by Kris T.

When U2 first came to St. Louis on 4/7/1981, I was in labor with my son, so I was unable to attend. Last night, I attended the concert with my son, who is now 24 years old and who bought me tickets as part of my Christmas present, since I am a passionate U2 fan. My husband of 31 years was working, which was good, as we all couldn't afford to go! Anyway, as usual, the boys (boys!) put on a spectacular show! Their concerts are always different each time they tour and I was pleasantly surprised at the "stripped down" show that they put on last night. They gave the "Popmart Arch" back to St. Louis and no space ships or crazy costumes were to be seen, but the show was dazzling enough, anyway, and seemed more intimate. It always amazes me how well they connect with the audience and how their music touches the heart. I won't mention the set list, as this has been covered, ad nauseum, in previous reviews. I love the way they fuse their songs and other artists' songs (John Lennon, Kanye West, etc) so that they all interwine with each other and make the song somehow, more meaningful. The curtains of beads and lights that was the backdrop of many of their songs, whether they flash a message, symbols or images are not only visually stunning, but could be especially poignant. The image of a man walking slowly during the song, "Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own", symbolizing Bono's dad, moved me to the verge of tears. But, then, that song and "One" always do that to me. I read in past reviews about reports of people more interested in beer than U2, but I didn't see too much of that in St. Louis. We had one annoying person behind us, who was chatting away about going to a bar after the concert and then started a lengthy conversation about his "Biffy's" exploits in high school while Bono was singing "Miss Sarajevo", so we couldn't hear the song, but a few firm words to him from my son (6'1") and I soon settled him down. Don't mess with a woman who's gone through menopause!!! Bono pulled a young man up to play the piano during "Stuck in a Moment" and by reading the guy's body language, you would have thought he'd died and gone to heaven. So many lovely personal moments occurred - a young boy sitting on stage saying, "No More! (War) during "Sunday, Bloody, Sunday", was just one of these moments. All in all, the audience ended up energized and happy and all the band members seemed genuinely delighted to be there, playing music and connecting with the audience. Bono's voice wasn't what it used to be, it's been a long tour, although the operatic phrases he sang (think, Pavarotti)during a few of the songs were fairly strong. It will be a long time before the songs and images will fade for this concert-goer. Also, Kanye West put on a good show prior to U2 taking the stage. Even though I'm not a big fan of rap, I do like some hip-hop and I love Kanye's song, "Jesus Walks" - very, very powerful. Although, I have to admit it, I don't feel comfortable saying, "Unh, unh" and flashing the ghetto-finger thingee, like people my age (and older, omigod!)were doing in the audience!

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