by Marty Berry

25th anniversary of the first time I saw U2 live (roughly) on the 1986 Amnesty tour. I've seen every tour since then, many multiple times. My favorite is still Zoo TV, for lots of reasons, but this one was right up there. It had an "Achtung"/"Zooropa" feel to it, although they spread the wealth in terms of pulling songs from pretty much every album. Beautifully sequenced - moreso than any of their shows I've seen, I think. And great energy as well as looseness. Great mix of seriousness and entertainment, as always, but just intense passion all around. Especially on "End of the World," which was absolutely ferocious - never thought of that song like that before. "Beautiful Day" with the Mark Kelly contribution was as exuberant as ever, with the added dimension of Kelly, and his "Tell my wife I love her," which Bono blended into Bowie's line from "Space Oddity."

Larry singing "Perfect Day" was a delight - does he ever age? Speaking of which, the images of a young U2 during "Streets" (from "Joshua Tree" shoots, perhaps) showed just what a band of brothers they are.

This was the closest I'd ever been, on the field about 20-30 feet from the stage, which was a new perspective - that I loved, despite standing for 5 hours! Actually the toughest part were the people complaining about a tall guy in front of us, which I was pretty certain could get ugly (it didn't) and some chick doing that shrill whistle thing in my ears. Ouch.

I think U2 does stadium shows better than any band out there, and I've seen a lot of stadium shows. Their sound is unmatched, and the way they reach out to all segments of the crowd also trumps every other show I've seen.

And great opening acts - Moonalice was fantastic! That Dead vibe in a more roots-rocky incarnation. They translated to the stadium venue seamlessly and nailed their opening set. Great sound and if you haven't seen them, you owe it to yourself to - they're on the road as much as they're in S.F.

Lenny Kravitz was great - never had seen him live. A little Dead, then a lot of rockin' soul and U2 - haven't had a night like that in a long time. Reminded me of h.s. (also a long time ago!) when we always stood on the floor as close to the stage as possible, and the shows routinely ran 5-6 hours or more. I'm just a little more tired today than I was back then, but it was well worth it.

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