by Michelle P.

Ah, the feeling of re-elevation...

The band lands again in the Big Apple with a fuck the past and kiss the future attitude, as emphasized by Bono when he threw in a couple of extra "begin again.."'s during New Year's Day, embracing (sometimes literally) all the NY'ers in the house. The band was in fine form (except at the end of SBS ) and Bono was in good voice although the MSG sound mix tended to drown him out! I gotta say that, with much fewer VIPs/beautiful people in the house tonight than in June, this crowd was 10x livelier than MSG in June! During the encore breaks, chants of USA, USA broke out, turning into Let's Go Yankees chant...a New York crowd indeed. :-)

During OOC, the band was introduced quickly, and Bono talked about when they first landed in NYC 20 years ago and how megalomania begins at an early age. It was during SBS that Bono noted the historic agreement today by the IRA to destroy their arms. After that I dunno what happened (think it had to do with Edge), but that was the most screwed up end to SBS I ever heard.

Three people got on stage tonight...in a sort of gender role reversal too. During Stuck, Bono brought a guy on stage who had this big Joshua Tree tattoo all over his back, the guy was bear hugging Bono for dear life. Later a gal brought a sign asking to play on Knockin' on Heaven's Door and her wish was granted. She was pretty good too, she also sang including her own improvised lyrics about New York...she improvised really well. Finally with roles reversing back , a gal got pulled up during New York, Bono danced with her a little and then carried her all the way down the heart back to the stage! Before One, Bono related how the Irish were looked at with great suspicion in England during the height of the IRA bombing activity there in the 80s and related it the current situation here with Arabs and Muslims. Also during One the names of those policemen and firemen who died on 9/11 was added to the names of those who died on the airplanes, from previous reports I don't believe that was there before, which lasted into Peace On Earth.

I missed not having Please, but also this probably wasn't the best day to do that with the IRA pact, even though the song can be related to other things...again fuck the past, kiss the future. Also missed the short When Will I See You Again bit before Stuck, I was looking forward to hearing it in person for the first time, ironic since I seem to be one of the few who recognizes, remembers and likes the original...

Not much different than Baltimore, but then again I wasn't there, so... It was fine show, not quite as transcendent as June's MSG #2 was in my view, but it was a *normal* *good* show...just what we needed. :-)

- M.

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