All photos by Phil Bardi.

Upwards of 70,000 people were crammed into Raymond James Stadium, waiting for musical liftoff, and were rewarded with a colossal production spectacle steered by the voices, instruments and magnetic charismas of the Irish mega-foursome.

The stage was a four-legged spaceship and U2 was central command.

I was among the thousands, a diverse crowd composed of every sort imaginable from families (kids included) to groups of ladies in their night-on-the-town best, some in heels I’d never wear out, let alone to a concert, to jocks and goths and tattooed types, to fathers and their adult sons, to scattered groups of non-English speaking tourist types (which made me wonder how many people had flown in from other countries to see the show, and why they chose Tampa), to middle-age couples attending their sole concert of the year. Some were mega-fans, other curiosity seekers and everyone seemed to be in good spirits.

The 360 Tour four-legged spaceship monstrosity (which had a huge spire in its very middle that reached into the sky and had a disco ball at its very top) was set-up at the Galley end of the stadium. A huge 360-degree screen hung over the round main stage, which was located in the very middle and was encircled by an outer platform connected to the round with moving bridges for crossing back and forth, and a crowd jammed in between the platform and stage in a half-circle of bodies where the "front" of the stage was set up. (I imagine these were the $250 tickets.) Rather than try and clumsily explain the layout in any detail, I’ve included pictures and some interesting facts at the end of this post. (In case you're wondering, the 360 Tour has its own comprehensive Wiki page. For real.)

U2 set the mood for the evening with David Bowie’s “Space Oddity,” the song blasting through the sound system speakers and heralding the band’s entrance -- drummer Larry Mullen, Jr. coming across one of the “bridges” to sit behind the drums in the round, bassist Adam Clayton and guitarist The Edge appearing through “holes” in the round, and Bono bursting onto the round with much fanfare and to a screaming, enthusiastic crowd.

Bono is an effervescent showman, spirited, passionate, his voice strong and sure. He ran all over that circular stage, ran along the outer platform and the moving bridges, dancing and spinning and singing and playing off his longtime bandmates, making sure that no matter where you were sitting, you could see his arm-waving theatrics, in case you were blind and missed them on the giant rotating video screen. He was sweating like the rest of us in the sweltering Florida heat, but left his snazzy coat on through most of the set and never seemed to lose his energy.

The band sounded really, really good. I gained a new appreciation for The Edge, whose guitar solos cut like a knife through the thick waves of sonics and made me remember why I used to like U2 – the distinctive wail of his ribboning notes, that certain tone of dark that so many other alt rock guitarists mimic today.

They opened with two new numbers from this year’s No Line on the Horizon, then Bono yelled, “Get your dancing boots on, bitch!” before the band launched into “Mysterious Ways” and followed it with “Beautiful Day.”

“You got a pirate ship, we got a spaceship. You bought it, we built it, and the most interesting place it’s gonna bring us is closer to you, our audiences,” Bono yelled, acknowledging the longtime fans who got U2 to the point where they are today, able to blow a few hundred million on such an ostentatious stage show. To show their appreciation (I assume), the band performed another crowd pleaser, “I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For,” and had the crowd sing the entire first part of the song, chorus and all. Bono closed the song with a verse from “Stand By Me.” Poignant.

Then The Edge grabbed an acoustic guitar, and it was just he and Bono on stage for “Stuck In A Moment You Can't Get Out Of,” with some unexpectedly lovely falsetto harmonies by The Edge.

In between “Magnificent” and “Elevation” was one of the highlights of the evening, when Bono paused to offer Tampa a very special treat: a live space transmission from Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberté as part of One Drop's event Moving Stars And Earth For Water. A video feed found Laliberté (a "space tourist" at the International Space Station) wearing a bright red foam nose, a tee-shirt that read “Poetic Social Mission,” and the happiest expression you could ever imagine. He and Bono chatted about his reason for being in space – to draw attention to global water issues – but Bono didn’t seem to realize there was a bit of a time lag when you’re talking to someone who’s in space, and there were a few funny awkward moments where Bono kept repeating his questions just as Guy began answering them.

The other highlight of the evening was during “The Unforgettable Fire,” when Bono pulled a young fan on stage, who was maybe 11 years old and will likely never be able to recreate a concert experience like this for the rest of his life. Bono held his hand, sang to him, then led him around the outer platform, striding, then running with the kid while the screen dropped and split into hexagonal pieces of the pictures, and lights. I could almost hear the kid shitting his pants.

After the old school political shit, “Sunday Bloody Sunday,” (with Bono singing, “Get up, stand up, stand up for your rights” at the end), Bono got even more political. There was a whole segment about conscientious objector Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize winner and political prisoner in Burma for the past 20 years. Pictures of her face played on the video screens, the band played “MLK” while members of Amnesty International holding cut-outs of Kyi’s face over their own faces hit the stage and crowded in a half circle around the outer stage, facing the audience with their Kyi faces until the song’s conclusion. The band closed the set with “Walk On," and left for the encore break while an African politician of some sort (I wasn't paying attention) talked about apartheid and the world being "one," with the band returning to the stage to play the inevitable “One,” then a snippet from "Amazing Grace," followed by "Where the Streets Have no Name.” The best animation of the night, a cute little alien with a garbledy-gook message, opened “Ultra Violet (Light My Way)," Bono singing and hanging from a round, glowing red mic that was lowered from the rafters and looked a lot like the Target logo; his jacket emitted its own lazers of red light, too, making for quite the rosey glow.

I walked to my car during "Moment of Surrender," but could hear Bono’s parting words: “They tell us there’s more people than ever before here at the stadium. More even than the Super Bowl. Thanks for coming out and supporting us, for making it possible…"

On the one hand, you have to wonder if all the money U2 put  into their stage show could have been put to better use, like, say, helping out all those causes Bono and his band are always talking about. On the other hand, a rapt audience of 75,000 is a great place to deliver your messages, even if they come off sounding a bit insincere due to all the grandiosity. But U2 gave a whole lot of folks a reason to leave the house and gave said folks their money's worth with the biggest spectacle imaginable. So maybe it was money at least partially well-spent, though I find it hard to imagine that the people at this show came to hear about Bono's politics. They came to have their faces rocked off. And politics aside, they did.

Complete 10/09/09 setlist

Breathe

Get On Your Boots

Mysterious Ways

Beautiful Day

I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For / Stand By Me (snippet),

Stuck In A Moment You Can't Get Out Of

No Line On The Horizon

Magnificent

Elevation

Until The End Of The World

The Unforgettable Fire / Mofo (snippet)

City Of Blinding Lights

Vertigo

I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight / Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin) (snippet) / Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough (snippet),

Sunday Bloody Sunday / Get Up Stand Up (snippet),

MLK

Walk On

Encores

One / Amazing Grace (snippet)

Where The Streets Have No Name

Ultra Violet (Light My Way)

With Or Without You

Moment of Surrender

Some tidbits about the 360 Tour, with three photos courtesy of Wikipedia, by Luka Krstulovi?, Wasted Time R, and MelicansMatkin, respectively:

-The inspiration for “the Claw” was the landmark Theme Building at LAX.

-Construction of each stage requires the use of novel, high-pressure hydraulic systems.

-The steel structure is 164 feet tall, 2X the size of the stadium stage used for The Rolling Stones’ Bigger Bang Tour.

-It requires 120 trucks to transport each of the three sets constructed to support the tour.

-Each leg of the structure contains its own sound system, and each system costs $24-$31 million.

-The 360 tour includes 137 touring production crew.

-Daily costs of the production are approximately $750,000 (excluding the stage construction), which comes from truck rentals, transportation, and staff wages.

-The video screen is made up of elongated hexagonal segments mounted on a multiple pantograph system, which basically means the pieces can be opened up or spread apart vertically during the concerts (pictured right). It’s mounted on a cabled pulley system so the entire screen and pantograph system can move lower and closer to the band, which it does throughout the show.

-U2 is supposed to purchase carbon offsets due to the environmental impact of the massive production, estimated to emit up to 65,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide from transporting the three-stage structures across Europe and North America. Not sure what it means to “purchase carbon offsets” but it sure sounds good on paper.

More photos and gallery by Phil Bardi:

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