by RichardJ

A previous post or two commented that the crowd was "uptight," and that wasn't my observation at all. As others noted, the crowd was SO LOUD at one point that even Bono seemed surprised, and said "This is crazy... only in Texas!" If you want uptight - or maybe subdued is a better word - I give you PopMart at RFK Stadium in DC. The stadium started emptying during the encore like there were 2 minutes left on the losing end of a blow-out pre-season basketball game. I've seen U2 in Houston on 4 different tours, and the H-town crowds have always been enthusiastic. So I don't know where this whole uptight comment comes from. (though let's not kid ourselves, U2's Italian fans have us all beat).

With that said, the sound from where I was standing on the floor was quite rough for the first half-dozen or so songs. The situation improved by the time they played "I Still Haven't Found." It also seemed at that point that the band started really connecting with the crowd, and that's when the crowd got loud... and stayed loud.

Highlights included Miss Sarajevo (WOW!), Streets, Fast Cars, and Love and Peace. Oh yes, and seeing Craig Biggio and Dikembe Motumbo.

Overall, I give the show an A-/B+. (that's on the U2 scale, which still means that it was a great show). The first 6 or so songs were probably a B-, but it was an A/A- from there on out. Of all the U2 concerts I've seen, the first night of the Joshua Tree shows in Houston (April '87) with the triple encore gets the A+ (now how many times do you see the lights turned back off after they've come up because the crowd won't stop cheering??).

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