by Jen Breslin

Well, this was about the 10th time I have seen U2 since my first show--April 1985, Unforgettable Fire Tour--and it was a performance that was in the top 3 of all the shows I have seen!!! I was NOT disappointed one bit (with the exception of the idiots sitting next to us.)

The people sitting next to us, directly to my husband's left, were two 50 or 60-something men with their 20-something sons (I presume their sons) sitting directly in front of them. Well, these two men (one of whom was a loafing 6'8" 250 pound wanna be 20 year old in baggy kahkis and a backwards baseball hat who kept bumping into my husband) spent the entire show getting supremely drunk and then lit up some pot about half way into the show. They could have done this crap in the parking lot instead of spending all that $$ on the show and impacting others' enjoyment of it. They could have cared less about the show and, needless to say, had to pee like 5 times each. For some bizarre reason they decided to start shouting excitedly during Running to Stand Still--a great song, but not really the "hooting and hollering" kind like Streets or Pride. Perhaps all the chemicals were kicking in. I hope they read this because it really was awful to sit next to them.

On to the show--it was AWESOME! Bono seemed to really connect with the crowd and you could see from the interaction of the band members with each other that they felt that they were really in a groove and were happy with the show. I have to say that the crowd disappointed a little. I think as U2 has grown in popularity and ticket prices have increased, many of the people who get tickets are strictly "radio" fans and not dedicated fans. Some of these commercial fans may be able to afford the tickets while dedicated fans cannot--making the crowd a mix of real fans with those who just want to be able to say they saw a U2 show.

The set list was awesome and really flowed. The COBL opening was perfect. They should stick to that. It really grabbed the audience. I could not believe my ears whey started Electric Co.! The set list was great and even though there were some songs I would have loved to have heard, the set was so good I hardly lamented. Perhaps next week they will do Bad. My husband was dying to hear Kite. But again, we were not disappointed.

We were right next to the ellipse on Adam's side and Bono seemed to feel the energy from our section as he spent a lot of time right in front of us--and we responded accordingly! (the idiots nex to us were really the minority in our section. Did I mention that they tried to get a couple to switch seats with their friends so their friends could sit with them? Of course the friends' seats were not as good, so the couple politely declined.)

I can admit that I would have cried if they had closed with anything other than 40. I have been waiting 10 years to hear them close with 40 again and they did not disappoint. And I was soooo happy to see Bono leave the Pope's rosary beads on the mic stand when he left the stage. Very poignant.

Overall, the only thing I could have wished for was a crowd of mostly true fans. Most of the radio fans just don't get it and in turn the overall crowd reaction may seem muted. Don't fret, boys, we are out there, jumping around, singing every word... Thanks for the best twenty years of music ever, and here's to many more!

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