by Jeremy Shutt

The Popmart tour is a microcosim of modern-day society on wheels. The visuals are very brilliant, but the Washington DC show seemed to be plagued with sound problems. It was hard to hear the vocals and guitar over the bass and drums...and especially the crowd. It is a shame that U2 could bring the most stunning visual act ever, but they failed to drag along a decent P.A. system.

Of course, the show was very good, but I feel that it could have been better. I like the new Pop album as much as the next guy, but it does not seem to be working for the group. Some notable exceptions were: Gone, Miami, and Staring a the Sun, I thought they did a pretty good job on these. Discotheque's entrance through the lemon was cool, but its performance was not as spectacular.

Some summary notes: Bono played guitar on about 3 songs. Larry Mullen and Adam were almost never shown on the screens. Most of the crowd seemed pretty familiar with the new songs, but most of the applause and audience participation was with the old songs.

Although the show wasn't perfect, I felt very happy with the show. My biggest complaint would be the poor P.A. sound which seemed to make parts of the show inaudible.

P.S. If someone is interested in the Philadelphia show let me know via e-mail, my friend and I are looking for tickets!

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