[senrab]

I saw both shows in DC last month. I thought it was a beautiful production but the way the show is designed doesn’t leave much room for much variation at all. Only one song was rotated out. I was happy to see Gloria after a long time. The return of MacPhisto and finally getting to see Acrobat live blew my mind, that song was perfect. The intro to the show used imagery and loud sounds of MRI scans which was really heavy - and many die hard fans were wondering if this was a hint at Bono’s “brush with mortality” at the end of 2016 which he has refused to elaborate on. I also loved the arrangement of Pride this time around - Edge and Adam “popped up” by surprise at the sides of the arena on their own mini stages while Bono shouted “This is America” as video of the 1960s civil rights marchers came up on the screen.

For the second night, my seat was directly at the other end of the arena (5 rows behind the e-stage) so my view was dead center. During I Will Follow, I just took it all in and stared at them, knowing that this is probably the last time I would be seeing them live for a long time. 4 guys in their late 50s playing a song they wrote when they were kids and still nailing it. Edge was jumping around like crazy playing that Explorer.

It did feel weird without the JT songs, but I saw that show 3x last year and U2’s huge catalog made up for that anyway. The casual fans around me were surprised at the end - “is that it?” This was definitely not a show for casual fans or fans who loved them in the 80s. I think I only counted 5 or 6 songs from the 80s, everything else was Achtung Baby onward and 8 (!) Songs from their new album.

It will be interesting to see how they adjust this show for Europe. The Get Out of Your Own Way - American Soul narrative but doesn’t seem like it would work in Europe. I’m surprised they kept it in for the shows in Montreal.

All in all, I preferred the IE tour 3 years ago to this one. IE was more freewheeling with last minute surprises, deep cuts, and tons of interaction with the audience. EI felt extremely scripted from beginning to end.