“We’ve got new songs, we’ve got old songs, we’ve got songs we can hardly play!”

As usual, Bono, you’re mostly right.

U2’s supersized pageant at FedEx Field last night was an awkward, sometimes shapeless, frequently thrilling mix of new of and old. Perhaps in deference to the formidable Bono-quaciousness of prior U2 gigs in this town, where the Nobel Prize nominee has effectively become a part-time resident, U2 gave us a lunch-special version of the menu. It was among the shortest shows of the globetrotting U2 360 tour so far, whittling the tally of tunes from the six-month-old, worthy-but-still-not-platinum No Line on the Horizon to five and offering no additional classics in their place.

Hey, Bono had a lot of guest-listers to thank: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Eunice Shriver. Rwandan President Paul Kagame. Sen. Pat Leahy, whom Bono dubbed “the John Wayne of D.C.!” Cardinal Theodore McCarrick. Nancy Pelosi (reprise).

But despite Bono’s self-deprecating critique and his C-SPAN name-dropping, he and his three lifelong bandmates sounded stellar. For the last 12 years, you’ve never been able to bank that Bono’s ill-cared-for Vox would make the gig. Last night, he was supple and powerful, especially during the first hour. He cracked horribly during the brief “Amazing Grace” that bridged “One” (introduced via video-message by Desmond Tutu!) and the reliable gig-saver, “Where the Streets Have No Name.” But some songs benefit from a vulnerable singer.