]@

by p dub

The first time Bono addressed the crowd last night, he reminisced that the last time they saw Columbus, they were looking out of a mirror ball lemon spaceship. "It's nice to be back down to Earth," he said, "But I miss that Lemon." I agree. While last night's show had the best set list of any U2 show I've seen--live or taped--and the band played with more energy than I've seen on previous tours, I don't believe that the Elevation tour eclipses PopMart or Zoo TV. Elevation is a welcome change of pace, and it's a GREAT show, but the last two tours were equally--or more--enjoyable in different ways. My only real gripe about last night's show was the sound quality. From where I sat (lower bowl, opposite end from stage), the sound was sometimes muddy and indistinct. Bono's vocals and the Edge's guitar were often hard to pick out. I'd be interested to hear if other people had the same experience from other locations in the arena.

Observations/highlights:
-Bono played the Edge's guitar with his foot after the bullfight sequence on the catwalk. Very cool.
-Bono took someone's cell phone away from them in mid-conversation, sang part of "Stay" into it, then handed it back.
-Bono's voice was in top form the entire show.
-Bono gave a gracious "thank you" to a local politician (John Kasick) who was heavily involved in the Jubilee campaign and in attendance at the show. He talked for awhile about Jubilee 2000, thanked the fans for supporting it, and said, "It's an incredible thing that in our lifetime, an entire sub-continent has been flushed down the toilet. It's inexcusable, and we're not going to let it happen... A lot of people say that Americans don't care about the rest of the world, but that's bullsh*t."
-Larry does not age. The black and white shots of him on the screens above the stage look like they could have been lifted right off the back cover of Rattle and Hum.
-Favorite songs from the show: Beautiful Day, I Will Follow, Bad, Sunday Bloody Sunday, Where the Streets Have No Name, New Year's Day.

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