March 30, 2001, Philips Arena-Atlanta, GA-Having vowed to tone down the "bigger is better" Vegas circus-vibe of the band's '90s concerts, U2 has recently had to find the delicate balance between elegant restraint and stripped-down dull. For the first time since '91's Achtung Baby, the boys are receiving more press for the songs than the schtick, so it seems as though the purported goal for the Elevation 2001 tour is to push this Grammy-winning music back to the fore.

In U2's case, scaling down and getting intimate means playing arenas instead of stadiums. And, utilizing a lighter hand with props and visuals with some crafty stage design, the band came as close to a "good old-fashioned rock show" Friday night as may be possible. Just before 9:30 PM, with houselights still fully up, an intro tape leading into the first song, "Elevation", began, and the four band members took the stage-without fanfare-before slamming into the song. Audience members quick and savvy enough to gain access to the heart-shaped pit enclosed by a catwalk from the stage immediately started jumping pumping hands in the air. The lights remained through the second number, "Beautiful Day," highlighting an undeniable ecstasy about the crowd as the bandmembers appeared happy to have all eyes on them instead of mammoth video screens. Bono and The Edge then started prancing and prowling, respectively, along the walkway, with Bono pausing to press the flesh here and there… and even give a slow kiss to a giddy photographer.

Four screens high above the stage broadcast black and white closeups of the four for those far away. A bank of video screens occasionally popped up behind the drum kit, but rarely over head level. It was almost as if U2 has been taking notes from Talking Heads' Stop Making Sense, which set the bar for tasteful spectacle in 1984-casting giant shadows on retractable scrims, Bono jogging the heart's perimeter, and, once again, the wall of red light for "Where The Streets Have No Name." U2 put forth more energy than the previous night in rainy Charlotte, and Bono's notoriously fallible voice rang loud and clear the whole time. Many elements of the show recalled previous tours, and the boys managed to both fondly reminisce and put a lot of enthusiastically received power behind their new tunes. You'd swear it was the glory days all over again.

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