by Mike McCormick

U2 succeeded on two levels. Musically they were in top form (esp. Edge) and made some adventurous song choices (see set list below). And visually it was pure spectacle. The spaceship-like “Claw” structure they perform under is 17 stories tall and produced new unexpected SFX throughout the concert. It takes a crew of over 400 to build, operate, and tear down the set over 6 days. I’ve been to a lot of concerts but I’ve never seen anything on this scale before. How many concerts include a satellite hookup to the International Space Station? The flight commander said “Hello Minneapolis!”

As if that wasn’t enough, we also had an intense lightning storm to the north and a huge fireworks show over the Mississippi to the west. During “Beautiful Day” we had it all going on at once – pulsating Claw, fireworks, and lightning. Unforgettable. Unfortunately the lightning soon gave way to a torrential rainstorm. Umbrellas were forbidden in the stadium so we got completely soaked. But Bono and the boys seemed to enjoy the downpour (he broke into “Singing in the Rain”) so we did too and had a great time.

Return to previous page | Post a Review of this show!