It's a beautiful day - and night - for the Irish band By NICK CARTER of the Journal Sentinel staff Moshing? Body slamming? Or even a bit of rude elbowing up front? Such were the concerns floating among the crowd as U2 took the stage Wednesday night at the Bradley Center.

After all, it's not every day that one of the hottest bands in the world lets 2,000 of its No. 1 fans mill around in front of the stage. But from the moment U2 appeared to the strains of "Elevation," with Bono sprinting around with his fists raised like an Olympian on his way to light the torch, the crowd was content to roar its approval rather than getting physical. "I saw these guys in Chicago when I was a kid, and they look better now than they did then," said Elyse Johnson, 23. "Look at them! They look great! I want to have Bono's baby." Actually, some in the crowd were babies when Bono and company started charting hits two decades ago. Quite a few of group's then-teenage fans also turned out Wednesday, some with their own children in tow. "This is a pretty-people crowd," said John Gilligan, 29, standing on the floor. "I wasn't really worried about people getting rough or rushing the stage. Most of the folks at a show like this couldn't even get that wild if they wanted to." The Milwaukee stop on U2's "Elevation" tour brought a swirl of excitement to downtown: the first big show of the summer concert season from a Grammy-winning band that hasn't played Milwaukee since a 1981 gig at the old Palms nightclub, capacity about 500. Those factors added up to a virtual sellout of about 18,000, despite initial skepticism about the open-seating floor configuration and some of the steepest ticket prices Milwaukee has seen in recent memory: $130, excluding service charges, for the top reserved seat. The "Elevation" tour is expected to be one of the biggest grossers of the year. But the real measure of the Irish quartet's popularity might just be that it was able to charge $51 for obstructed-view seats - behind the stage. Apparently, being able to see Bono isn't all that important. Just breathing the same air is enough. Indeed, it was hard to find fans who had anything more than minor complaints about Wednesday's show. "I think if you're going to get general admission and watch from the floor, you should be able to see the stage a bit better than everyone else," said Tom Kolloch, 40, from his standing space on the floor during PJ Harvey's opening set. "I had seen Metallica and other big shows in this format, but I think here the catwalk . . . only makes seeing the stage that much harder." Lines started forming before noon outside the Bradley Center for the chance to stand within a heart-shaped catwalk in front of the stage - a first-come, first-served opportunity given only to several hundred of the roughly 2,000 folks with $45 floor tickets. "We've been here since 11:30 a.m.," said Troy Vanklosster, 28, who came with Cori Prohaska, 27, after the two got the afternoon off work for the occasion. "I guess it was peer pressure, but we both love the band and figured we had to be a part of this way-cool event." Not so lucky were Madison couple Eliane Beaerra, 20, and Henry Sanchez, 27, who drove from Madison earlier in the day to get in line for the cherished heart positions. But Beaerra, a University of Wisconsin-Madison student, first had to take a final exam that morning, and the pair figured they missed their big chance by about 15 minutes. She also noted that they were late in ordering tickets and wound up buying their $45 floor tickets for $150 each from eBay. Not that it mattered. "It would have been nice," Beaerra said of being inside the heart, "but being here for the show is nice enough." According to a Bradley Center spokeswoman, the band released a couple hundred tickets for sale Wednesday morning at the box office and through Ticketmaster. Acts usually hold back a number of seats until the set is assembled and it is determined that the sightlines from those seats are clear to the stage. There was much bustle on the eastern end of the Bradley Center, with a bevy of radio and TV set-up booths and transmission vans, and people trying to sell concert tickets. Across the street, fans jammed the Legends sports bar. Among them were Prairie Du Sac residents Tricia and Eric Dingman, 37 and 38, respectively, who made the trek with their son, Nick, 16. "This is our sixth or seventh U2 show," said Tricia Dingman, "and we're actually taking it easier this time." Milwaukee Public Security officer Russ Donald, strolling outside the Bradley Center, said, "This crowd is nothing compared to a typical World Wrestling Federation event crowd. I've had to confiscate quarter-barrels from the back seat of cars during those events. This bunch is downright tame in comparison." Despite all the excitement, there's still one group that just might outshine U2 in Milwaukee. The highest parking fee spotted near the Bradley Center Wednesday night was $20, $5 less than the top price for Bucks playoff games in recent weeks.