The Edge and Bono of Irish rock group U2 perform on their unique 360 degree stage at Wembley Stadium Getty Images

Rating: 2 stars

U2 CAME fourth in last week’s NME poll of the most overrated artists of all time, which either leaves you thinking, “how rude!” or “why weren’t they number one?” After last night’s surprisingly un-engaging performance, I’m veering towards the latter.

Following a couple of pared down tours, U2 are back putting on the megalithic shows they were famous for in the 90s. Their new 360º Tour features a stage in the round, surrounded by a circular runway, moving bridges and an enormous four-legged structure they have dubbed ‘the claw.’ It is the biggest set ever built for a rock tour, looking something like War of the Worlds by way of Cyberdog, and weirdly it serves only to further dwarf the already diminutively proportioned Bono.

The band, however, looked as iconic as ever: Bono in his trademark wrap-arounds, The Edge in his plaid shirt and beanie, Larry still the Dorian Gray of drumming, and Adam Clayton was there too.

The 360º set-up meant that for much of the show we were looking at the back of the band. It was three songs in (and only for about three seconds) before Bono was actually facing me. I had to wait another 45 minutes for him to work his way back around again.

After opening with the best of new album, No Line on the Horizon, the Dublin foursome got cracking, rolling out the best of the best of.

The first big hit of the night, Beautiful Day, sounded more like a-ha’s The Sun Always Shines on TV than ever, but not as good, and the sound was so echoey, it was hard to tell how well Bono was singing - thankfully The Edge’s chiming guitar rang out familiar, warm and bell-clear. A ‘follow the bouncing ball’ style sing-a- long to Unknown Caller featured the best guitar solo of the night.

Sure as ‘Bono’ sounds like a crunchy dog treat, the front man gave a political speech: kindly dedicating the worst songs of the night MLK and Walk On to Aung San Suu Kyi, the Burmese political leader who has been under house arrest for the past two decades. He paid ‘tribute’ to the 64-year-old with a procession of 50 or so people holding masks of her face. Sunday Bloody Sunday was also accompanied by images from the Iran election riots.

Bono said “Something very special could happen tonight,” - but it didn’t. The set was ludicrously Spinal Tap, but that wasn’t the problem, it just wasn’t very exciting. A spark of genius flickered bright with The Unforgettable Fire a 24-year-old hypnotic masterpiece, and Bono, who is 50 next year, managed to hit all the notes. Amazing.

For the encore, Bono emerged with Vegas theatrics to sing Ultra Violet (Light My Way) in a laser dappled jacket shooting off shards of light – it was certainly one in the eye for the humble sequin. As Bono writhed hanging off a dangling steering-wheel-cum-microphone, you couldn’t help but wonder if a little more of this sort of thing might have livened things up a bit.