by DanP

We were seated in the U2.com fan club section 337, which wasn't great, but not terrible either. City of Blinding Lights started the show with very poor sound quality. Thankfully, the sound team seemed to completely fix the problem by the 2nd song (Vertigo), and the sound quality was great all the way through the last song of the main set. I was really surprised that the old stuff (particularly The Electric Co) didn't energize the crowd. I think that part of the problem is that Bono and Edge don't jump around the stage and the oval runway as much as they used to, and these songs require more phyiscal energy and interaction for the younger audience to get into them. Think back to the energy and youth in "U2 at Red Rocks", and you can see why the songs seemed to work better back then. I think the best parts of this show were the more introspective moments, including Into the Heart, Running to Stand Still, and Species. In many respects, it's a very different show than Elevation, which peaked more with the faster Rock and Roll songs. The first encore seemed to lose the audience. Either many of the fans don't know Actung Baby, or maybe it was the return of the poor sound quality, or maybe Bono was starting to lose his voice. None of these bothered me, as I love Zoo Station and The Fly. Just surprised to see such as blase audience reaction. The sound (and Bono's voice) got fixed again by Mysterious Ways and stayed great through the end of the concert. The last-minute addition of Species was obvious, as Bono had to run around the stage telling the band what to play. Also, there was obviously no preset lighting cues for Species. All in all, a great night with above average sound quality. Bono sounded quite good, and MSG is one of the best arenas to see and hear a show in.

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