

I went to Seattle 1 & 2. First night upstairs right behind mix position (Section 208) and second night inside the bomb shelter. I saw 4 Elevation shows, all GA floor, but none inside the heart. Being inside the ellipse was truly incredible. As always, U2 fans were courteous, generous and simply a pleasure to be around. If you are going to go to 2 shows in your city, I would strongly recommend seeing the first from upstairs and the second on the floor.

During the Kings of Leon set, I looked behind me and standing there was none other that Mr. Paul McGuinnes. I spoke with him briefly and asked if I could take a picture with him, to which he obliged.

I preferred the running order of the show the second night. Opening up with CITY OF BLINDING LIGHTS was excellent and set a great tone for the evening with Bono out on the ellipse. VERTIGO and ELEVATION were superb and GLORIA was simply over the top. Bono pulled a boy (about 10 years old) during SYCMIOYO and proceeded to walk around the ellipse. I ran into them after the show and he was still excited about it.

The War Trilogy, LOVE AND PEACE, SBS, and BULLET / JOHNNY COMES MARCHING HOME was more powerful than the previous night. Bono playing the part of a hostage on Al Jezera television was haunting. Judging by the crowd response, BAD should find a permanent home in the set. It is one of my personal favorites and tonight's performance of it was nothing short of the best with Bono throwing in the RUBY TUESDAY bit.

For anyone who has been thinking that he can no longer hit the high notes, he owned “I’m wide awake” in BAD as well as “Can you hear me when I siiiiiing....” in SYCMIOYO.

PRIDE, STREETS and ONE were excellent as always.

The entire night, from lots of smiles and laughing during Pride when Bono came in with the final verse 4 bars early to telling the crowd to that they had only played ORIGINAL OF THE SPECIES twice before, you could really tell that the band were having a good time onstage. Adam was quite animated and walked around the ellipse several times. As always, Larry was solid as an oak.

The Zoo Trilogy was unexpected tonight as BAD had been taking the place of ZOO STATION. Bono came out in full Fly persona and joked with the crowd “This is a first” during MYSTERIOUS WAYS as he did a mock bullfight with Adam on the runway a la UTEOTW. They closed the show out with Vertigo. It was definitely an audible called on the spot and had a great feel like in the early 80’s when they would open as well as close with with I Will Follow.

Some have said that this tour doesn’t have the intensity of Elevation 2001. I think it is just different. The 3rd Elevation leg had something that no other U2 tour has ever had (and hopefully will NEVER have again) and that was the aftermath of 9-11. Compare Vertigo 2005 to Elevation 2001 spring and I think you will find they stack up pretty well

Doing a concert tour is like the movie “Groundhog Day” You get to do the same thing over and over and over. But once you find out what works, you run with it and I believe they have found it.

I’ve got some great pictures of the show from inside the ellipse. If you want some of them email me and I’ll try to send some out. I got up onstage in St. Louis in 2001 and played piano with the band and the fans were VERY generous in sending me pictures, CD, video, etc so I want to return the favor if I can.

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