@coriandersterm – thanx, do feel the same
@lastunicorn – welcome back, mate
--- and to all the others, who still analyze me an try to put words in my mouth, I never wrote:
1. No, Im "not the one, who complains about the U.S. audiences". This really is, what legends ar built upon with manipulationg a poster's words ... Fortunately I trevelled more than once from Europe to the U.S.A to enjoy the country, the people and the atmosphere of concerts there. Have made beautiful memories there and witnessed often for sure much better shows than on the old continent – at least during the last two u2 tours.
2. No, after having attended for sure much more U2 concerts than a lot of people here around; I know, that the audience singing along is a highlight of the gigs. But I'm not talking about this at all. @coriander got the point, others here obviously not. I'm talking about, that the old war horses – who are heavy lyrics – seem now to be only played and awaited as the tunes, where people do their "oh-oh-oh-oh" choir. Just fear, that these rituals get more and more, much to the cost of the beautiful tunes being shrinked that way. That's why a version of "Sunday Bloody Sunday" worked so fine in '97/'98 – it told the story again, brought back the attention – and still remained the beloved tune in its essence ...
3. No, singing along and anonymous mass are no contraries. It's just, that both phenomenemons are different and have nothing to do with each other. "U2 3D" only focusses on the audience as a big, mad, sometimes excited, sometimes hysterical, sometimes sleeping mass of people. There's a face, but the faces are exchangeable. You don't get statements, you don't learn more about them – it would have been enough to do some seconds of an interview to let also those people speak out, maybe before & after the gig. But now it's simple the big picture with a mass that only has a voice, when it's turned up (artificially) and a mass that is mute, when their volume has switched of (artficially).
4. No, my arguments are not weak – they are strong, just because they are observations and emotions, I had. Don't try to put logic in this thread, it is a matter of feeling & taste – and there we now, at the latest from our missionary man "respect the difference". So do I ...