I've probably attended a couple hundred concerts in my lifetime, but I don't think I've heard the sound this bad at a professional gig. Sure, the people in front may have had perfect sound, but they also had very expensive tickets. As for the cheaper (relatively speaking, that is) seats, the general opinion seems to be the sound quality was quite horrible. The mid-arena speakers stopped working several times, leaving only the speakers in front, which was like 120 metres away. 120 metres in open air with a bit of wind, hence hardly any distuingishable music in the back.

I was located in the middle, about 40 metres from the stage, and after about half an hour most problems seemed solved for us. But whenever Bono talked in between the songs all we heard was fuzz. Whenever the audience sang along, Bono was completely drowned out. Seems like he has little volume left.

But hey, it wasn't all bad. As the band started the Vertigo songs, the playing clearly became more inspired. The 'greatest hits'-part was spot on and the Achtung Baby songs were great. Yahweh sounded much better acoustically and ending with an encore of Vertigo was strange but worked well.

I'd say this could have been a very good show (not an excellent one) if the sound had been better. Now it was just "good". Which just isn't good enough for a band with the reputation (and the ticket prices) of U2. Ah well, some you win, some you lose.

Good luck to all other fans, hope you guys get better sound and can get a better look at the almost invisible stage.

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