by Peter Ludlow

The first half of the show at least definitely didn't disappoint, the energy of the crowd even beat Dublin for me during some of the early songs. I thought 'Beautiful Day' made a great opener and 'I Will Follow' got nearly everyone round us out of their seats. The response to the new songs was somewhat muted however, maybe not so much for those down on the pitch but I think some of the casual fans weren't so keen.

'Bad' was my favourite song of the night with 'Mercy' not far behind, I think it definitely is the pick of the new songs they've played on this tour, the way they've reworked the chorus from the HTDAAB version just makes the song fly for me now. Bono looked genuinely touched during 'Still Haven't Found...' with the Irish and Italian flags writ large above him, that's the only so-called 'classic' that I feel is performed with real passion on this tour, almost beats the Joshua Tree performances of it for me.

I don't think the 2nd half of the concert had the energy of the first half, I think they feel obliged to turn the 2nd half of stadium shows into a greatest hits set and I know it must be difficult to maintain the same enthusiasm for songs that they've played as many times as 'With or Without You' or 'Sunday Bloody Sunday' but when even 'Where the Streets Have No Name' sounds as tired as it has on this tour you know something's wrong.

I think it's maybe time for them to head back into arenas and try to mix up the setlists a bit more, I'm a huge Springsteen fan too and it's not uncommon for him to change 10 songs from one night to the next, I know U2 don't have the musicianship of the E Street Band and have never been known for massive setlist changing but it'd be nice to see, it's what makes the first half of their shows more special for me as you're more likely to get some surprises. I don't want to sound too grumpy here as seeing U2 live is always a fantastic experience, the sound on this tour is as good as I've heard and Bono was in great voice as always all night, please come to Dublin next time though, eh lads!

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