by Blarney Rock Boys

US:
First of all, we’ve toured with them since Joshua Tree – and we’re big fans, now and forever, Amen! BUT…

NOT A CHERRY BREAKER:
If you’ve seen them before, you have to say this wasn’t their best. For first timers, who knows? It’s not that it was a bad show, but you’ve come to expect a killer show from them – and this was not.

NOT USING THE DEFAULT SET LIST:
At the kickoff (Blinding Lights and Vertigo) we were saying OMG, here they come … amazing! At Vertigo it started to feel lumpy. By the 4th song, which apparently is the “Bono’s choice” section of the set list that varies from show to show, it totally started to confuse the momentum. PS: Right before the show started, we watched the stage tech rip up the set list, and replace it. Last minute changes are usually really good or really bad.

I THINK I’M SUPPOSED TO…….
The audience seemed to be responding hard because they were supposed to, not because the moment really warranted it (Stuck in the moment I suppose). Like for Bullet The Blue we were ripped from our seats, but we never really went anywhere. Lots of “bar band like” space between songs, and people actually left during the Encore. There was a time when seats were not needed at a U2 concert, but this one could have used a few Lazy Boy’s – lots of people sitting (maybe we’re getting older? I don’t think so especially because a U2 show is usually like a religious experience where people are actually casting their virtual crutches into the wind. )


BONO POLITICO:
Bono a little politically long winded as usual (OK with me I suppose) but telling me to send money to some other country, while my own peeps are up to their ears in Louisiana, P.O’d me a bit. Him floundering around on the floor wearing a blindfold like a prisoner was not cool either. If I wanted to be bummed, or moved, I look up a Roger Waters show. But, hey, it’s Bono.

THOSE POOR PEOPLE IN THE GOOD SEATS:
In the light the stage looked simple enough (an oval race way ala Elevation, and some beaded curtains) but in the dark it was spectacular. We felt bad for the people in the good seats because they couldn’t see the overall “floor show” from the Garden “blues”. Sound was great! You could actually understand the spoken words in between songs. No ear-ringing when we left, but then again no haunting “how long, to sing this song…..” chant on exit either.

PLAY IT AGAIN SAM:
They repeated Vertigo? It’s not like they didn’t have any other songs to play. Um, is this a sign of group alzheimer's?

THE END:
U2 still rules as a concert band. They ARE the last of the really true ROCK STARS. I have no belief in “One bad apple……….”

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