by luke

It's hard to imagine a more professional musical business than the U2 tour machine, the standards of audio and visual impact are unsurpassed even after an unplanned 8-month break in the schedule.

Kanye West has a live show not rally suited to an big outdoor venue, but he toiled honestly and sounded much better in Melbourne than previously, an immense talent.

The final U2 show in Australia seemed somewhat testing for the band as a number of technical glitches interfered with Edge's perfect artistry and Bono was obviously distracted at times through the middle of the main set. It was fascinating to see the band's long experience come into play as they moved on with the show regardless, reshuffling the set and producing "The First Time" as a rare acoustic treat while the road crew worked to restore order. And they certainly did, Bullet, Streets, the Fly and Saints were pure big-stadium magic. Even some of the more tired-but compulsory live tracks (Still Havent Found, With or Without You, One) seemed to have found new energy on Vertigo.

The Telstra Dome was a perfect venue, somewhat reminiscent of Dublin's Croke Park for its grand atmospheric intimacy, but the roof remained open unlike the special "outdoor-scale indoors" at the Millenium Stadium in Cardiff last summer.

The set list too brought memories of the European shows as party Girl appeared again, Miss Sarajevo showcased Bono's best vocal form for quite some time, and then a moment every U2 fan should treasure, the Bad-Ruby Tuesday-40 finish (although 40 wasnt really allowed to run its natural course, this was an absolute highlight).

The sense of fun continued right to the end as the kite failed to clear the stadium and Edge farewelled the wrong city to stunned silence (Sydney and Melbourne being fierce rivals) before brilliantly saving the day in good humour, even Adam said a few words as the Vertigo tour leaves for New Zealand.

Pretty hard to beat for a Sunday night out.

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