by Robert Liechtenstein

The bands performance tonight was great - full of passion and vigour. Mofo wasn' t quite the opener I thought it would be but by the time the started Gone they had hit their stride. Here is a song by song review:

Popmuzik - The band's entrance from the B-stage was fun with Bono in a blue boxing cape geeing up the crowd like Muhammad Ali.

Mofo - They quickly tore into this which was impressive but not as thunderous as the album version.

I Will Follow - Went down well with the crowd but apart from its lyrical connection with Mofo I think this jarred in the Popmart set.

Gone - This was brilliant, easily the best performance of the songs on POP. The pop art graphics on the screen really suited and embellished the song which was performed with great power.

Even Better Than The Real Thing - Another solid performance with Bono now in his muscle shirt an a funny screen graphic of an ape evoluting into a shopper.

Last Night On Earth - A good performance (preceeded by a strange supermarket cartoon) and Bono ad-libbing "..it's the first night at Wembley..". He came out to the B-stage and let some of the crowd strum his guitar.

Until The End Of The World - A great performance, really tight (overall the Achtung Baby and older material was performed with more confidence and verve) and as Edge joined Bono on the B-stage the song came to a rousing finale.

New Years Day - Typically this got everyone going nuts and was performed well, but like I Will Follow it seemed a little out of place in the set.

Pride - A good performance but like other old songs didn't quite fit into the Popmart set and concept.

I Still Haven't Found.... - This was great and fitted in well after it's omission from the Zooropa '93 shows. A real sing along.

All I Want Is You - Like I Still Haven't Found... this fitted in well, and was suprisingly intimate in it's feel.

Staring At The Sun - Bono and Edge performed with just two acoustic guitars and it worked, but I would have liked to have seen it with the whole band.

Suspicious Minds - This was Edge's Karaoke and it was fun. He seems to have grown in stage prescence a lot from years ago.

Miami - One of the better POP songs and in particular the graphics on the screen worked well and gave the song added impact.

Bullet The Blue Sky - Edge's guitar segued nicely into this song. There was an incredible lighting effect where several spotlights converged at one point above the stadium. Having said that it was nowhere near as powerful as the Zoo Tv live version.

Please - Another POP song that worked well live. Bono in particular gave it all he had.

Where The Streets Have No Name - A special moment but again not as powerful as the Zoo TV live version.

Lemon (Perfecto Mix): The entrance in the Lemon was cool and suitably Spinal Tap.

Discotheque: Slightly altered from the album version but it worked well and got the crowd going.

If You Wear That Velvet Dress: Nice and suprisingly subtle performance of this song - the disco mirrorball effect was great.

With Or Without You - Another crowd favourite and it built to a great crescendo (as ever)

Hold Me Thrill Me...: Really strong performance of this song (why wasn't it on 'Zooropa'?) and Bono put his shades on the camera which meant the audience looked at him 'through' the glasses on the screen.

Mysterious Ways: Another strong performance but its inclusion seemed to show that the band relied heavily on previous material (esp. Achtung Baby).

One: A typical, if moving, end to the show with a weird but interesting graphic sequence on the screen.

Wake Up Dead Man: Bono played just the first verse on his own and it worked well as a set closer.

OVERALL: It was an impressive show. Visually it was spectacular and much more vibrant and colourful than the Zooropa 93 shows. The screen worked very well - it was interesting in itself but added to and embellished the music more than the ZooTV screens did. It was a more emotional show than those of '93 with less theory and more fun, however it lacked the tension and power of those shows which were arguably more cohesive. Over all though, I was highly impressed and actually experiencing the shows made the Popmart concept clearer with the obvious links between the band (as 'product' along with the lemon amd olive), the songs (the pop music) and the screen (with the pop art displayed on it).

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