My wife and I went to night 2 in DC. We had GA and opted for spots right near the b-stage. We showed up at about 7 pm for the 8 pm start, and I was suprised by how empty the floor was back in that direction. Folks were a bit deep in the direction of the main stage, but I'd say that from about the halfway point of the center walkway to the back there were only crowds of about one to two people deep, if that. It didn't seem like it ever really filled in much during the night save for the migration of the folks from back end of the main crowd working their way toward the b-stage during that segment.
The show itself was genuinely very good, and my opinion of it has improved as the days have gone by. I'll get to the highlights, but I want to start with my criticisms.
- The volume near the b-stage was, at times, excruciatingly loud. The chorus of The Blackout just sounded like a continuous explosion, and I felt like I missed out on enjoying some other portions of the show because the volume was just too high. This was a similar criticism I had of the Tampa show last year, and I will probably consider getting seats in the future. It's awesome to be so close to the band, but I don't like leaving and feeling like I can't hear. Mind you, this problem somehow rectified itself as the show went on, but I will say that I feel like The Blackout and Beautiful Day were songs on which I really missed out a bit, and I am sad about that because I really like both a lot.
- GOOYOW, Iris, and (I'm sorry to say this) Acrobat are duds. None of those three really did anything for me. Granted, I never much cared for those three as it was, but the live setting didn't redeem them. Also, in light of the vocal fans of Acrobat getting their wish, I politely request that the vocal fans of Please discontinue efforts to get that one until I get Zoo Station or Last Night on Earth, haha.
- The encore was a total letdown. LIBTAIIW was, I guess, supposed to be the heavy-hitter here, but while I enjoy the song, it's not Streets or Bad or one of the other anthems that I guess it was supposed to replace. On their own, I don't think that any song in the encore was really lame or anything, but that trifecta just had no power behind it. I think that 13 was a spectacular choice for the role it played, and as much as I would have preferred the other number song that is 27 greater than this one, 13 was a nice touch for this tour. It just had to follow a duo that didn't have much power behind it, and the encore as a unit became a pretty lackluster ending to the show.
- The MacPhisto Snapchat filter segment suffered a bit due to the filter cutting in and out frequently. I LOVED the return of MacPhisto, but I would have preferred something more faithful to the original. I think Bono had enough costuming going on as it was, so I would have preferred something a bit more...engaging, at least as opposed to just staring into that little screen.
With those out of the way, though, I want to acknowledge the highlights, and there were many.
- Lights of Home was really solid live, especially during the "Free Yourself" refrain at the end. This was probably the biggest surprise of SOE during the show in terms of how enjoyable it was. I didn't really dislike the original, but it never stood out much to me.
- I Will Follow is a monster live. I'm sure that might sound a bit silly to those of you with more live U2 experience, but this was only my second show ever (the other was Tampa last year), so I'd never seen it live. Despite the solid Lights of Home, THIS was the song that really started the show for me. Absolutely spectacular.
- Not one, not two, but THREE songs from Atomic Bomb? This was basically Christmas. All three were high points during the show for me, with Vertigo being the real monster. I felt like it was kind of a dud in Tampa last year, so this show redeemed it. I'm also really glad that I got All Because of You instead of Gloria. Even though I like the latter, the former is a huge favorite of mine, and it was just spectacular. City of Blinding Lights was a great closer, too. I love the album, and as someone who wishes he could travel back in time and experience the Vertigo tour, this was an unexpected gift.
- Until the End of the World was...wow. I was pretty familiar with most of the setlist going into the show, and I was a bit bummed to see this song yet again when there are other songs on AB I would rather see live, but oh my, am I ever grateful for it now. This was the best song in the show in my eyes. It did what Elevation did in Tampa for me last year, and I thought the arena roof was going to blast off into space.
- Cedarwood Road? I get it now. I should have appreciated it earlier on, but I get it now. Forgive my delay.
- Can we talk about how epic much of the b-stage portion was, especially after UTEOTW? I loved the Influx intro to Elevation (I'd never really understood what it was before) and I felt like it really built that song up, and then following it up with Vertigo and Desire just made that whole portion one of the most spectacular live experiences I'd ever seen. Our location right against the b-stage only amplified it. If only they hadn't followed it with Acrobat...*ducks*
- The pair of acoustic songs was surprisingly good, and hooray for getting something from Pop!
- I was initially bummed to see Pride on the set, but it turned out to be a really nice fit, and the extended intro was good.
- The show definitely had a thematic flow to it, and while I think that many great songs got shelved in favor of a bit too much SOE, I still think it flowed nicely.
- I appreciated the limited SOI representation. That might be a bit harsh of me, but I was very worried that they would use the show as an attempt to push SOI a bit more, and instead they played it conservative on that front. They probably needed to given that 10 of the 24 songs were from the last two albums. A bold move and one that was probably a bit too heavy along those lines, but it could have been much worse.
Overall, I'd give the show a B grade. I'm really, truly very glad that I went, and it felt like the band was firing on all cylinders. I think it was a great promotion of SOE and one that jived with most of my preferences from the album. I didn't miss Little Things, and while I enjoy Summer of Love, I'm not bummed that it was also left out of the set. It's a was a great...experience!