| U2 |
 U2
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Nov. 23rd, 2005 @ 07:31 pm 
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I went to see U2 this past weekend. The last time I saw them I was in college and it was their Zoo TV tour.
The open act Institute was tolerable at best. The lead singer, Gavin Rossdale, used to be in a band called Bush. He is married to Gwen Stefani. Probably the most entertaining moment was when he was singing an old Bush song which included the lyrics “there is no sex in your violence.” He kept screaming this and then shortened it to “No Sex.” He belted this out over and over. A guy behind me said “does say much for Gwen now does it”. Their weren’t bad musically. In fact that had a pretty nice edge. They sounded more like Helmet who the guitarist and bassist used to play for than Bush. I think the lyrics are goofy. The slow ballad “Save the Robots” was laughable.
U2 opened with “City of Blinding Lights.” Karen, due to the generosity of a friend of ours, got to go into the circle and she was right up against the stage. When the lights went down, Bono was standing right next to her. She will not recover from this anytime soon.
The lighting and affects were stripped down from the Zoo TV days. There were strings of lights that were dropped at various parts of the show that had some pretty cool LCD style graphics.
Zoo TV was all about over-blown production and while the spectacle was fun to watch the music got lost in all the gadgetry.
Vertigo was about the music. During the 90’s, I thought Bono had pretty much ruined his voice and resorted to false setto and effects to cover for it. He really sounded great. He blew everyone away when he sang “Miss Sarajevo” and did the opera part that was originally recorded by Pavorotti. He nailed it.
The highlight for me was “Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own.” He talked about his father and how he would tell him “Take those Fucking Sunglasses Off.” He took his shades off and tossed them to the back of the stage and said “This is for you.” The story of he and his dad’s stormy relationship really came through. The pain in his voice and the tears on his face made this an intimate moment. The next night, he went right into the song without the introduction.
The Edge changed up his style on some of the songs. He used less effects and played more blues style riffs. It gave a different feel to some of their classic songs.
Another striking difference between these shows and the Zoo TV tours was the politics have changed. Numerous times during Zoo George Bush Senior was the butt of the joke and there was a harsh edge to message.
Even the drummer admitted that he was uncomfortable with the band campaigning for Bill Clinton when they didn’t live in this country.
While they sang their anti-war songs, "Love and Peace or Else", "Bullet the Blue Sky" and "Sunday Bloody Sunday", rather than bashing America, Bono seemed sincere in his anger towards people killing each other and wanting the wars to end. I got the impression that he knew that wars are necessary but he hates them. Who can't relate to that? I hate to see young people's lives cut short. I did media for a banquet to honor marine parents who had lost their children in battle. I want the war to end. I don't want these banquets to be endless. I hope peace is won and the war is resolved.
The band played with passion and they really seem to enjoy what they were doing. Bono forgot to come in at the right part of a song and the guitarist chuckled and it was funny. They, no doubt, still love what they do.
Both shows were different and good in their own ways. |
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