For the Chicago review click here.
Where: Fed Ex Field (DC/MD/VA)
Set List: Breathe, Magnificent, Get on Your Boots, Mysterious Ways, I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For/Stand By Me (snippet), Elevation, Your Blue Room, Beautiful Day/Blackbird (Beatles snippet), New Years Day, Stuck in A Moment, The Unforgettable Fire, Mofo (snippet)/City of Blinding Lights, Vertigo, Crazy Tonight/Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough (Michael Jackson snippet), Sunday Bloody Sunday, MLK, Walk On
Encore 1:One/Amazing Grace snippet, Where The Streets Have No Name
Encore 2: Ultra Violet (Light My Way), With or Without You, Moment of Surrender
I have to say that the crowd around you often sets the tone of a concert. So I’ll start with my biggest gripe and then move on. I like standing up at concerts, and really see no point to remaining a huddled mass when there is energizing music around me and we are being hit by a fairly chilly breeze. Anyway, just remember the next time you want to sit at a concert that asking nicely will get you a lot further then a sarcastic “I have a nice view of your back.”
Enough of that. Once again the show was a remarkable splendor of lights, sound and soul. While it took a little coaxing to get most of the stadium to go with his call and response , Bono and the band were in great form. There were a few songs that were not in the last show (Mysterious Ways for one), and two that I didn’t recognize at all (Your Blue Room, Mofo) . Other than that I got some really cool images seen here and a great live video of With or Without You.
There are a few things about Fed Ex that caused befuddlement.
1. Why aren’t camera’s allowed? (I mean clearly we were able to get in with ours but it was strange that the sign AND the security guards were stopping people from bringing them in.)
2. It has really terrible acoustics….so I suppose not really meant for a large rock concert. It was harder to hear what Bono was saying for most of the concert.
3. After being in existence for so long why do they have such a hard time with traffic patterns? I’ve heard about easy rides home, and hard rides home. The metro was a bit crazy but not tooooo insane for me……maybe its part and parcel of the DC driving experience. Who knows.
Good Things: Playing Top 5 with S.F. (see below), Running into people I haven’t seen in ages in the Bathroom (random), and of course that opening band which was pleasantly awesome. (Go Muse!)
I thought this time around I’d pick two or three songs and do a rundown about what was going on in the world when the Album came out. Sort of a U2 soundtrack for our lives.
New Year’s Day (War, 1983–this CD also has Sunday Bloody Sunday, 40): Michael Jackson does the Moonwalk, Congress releases a report about Japanese Internment, US invades Grenada, Hello World! Microsoft Word and the Nintendo Entertainment System (in Japan) are first released.
Unforgettable Fire (Unforgettable Fire, 1984–this CD also has Bad, Pride & MLK): Indian troops storm the Golden Temple at Amritsar, Indira Gandhi Assasinated, The first Macintosh, Ronald Reagan reelected.
Mysterious Ways (Achtung Baby, 1991-Even Better than the Real Thing, One, Until the End of the World): Also in music? Nirvana’s Nevermind, Pearl Jam’s Ten, Freddy Mercury of Queen dies. Operation Desert Storm, Germany formally regains complete independence after the US, France, Soviet Union and UK relinquish rights. Indian PM Rajiv Gandhi is assasinated, Boris Yeltsin elected. Soviet Union disolved.
Mofo (Pop, 1997-Discotheque, Staring at the Sun): Notorious B.I.G. killed, Clinton inaugurated for his second term, Timothy McVeigh convicted, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone first published, Hong Kong goes back to China, Princess Diana killed, Bill Berry leaves R.E.M….and of course Titanic comes to theaters.
Earlier I mentioned that I got to go to the concert with one of my music guru’s. S.F. is an old college roommate. She and I spent most of the lead up to the concert listing our top 5 (top five U2, Beatles, REM, Pearl Jam, Bon Jovi & The Decemberist songs). So tell me what your top five songs are (U2 or in general). Let’s get this party started.
My Top 5
U2: Sunday Bloody Sunday, Far Away So Close, Bad, Unforgettable Fire, One and I have a soft spot for Walk On though it often gets swapped out for other classics.
Beatles: Blackbird, Norwegian Wood, Obladi-Obladah, In My Life, Let it Be (But really is it possible to come up with a Top 5 for this band? There are soooo many songs)
R.E.M.: Losing My Religion, Walk Unafraid, Nightswimming, She Just Want’s To Be, Finest Worksong
The Decemberists: Red Right Ankle, Mariner’s Revenge, Sons & Daughters, Chimbly Sweep, O’ Valencia
Thoughts? Don’t forget to Check out the Picasa Album below and the video of With or Without You.
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