Wow, looks like my first email sparked some debate here!
I don't think there's any 'anti-Slane' movement. We all love it, it's a great gig and the band are on top form. But it just lacks a certain magic, something that'll make you keep playing it in ten and twenty years time.
The crowd are massively in to it, but hey, lots of bands can make 80,000 people in a field jump up and down - Robbie Williams does this almost every week. We're U2 fans, so we want a challenge. We want to be blown away. And almost always, the band does so. But if U2 did a greatest hits tour tomorrow, we'd love it but ultimately it would leave us with a little dry taste in the mouth.
With U2's tours, it's that little bit extra, that little bit more that we all yearn for. They did it with Blood Red Sky, Joshua Tree tour, ZooTV, PopMart and Elevation's indoor gigs. Lovetown was great but ultimately criticised by many - including the band! - for it's greatest hits nature. And with Slane, I just fell it doesn't represent the rest of the tour, which was ultimately a brilliant indoor one, but not really suited to the great outdoors.
Ok, so it's a great gig, yes. We're not saying it isn't. And the band aren't super-human, but where are the talking points? What stands out? As a spectacle, the outdoor Elevation gigs don't measure up against the purpose built outdoor ZooTV and PopMart gigs. (PopMart's image was tarnished by the luke-warm US gigs, but believe me, by the time they got to Europe and SAmerica, they were on fire and on their best ever form).
Boston was heavily criticised but much of it is the band's own making. Why not film a European gig (the band themselves admit that the atmosphere is very different in Europe)? Is it because they fear it wouldn't sell in the States? Why film week night gigs (where the audience vibe is always more reserved due to everyone coming from work)?
There's a few interesting suggestions here regarding what the band has and hasn't done. We all love them, but that doesn't mean you can't have your own opinion about what they do and don't do well. After all, their biggest critics are the band themselves! It's interesting to see that Bono has already criticised ATYCLB.
I often think that perhaps they don't always live up to their 'we put the fans first' image. Boy was I pissed off that I coudn't get tickets for the Astoria Theatre gig, (which was full of press and comp winners yet publicised as a fanclub event), yes u2.com could be better with more direct band access (exclusive band interviews, photos, more new album updates, stories from the studios, why not have the band member write a tour diary etc) and what a shame that Propaganda has finished (you wait until you try and get tickets for the next tour).
Slane is great. But for me, it just lacks magnificence.