by KR

Review of Chicago May 12:

I have taken my time to digest Elevation Show #5. Needless to say, Chicago was simply fantastic.

The highlights:
Jonathan playing Stay. What a fantastic job he did. For those of you who do not know what I am talking about, Bono invited a young gentleman on stage to play piano during their acoustic rendition of Stay.

Sunday Bloody Sunday: Picture 23,000 U2 fans going absolutely crazy as they have played their best rendition of this song yet. Bono did not perform any unecessary theatrics with the Irish flag.

Elevation: Just an outstanding opener.

Until the End of the World: Bono and Edge playing Matador and Bull on stage (I hope they recoreograph this at some point so they might do something different.)

Stuck in a Moment: Just love hearing this song live especially the end.

The criticisms:
That girl who danced on stage with Bono during Mysterious Ways. She has nothing on the ZOO TV Belly Dancer. I was unfortunate enough to witness her in the parking lot before the show and she made me want to puke.

Playing one verse of songs: Wake Up Dead Man, a lyric of 40. It's like play the whole thing or don't play it all. Wake up Dead Man (a full version with the entire band) would be awesome. I really don't care if they play 40 or not. To have the audience sing one verse of the song does such an injustice to the song.

More setlist changes: 11 o'clock, October, When I look at the World, Grace, whatever.

To the last criticism, however, I need to be extremely sensitive. U2 does not count on people coming from all over the place to watch them. With that said, I can see U2 getting alot of flack for not playing Pride or With or Without You because they invite a top 40 audience. The latter criticism is more like a wish to incorporate more songs and invite an open flexibility to Elevation 2001.

Chicago was great, but at show 5, I am due to
offer some negative feedback.

See you in Toronto, second night.

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