U2 electrified the Detroit area for a second night in a row. I was not in attendance for the first show but I did see the set list. The second night got a much, much better treatment of songs. The show started strong with "City of Blinding Lights" and continued strong by going into "Vertigo" and "Elevation". Vertigo was the absolute best song of the night with the lights, music, vocals, & crowd strength all meshing together perfectly.

The stage setup was extremely similar to the All That You Can't Leave Behind tour, utilizing the same TV screens and base stage. The shape of the stage was not a heart this time but an oval instead, not a big change there. The lighting was better and much more intimate this time though, with more vibrant colors that more accurately matched the mood of the songs.

There were a couple mistakes by the band which I found pretty rare. After "Bullet The Blue Sky" they started to cross fade into another song, "When Johnny Comes Marching Home". The timing was off and Bono and the Edge were just looking at each other. For the first time that I've seen Bono said, "we'll get it next time for you, we f-'d that one up last night too" and stopped the song completely! The other mistake came later during "With Or Without You" when Bono was waiting for the Edge to start the guitar part. The audience sang the entire first chorus and then when the chorus would normally come in the Edge started the guitar intro again and Bono started singing from the beginning.

These mistakes were tiny in comparison to the power that was exerted from the concert overall. I think it stunned the audience completely when Bono nailed the vocals in "Miss Sarajevo" that Pavarotti normally belts out. Amazing! There was one moment where Bono opened up his heart to the crowd, mentioning that he missed his Father a lot. He described him in detail and whether it was an act or not, you truly felt his emotions when he sang, "Sometimes You Can Make it on Your Own".

The overall vibe of the concert was much like the last tour...love, peace, and politics. No song summed this up more than "Love & Peace, or Else". Bono pounded a floor-tom drum located at the outermost part of the oval-shaped stage in synch with the beat of the song while wearing a bandana that had various religious symbols scattered on it. After the song completed he slowly walked back to the main stage and fittingly sang "Sunday, Bloody Sunday". The most political moment occurred when "Bullet the Blue Sky" was playing. Bono, fell to his knees, pulled his bandana over his eyes and put his hands above his head as if they were tied and was a hostage. He knelt like that during the instrumental portion of the song and then crawled back to the mic to finish the song. Very intense indeed! The song was dedicated to our American Troops.

I have seen U2 four times since 1997 and this performance has trumped all previous performances. The Pop tour definitely appealed to the senses. The All That You Can't Leave Behind tour was good, but not great. The Vertigo tour brought an emotional power that you usually can't get unless you're seeing a band in a very small venue. The energy was just pouring off the stage. If the Edge was on 100% last night, I think that performance would have been even more amazing. I still love the Edge though!

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