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by T Noonan

According to the U2 junkies waiting for Bono to emerge pre-show and work the barricade of assembled fans, he had been in an expcetionally upbeat mood over the three day break and was really digging Japan. That was pretty obvious from the get go as he seemed to have enough energy to carry his other three bandmates.

If you have ever been to a concert in Japan you know the crowds can be unusally reserved but no such case at this show as they were on their feet from the opening licks of City of Blinding Light to the second version of Vertigo. The place absolutely rocked and Saitama is a vastly superior venue to the orignally scheduled one at Yokohoma stadium. Out of Control was a surprise and so was Bad. I have not seen the band since Unbforgettable Fire tour in 85 and Bad, not surprisingly, seemed a little flat in comparison to 21 years ago but it was still great to hear it.

Best song was probably Streets, could literally feel the arena shaking, followed by Sunday Bloody Sunday. Some early reviewers had said that the Band was playing a lazy set list but most folks at Saitama have not seen the boys 20 or 30 times so the songs they picked seemed to work. Really thought they were going to end with Windows in the sky, which was kind of neutral and pacified the crowd. But they came back to play Vertigo again, as Bono said: "this is a true encore and this one is for us, for the boys in U2." Completely unburdened, they really hammered the song. Edge even got up behind the drum set to do some guitar work, and sent the crowd home in a frenzy. Lots of great visuals, overwrought political lectures and some great music. It showed, once again, that regardless of how big they have become, there is no band and no show remotely comprable to U2.

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