This was an incredible show. I think one of the greatest things about this band is how much the LOVE their fans. Bono kept infusing songs and comments with "Kansas City". Before one of the songs he told a story of their first gig at The Uptown in Kansas City and of a bartender who wouldn't serve him because he was only eighteen. In Angel of Harlem he sung, "New York like a Christmas Tree, tonight Kansas City belongs to me!" as the crowd absolutely lost it. Later in New York he sang, "Kansas City Loves New York!" again to the crowds' frenzy.
The band played tight, unindulgent versions of all of the songs. As you've read on this site, the set list for this tour is just a tour de force of U2 greatness. The other thing that hit me was the age bracket at the show. There were people who had just discovered U2 and people who had been fans forever. So the crowd was like 15-55. Pretty amazing.
I am sure others have commented on the scenic and lighting design of the show, but I think it important to congratulate whoever those designers are. The show was so simple and at the same time so warm, energized, exciting, and embracing. The glam of the last tour reall put the audience at a distance. This design was just about illuminating the songs and the band in the best way possible.
Bono seemed just so happy to be there. He was constantly touching the crowd. He would grab at his heart and throw it up into every corner of the arena. The generosity of this band is ridiculous. However, there is one thing I want to note that sucked....a huge empty space on the floor of the arena. Almost everything else was at full capacity. What I deduced happened was this...there were hundreds of scalpers outside before the show trying to make a buck on tickets. But most people going to the show HAD tickets. So all of these scalpers had, in essence, stolen seats from real U2 fans. The fans that didn't get tickets on line or on the phone when the tickets came out said, "Screw it" and didn't go. Consequently U2 and FANS miss each other. I don't know how to fix the ticketing system, but I just thought it was horrible that the entire arena was jam packed and 2/3 of the floor was jam packed, but there was easily room on the floor for another 500 people.
Scalpers SUCK.
But the lack of people on the floor couldn't deter the thousands of screaming fans who filled Kemper with shouts and screams and whistles of unmitigated joy at the first chord of each song. It was a night to remember.
Oh, a word on GARBAGE. They rocked out. Shirley Manson is a sexy woman with a brassy voice and great stage presence. They played a quick, hard hitting set that the people who knew Garbage really appreciated. I was very thankful they opened. It's too bad more people didn't get to the concert in time to take in a truly talented band in its' prime strutting its' stuff. GO BABY GO GO!!

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