U2
May 26 1997
Washington DC
RFK Stadium
jonasblank@gmail.com Coresound Cardiods>Coresound Battery Box>D8 14th row center
DAT CLONE from DAT Master
DAT Clone > Marantz CDR-620 > EAC > Flac 16
Mofo
I will follow
Even Better than the real thing
Gone
Pride
I still havn't found...
Last night on earth
Until the end of the world
If God will send His angels
Staring at the sun
Daydream believer
Miami
Bullet the blue sky
Please
Where the streets have no name
Encore break
Disco Intro music
Discotheque
If you wear that velvet dress
With or without you
HMTMKMKM
Mysterious ways
One
Unchained melody
I got this in trade right after the show
from the taper. I know it was taped from the floor
Here is a newspaper review.......
Washington, DC
May 26, 1997
Robert F. Kennedy Stadium
It Had To Be U2
Washington Post, 05/27/1997
by Richard Harrington
Forty-five thousand U2 fans found exactly what they were looking for at RFK Stadium last night.
And after almost four years off the concert circuit, the Irish rock quartet seemed invigorated
by the reconnection with its fans.
When the musicians stepped out onto the stadium floor and walked through the audience --
with front man and singer Bono adopting a boxer guise and attitude -- it was obvious U2
intended to reclaim the title of heavyweight champ. Wisely, it fought its battles in a three-ring
media circus with both oversize kitsch-culture props and a huge video screen projecting images that,
like the band itself, proved to be many things at once: literal, poetic, surreal, subversive
and genuine. The action took place under a gigantic arch that started out comically golden but
shifted colors according to the needs of the songs, not unlike a mood ring.
The two-hour concert mixed anthemically familiar tunes with more sonically challenging material
from the band's recent "Pop" album. For much of the evening, fans seemed to respect U2's new songs,
but it was clear they truly loved the older ones, particularly those powered by the simple surge
of drummer Larry Mullen and bassist Adam Clayton.
The band opened with songs of familial dislocation and the desire for reconnection; separated by
18 years in their writing, they nonetheless underlined U2's focus on serious themes, whether couched
in the techno-driven anxiety of "Mofo" or the old keening urgency of "I Will Follow."
Then followed the Middle Eastern sway of "Even Better Than the Real Thing" and the rough-hewn
"Gone" before the band sent out the first of the evening's anthemic missives, "Pride (In the Name of Love),
" followed immediately by "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For." The latter's graduation from
spiritual yearning to martial insistence bespeaks the sense of questing that seems to have
grabbed hold of so many listeners.
Of the new songs, the one that made the strongest impression (against considerable odds) was
"If God Will Send His Angels," thanks to a spare rendition in which guitarist the Edge built a
chapel of notes around Bono's haunted vocals. There were also several intriguing intertwinings:
the taut, roiling "Last Night on Earth" with the apocalyptic "Until the End of the World,"
as well as the trip-hop, techno-driven "Miami" with "Bullet the Blue Sky." Bono donned a bowler
hat and graffiti-design jacket as he sang against a backdrop of postcard propaganda for "Miami"
and an animated version of Roy Lichtenstein's pop-art jet fighters for "Bullet the Blue Sky."
The effect was like Joel Grey moving from prewar Germany to premillennium America and suddenly
discovering life was no cabaret.
U2's humorous instincts were also evident. The Edge made Monkees of himself, the band and the
audience by leading a karaoke sing-along of "Daydream Believer." And toward show's end, the band
assumed its Village People persona, returning to the stage in a motorized 30-foot disco mirror ball
and stepping down a ramp for a rollicking romp through "Discotheque."
This was more a Spinal Tap moment than a Kodak moment.
Having dedicated a powerful "Please" to imprisoned American Indian activist Leonard Peltier
(his name came up when the band visited President Clinton at the White House yesterday),
U2 established an emotional center with sharp renditions of "Where the Streets Have No Name,"
"With or Without You" (even though it took a while for it to jell) and, for its last encore,
the inspirational "One." The song speaks to compassion in the age of AIDS, to the need for
community, to the healing power of love. Using animated images of the work of artist Keith Haring,
who himself succumbed to AIDS several years ago, the band ended its performance with the
kind of powerful statement that has always been its true gift.
© 1997. Washington Post newspaper.
Enjoy,
Datfly