FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. —  The two-hour plus evening was mostly straight-ahead raging rock,
and far less pomp than the band employed throughout the '90s.

In fact, this back-to-basics show is as intimate and real as an arena concert could be.
Featuring just a few simple stage effects, the evening stands as an unabashed apology to the faithful,*
many of whom tuned out during the over-the-top excesses of the band's 1997 PopMart Tour.

The cold shoulder was something U2 could not have envisioned just a few years before that, when its delightful
Zoo TV tours were all the rage. While other bands were laying on the costumes and dancing girls, U2 was
having a field day with high-concept TV screens, flying cars, and novelty moments like phoning the White House
every night mid-show. But that's all gone now, leaving the songs to live or die on their own.

As one might expect, muscled rock classics like "With or Without You," "Mysterious Ways," "New Year's Day,"
and "Where the Streets Have No Name" have only grown dearer with years of familiarity. But it was also a night
for new music from the band's well-received album All That You Can't Leave Behind.

Opening with the trippy "Elevation" and then right into the swelling Grammy-winner "Beautiful Day,"
the guys left no doubt that their recent commercial resurgence has been well-earned.

While the sell-out crowd of more than 19,000 went wild for the biggest, loudest songs, there was also great passion
for two quieter, older numbers: "The Sweetest Thing," which featured Bono on keyboards, as well as the aching "One,"
which is easily among the great rock ballads of all time.

Bono and mates Adam Clayton (bass), Larry Mullen Jr.(drums), and The Edge (lead guitar) also had fun with
some freewheeling homage to Bob Marley, David Bowie, and Led Zeppelin, injecting their pioneering riffs
into "Sunday Bloody Sunday" and "Bullet the Blue Sky."

If there was a lapse it was the band's strange insistence that it was performing in Miami, though the show actually took
place just west of Fort Lauderdale. >From the first press release, through to U2's web site ("Elevation lifts off in Miami"),
and Bono's clueless comments from the stage ("So, Miami, we've been here before …"), the sheer hubris of insisting he
was in another county did not play well. It was an odd transgression for a man who typically makes much
public ado about his close rapport with audiences.*

As for the foray into festival seating — rare these days for big American rock tours — it was hot, sticky, and a bit disorganized, but not the disaster some security experts feared. Whether it will remain safe as the tour progresses is
impossible to say. But hardcore, populist U2 fans would seem to have a better chance of making this work than
would the fans of many other groups.
 

*horseshit