One, Magnificent, Sunday Bloody Sunday - Get Up Stand Up, Beautiful Day - Blackbird, Vertigo, Moment Of Surrender.

Remarks:

The 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall is commemorated with a free concert by U2 in front of Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate. Over 10,000 people are in attendance for this free show. U2’s performance is in conjunction with the 2009 MTV Europe Music Awards. Jay-Z joins the band on stage for a rap during Sunday Bloody Sunday that segues into Get Up Stand Up. U2 also wins the award for “Best Live Act” at tonight’s award show.

Setlist:

Breathe, Get On Your Boots, Magnificent, Mysterious Ways, Beautiful Day - Blackbird, I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For - Stand By Me, Happy Birthday, Stuck In A Moment You Can’t Get Out Of, No Line On The Horizon, Elevation, In A Little While, Unknown Caller, Until The End Of The World, The Unforgettable Fire, City Of Blinding Lights, Vertigo, I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight (Remix), Sunday Bloody Sunday, MLK, Walk On - You’ll Never Walk Alone. Encore(s): One, Amazing Grace, Where The Streets Have No Name, Ultra Violet (Light My Way), With Or Without You, Moment Of Surrender.

Remarks:

The final U2 360° concert of 2009 takes place in Vancouver, Canada. The band wishes Bill Gates a happy birthday as he turns 54 years old. The only notable change in tonight’s concert is the elimination of the Zoobaby intro before “Ultra Violet” in favor of W. H. Auden’s poem “Stop All The Clocks”. U2 looks forward to 2010 for the 3rd and 4th legs of the U2 360° Tour in Europe, North America (and possibly Australia, New Zealand and Japan). Until then, U2 will perform at various concerts, benefits and awards shows for the time being (Brandenburg Gate and the Rock Hall’s 25th anniversary concert included).

The Globe and Mail

U2 wraps up tour with spectacular Vancouver show

The energy was high and an emotional Bono was in fine voice, writes Marsha Lederman

Marsha Lederman, Globe and Mail

In front of an audience that included Bill Gates and “Mrs. Edge,” U2 wrapped up its North American 360 tour with a stunning performance at Vancouver’s BC Place Wednesday night.

Dressed all in black and wearing his trademark sunglasses, Bono thrilled the crowd with his showmanship, his still-strong voice and his shout-outs to Vancouver.

“Where are we going on the SkyTrain? Millennium Line. Expo Line. Canada Line.”

The reference to Vancouver’s public transit system sent the crowd into a frenzy and was one of the very few surprises of the night for anyone who has been following the band’s much-publicized tour - in particular, Sunday night’s live web cast of their Los Angeles concert which featured an identical set list and some of the same word-for-word on-stage banter from Bono.

Still, it’s quite something to see the spectacle in person.

The band kicked things off with three tracks from their latest release, No Line on the Horizon - building energy through Breathe, Get on Your Boots and Magnificent.

But things really took off when Bono launched into Mysterious Ways, strutting across the enormous catwalk - and the crowd was on its feet.

Throughout the two-hour-and-15-minute show, it was unquestionably the older material that resonated with the multi-generational crowd. The crowd knew every word to I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For, Beautiful Day and Where the Streets Have No Name.

The sound was inconsistent, not surprising for this venue. But if anyone can sound good at BC Place, it’s U2.

Sunday Bloody Sunday was a show-stopper. Bono has long since lost the white flag that made his performance of the anti-war anthem so legendary way back in the ’80s, but he doesn’t appear to have lost the passion. Performing the song on a stage bathed in green, the youthful anger was replaced by an older, wiser man’s concern. (The song followed a plea for democracy to Iran.) There was also a tribute to Burmese political prisoner Aung San Suu Kyi, for whom Bono wrote the song Walk On.

The show was spectacular in the true sense of the word - the much-written-about mega stage, the enormous video screen, the intricate light show - but all that technology seems to pose a problem too. With a show so complex, spontaneity seems to be difficult if not impossible.

Even a City of Blinding Lights stroll around the catwalk with a young girl (to whom he sang “oh you look so beautiful tonight” - which actually felt kind of odd rather than cute) was clearly planned; not the spontaneous dance-with-a-fan of the U2 of old.

The evening was a star-studded affair off-stage as well as on, with Liam Neeson and football great Warren Moon in attendance, guitarist The Edge’s mother (“our very first crew member,” said Bono) and Bill and Melinda Gates. Bono led the crowd in a rendition of Happy Birthday for Mr. Gates, who celebrated his 54th birthday at the concert.

If the Vancouver show was anti-climactic after Sunday’s Rose Bowl event (with 95,000 people in attendance plus millions more streaming online), the band didn’t let on. The energy was high and Bono was in fine voice (for the most part). If anything, the show had an added element as the band wrapped up the tour - thanking the “best crew we’ve ever worked with” (at which point Bono’s microphone went all crackly - a joke, surely), congratulating the tour’s designer and singling out his band mates with praise and hugs.

“It’s getting very emotional around here,” Bono said toward the end of the show.

It was, indeed.

© Copyright 2009 CTVglobemedia Publishing Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Images:

Photos by Jeff Vinnick, The Globe and Mail

Setlist:

Breathe, Get On Your Boots, Magnificent, Mysterious Ways, Beautiful Day - In God’s Country, I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For - Stand By Me, Stuck In A Moment You Can’t Get Out Of, No Line On The Horizon, Elevation, In A Little While, Unknown Caller, Until The End Of The World, The Unforgettable Fire, City Of Blinding Lights, Vertigo - It’s Only Rock And Roll, I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight (Remix), Sunday Bloody Sunday, MLK, Walk On - You’ll Never Walk Alone. Encore(s): One, Amazing Grace, Where The Streets Have No Name, Ultra Violet (Light My Way), With Or Without You, Moment Of Surrender.

Remarks:

All the stars are out tonight (in the words of Bono) as U2 perform in front of a record crowd of over 96,000 people at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. The concert was also broadcast live on YouTube, setting history as the first live concert ever streamed on that website in 15 different countries, including France, Canada, Italy, Spain, Japan, Brazil, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Mexico, Israel, South Korea, the Netherlands, the U.K. and the U.S. The show was also recorded for an intended DVD release, possibly marking this as the first U2 concert captured in one show since “Under A Blood Red Sky” in 1983 (other concert releases were recorded over multiple nights).

Crave Online

U2 360 Tour At the Rose Bowl

Reports from the 96,000-strong U2 show in Pasadena.

By Johnny Firecloud

U2 closed the U.S. leg of their massive 360° Tour in front of a record crowd last night, and the experience was nothing short of an extravagant spectacle. 96,000 people descended on the beautiful little town of Pasadena on Sunday, obliterating the 20,000 parking spaces by morning and causing the major transit lines to run overtime. I had refused to believe there was an actual subway in Los Angeles until I was riding it out of the station with the fan masses, but it’s very real, and was very packed with Bono disciples yesterday.

The gates of the Rose Bowl opened nearly an hour after the listed 5 p.m. doors time, which led to desperate bottlenecking that would’ve turned massively fatal at the drop of a hat, had someone screamed “fire” or “bomb” or “Fergie pissed her pants onstage again!” Openers Black Eyed Peas brought their anthemics up to stadium level in pro fashion, recruiting special guest Slash to play “Sweet Child O’ Mine” to the squealing delight of the crowd. The former Gunner wasn’t the only famous face at the bowl, however; other stars in attendance included Colin Farrell, Ewan McGregor, Paris Hilton, J.J. Abrams, Chris O’Donnell, Cindy Crawford and Michael Bay.

Of course, the biggest spectacle - what apparently justifies spending in excess of $300 million without turning a dime of profit - is the Claw, a giant, spider-like contraption that stands 170 feet tall, looks like a giant spaceship and is completely distracting as a stage prop. It’s neat to look at, but when one considers that they’ve played to 3 million fans and are still in the hole, it begs the question: what’s the point? Is the goal to cram as many people as they can into arenas? If so, U2 certainly succeeded.

But what about the music? Aside from the fact that the set was unreasonably heavy on newer material, I was four rows from the floor, and for all the hype about rotating platforms and “intimate” experiences courtesy of the Claw, I’ve had more intimate music moments watching YouTube. In fact, the show was broadcast on YouTube (and filmed for a future DVD as well), and those at their computers likely had far better a concertgoing encounter than anyone in the stadium that wasn’t on the general-admission floor. Sure, the spectacle and energy of the staggeringly massive Rose Bowl crowd doesn’t translate through a computer screen, but the songs didn’t hit nearly as hard as they could’ve - for the simple fact that it seemed they (particularly Bono) were playing up more to the cameras than to the audience itself.

U2 felt like a company. They didn’t strike me as a band trying to reach an emotional apex with their audience. Is this the price of a band constantly trying to outdo their own gimmicks? Is it truly better for millions of people to share an experience if that very experience is diminished by the grandiosity of it? The answer is no, and for all their noble efforts and seasoned showmanship, U2 just didn’t pull it off.

All the same, the night was still full of beautiful moments. The snippet of Beethoven’s Ninth as the intro to “Get On Your Boots” was gorgeous, and a few lines from Daniel Lanois’ “The Maker” at the end of “Beautiful Day,” was memorable as well. The “Amazing Grace” lead-in to the deafening singalong “Where the Streets Have No Name,” as well as the uber-anthem “Sunday Bloody Sunday” didn’t suffer from the grandiosity, but the general sense of spectatorship felt more like a football game than a concert. And in a climate where corporate generics are ripping the human experience out of life at every turn, what we need is intimate heart. You may still be able to find it on a U2 album, but certainly not beside 96,000 other fans, under a giant Claw.

U2 Los Angeles Rose Bowl Set List:

Breathe, Get On Your Boots, Magnificent, Mysterious Ways, Beautiful Day / In God’s Country (snippet) / God Only Knows (snippet) / The Maker (snippet), I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For / Stand By Me (snippet), Stuck In A Moment You Can’t Get Out Of, No Line On The Horizon, Elevation, In A Little While, Unknown Caller, Until The End Of The World, The Unforgettable Fire, City Of Blinding Lights, Vertigo / It’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll (But I Like It) (snippet), I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight / Two Tribes (snippet), Sunday Bloody Sunday, MLK, Walk On / You’ll Never Walk Alone (snippet)

Encore: One / Amazing Grace (snippet), Where The Streets Have No Name, Ultra Violet (Light My Way), With Or Without You, Moment of Surrender

© 2004-2009 CRAVEONLINE MEDIA, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Images:

Photos by Wally Skalij, Los Angeles Times

Setlist:

Breathe, Get On Your Boots, Magnificent, Mysterious Ways, Beautiful Day - In God's Country - Fix You, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For - Viva Las Vegas, Stuck In A Moment You Can't Get Out Of, No Line On The Horizon, Elevation, In A Little While, Unknown Caller, Until The End Of The World, The Unforgettable Fire, City Of Blinding Lights, Vertigo - All These Things That I've Done, I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight (Remix), Sunday Bloody Sunday, MLK, Walk On - You'll Never Walk Alone. Encore(s): One, Amazing Grace, Where The Streets Have No Name, Ultra Violet (Light My Way), With Or Without You, Moment Of Surrender.

Remarks:

Amongst celebrities sighted at this show included former President Bill Clinton, Bobby Shriver, Sean Penn, Chris Martin, Paris Hilton, Ali Hewson, Morleigh Steinberg, Edge's parents, Anne Acheson and many others. There are also new video clips that appear throughout the concert, especially during Unknown Caller (featuring Terry Lawless) and fan-created videos. ISS astronaut Frank DeWinne is also featured toward the end of "In A Little While" as he recites the final verse of the song.

Las Vegas Weekly

U2 showcases classic past, passable present

Josh Bell

Do we really need stadium concerts anymore? Probably not, but if we have to endure the outdated tradition of bloated extravaganzas housed in huge outdoor arenas generally reserved for football or baseball games, then U2 is certainly the band for the job.

The grandiose Irish rockers played for over 40,000 people at Sam Boyd Stadium Saturday night, and they did their best to make the experience worthy of such expansiveness. Unfortunately, the band's recent material (beginning with 2000's All That You Can't Leave Behind), which made up the bulk of the setlist, just doesn't have the power and universal appeal needed for a larger-than-life stadium experience. The U2 show was a perfectly solid rock concert, with a huge claw-shaped set that commanded the attention of tens of thousands, but musically, it only reached that mass transcendence a handful of times.

Classics "Where the Streets Have No Name" and "Until the End of the World" filled the stadium the best, and "One" and "With or Without You" got audience members waving cell phones and swaying arm in arm. It was exciting to hear the swagger of "Mysterious Ways" and the call-to-arms of "Sunday Bloody Sunday" among the sea of people, but those highlights were surrounded by lots of dull renditions of songs from underwhelming new album No Line on the Horizon, and other latter-day material. "Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out Of" got a nice simple acoustic makeover, with singer Bono and guitarist The Edge trading lead vocals, but it was the wrong fit for the venue. Likewise, it was refreshing to hear lesser-known vintage album tracks "The Unforgettable Fire" and "Ultra Violet (Light My Way)," but they did little to rouse the audience.

And, of course, Bono could never resist a chance for cheesy social commentary, so there was a video of Desmond Tutu leading into "One," and "Walk On" featured an onstage phalanx of Amnesty International volunteers with masks depicting Burmese dissident Ang San Suu Kyi. "My name is Wayne Newton," Bono joked during the band introductions. "I'm sure happy you're still coming to see us." We are, but it's losing a bit of its charm.

© Copyright 1996-2009 Las Vegas Weekly

Setlist:

Breathe, Get On Your Boots, Magnificent, Mysterious Ways, Beautiful Day - Blackbird, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For - Dirty Old Town, Stuck In A Moment You Can't Get Out Of, No Line On The Horizon, Elevation, In A Little While, Unknown Caller, Until The End Of The World, The Unforgettable Fire, City Of Blinding Lights, Vertigo, I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight (Remix), Sunday Bloody Sunday, MLK, Walk On - You'll Never Walk Alone. Encore(s): One, Amazing Grace, Where The Streets Have No Name, Ultra Violet (Light My Way), With Or Without You, Moment Of Surrender.

Remarks:

U2 perform the same songs from the previous show in the Phoenix metro area, including "In A Little While" and "Unknown Caller". Former presidential nominee and senator John McCain and his wife Cindy are at tonight's show, as well as Muhammad Ali and Shane MacGowan.

Phoenix New Times

Concert Review: U2 Gets Intimate in Glendale

By Martin Cizmar

There's something inherently incongruous about the serene, relentlessly thoughtful music U2 made at its creative peak and the stadium-sized spectacle that came to Glendale last night. Sure, the band has been one of the few extant rock acts capable of (nearly) selling-out football fields for two decades, but I still say something about seeing such personal songs sung to crowds that large just feels weird. And I know I'm not the only one who noticed.

"Believe it or not we built this spaceship to get closer to you," a black-leather clad Bono said, gesturing up at the towering four-footed contraption supporting the band's massive, circular stage. "We're looking for intimacy."

"Intimacy on a grand scale" he quickly added, self-aware enough to chuckle at the irony of his words, given the situation.
Surprisingly, there were moments when Bono and his band found what they were looking for. Yes, there really were special, intimate moments at this stadium show.

Not when the slow expansion of a giant LCD sculpture more or less stole the show while Bono and Edge sang to each other behind the drum riser. Not when drummer Larry Mullen lugged a bongo around the outer ring of the stage while a backing track provided the only meaningful percussion during the ridiculously awful new single "I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight." Not when it became obvious just how much playback was used during "Mysterious Ways." Not in an ill-conceived bit where 100 or so members of the audience strolled on stage holding up masks of imprisoned Burmese politician Aung San Suu Kyi during "Walk On." Definitely not when you realized just how many "BlackBerry Loves U2" ads had been stuck up around the stadium.

But, considering this is very likely the largest crowd gathered for the purpose of listening to rock music in Arizona this year, U2 did an excellent job of shrinking things to a relatable scale at points. The audience really did seem to sway "as one" for a moment during "Sunday Bloody Sunday." I'm sure he's played it 10,000 times, but The Edge's brilliantly understated solo in "One" certainly felt extemporaneous. One zoom-in from the appropriately over-sized LED screen showed The Edge was singing along to "Where The Streets Have No Name" with almost unnatural intensity -- especially considering he was barely mic'd.

No, it wasn't the show songs from the band's magnum opus, The Joshua Tree, deserved, but it wasn't the Godforsaken PopMart Tour either.

Here's my intimate thought: I still prefer to associate U2 with speeding across the California desert, imagining what a forest of Joshua trees looked like to a young indie band from Ireland. Or the walk I took through a bombed-out street in Belfast, Northern Ireland, realizing how brilliant and important "Where The Streets Have No Names" really is.

Bottom line: U2's best music is personal music, and personal music doesn't fit in basketball arenas, let alone football stadiums.

The effort is appreciated nevertheless.

Critic's Notebook:

Last Night: U2 and Black Eyed Peas at University of Phoenix Stadium

Better Than: Billy Joel and Elton John, to be sure. It's obvious U2 is not mailing it in.

Personal Bias: Pro Joshua Tree. Anti Pop, Achtung Baby and Zooropa.

Random Detail: What was up with that light-up coat Bono came out in for the last encore? And why did he put it on a hanger, hang the hanger on a light-up microphone suspended from the top of the stage setup and send it skyward only to take out another microphone? Weird.

Further Listening: Rattle and Hum really is a greatest hits record.

By The Way: Follow my twitter, where I'm doing some live updates from show's I'm seeing. twitter.com/martincizmar

© 2009 Village Voice Media All rights reserved.

Setlist:

Breathe, Get On Your Boots, Magnificent, Mysterious Ways, Beautiful Day - God Only Knows, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For - Stand By Me, Stuck In A Moment You Can't Get Out Of, No Line On The Horizon, Elevation, In A Little While, Unknown Caller, Until The End Of The World, The Unforgettable Fire, City Of Blinding Lights, Vertigo, I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight (Remix), Sunday Bloody Sunday, MLK, Walk On - You'll Never Walk Alone. Encore(s): One, Amazing Grace, Where The Streets Have No Name, Ultra Violet (Light My Way), With Or Without You, Moment Of Surrender.

Remarks:

U2 return to the state of Oklahoma for the first time in 26 years to perform in front of a massive crowd of 60,000 at Gaylord Stadium. "Unknown Caller" makes its return to the setlist for the first time since September 24 at Giants Stadium in NJ. "In A Little While" is performed for only the 2nd time on the tour's 2nd leg (the previous occasion being at Raleigh).

NewsOK.com

Concert review: U2 makes it a night to remember for 60,000 fans in Norman

By George Lang

U2 fans will be talking about "the claw" for years, and how the Irish band brought a gigantic stage set to Norman that almost made Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium feel like an intimate venue -- well, maybe a basketball arena. But even with that imposing, "in the round" superstructure towering over Owen Field, the emphasis Sunday night was on U2's performance -- all the visual flash was in service to the band, which performed a lengthy set spanning 26 years -- or, as Bono said early in the set, the length of time since the group's last stop in Norman.

"It took us 26 years to travel one mile," Bono said, referring to the band's performance at Lloyd Noble Center in 1983. And throughout the concert, Bono, guitarist The Edge, bassist Adam Clayton and drummer Larry Mullen Jr. took huge leaps through U2's musical history, opening with three songs from this year's "No Line on the Horizon" -- "Breathe," "Get On Your Boots" and "Magnificent," before hurdling backward to 1991's "Mysterious Ways." While the group was highlighting its new songs whenever possible, U2 kept the crowd of 60,000 fans happy to the point of mass, ecstatic dancing when the group deployed its acknowledged classics such as "Beautiful Day" and "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For."

This was an audience ready to play along: toward the end of "Still Haven't Found," Bono sang two lines of Ben E. King's "Stand By Me," and the stadium finished the first verse and chorus for him. Perhaps because the mood was right and the crowd was primed, U2 added two songs it had not played in previous shows on the tour, 2000's "In a LIttle While" and the new "Unknown Caller," a dramatic, half-chanted song partially constructed from computer commands. But after that deep plunge into the new disc, the band came roaring back to familiar territory with two of its most haunting songs, the Biblical melodrama "Until the End of the World" and a mesmerizing version of "The Unforgettable Fire."

Spotlighting new material can be challenging to a band with a three-decade history, but the new songs from "No Line" intensified in the live setting, particularly a discofied "I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight" and the show's closer, "Moment of Surrender." But U2 also brought an uncommon intensity to some older material, especially during a fiery version of "Sunday Bloody Sunday" that was performed against images from this year's election protests in Iran. The Edge's guitar work on "Bloody Sunday" was possibly his most energized of the evening, with Clayton and Mullen barreling through the song's martial rhythm. And the band closed out the main set by devoting "MLK" and "Walk On" to jailed Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, with Amnesty International volunteers walking the massive circular runway carrying masks bearing the imprisoned politician's face.

While the Black Eyed Peas performed an energetic set of recent hits including "Boom Boom Pow," "I Gotta Feeling" and "Meet Me Halfway," the opener was the equivalent to a slick, Auto-Tuned pep rally for U2 -- this is a group that has dominated the singles charts for most of 2009, but while the Peas had much of the crowd moving throughout their 45-minute segment, even a seemingly unstoppable dance-pop machine was merely a prologue for the stars of the evening. All in all, U2 played a long main set -- 19 songs -- and came back to play some of the most popular songs of its career, including "One," "Where the Streets Have No Name" and "With or Without You," with Bono singing into and swinging from a glowing circular microphone that dangled from the center of "the claw." Sure, it looked like an alien landing, but U2 cleverly used the dimensions of its enormous stage to bring a human focus to the band and its performances.

© 2009 Produced by NewsOK.com

Setlist:

Breathe, Get On Your Boots, Magnificent, Mysterious Ways, Beautiful Day - Here Comes The Sun, I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For - Stand By Me, Stuck In A Moment You Can’t Get Out Of, No Line On The Horizon, Elevation, Your Blue Room, Until The End Of The World, The Unforgettable Fire, City Of Blinding Lights, Vertigo, I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight (Remix), Sunday Bloody Sunday, MLK, Walk On - You’ll Never Walk Alone. Encore(s): One, Amazing Grace, Where The Streets Have No Name, Ultra Violet (Light My Way), With Or Without You, Moment Of Surrender.

Remarks:

“Your Blue Room” makes a return to tonight’s setlist and there is extra emphasis on NASA’s contributions to U2’s 360° Tour throughout the song. Also, opening act Muse opens up for U2 for the final time on this year’s tour.

Houston Chronicle

U2 and 360 degrees of entertainment

Three songs into an epic, grandly entertaining set, Bono summed up his —and U2’s — enduring connection with fans with a succinct lyric.

“I was born, I was born to sing for you,” he proclaimed during Magnificent.

Bono and, by extension, U2, have taken their celebrity status far beyond record sales and chart positions. But Wednesday night inside an enthralled, open-roof Reliant Stadium, U2 showcased what first made the band iconic: music.

After a lengthy buildup and a curiously subdued entrance, kickoff tune Breathe segued directly into the clanky Get On Your Boots. The two-hour-plus set then shimmed quickly into Mysterious Ways, which blossomed into early standout Beautiful Day.

“We feel right at home here in Houston. Home of space stations,” Bono said after inviting a giddy female fan onstage to dance.

He was referencing the band’s mammoth, sci-fi stage. Depending on your viewpoint, it looked like a video-game controller, the underside of a spider or a moonwalk. Lights whizzed over the crowd. Disco balls swirled. Bridges floated above fans on the floor.

The band also spent Tuesday fiddling around in Mission Control at Johnson Space Center and chatting with astronauts.

“Houston, we have no problem,” Bono said.

But for so much over-the-top spectacle, what came into sharpest focus was U2 and its bulletproof canon of songs. Bono has tempered his rock-star stylings with real charm, and there’s no sound, or sight, quite like the Edge on guitar. Every song was given equal billing, every moment felt brisk and bright. It was a perfectly balanced dynamic of economy and extravagance.

By the time U2 launched into I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For, the crowd was in full sing-along mode.

There were quick snippets of Stand By Me, Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin) and Amazing Grace weaved into songs. Vertigo and Elevation were confident and thunderous. I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight was recast in a pulsing house remix. Hard-charging drums from Larry Mullen, Jr. and searing guitar work marked Sunday Bloody Sunday.

It’s not a U2 show without politics, and the most overt moment came during Walk On. Bono dedicated the song to pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who is under house arrest in Burma and has spent 14 of the past 20 years in detention. Volunteers from Amnesty International flooded the stage, holding up Suu Kyi masks, which were also distributed to the audience.

Most concerts do well to have one “moment” — that song or scene that stays with you long after the show. U2 can claim several: the bittersweet sting of One; the anthemic cry of Where The Streets Have No Name; the ballroom swirl of With or Without You (aided by Bono’s glowing microphone and LED-lined jacket).

“Texas, to me, is the center of the world right now,” Bono said before launching into gorgeous set closer Moment of Surrender.

“I don’t want to leave. I don’t want to go home.”

Muse lack the mass-appeal hooks and grand choruses that mark the best of U2’s catalog. But the disheveled outfit still proved a solid opener, dousing fans with moments of epic, theatrical rock. Not magnificent, but still a nice warm-up.

Posted by Joey Guerra at October 15, 2009 12:43 AM

Images:

Photos by Karen Warren, Houston Chronicle

Setlist:

Breathe, Get On Your Boots, Magnificent, Mysterious Ways, Beautiful Day - Blackbird, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For - Stand By Me, Stuck In A Moment You Can't Get Out Of, No Line On The Horizon, Elevation, Until The End Of The World, The Unforgettable Fire, City Of Blinding Lights, Vertigo, I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight (Remix), Sunday Bloody Sunday, MLK, Walk On - You'll Never Walk Alone. Encore(s): One, Amazing Grace, Where The Streets Have No Name, Ultra Violet (Light My Way), With Or Without You, Moment Of Surrender.

Remarks:

With over 70,000 fans in attendance, U2 performed in North Texas for the first time in 5 years. In this new high tech stadium, the stage setup had to be scaled down so the entire stage would fit under the massive HD video screen (and it barely did). During an extended version of "One", former U.S. President George W. Bush and Ugandan nurse Agnes Nyamayarwo were thanked by Bono for their humanitarian work in Africa. Tiger Woods, Jerry Jones and Manu Ginobili were in attendance.

Fort Worth Star-Telegram

U2 show in Arlington is visually arresting, occasionally moving

By PRESTON JONES, DFW.COM

ARLINGTON -- U2 is incapable of intimacy.

The Irish rockers' detractors would tack "subtlety" onto that sentence as well, but Bono and the boys were never about hushed, small moments. No, this outsized foursome is engineered to deliver epic moments, pulsing with urgency and hope.

Such moments were frequently on display Monday night at Cowboys Stadium, as U2 played its first North Texas gig in five years, as part of its U2 360 tour. Much has been made about the stage affectionately dubbed the "spaceship" and, yes, it was mightily impressive. It should come as no surprise that despite its gargantuan size (the pylon atop the stage was a hairsbreadth from Jerry Jones's big ol' HDTV), this feat of engineering appeared right at home in the futuristic new stadium.

For more than two hours, U2 mingled spectacle and sincerity, dazzling more than 70,000 fans with songs old and new. On the road supporting its latest album, No Line on the Horizon, U2 dispatched many of the fresh tunes up front, leaving the bulk of the set list for favorites like Mysterious Ways and I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For. The crowd roared for the classics, but gave No Line's selections a cooler reception. If the indifference bothered the superstars, it didn't show.

Despite more than three decades in the business, U2 still attacks its songs with a ferocity that belies its standing. That said, the overwhelming scale of the stage, not to mention Bono's healthy ego, can hold even the most ardent fan at arm's length. While visually arresting and occasionally moving, the night was not without its hiccups: Bono's peculiar decision to pluck a random child out of the crowd and parade him around the circular stage during City of Blinding Lights was a head-scratcher. Sure, it's cool for the kid to witness a sea of humanity and get a pair of your shades, but, uh, what's the point?

But that's the nature of U2: Random acts of generosity spiked by exhortations to get involved in your world. Excess rests comfortably against sacrifice; hubris wrestles with humility. If the band wasn't so talented -- ambition has arguably been slowly snuffed out of U2's music, although a stage such as this one suggests a few burning embers -- it would feel like cheap rock 'n' roll theater.

As the Edge's regal, gleaming guitar lines reflected and refracted off of Cowboys Stadium's interior and the crowd took the first verse of Looking For, it was hard not to give over and let U2 work its magic.

Preston Jones is the Star-Telegram pop music critic. 817-390-7713

Setlist:

Breathe, Get On Your Boots, Mysterious Ways, Beautiful Day, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For - Stand By Me, Stuck In A Moment You Can't Get Out Of, No Line On The Horizon, Magnificent, Elevation, Until The End Of The World, The Unforgettable Fire, City Of Blinding Lights, Vertigo, I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight (Remix), Sunday Bloody Sunday, MLK, Walk On. Encore(s): One, Amazing Grace, Where The Streets Have No Name, Ultra Violet (Light My Way), With Or Without You, Moment Of Surrender.

Remarks:

With over 72,000 people at tonight's show in Tampa, U2 breaks the all-time attendance record for Raymond James Stadium. One notable mention tonight is U2's live satellite link-up with Cirque du Soleil CEO Guy Laliberté orbiting the Earth in the International Space Station. Laliberté, the first French-Canadian space tourist, is promoting his campaign "Moving Stars and Earth for Water" (as clean water awareness). Shortly after the live chat, a pre-recorded version of Elevation (taped in Charlottesville) is broadcast via the Onedrop.org website.

Tampa Tribune

With U2, 72,000 beat as 1

by Curtis Ross

TAMPA - For all the hoopla over hugeness of U2's 360° tour, Friday night's show at Raymond James Stadium felt less elaborate than previous U2 megaproductions.

The high-definition video screen, the major element in the band's stated effort to bring the show closer to even the cheap seats, was the main attraction tech-wise. The enormous structure looming over the stage looked impressive all lit up, as at the beginning of "Where the Streets Have No Name," but mostly faded into the background.

Which is as it should be, because all the big-budget toys in the world can't save a show this size from a second-rate band. And Friday's show was first-rate.

The Edge's arsenal of guitar effects gave the sound the heft it needed for the stadium setting. Bassist Adam Clayton and drummer Larry Mullen locked in tight, showing the benefits of 30 years of playing together.

U2 may be the only band alive whose songs make more sense being played in front of more than 72,000 people. On the record, "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" communicates restlessness and dissatisfaction. With thousands of voices singing along with U2 frontman Bono, it became a song about endless possibilities.

Songs of more recent vintage, such as "City of Blinding Lights" and "Beautiful Day" have that same quality. Friday, both exploded, as if U2's last two scaled-down, arena tours hadn't been big enough to house the songs.

Selections from this year's "No Line on the Horizon" took on new life live as well. The band brought out the punkish simplicity of the title track to good effect, while "Get On Your Boots" became the rave-up it just missed being on disc.

The show's latter portion focused more on social and political concerns, with photos from this year's Iranian protests accompanying "Sunday, Bloody Sunday." "Walk On" was dedicated to imprisoned Burmese leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

But in the end it was U2 that made the biggest impression -- four musicians who wanted to be the biggest band in the world and succeeded.

© 2009 Tampa Tribune

Setlist:

Breathe, Get On Your Boots, Mysterious Ways, Beautiful Day - Blackbird, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For - Stand By Me, Stuck In A Moment You Can't Get Out Of, No Line On The Horizon, Magnificent, Elevation, Until The End Of The World, The Unforgettable Fire, City Of Blinding Lights, Vertigo, I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight (Remix), Sunday Bloody Sunday - People Get Ready, MLK, Walk On. Encore(s): One, Amazing Grace, Where The Streets Have No Name, Ultra Violet (Light My Way), With Or Without You, Moment Of Surrender.

Remarks:

For the first time since November 26, 1997 on their Popmart Tour, U2 performed in Atlanta's Georgia Dome in front of over 60,000 people. Purportedly, President Obama's sister is at tonight's show as well as Mike Mills of R.E.M.

Setlist:

Breathe, Get On Your Boots, Mysterious Ways, Beautiful Day, No Line On The Horizon, Magnificent, Elevation, In A Little While, New Year’s Day, I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For - Stand By Me, Stuck In A Moment You Can’t Get Out Of, The Unforgettable Fire, City Of Blinding Lights, Vertigo, I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight (Remix), Sunday Bloody Sunday - People Get Ready, MLK, Walk On - You’ll Never Walk Alone. Encore(s): One, Amazing Grace, Where The Streets Have No Name, Ultra Violet (Light My Way), With Or Without You, Moment Of Surrender

Remarks:

U2’s first ever concert in Raleigh, North Carolina is marked with a full moon overhead as Bono comments about it towards the end of “Beautiful Day”. “In A Little While” is performed for the first time since July 25, 2009 in Dublin. A remarkable moment takes place as Bono grabs a fan’s sign that reads “People get ready”, hands the fan a microphone and lets him sing “People Get Ready” in the midst of Sunday Bloody Sunday. Also with the U2 Conference taking place nearby, Ugandan nurse Agnes Nyamayarwo is honored tonight by Bono. On a side note, U2 were supposed to perform in Raleigh back in 1997 on the Popmart Tour but that show was cancelled due to rain damage to the gigantic Popmart screen.

Raleigh News & Observer

U2 goes big in Raleigh — really big

BY David Menconi, Staff Writer

RALEIGH — A few songs into U2’s Saturday night show at Carter-Finley Stadium, Bono paused to survey his domain. And he addressed the packed house with the egomaniacal charm we’ve all come to know and love.

“We’ve got old songs, we’ve got new songs, we’ve got songs we can barely play,” he cracked. “And we’ve got a spaceship!”

Yes, it was hard not to notice that. At a time when pretty much everything seems to be in contraction mode, U2 has rolled the dice with what has to be the most elaborately ginormous stage setup in rock history — a huge, claw-shaped beast that looked like a vertigo-inducing theme-park ride.

It seemed impossible that any band, even one as outsize as U2, wouldn’t get swallowed up by such surroundings. But somehow they pulled it off through sheer force of will. This business of being the biggest band on earth clearly matters a great deal to U2, and they’ve put this gargantuan spectacle on the road to achieve “intimacy on a grand scale.” There’s just no one better at immensity than U2.

After a solid, 40-minute opening set by Muse, the headline portion of the evening opened withDavid Bowie’s “Space Oddity” as prelude music, smoke machines at full belch. Larry Mullen Jr. entered first, sitting down at his drums to start bashing. Guitarist Dave “The Edge” Evans was next, with bassist Adam Clayton right behind. And Bono was last out, of course.

Bono wasted no time hitting the heroic poses on the opener “Breathe,” a track from the current album “No Line on the Horizon.” Though”No Line” is only so-so, its songs came across much better live — even “Get On Your Boots,” the actively annoying first single. Other recent-vintage songs to hit the mark included “Vertigo,” “Magnificent” and “City of Blinding Lights.”

As always, Edge provided letter-perfect guitar accompaniment. If Bono is U2’s preacherman, Edge is the one who built the sonic pulpit from which he holds forth.

Hammy theatrics that somehow work are a U2 specialty, such as the way Bono worked snippets of rock-era classics into U2 songs. A bit of “Amazing Grace” turned up during the encore version of “One.” And during “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For,” Bono pointed at the moon and sang the opening of Ben E. King’s “Stand By Me” (“When the night has come/And the land is dark/And the moon is the only light we will see …”).

Sometimes, however, Bono should just leave well enough alone. Tossing his microphone to a guy in the crowd to let him sing a verse of “People Get Ready” might have seemed like a good idea; but it was an off-key disaster.

Still, that was one of the show’s few miscues. For all the band’s pretensions, U2 is ultimately just so likable that it’s almost impossible not to be won over. When they went roaring into the encore version of “Where The Streets Have No Name,” that guitar riff pealing like a church bell, it was a perfect moment of blissful big-rock grandeur that you just don’t see much of anymore.

We shall not see U2’s like again, I don’t believe.

david.menconi@newsobserver.com or blogs.newsobserver.com/beat or 919-829-4759

Images:

All photos by Travis Long, Raleigh News & Observer

Setlist:

Breathe, Get On Your Boots, Mysterious Ways, Beautiful Day - The Hands That Built America, No Line On The Horizon, Magnificent, Elevation, Your Blue Room, New Year's Day, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, Stuck In A Moment You Can't Get Out Of, The Unforgettable Fire, City Of Blinding Lights, Vertigo, I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight (Remix), Sunday Bloody Sunday, MLK, Walk On. Encore(s): One, Amazing Grace, Where The Streets Have No Name, Ultra Violet (Light My Way), With Or Without You, Moment Of Surrender.

Remarks:

U2 perform their first concert in over 17 years in the state of Virginia and the very first show ever in the town of Charlottesville. Also, "The Hands That Built America" is snippeted right after Beautiful Day.

Richmond Times-Dispatch

U2's spectacle in Charlottesville

By Melissa Ruggieri

Published: October 2, 2009

CHARLOTTESVILLE U2 has always been a thoughtful band, but with each tour they manage to add new layers of reflection.

The star of the show is still Bono, who, despite looking eerily like Robin Williams with a brogue, continues to command attention with his Messianic poses and chest-thumping passion.

But the band's ego is in an interesting place on this tour. The 164-foot stage, a crustaceanlike hump that could have sprung from the imagination of George Lucas, along with the 360-degree LED screen that circled its pulsing red core and two moving bridges that transported the musicians between stage levels, is probably the grandest structure ever to house a live show.

U2 hasn't imagined a stadium tour since 1997's much-maligned "Pop" outing, and this inventive, smoke-breathing monstrosity erected at Scott Stadium last night allowed them to rightly puff out their chests over the continued scope of their success.

But, ironically, performing on the biggest stage shrank the presence of Bono, The Edge, Larry Mullen Jr. and Adam Clayton -- all of whom looked like toy action figures, even from the priciest seats.

Granted, that honeycomb video screen, which stretched vertically and swirled images of the band, specialized video elements (during a tight rave-up recast of "I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight") and messages of politics and peace (during the sumptuous prayer "Walk On") was worth gaping at for two hours.

And, even if band members were momentarily lost on the airy stage, there was never a problem hearing them. Stadium shows are notorious for their muddled sound that dissipates into the night air, but U2's sound system and mix were among the cleanest heard in any venue and Bono's husky pipes were in muscular form.

Of the band's material from the current "No Line on the Horizon," it was the pungent slap of fuzz behind "Get On Your Boots" -- which would have been an ideal opening song instead of "Breathe" -- that invigorated the crowd of about 60,000 early in the uneven first hour of the show.

The Edge and bassist Clayton had fun maneuvering the slippery groove of "Mysterious Ways," but following it with the obscure "Your Blue Room," a plodding rumination that consumed precious set list space that a dozen other songs deserved, briefly sank the mood.

But then came the soul-gripping optimism of "Beautiful Day" and the introspective ache of "Stuck in A Moment You Can't Get Out Of," performed acoustically by Bono and The Edge in one of those scenes that made you long for a U2 show in a setting a bit more intimate than a football field.

Bono did give recognition to his Charlottesville surroundings by asking at one point, "Is Mr. Jefferson in the house?" and introduced the band with campus-friendly titles (Mullen the "jock," Clayton "the friend of cheerleaders"). He also gave shout-outs to Fredericksburg and, uh, Manassas.

Of course, every U2 show has its magical moment -- for years it's been "Where The Streets Have No Name," which, last night, was merely good -- and "City of Blinding Lights" has now claimed that slot.

As the stage and its cathedral spire glowed red and the video screen exploded in a kaleidoscope of flickering colors, Bono took a stroll around the stage imparting the line, "The more you know, the less you feel," with the heartfelt sincerity of an elder statesman passing along wisdom.

But soon enough, the Bono of 25 years ago was prancing around the circular stage for "Sunday Bloody Sunday," still a potent march of defiance.

That level of serrated energy that propels this band isn't always as palpable on this tour and realistically, it shouldn't be. The guys are all creeping toward 50, which means different mind-sets, values and even energy levels -- all acceptable reasons for choosing to end the show with "Moment of Surrender," a sweeping, pensive song that guaranteed fans filtered out of the stadium not with their fists raised in a post-concert buzz, but their minds tuned to something a little deeper.

Contact Melissa Ruggieri at (804) 649-6120 or mruggieri@timesdispatch.com .

© 2009 Media General Communications Holdings, LLC.

Setlist:

Breathe, Magnificent, Get On Your Boots, Mysterious Ways, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For - Stand By Me, Elevation, Your Blue Room, Beautiful Day - Blackbird, New Year's Day, Stuck In A Moment You Can't Get Out Of, The Unforgettable Fire, City Of Blinding Lights, Vertigo, I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight (Remix), Sunday Bloody Sunday, MLK, Walk On. Encore(s): One, Amazing Grace, Where The Streets Have No Name, Ultra Violet (Light My Way), With Or Without You, Moment Of Surrender.

Remarks:

With politics in the air at tonight's concert in Washington D.C., a number of people are honored by Bono including the late Ted Kennedy during New Year's Day, the recently deceased Eunice Shriver (during Beautiful Day), House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and President Kagame of Rwanda. Only five songs from No Line On The Horizon are performed (and the title track is left out for the first time at a U2 360° Concert). Also notably, Bono pulls a fan wearing a turban carrying an American flag onstage during Sunday Bloody Sunday.

Baltimore Sun

Concert review: U2 at FedEx Field

Subtlety has never been one of U2's strong points.

Dublin's finest have almost always been about big -- from their catalog of arena anthems to their unabashed pleas for world peace. Does U2's 360 Degrees tour, which made a stop at FedEx Field last night, have one of the biggest stage setups in the history of live music? Of course it does.

In fact, if you ask lead singer Bono, the foursome has transcended band status altogether.

"The nation state that is U2 is a global force -- yet, a democracy," he told the crowd last night.

Of course it is, Bono. Now, you put those light purple shades back on and sing us another song. Because when U2 wants to rock, U2 rocks. "Beautiful Day" was about as epic as epic gets -- except, of course, until they played the even bigger, bolder "Where The Streets Have No Name."

For better or worse, the show itself was, at times, so excessive it was surreal ...

The production, which reportedly cost a whopping $40 million and takes roadies three days to break down, transport and set up again, was one of the wildest things I've ever seen at a show.

The round stage sat underneath this giant, futuristic, four-pronged claw. Directly above the stage was a circular video screen which expanded vertically and contracted again several times over the course of the night. A couple mechanized bridges let the band members walk out to a narrow outer platform that ringed the stage.

There was Bono, clad in all black, preening and preaching about global democracy and the fight against AIDs while standing in the middle of this evil-looking artifice. All the posturing and technological wizardry aside, U2 put on one of the best rock shows you'll see today.

The genius of The Edge is that even though he blankets his guitar work in reverb, echo and delay, he still sounds organic. Whether plucked or strummed, his notes rang out and filled FedEx Field like few guitarists could.

U2's two-and-a-half hour show was heavy on songs from their latest album, "No Line on the Horizon," which is one of their least commercially successful efforts yet. Though the single "Get On Your Boots" is far from being one of U2's best, live, it had spunk. And "I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight" worked much better recast as a disco tune.

The night's most poignant moments came when the band dipped a little deeper into its songbook. Drummer Larry Mullen Jr.'s snare cracked like gunshots on "Sunday Bloody Sunday," and bassist Adam Clayton's notes were thick and fuzzy on "New Years Day."

Here's a technical question: When the video screen crept downward to form a cylinder just a few feet above the band members' heads, could the folks on the top tiers see the musicians?

Bono tossed out teases of songs such as "Blackbird" and "Stand By Me" sporadically through the set, and sang a verse of "Amazing Grace" near the end of the show.

U2's performance ended with not one but two encores, in which Bono emerged wearing a jacket that emitted miniature laser-like beams of red light, and sang into a glowing microphone that hung from the rafters. He spoke-sang his way through most of "With or Without You," and closed out the night with the slow ballad "Moment of Surrender." That last song drug on for too long -- a poor choice to wrap up an otherwise bombastic show.

"Don't forget about us, now," Bono asked the crowd near the end of the night.

Don't worry, Bono. We won't.

(AP photos)

Setlist:

Breathe, Get On Your Boots, Mysterious Ways, Beautiful Day - She's A Rainbow - Blackbird, No Line On The Horizon, Magnificent, Elevation, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, Unknown Caller, Until The End Of The World, Stay (Faraway, So Close!), The Unforgettable Fire, Mofo - City Of Blinding Lights, Vertigo, I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight (Remix), Sunday Bloody Sunday - Rock The Casbah, MLK, Walk On, One - Amazing Grace, Where The Streets Have No Name. Encore(s): Ultra Violet (Light My Way), With Or Without You, Moment of Surrender.

Remarks:

On a splendid evening at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, U2 perform the second of two concerts in front of a record sold out stadium of nearly 85,000 people. The band go up on stage at 9:02pm to be exact and finish the concert at 11:21pm. Get On Your Boots is performed as the 2nd song tonight and Unknown Caller makes its return to the setlist. During "Stay", Bono forgets the 2nd verse as he accidentally sings "Red lights..." and only music can be heard until he sings again several seconds later, making the song last longer than usual. A snippet of Mofo appears right before City Of Blinding Lights. After the show ends, Bono announces a new attendance record for Giants Stadium, and also as a place that will be missed as U2 perform for the very last time there.

U2Station.com

U2 at Giants Stadium: An Exclusive Review from U2Station.com

U2 brings the U2 360° Tour into Giants Stadium, sets a record for attendance and leaves the fans wanting more, but is "more" really necessary?

By Jonathan Wayne, U2Station.com Webmaster

Minimalism isn't something U2 does well.

Nor is disappointment.

On Thursday night in front of a record crowd of 85,000 people in East Rutherford, New Jersey, I witnessed the world's most grandiose and gargantuan rock band rock the socks off of Giants Stadium. With its 170 foot tall, 390 ton "Claw" (or Spaceship) rising into the air, 7 story, 500,000 pixel and 54 ton video screen, and 1.2 million watt sound system, the only thing missing was a rocket launch to the moon.

From my vantage point in the mezzanine level behind the stage and in a galaxy far away, I could barely see the pilon at the top of the "Claw" as it jutted out into the sky above. In the last row under the upper roof, the flourescent lights stayed on during the entire concert. The glare of the overhead house lights bounced off my glasses and enforced my realization that it really does create a different impression on where you sit (or stand) during a concert. Nevertheless, I was here amongst the tens of thousands to see U2 on the world's largest travelling rock n' roll production ever created.

Bono strutted out on stage behind The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr. and kicked the show off with "Breathe". The wild eyed, megalomaniac look on Bono's face in those first few moments of Breathe paint a picture of the man himself. While the other seemingly low-key members of U2 aim for big sounds, Bono is in a league all by himself. He is the ultimate showman, frontman, rockman, seething with grandiosity unparalleled by the next biggest frontman, Mick Jagger or whomever that may be. Perhaps he is the Rock n' Rolla, and that's without stealing a page from Guy Ritchie. However you want to define Bono (or Paul Hewson), his presence on stage is cathartic, as I saw the infinitesimal amount of hands, arms, torsos and heads of U2 fans on the stadium floor swaying in all 360 degree directions from the first chords of "Breathe" to the final seconds of "Moment Of Surrender", 2 1/2 hours later.

Essentially turning the early part of the setlist upside down, "Get On Your Boots" followed "Breathe", and fan favorites "Mysterious Ways" and "Beautiful Day" came after that. When U2 turned back to the new songs, they delivered a 1-2 punch of "No Line On The Horizon" and "Magnificent" and a rousing version of "Elevation".

The only revealing mistake tonight was when Bono botched "Stay (Faraway, So Close!)" as he forgot the 2nd verse and restarted the rest of the song again from the beginning as Edge continued on guitar.

It wasn't until "Vertigo" that got the audience singing and the show blasted off into Earth's lower orbit with the remix of "I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight", by far one of the highlights of the night. Giants Stadium turned into a gigantic New York meat-packing district night club complete with the revolving lights of a super massive disco ball. It was the closest to a successful live experiment that U2 has attained since the Popmart Tour.

With more serious songs in store in the 2nd half of the concert, Bono and the band turned their attention to Iran and its citizens with "Sunday Bloody Sunday" and a fitting snippet of The Clash's "Rock The Casbah". Hearkening back to the 1980's, U2 performed the minimalist MLK, resonating with near-theta wave sounds before launching into "Walk On", dedicated to Aung San Suu Kyi, the famous opposition leader who is currently under house arrest in Myanmar. Over a hundred supporters marched around on stage holding masks of her image in front of their faces. Further shoutouts went out to New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, cleric and activist Desmond Tutu, rocker Bruce Springsteen, who celebrated his birthday the day before and countless others including Peter Buck, Julian Lennon, Rick Rubin, Jimmy Iovine, Jeff Koons, Mickey Leigh, Phil Ramone, Joe Cerrell, Josh Bolton, Senator Bill Frist and Sir Michael Jagger.

After a brief encore, the most dazzling and unexpected of all performances came with "Ultra Violet (Light My Way)", with Bono swinging around on a long cable attached to a glowing red "steering wheel-microphone" (as best as I can describe). On top of that, with the fog machines in full force, Bono wore a type of laser jacket with over a hundred laser beams emitting from within as he (literally) swung around like a monkey on stage. With performance aside, this song is one of the great tunes on Achtung Baby, still their finest cd to date.

After the concert, I could only smile after I heard U2 broke the attendance record as Bono stated: "News just in. We've broken every record for attendance in this stadium - including the Pope. Sorry Bruce - we know its your birthday and all...I know they're knocking this place down...we probably won't be here again before the wrecking ball but it was a magical place for us as well as the Giants".

So do all these theatrics and grand production matter? In my opinion, no. If you strip down the materials and get to the core of the music, U2 is more powerful in an intimate theater moreso than a gigantic football stadium. As the band have aged gracefully over the years, one thing that still eludes me is Bono's modesty (or lack thereof). If he's not out saving Africa, he's sitting across from world leaders at economic summits around the world, having lunch with the U.S. President or still trying to attain the Nobel Peace Prize. This is all fine and dandy but I'd rather see more U2 albums and more focus in the studio and less emphasis on breaking the Guinness Book of World Records with the biggest rock n' roll tour of all time.

Speaking of Guinness, I had a few of those before the show tonight. Those were my moments of saving grace in the midst of Bono's Amazing Grace.

If one day U2 decides to do the Zero Gravity Tour in a spaceship in orbit around Planet Earth, that may very well be a reality if the band invests in one of Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic starships, but until then, the U2 360° Tour is U2's science fiction reality. When Bono uttered "turn this place into the Milky Way, turn off all these lights" before "Moment Of Surrender" tonight, the sky was the limit.

© 2009 U2Station.com All rights reserved.