by Don Kline

After paying $7 to be hurded into the Palace parking lot without any direction, and winding up in an endless maze of idling cars, we FINALLY got a spot up on the back lawn. We were worried that we would miss the beginning of U2's set, but as we entered, we could hear the house PA playing some CD or another. We then knew we missed PJ Harvey, but that there was still time to find our seats before U2 were to take the stage. After getting through the ticket gate, we heard the Elevation Intro and bolted to our seats. We had upper bowl tix, not the greatest, but not bad either since the band was in the round this time out. This was my 5th time seeing U2, and although it wasn't the best show ever, it was a great one. I've seen them in Detroit and Chicago, and this time, the Detroit crowd didn't seem to be as energetic as in past shows. (Maybe due to the fact that U2 kind of jilted their Detroit fans by playing only 1 night here, while adding 2 and 3 nights in most other major cities!) I guess it sort of goes along with the theme of the CD and the tour... laid back, with lots of soul, no filler. I think in the end it came off as more spiritual than spectacle. Needless to say, we left our parking woes long behind and had a great night, albeit a few musical glitches by Adam ;) Can't wait for the Fall leg. Highlights from the Detroit show:
the re-worked "Fly," the vid screen editting for "Mysterious Ways" and "Bullet the Blue Sky," the Discotheque-to-Staring at the Sun transition at the "Discotheque" bridge, and Bono reaching all the high notes without straining (his voice has rebounded and is sounding excellent again). Definitely a good show, if you haven't seen Elevation 2001 yet, you won't be disappointed when it comes to your town.
We got our soul on.
-Don Kline
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