Flags And Penance: U2'S American Dream

IT IS SOME WAY into a U2 set at the vast Veterans' Coliseum in Hartford, Connecticut, and the place is strewn and bedecked with the flags and banners which have become a permanent feature of the U2 experience. Some say, simply, WE WELCOME U2; others make token reference to Martin Luther King, the Civil rights leader whose assassination has inspired two songs on The Unforgettable Fire. One group of girls has woven a giant tapestry proclaiming that SNOW IS THE ULTIMATE IMAGE OF SERENITY.