Franklin Field rocks to U2's 'PopMart' extravaganza

and Michael Mugmon Franklin Field is usually quiet during the summer months, but the stadium came alive June 8 as Irish rock band U2 dazzled an audience of over 50,000 during the only Philadelphia stop on its "PopMart" tour. After an opening set by the Fun Lovin' Criminals -- who also played at the Spring Fling concert in April -- U2 entered the stadium and brought the crowd to its feet. Most of the audience remained standing throughout the high-energy performance until it ended two hours and 20 songs later. The Grammy award-winning band interspersed songs from its latest album Pop with songs from previous albums, playing hits including "Pride (In the Name of Love)," "With or Without You," "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For," "Where the Streets Have No Name" and "One." The concert centered around the band's love-hate relationship with America -- the country that turned U2 "into a great big rock band." "The great big band got scared the corporate monster would eat us up," lead singer Bono explained. But before the monster could eat the band, "we decided to eat the monster," he said. The American theme extended to a huge golden arch, which resembled the decor of a McDonald's restaurant and supported giant red letters spelling out "PopMart." The show featured an array of spectacular effects, including a giant 170-by-56 foot video screen which displayed enlarged images of the band members, flashy animations and colorful abstractions. Rounding out the elaborate set, an olive hovered atop a toothpick that shot into the night sky, while a 40-foot neon lemon stood in the place of the Franklin Field scoreboard. Before the band launched into "Discotheque," the lemon morphed into a futuristic glittering silver disco ball and opened, revealing Bono, guitarist the Edge, bassist Adam Clayton and drummer Larry Mullen. More than 1,000 lighting fixtures, six lighting machines, 20 Xenon searchlights and 100 strobe lights only served to enhance the concert experience. Throughout the evening, U2 never shied away from involving the audience in the show. During the band's rendition of the Monkees' "Daydream Believer," the song lyrics appeared on the giant screen, allowing audience members to sing along. And at one point in the show, Bono brought a girl on stage to dance with him. "I thought it was a very successful event," University spokesperson Ken Wildes said. "Everybody seemed to have a good time and fortunately it was a beautiful night." But Wildes added that traffic control posed a problem. Although University officials and concert promoters anticipated the large number of cars and recommended public transportation, he explained that concert-goers all left at one time, causing traffic congestion. With regard to holding concerts at Franklin Field during the school year when more students could attend, Wildes noted that such events would be difficult to schedule because of additional demands on facilities.