Many times the last show on a tour offers the fans an extra encore or something special. Last night U2 were too busy congratulating themselves to bother with such consideration for the fans. In fact, we in Portland got two fewer songs than the previous concerts, in the final encore, no Stuck Inside a Moment or (ironically) Crumbs From Your Table or anything. Instead we were "treated" to a procession of crew members with tshirts that spelled out "THE U2 CREW WOULD LIKE TO THANK EDGE, BONO, ADAM, AND LARRY FOR A GREAT 2005". Well, how nice for you. And Happy Birthday was sung for one lucky roadie. I personally (and I'm sure at least 4/5 of the audience) would have rather heard another couple of songs. I mean, save it for the afterparty, ok? And what songs there were in the encore were marred by Bono attempting to thank every crew member and hanger on personally by name between and even during verses of the song.

With the unadventurous setlists toward the end of the tour, it seems to me that U2 have short-changed the fans who were looking forward to the show the longest. None of the rare early songs from the start of the tour, none of the off the wall covers from the middle, really, except for an ordinary Lennon cover, nothing that special at all.

This was my fourth time seeing them in the past 20 years and by far the least exciting of them all both in terms of song selection and the performance itself.

The one musical highlight for me was Bono's singing on Miss Sarajevo, which was incredibly powerful both vocally and emotionally.

All in all, though, I was left with the feeling that the band, like many a worker, kind of blew off the last day before Christmas break.

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