U2/Kings of Leon

Me and Liz went last Tuesday at the Fleet Center. We were disappointed. I'll try to make this as readable as possible. Points off the top of my head :

(1) "40" was the final song. People got up and left early to beat the crowd. That sums up my disappointment in a word, or at least a sentence. They only played an hour and 45 minutes.

(2) Way too loud. (This confirmed my suspicion that NIN was too quiet). Ears rang for two days and vocals were very poor as they were lost in the mix. Light, visual and stage design were simple but spectacular. An oval run way to get near the crowd. Strings of mirrors dropped from the ceiling that reflect either light or visuals.

(2) This might be their Steel Wheels tool. They look old, played the hits and took the money to the bank.

(3) High point was the Edge. He proved himself to be one of the best of the post-guitar god era. Songs mutated from power pop anthems to alternative rock driven songs. High points were oldies like "Electric co" and "bullet the blue sky" but he was consistent and interesting. He used an interesting mix of feedback (growling not screeching) and petals. Review of previous show said that 75% of songs were pre 91 and they played 7 of 10 songs of new album, which seems about right - but this might be the problem. Despite that, he made the songs seem new. The exception was an un-listenable "zoo station but that is what happens when you give Bono a guitar.

(4) Bono has clearly entered his Elvis phase. He's a little thick in the middle. Reviews describe him as a "rock star" and that is about right. I can't say that his singing was strong (see above). He has a tendency to go on rants about politics and religion. Now, you can;t doubt his sincerity. He's been anti-war for 20+ years before it got popular (sorta of the anti-Kerry). But after lecturing us, he goes to a costume change as Hugo Chavez and caricatures the rock star as political leader. First of all, it's already been done better by Pink Floyd and Bob Geldof. Secondly, it dilutes the effectiveness of message. Third, the new album works because it goes to the personal rather than sweeping political vision - this set up both parodies that, but undermines the message of that album. Bono is like that guy in the subway - 25% of it makes perfect sense, even genius but the rest is random.

(5) Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr. play Scotty and Bill to Bono/Edge's Elvis (yes it takes two people to replace him). Nothing spectacular here. Every U2 song basically has the same drum track. When they do mix it up, Larry screws it up - didn't "mysterious ways" have a middle eastern beat (although I did like the segueway into James Brown).

(6) I think there are two fundamental problems here. One is that this was a show of singles (as entertainment put it "the digital ipod greatest hits tour"). The problem with that is they never build any momentum. It goes from single to single and never reaches a climax. In the old day, they play for three hours, the emotion built and built until the end and you didn;t want it to end. The reaction was to reject the earnestness of the rattle and hum era and into the zoo TV/pop era. They are a brilliant machine but lacking the hard working soul we loved.

(7) The people we went with agreed it. Maybe it was a bad night. Maybe it was high expectations. who knows. I would compare it to playing cards with your grand-ma - you didn't mind it, but it's not quite as exciting of an evening as you would wish for. Personally, I was worried that I had lost my critical edge as I really enjoyed most concerts I;ve been to in recent years - thanks U2 for proving I haven;t gone soft or the opposite of jaded.

(8) Kings of Leon were much better live than on record. This guy's voice bothers me but it sounded much better for most songs. I would tell them never play in a place with a ceiling more than 15 feet high or that holds more than 1000 people. they would be a great band to stumble on in a bar.

(9) I withheld this review until U2 returned to Europe. I will claim that it was because I didn't want to hurt their ticket sales. Others would say it was because I didn't want 50 year old man (Bono) to kick the crap out of me. as K.O.L. said on BCN the next day, "f you paid a grand for tickets, you may as well stick around and watch the other band."