by Thomas Bell

My 3rd Staples show and tied with last Monday as the best of the three nights there. Again, the band was in peak form and Bono's voice was strong as the other nights in LA.

The biggest surprise was the inclusion of Mysterious Ways instead of New Years Day in the 4th song slot. I had a feeling they were going to play it as Dallas was checking *that sound* on the familiar red rickenbacker guitar during the quick soundcheck they do before the band comes on. It was a very strong version of that song too- you wouldn't guess it hasn't been played in a couple months.

Also interestingly, Bono sang a line or two from "Into The Heart" during the middle of "Out of Control."

They played an excellent version of "Wild Honey" tonight when Bono pulled a very young girl of about 10 years old up at the tip of the heart and Bono and Edge basically sang the song to her with Bono circling her as he sung the middle verse. The Edge added some really sweet melodies to the crescendo of the song, much better then night 2.

During the majority of "Bad", Bono grabbed and sang most of the song at the main stage into some person's cell phone he grabbed from someone in the audience. Bono sang much more of "Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses" at the end of Bad. I wouldn't be surprised if the band play it as a full version, at least acoustically in the next few shows as it got a very positive reaction form the audience.

Again, Gwen Stefani from No Doubt came on and sang with Bono during the full band version of "What's Going On" and the audience was into the song much more then the other two LA nights.

Bono mentioned rather ominously that they may or may not "come back" for a long time near the end of the show and mentioned that LA has a special place for the band.

T.B.

Setlist:

Elevation
Beautiful Day
Until the End of the World
Mysterious Ways
Out of Control
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Stuck In a Moment
Kite
Wild Honey (Bono and Edge acoustic)
Please (Bono and Edge acoustic)
Bad / 2 verses of "Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses
Where the Streets Have No Name
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
Pride

Encore(s):
Bullet the Blue Sky
What's Going On (with Gwen Stefani on vocals)
New York
One
Peace on Earth (1 verse)
Walk On

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