by Bert - (Long Review Guy!)

Hi,

This was Night 2 for me. Earlier in the day I had the chance to meet many of the @U2 staff- a really nice set of folks! The Key Arena is set nicely in the Seattle Center with lots of food areas and attractions nearby for interest.

My seats for this show were just behind the stage in the top row of the first loge section- kind of looking down on Edge. I really enjoyed the birds eye view! And- great to see the whole crowd and the lighting.

The show started with City, and I had the same opinion as the previous night- the song doesn't work for me live. It seemed like a slow way to open the show. This probably turned out to be the only real low point of the entire show.

Beautiful Day- Seemed better than the previous night, maybe because of the slow start with City. Also the crowd starting singing some parts of it before Bono sang anything, and I think this really energized the band.

Vertigo- A better version than the first night. Really great. Seemed like the band was really getting going.

Elevation- Great.

Gloria- Yes! So great to hear this song again. I was thrilled. Seemed like lots of folks really enjoyed it.

The Ocean- I couldn't understand why they had chosen this one when I had read about it previously. However, it really worked in this spot live.

New Year's - Lots of Energy.

Miracle Drug- Very enjoyable (not quite as intense as in Night 1.)

Sometimes - Wow, wow, wow! I'm not sure I've ever been as emotional during a song at a U2 concert. And, I've seen maybe 30+ shows in over 20 years. Bono did not introduce the song as he did the previous night but then brought up a boy, maybe about 10 years old and walked with him around the ramp. Knowing what the song was about and seeing Bono with a child who could be his son (and having young boys myself), the tears were flowing freely (on Bono's face, mine, and probably quite a few in the audience.) Thank you, U2tours.com for putting a picture of that moment for this show.

Love and Peace- In Night 1 it opened the show wondefully. Here, it was really great in this spot. Just a great transition. Fantastic song and performance.

Sunday, Bullet, Running - All really nice- great thematic joining of these.

Bad- Another "yes!" This song really completes a U2 concert for me. It feels like an important song. I really enjoyed it, and the crowd seemed equally appreciative.

Pride/Streets/One - Another nice joining of songs.

Zoo/Fly - see my comments about last night's show.

Mysterious Ways- Much better tonight. I kept waiting for Bono to pull a woman onstage. Instead Adam goes way out on the ramp, starts gyrating a bit. Bono, on the main stage, takes note, and says, "Look at sexy Adam Clayton." Bono decides to join Adam, and two do a bit of jousting/dancing, a la the belly dancer in previous tours versions. At the end, Bono says something to the effect that this is a first and that "it was good for me." It was really funny and enjoyable.

The band took an encore tonight, and then went into All Because. I thought that made the song work much better.

Original - I was hoping to hear this, as I really like the song. It was good live, but not great. Bono mentioned at the beginning that they had only played it live twice before. It seems like it still needs a little work- but really has potential.

And, the big surprise of the evening. ...

I thought something weird was up when an additional mike was brought onstage. I thought maybe there would be a guest brought up. Instead, Bono says that "Encore" in Italian means "Again, and so we can do the same f'g song again." And they launch into Vertigo. Wow! The place goes nuts. Very incredible energy. It was something.

Bono says "Goodbye" quickly into the mike. There's then several minutes before the houselights come up- folks wondering I guess if they'll come back for 40, which they didn't, and, in retrospect, seemed fine.

All in all, this was a great U2 show. A huge improvement over the first night (which wasn't bad- see my review for 4/24.)

I hope everyone else gets to see ones just as good!

Bert

Return to previous page | Post a Review of this show!