By Jake Seaton, NBC17

RALEIGH — Irish mega group U2 hit the stage Saturday night at N.C. State’s Carter-Finley Stadium in front of more than 55,000 fans.

For some, the show was the long-awaited make up date for the band’s ill-fated stop during their PopMart Tour 12 years ago. For others, it was a concert performance 27 years in the making when U2 made a stop at Keenan Stadium on April 23, 1983 during its War Tour.

Regardless of when the band was — or was supposed to be — in the Triangle last, the U2 360° Tour is unlike any performance to date. The band, along with designer Willie Williams and architect Mark Fisher, created a stage that provides little view obstruction from any angle, and puts the band in the middle of its fans.

As frontman Bono explained, the set brings the band closer than ever to its fans. An experience rivaled only by intimate club shows.

Taking the stage about 30 minutes after the show’s scheduled start time, the electricity in the stadium surmounted as Larry Mullen, Adam Clayton, The Edge and finally Bono made their way to the front of the massive spider-like structure and launched into “Breathe.”

Largely the band’s set consisted of songs from their last three albums – which some may refer to as post-millennium U2. The three albums are some of the band’s most commercially successful affairs, especially after the dismal returns from their 1997 album Pop.

However, the October 2000 release of All That You Can’t Leave Behind – an album that launched the band back into the public and critical spotlight – marked a point that polarized fans. While some accept the post-millennium U2, others – especially Gen Y-ers – view the band as becoming more pedestrian and focusing more on international affairs than on music.

For that — being that the band brought its $750,000-per-day tour to a collegiate football stadium – perhaps the set should have focused more on U2’s earlier catalog. Despite nine of U2’s 12 albums being released pre-2000, only 10 of the set’s 23 songs came from those formative years.

But in the grand scheme that was U2 360°, the set list plays little into the fact that the self-professed “best band in the world” put on one hell of a show. Bono’s political musings were tastefully delivered, and the 150-foot stage quite literally wowed the audience.

If U2 was looking to give fans the ultimate live experience in a truly unique setting: mission accomplished.

And perhaps Gen Y-ers should give those post-millennium albums a second listen; because with 15 Grammy Awards and eight Platinum certifications, they’re far from pedestrian. If anything, U2 is on the top of their game.

Here’s an excerpt of the review by Stuart Berman:

“Ten years of recording-technology advances also means that Polvo has never sounded more radiant; liberated from the murky, mid-fi production of the band’s older records, Ash Bowie emerges as a forceful, almost swaggering vocalist on In Prism’s blast-off opener “Right the Relation”, which, despite its cryptic allusions to Polvo’s history and ethos (”We see the beauty behind imperfection… I kill my creation to right the relation”) is the band’s most forthright, unfussy rocker to date.”

On a similar note, KEXP of Seattle also likes what it hears.

If you haven’t had a chance to check it out yet, Merge Records has the album available for streaming. What are your thoughts on Polvo’s big return?

Sure Whiskeytown is a familiar moniker in Adams’ niche fan base, but names like The Lazy Stars and The Patty Duke Syndrome sound as foreign as his current alter egos DJ Reggie and WereWolph. But despite the lack of knowledge of either if these two outfits, they are as much a part of Adams’ ethos as Whiskeytown.

There was, of course, also Ryan’s brief stint in the hardcore punk band The Finger, but neither one of its two EP’s names are suitable for print, so we’ll just leave that one to your imagination. Regardless, chances are you’ll be hard pressed to find any of the band’s releases on the shelves at your local Best Buy. I just so happened to stumble upon a The Finger album at Chaz’s Bull City Records during my scavenger hunt for rare and imported Ryan vinyl.

While it has often been claimed The Finger was an opportunity for Ryan to dabble in his punk roots that were evident in The Patty Duke Syndrome, my argument stands that PDS was infinitely more melodic and interesting than the jangly mess released on any The Finger EP. More so, Ryan’s newest release with his backing band The Cardinals feels like a natural progression from PDS.

With Cardinology, Ryan reintroduces himself as an assertive songwriter and he finally sounds like he feels comfortable with the direction his career is moving. Although this comfort screams of rock attitude and arrogance, the album doesn’t quite have the swagger of 2003’s Rock N Roll. His lyrics on Cardinology, however, exude a confidence missing from the 2003 album — a confidence previously seen with PDS.

The first time I heard any material from the new album was when a friend of mine who went to the band’s show in Boston on Sept. 7 sent me recordings from the concert. Admittedly, I wasn’t thrilled with the majority of the new material they performed, but one track stood out. Its hook was catchy, Ryan finally sounded comfortable with his celebrity and The Cardinals never once felt out of place.

That track was “Magick,” and I immediately knew it would be my favorite cut off Cardinology. I didn’t care how bad the rest of the album may be; at least there was one shining gem. There was something familiar about the song that I didn’t place until I was listening through my Ryan Adams bootlegs and came across PDS. “Magick” possesses a similar excitement and sense of novelty found in “Super Song.”

Just as I had presumed from the handful of live track I had heard, the rest of Cardinology was pretty underwhelming. The majority of the tracks are either too folksy to be rock and too rock to be folksy. They teeter on an uncomfortable balance of a band that doesn’t quite know how to present itself. That is not to say that Ryan’s songwriting has fallen off or The Cardinals are any less tight than they were on Cold Roses, but the chemistry between the band and the frontman seems to play second fiddle to Adams’ celebrity.

Although Ryan was accused of removing his songwriting filter in 2005 when he released three albums that garnered mostly mediocre reviews, a common thread amongst the trilogy was that each album was cohesive from start to finish. This is not the case with Cardinology as Adams comes off as restrained on the band’s first single, “Fix It;” but then floods “Sink Ships” with an abundance of lyrics akin to stuffing two weeks of clothes into an overnight bag.

Cardinology may not be the penultimate Ryan Adams record, but it is also not the worst –- I can confidently hand that title to often-hard-to-swallow Rock N Roll. Thankfully there are enough “Magick” moments to keep the sinking ship afloat (sorry about that pun).

iLike is streaming clips from the album. Check them out and let us know what you think in the comments below.