Opening with a sexy-as-sin rendition of Lotus at full electric-storm volume, Michael took the audience in the palm of his hand straight off and damn well kept them there throughout everything. Audience interaction and general banter was sparse by the standards of Mr Stipe on the tour so far, but more than made up for by the sheer consuming passion with which the band threw themselves into performance. There were fewer of the "old" (pre-1986) songs than have been on recent set lists, the earliest being Fall On Me as a stunning penultimate track. There were occasional surprises - a number of songs from NAIHF early in the set, including Low Desert and a pretty E-Bow The Letter with Mike's slightly subdued harmony changing the character of the song somewhat. They did new song The Great Beyond once more and that one is really growing on me, beautiful and slightly desperate. The One I Love strafed the audience with light show running at full tilt, and Losing My Religion went down as it ever does, though it must be said it was an unusually stunning performance of the old standby.

Similarly Everybody Hurts, the highlight of the show - now I have seen this song performed many many times and *never* this well before, a long, breathless catharsis that sounded as sweetly powerful as when I heard it the first time. This immediately followed by a furious, frenetic and downright poisonous rendition of The Apologist, which between then left the audience shattered in the wake of the emotional tempest. There was a sublime slowed-down intro to Walk Unafraid which then went on to hit us with a wall of white noise. Another Elvis intro to Man On The Moon (I couldn't identify - my Elvis knowledge is not what it should be.)

The numerous encores began with Michael alone onstage with a guitar playing pieces from Falls To Climb, which took a couple of starts to get right, and Hope, heartbreakingly and including a quote from Patti Smith's Birdland with which he had also earlier introduced Find The River. Mike then joined him for their now-customary Why Not Smile, at the end of which Michael kissed him affectionately and everyone's hearts fluttered rather. :)

Crush With Eyeliner was, as ever, sex on toast, Michael dancing like a snake in oil (where did *that* metaphor come from?). From Mr Mill's spotlit, earthquake-bass intro to the last "hi" on Pop Song 89 Michael's trademark shimmy had men and women alike fainting in the aisles. But you have not seen naked sexual frenzy in a crowd till you see the effect on the audience of Michael baring his chest during Tongue. :)

They closed, again, of course, with It's The End of the World as We Know It with a slight hiatus occasioned by them suddenly going into Suspicious Minds halfway through. They continued with their finale after Peter flipped his guitar across the stage, possibly, I concede, cause it was broken or maybe cause he still didn't seem entirely sure how Suspicious Minds goes.

Michael wore shirt, trousers and t-shirt in variations on the theme of blue, which seems to be his colour for the tour. :) I didn't get a close look at his make up, but I'm prepared to bet there was glitter involved. Mike wore the black suit with the silver spangles. Peter wore a black jacket for one whole song and then a white shirt and was particularly energetic.