by Fredrik (long review - sorry!)

Slane was the most incredible show I've ever seen. Or should I say been part of, because I felt included here like I've never been before. It was very obvious that the band, and especially Bono, drew huge amounts of energy from the crowd, which sang every word of every song (not just the chorus to the "big" songs like the US shows), often stopping to let the crowd carry the song with a huge smile on his face.

The band started out great as always, but when Bono spoke about his dad's passing before Kite, and then hearing his voice crack from emotion during the chorus, from that moment the concert entered a whole other dimension. They could've very well sunk into a funk from the hard week, but instead the show turned into a celebration of Bob Hewson's life, and Bono turned his sadness into an incredible passiontate performance.

A Sort of Homecoming was great, Kite was just incredible, the best I've ever heard it (and I was at San Jose 2 where it was debuted and have all the shows on boot), Sunday Bloody Sunday was very very intense what with Bono stopping the song in the middle and giving an emotional speech about Ireland and its people, (I think that was the first time on this tour he gave a speech a la Rattle And Hum in the middle of the song), and Bullet The Blue Sky was the best I've ever heard, just incredible. The opening guitar blast by Edge was awe inspiring.

The only thing I could've wanted would've been a full version of "40", but I'm not gonna be greedy. It really didn't matter what they played, there was just a feeling in the air like nothing I've ever felt. It felt like the whole crowd was part of the band, they just had this amazed look on their faces as the crowd often took over and carried the show with U2 playing backup to an 80,000 singalong.

Some lasting images from Slane:

- A sea of Irish flags, big fingers and blow up hammers (what's the deal with the hammers?), human pyrmaids forming and crumbling all over the place, plus that guy in front of me that kept mooning us during the Peppers.

- The entire crowd burning lighters, programs, shirts, making make-shift flame throwers with hair spray cans, or lighting anything else that would burn, during Kite and One. Amazing...

- Seeing the images of Bono's dad from the One video across the 4 screens above while the slow motion buffalo ran behind the band during One, and watching people all around me sing along and cry at the same time (us included).

- Watching Bono wipe tears from his face after Kite and realizing I'm doing it myself as well... (I realize I sound cheesy but it was just that kind of show).

- Seeing the crowd go absolutely nuts when Streets started, absolutely mind blowing seeing 80,000 people all go crazy at the same second when the blinding white lights flash when the music hits in the beginning. I don't think I heard Bono at all, the crowd was deafeningly loud.

- Watching 80,000 people spin their shirts over their heads during the Peppers set, laughing and singing like crazy.

- No one giving a rat's ass about Kelis, only clapping when she left. Everybody clapped and sang along to the in-between music (especially The Boys Are Back In Town by Thin Lizzy) however, which just made Kelis look even worse.

- Realizing that while I'm happy they're coming back to the states, I'm almost not wanting to go because I doubt any show will ever top this one, and I sort of don't want to taint the memory. But nah, I'll go!

- I could go on and on, but I've already bored you. Let me just say I don't know what show Jacob saw. Yes, the toilets sucked, the beer was expensive, and it was a 3.5 hour bus ride home after the show, but you seem so focused on the negative aspects I think you missed the point that you witnessed what will definitely go down in U2 history as one of the most significant nights of their careers. I'm sorry about the Slane shirts selling out (I'm guilty of buying one of each kind for me and my girlfriend), but the fact that U2 made special shirts for a single concert must tell you that this show was special to them as well, not just another tour stop. And if the Peppers sucked you must've had an atrocious time during Kelis and the other bands as the Peppers clearly blew them all away, Coldplay included.

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