In terms of energy, it’s true, it wasn’t as intense as when I saw the on the Elevation Tour in a small arena; and I suppose it lacks (for now) the coherence of, say, PopMart or ZooTV. I think it would be most accurate to say that the emotional arc of the show isn’t robust enough. There are too many uplifting songs. If I were going to complain, I’d complain about the setlist, which avoids the 90s too much for my taste. I think the new songs (all of which I loved) sit best alongside the Achtung / Pop era songs, which are darker. I loved City of Blinding Lights, Elevation, et. al., but I think the tone of the show was maybe a little too even. The encore (Ultraviolet -> With or Without You -> Moment of Surrender) was my favorite part of the show by far.

My other thought is that, obviously, at a show this big, there are lots of different experiences being had. I imagine that my experience right up near the band was totally different from what someone just thirty feet back must have experienced. I think 360 is AMAZING from up front, anyway!

Another big downer last night in my 300 level viewing world was the sound. Average to awful throughout. Lots of echo and a mushy mix that made it hard to understand the vocals at times and pick out details of the arrangements. My understanding is that things were much better lower down…but don’t fans in the upper section deserve good sound as well? Frustrated by that.

But, oh, oh, I don’t think I’ll ever do another show at Foxboro. We were stuck in our parking lot, no movement at all for longer than the concert played. Then we finally got out onto Rt 1 and it took almost an hour to get to the highway.

No public transit and really poor traffic flow design that lead to us getting back to central CT at 5 in the morning put a damper on the evening.

I know that U2 likes to talk about the cheaper tickets letting new fans come, but I don’t know if they realize that what it often means is that those of us with kids can afford to bring those kids, for which I’m grateful. I can afford that, but I can’t afford to do the show and a hotel close to the stadium.

I had tickets to night 2, but didn’t feel safe making the round trip again on so little sleep. Luckily, I hooked up with a couple who had to sell their tickets due to a job loss, so I felt good that I could make other long time fans’ wish come true. I gave them the tickets and friends came though with last minute child care. My contribution to the energy of night 2 – they were very up when they left my house with tickets in hand!

Boston II (i’m going to call it Boston, not foxborough) was, yeah, more loose, more playful, and had more crowd interaction. yes the setlist was a bit different, that was a treat.

However, I’m of the opinion that Boston I had, at times, the most thorough depth-of-feeling I’ve ever gotten at a concert. Streets was tight as a drum, Bono practically screamed some of the lyrics for SBS, Unknown Caller felt genuinely otherworldly. And the last four songs, Ultraviolet–>MOS were a really, really deep and ballsy move, both nights. Presentation-wise, the second night was better just because they led up to it with the “Funeral Blues” WH Auden robot reading (which is just about the best choice for those songs). But the first night, it felt a.) otherworldly, b.) more intense, c.) more personal, and d.) more important.

It literally made me feel like a voyeur. I felt like I had snuck into the middle of something far more personal and passionate than a stadium gig has any right to be. It was mesmerizing, and will stay with me for a long time.

so, conclusion: much to my surprise, it isn’t always about the setlist. And U2, please, let Bono sing into that steering wheel microphone for the whole show. It draws something out of him that’s really, just astounding. That Bono, that’s the new Bono, the latest iteration. More of that, please.