by Jonathan Puntervold

I have a hard time finding words for this experience.
My last U2 concert this tour was comparable to my first one in Dublin. Copenhagen and U2 had a special contact yesterday.
I don't know what it was, but compared to all the other shows I'd seen, the band seemed more relaxed than ever. An example would be Beautiful Day, where Bono added
"See the world in red and white" followed by a whole new verse, especially for Denmark. At the beginning of Miracle Drug, Bono would talk about Edge's decision to "drink heavily" the night before. "You must understand - Edge is not like us. He's from the future." - "In the future, Edge drinks this fruit tea," Edge cracks up, and Bono continues, "some pretty wild shit happens." Bono sang Lennon's Rain twice, and but also Singin' In The Rain at the end of Zoo Station. Lots of snippets.
All in all, the band was relaxed, and it semt like they'd just decided to make this one of the greatest shows of the whole tour. Because it certainly felt like it.

Another thing about this show that I think made it bit more magical - It rained heavily. But not only did it rain heavily... It began right in the beginning of City Of Blinding Lights.
Imagine the lights being shut down as always, suddenly it the huge screen begins lighting up the first drops of the rain... It was like it was meant to be.

Well. Let's just say the band and the audience was totally into it, much more so than Gothenburg for example. Songs like The Electric Co., Beautiful Day, City Of Blinding Lights, Bullet The Blue Sky and namely Where The Streets Have No Name and The Fly had that little extra "edge" (got it?) due to the high-spirited relation between the band and the audience. I should also add that only Milan's crowd (who went so completely nuts) was as much into Vertigo 2 as here. I don't know how, but it seemed like the crowd was surprised by it (and everyone I'd been talking to knew the set pretty well) or maybe just taken aback by the performance. But they jumped a bit more than the other crowds I've seen. This night was special.

Last thing mentioned should be the setlist: I don't care if they've played the same stuff for 2 weeks now. This set works. Miss Sarajevo is much better than Running To Stand Still after Bullet The Blue Sky, especially now that the last parts of Edge's solo sounds like sirens; sirens in a war-torn city. The "holy trinity" of Vertigo - I Will Follow - The Electric Co. and the amazing combo of Zoo Station and The Fly (although I do miss Mysterious Ways) are so incredibly amazing. All in all, the flow of the set is incredibly natural.

To sum it all up - Copenhagen surprised U2 by enourmous cheers, but they surprised us even more with that incredible performance. It doesn't get better than this.

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