by Gary B

Having first seen U2 at Birmingham Odeon in 1982 and subsequent tours up until 1985, this was my first U2 gig for 16 years!! Although buying the records I lost the inclination to see them live once they started doing the Stadiums.

So, after announcing they were to “scale things down” and play smaller indoor venues, I had to go and see them again.

Ignoring the passing of time and the backdrop imagery, they were, in my opinion, back to what they do best. Back in a small, sweaty (very sweaty), arena and banging out some old “crowd pleasers”, along with the new songs “Elevation”, “Kite” and “New York” stood out for me and the crowd responded accordingly.

It took a long while before Bono spoke, which, under the circumstances is probably understandable. Maybe they should have had a break and toured England later in the autumn. Having lost my father last year I know who devastating it can be, more so when you know that they haven’t got long left to live. Your life’s priorities change a tad.

That said, Bono and the lads still put on a hell of a show, and the fact that they change the set list from gig to gig keeps everybody guessing what they’ll play. From a purely selfish point of view, I wanted to hear all the stuff form the early nineties and I thought “Desire” and “The Fly” was superbly done. I would have like to seen them do “Even Better…” and really surprised they are not doing “I Still haven’t found…” on the European leg (this would have satisfied the “Greatest Hits brigade” who were sitting next to me!)

I knew what the encores were likely to be by reading this site!! So definitely no surprises there but they are still doing “Stuck in a Moment” which I rate as probably the worst U2 song ever recorded. I maybe alone here, but it is the only U2 song I genuinely cannot stand to listen to.

Wish I was going again on the 15th though.

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