The fact that the world was supposed to end a few hours before show time wasn t lost on anybody — es

When U2 first took the alien stage perched atop Invesco Field s grass at 8:45 p.m. Saturday, the packed crowd of 70,000-plus fans welcomed the Irish band with the kind of reception normally reserved for the venue s regular tenants: the Denver Broncos.
Synchronized foot-stomps and the wave and all-day tailgating led to that climactic moment, and for the next two hours, Bono, The Edge, Clayton and Mullen were more important names than Tebow, Moreno, Bailey and Dumervil.
Fans wait to get a glimpse of the band before they arrive at Invesco Field. The Fray opened the show at Invesco Field at Mile High May 21, 2011 for U2 who kick off their North American Tour 360 with their first stop in Denver. John Leyba, The Denver Post
Fans wait to get a glimpse of the band before they arrive at Invesco Field. The Fray opened the show at Invesco Field at Mile High May 21, 2011 for U2 who kick off their North American Tour 360 with their first stop in Denver. John Leyba, The Denver Post
Fans wait to get a glimpse of the band before they arrive at Invesco Field. The Fray opened the show at Invesco america west airline ticket reservations Field at Mile High May 21, 2011 for U2 who kick off their North American Tour 360 with their first stop in Denver. John Leyba, The Denver Post
U2's Bono arrives at the stadium. The Fray opened the show at Invesco Field at Mile High May 21, 2011 for U2 who kick off their North American Tour 360 with their first stop in Denver. John Leyba, The Denver Post
U2's Bono shakes hands at the stadium. The Fray opened the show at Invesco Field at Mile High May 21, 2011 for U2 who kick off their North American Tour 360 with their first stop in Denver. John Leyba, The Denver Post
U2's Bono shakes hands with fans outside the stadium. The Fray opened the show at Invesco Field at Mile High May 21, 2011 for U2 who kick off their North American Tour 360 with their first stop in Denver. John Leyba, The Denver Post
U2's Bono shakes hands at the stadium. The Fray opened the show at Invesco Field at Mile High May 21, 2011 for U2 who kick off their North American Tour 360 with their first stop in Denver. John Leyba, The Denver america west airline ticket reservations Post
U2's Bono shakes hands at the stadium. The Fray opened the show at Invesco Field at Mile High May 21, 2011 for U2 who kick off their North American Tour 360 with their first stop in Denver. John Leyba, The Denver Post
The sheer scope of U2 s record-breaking 360 Tour was undeniable proof, as if we needed it, of the group s continued america west airline ticket reservations North American appeal. Can any other band pull off a stadium tour in the U.S. right now? Nope. And oddly, U2 frontman Bono comes off better in a stadium than he does in an arena. The exaggerated movements. The two-fisted mike lean-ins. The outrageous struts and over-the-top plays to the camera. Bono was born for this job. And right now, he s the only cat making it happen on this level.
And just how did it happen Saturday? We ll start with the stage, which was set amid four towering, thorny, green-and-orange legs spread like a spider. It s an imposing, alien structure that houses most of the show s lights, sound and the circular LED screen.
The band played to the stage s titular in-the-round strengths, strutting the outer ring like cats on the prowl. america west airline ticket reservations There was plenty of call-and-response with the audience, and of course Bono had a couple of seemingly off-the-cuff monologues.
They couldn t have started stronger musically. An impassioned Even Better Than the Real Thing filtered into an anthemic I Will Follow, leading into a pummeling Get On Your Boots. Boots is the lackluster single off the band s latest, 2009 s No Line on the Horizon, but its hook — courtesy of the Edge and his dizzying guitar tones — is a party-starter, and it fit right in with the older tracks.
Bono drew in the audience to help him kick-start Elevation, and later he drew more from 2000 s All That You Can t Leave Behind with an expectedly jubilant Beautiful Day and an elongated tribute to peace campaigns via Walk On.
Sunday Bloody Sunday came off more like a polished rock anthem than a desperate call to action, but Where the Streets Have No Name was the hands-in-the-air rager it needed to be. One was quite moving while Mysterious Ways sounded like an out-of-place anachronism — because it is, not because of the band s note-perfect performance.
The fact that the world was supposed to end a few hours before show time wasn t lost on anybody — especially since U2 and Saturday s opener, the Fray, are both openly spiritual bands. But Bono capitalized on the coincidence by dedicating his Until the End of the World to Harold Camping, the reverend who called out Saturday as the day of rapture.
And then Bono and the boys did something america west airline ticket reservations crazy. Bono, standing on a stage bridging the core stage with the outer ring, started shaking and spazzing while the group indulged into an almost-violent instrumental breakdown. Maybe it was Bono being crazy Bono, or maybe it was his simulation of what the rapture would look and feel like — with an assist from tweaked lighting and choppy video work.
Tags: Colorado , Denver , Denver music , Invesco Field at Mile High , John Leyba , Mile High Stadium , Photos , REVERB , Ricardo Baca , U2 , u2 360 photos , U2 360 Tour , u2 at invesco , u2 concert photos
Great show, especially fromu00a0inside the inner circle ! However, let s not flatter ourselves, this wasn t the first stop of their North American tour by a long shot:u00a0not only was the 360 tour playingu00a0in the US in 2009u00a0(check out the exceptional DVD from the Rose Bowl), but they just sold 300,000+ tickets in Mexico last week. The Denver Post, of all people, shouldn t dis our NAFTA brothers and sisters like that!
[...] Time to dig out your tickets from last month s U2 s show at Invesco Field at Mile High. You can tag yourself in a Facebook photo via the U2 FanCam. Tag away over here. Reverb was on hand to capture the magnetic night and you can read our review here. [...]