Yeah, it's kind of absurd that they have the camera crane running during the opening B-stage portion and nothing on the screen....it would be helpful for a lot of people to see them on the screen including the many on the floor that don't have a good view of the B-stage, especially if you're near the front.
Just like the last tour, there's definitely a trade-off depending on where you want to be. Personally, I liked being up near the front of the stage because I got to see JT in full with the band right in front of me. Of course, it's also not ideal to basically see none of the B-stage stuff. I could actually see them on my tiptoes pretty well from where I was (kind of center stage front between Bono and Adam) during the opening, but nothing after that really other than some glimpses during the encore when I turned my head back...but it's really not a big deal since you get closeups on the video screen, anyway, for the later part of the show including the new song.
Girlfriend and I both agreed that we won't be doing the madness of GA the next time we see them. If it's more I&E Tour, we're down for floor tickets, but we'll just show up right before showtime and hang out closer to the seats, thus avoiding the crowding entirely and allowing us to move around where we want.
I'd also point out that the crowding was really getting on people's nerves including some long time fans. Other U2 shows, whether at an arena or stadium have effectively had a partition between two halves of the crowd, such as the Vertigo inner circle or the 360 circle, etc. This arrangement just allows 5,000 people on each side to effectively push themselves forward and what was usually a comfortable experience inside the circle just becomes a rather limiting one in terms of room....still I've had worse at one show in my life...a U2 San Jose gig on Vertigo that had so much of a crush at the outer rail that about a half dozen people had to be lifted over as the show began. This was nothing on that level.
Also, I should warn people that certain venues are probably going to be insane in terms of lineup time. This Santa Clara gig was crazy crowded for GA line just in the early afternoon alone, so if you think you can just stroll up at 5 PM and get a good spot, well, good luck with that. We showed up about 3:20 and there were already 1,000 (yes, 1,000) GA ticket holders in front of us, roughly. I showed up at about the same time for the 360 gig in Oakland years back and we were about fortieth, yes, fortieth in line on our side of the stadium. I can admit that particular gig was way unlike most shows in terms of lining up and such, but still, this was unlike anything I'd ever seen before.
Now, you can definitely show up after a bunch of people and get a pretty good spot near the main stage if you want (although I do recommend not being a short person. I was fine, but my girlfriend occasionally had blocked views). The bulk of the crowd wants to hover around the B-stage and its rail so there's a lot of room to get up near the front when the floor is starting to fill up.
Seriously, the demand for this is very all intense and the guy at the front of the GA line (since we regrouped for yet another line inside the stadium gates) said he had got there at 4AM the previous day. It just goes to show that the Joshua Tree definitely holds a special place in people's hearts more than a regular U2 show really ever could.