by Peter S.

Kanye West was an odd choice as an opener for U2, although when you consider that he had the number 1 song on the radio for like 3 months straight, it's not surprising that U2 would pick him. His set was fine; I would prefer to see him with a live band. Although if I really had my druthers, it'd be Arcade Fire as the opener. I saw them a few months ago and it was simply an amazing show.

U2's show at the Rose Garden was brilliant. We had pretty good seats overlooking the stage on the left. Full house, decent sound mix, although the bass was boomy and indistinguishable when everyone else was rocking. Bono's voice has never sounded better. The song selection was a little on the safe side, although they did do "Miss Sarajevo", wherein Bono did the full-on operatic Luciano Pavarotti verse. They did a full band cover of "Instant Karma". They also did I will follow, Until the End of the World, and Mysterious Ways, but nothing from October, Rattle & Hum, Zooropa, or Pop. They opened with "City of Blinding Lights" with Adam on a bit of synth piano on the intro and closed with an acoustic version of "Yahweh" with Larry on synth, then 40.

And so I was on the verge of tears for most of the show; I think it was because almost each song triggered a memory. This band has been the soundtrack of my life for as long as I've listened to music, and it was exhilarating and surreal to see them again. I've seen U2 four times before, twice on each of their last tours, and this was probably my most enjoyable show of all.

Epilogue -
After the show was done, we saw Adam Clayton exit the room while wearing a bathrobe.

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