By Debbie McGoldrick

They came yet again, they sang and they conquered. U2 started their third sold-out engagement at Madison Square Garden this year in front of 20,000 fans on Monday night, and though it sounds utterly clichéd at this stage, the Fab Four were in awesome form.

It’s hard to keep coming up with new and inventive ways to describe a U2 concert, so perhaps we should say they’re simply the best and leave it at that. Monday’s show was solid as a rock, laced with lots of crowd-pleasing oldies and plenty of new tracks too.

It’s obvious that the “Vertigo” tour, which started on the West Coast in March and spent the summer playing various stadiums in Europe, has really hit its stride. The band members are in perfect synch with each other and make it all look so easy — no kinks, no glitches, just pure perfection.

The highlights? “Sunday Bloody Sunday,” of course. Bono said the iconic song about the Irish Troubles “belongs to America now,” given our own troubles in Iraq.

“City of Blinding Lights,” followed by “Vertigo” opened the more than two-hour show — what a rousing one-two combination! — but our favourite of the night was the encore the band did with opening act Patti Smith, the veteran rocker who can still punk out with the best of them.

Smith joined the band onstage for a cover of the John Lennon classic “Instant Karma,” and the coupling brought the house down. “We had the best time in this city this year. We wanna do something we have never done before to say thank you. This is gonna be interesting,” Bono said by way of introduction. Another pleasant surprise from a band that refuses to rest on its laurels.

We were invited by the band into the inner sanctum Green Room before and after the show, and naturally the guest list was notable. We spotted Christy Turlington and her husband Ed Burns; Christy is heavily pregnant, but that didn’t stop her enjoying the concert with gusto.

Also in the audience was the Reverend Al Sharpton, who was mentioned by Bono onstage for his work on helping to alleviate poverty in Africa. Then there was the Irish Formula One impresario Eddie Jordan, and a good few other Irish luminaries as well.

We caught up with U2 manager Paul McGuinness, who spoke enthusiastically about Kanye West opening for the band next month on the West Coast. And Ali Hewson, Bono’s wife, looked superb in head to toe black.

After the band ends the current leg of its tour before Christmas, they’ll take some time off before heading to Australia and New Zealand in March. Is it too much to ask for another round in the U.S.? Please!!!!