1997-05-12 - Dallas, Texas - Cotton Bowl

setlist

Setlist and comment provided by U2gigs.com.

songs per album

  1. Pop (9)
  2. Achtung Baby (4)
  3. The Joshua Tree (4)
  4. Boy (1)
  5. The Unforgettable Fire (1)
Was one of these songs performed outstandingly during this show? Click on the name of the song to mark it as such!

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show attendees: 25

rastacruz
Oklahoma
9 users from Texas:
alsilver, darlingnikki44, dreamsister, jeff94ag, jfmu2, jmgarrison76, shahzadwaheed, slyoss, yoyobaboon

6 from Oklahoma:
Coso, Miklahoma, abefroman, andym7176, blmata, rastacruz

2 from Arkansas: drteeth, spinningman
2 from California: brarble, phammans
1 from Kansas: popsadie
1 from New Jersey: The_Fly_Acrobat
1 from South Carolina: goodwillout
1 from Germany: ZOOTVTOURist
1 from Louisiana: christinec
1 from Oregon: ktdt122

review by EridescoFly

6 months ago

Performance

A few shows into what was a troublesome start to the tour see the band growing in confidence, but not without their mistakes and song arrangements yet to find their best live form. Mofo is sounding better than earlier shows, but still close to the album version (the keyboard samples are barely audible) and not yet as punchy for an opener as it would evolve into later. Bono channels some Liam Gallagher attitude for I Will Follow and improvises a fair few lyrics.

"We've come to the State where size sometimes does really matter", observes Bono as the band launch into an energetic EBTTRT. With Do You Feel Loved now gone from the tour, the next song, aptly named Gone is sounding more refined and you can sense Bono enjoys playing this one. It's still yet to feature Edge on backing vocals and in time will become a tour highlight. There's barely a pause after as the band go into Pride, vocally Bono sounds like he is struggling a bit, and as a band performance it is a little rough. This is also the first song to really get he crowd going which is telling of how Pop was received in the US with not as strong as a reaction to the newer material. ISHFWILF gets a similar reaction and crowd participation.

The 'I'm just going down t'shops' film plays on the screen as the band prepare and launch into Last Night On Earth. It's a strong performance overall and the crowd show their appreciation as the song closes. UTEOTW gets cheers of recognition, it's not Bono's best, vocally and he fluffs up a lot of lyrics. That said, he puts in passion for IGWSHA. Staring At The Sun follows, starting with Larry's tom-tom drums, still in it's full band electric version this a fairly solid performance. Edge's karaoke segment always feels out of place, even if the crowd sing along I'm not sure this was the best decision when arranging the sets for Popmart, although it is a bit of fun.

We now have Miami and the crowd have warmed up a lot more, Bono encouraging Edge to sing the 'ba-ba-bas' and gives a charismatic performance. It rocks out before a slight pause and going into a funky rendition of Bullet The Blue Sky, which is well received. Please is growing into a great live moment with some nice falsetto singing in the song's conclusion, Larry's drumming however goes a bit awry towards the end before he drops the SBS tease as Bono asks the crowd if they're happy where they live, an attempt to describe the meaning of the song that doesn't quite work. His voice sounds strained for the segue into WTSHNN, which grows into a rousing version with it's extended outro that tips a nod to Underworld and sounds very Karl Hyde, vocally.

Discotheque is little sluggish at first and it sounds like Larry drops a stick, The song soon corrects itself and improves, however. The guitar is absent for the first few seconds of IYWTVD and the song is is barely a short version, more of a snippet here before With Or Without You. HMTMKMKM gets a strong reaction and comes over well. (At a stretch, you could say this is the only live Zooropa material played on Popmart as the song came from those sessions).Bono comes in a bit too early for Mysterious Ways and adlibs his way out of it. One is a tender version and sung well. Bono thanks support act Rage Against The Machine and Howie B before the band say goodbye.


Sound

There's a few audience recordings out there, the one I listened to was fairly clear.

Kyle Holbrook, Eric Britt, Billy Myrick /w patch from the old source.

Recording: Audience microphone - 2 stars

Audience

Not bad but not great either, talking among themselves for some of the newer songs and only showing real passion for older songs, it takes them a while to warm up.

Overall

A good show to document the band's progress in the early stages of Popmart.

Although Bono struggles vocally, he does put a lot of effort into the newer songs and gives it all he can despite forgetting or improvising lyrics throughout the show. The band play well for the most part. It's not their best or most memorable show (especially for Larry) of the tour, but it's a solid one.


all reviews

show overall  
patou2 Read more
EridescoFly Read more

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